Marganilisation, Youth and Conflict Trade in Central and West Africa

Collaborating partner:
Institute for Applied International Studies Social Science (FAFO – AIS – OSLO)

African conflicts have been portrayed in the popular media as monstrous, involving greed and hatred filled young people (mostly men) ready to kill, loot or rape in the most atrocious ways. The greed and hatred analyses have framed much of the recent intellectual agenda concerning conflict in Africa. There are hardly explanations based on historical, political and socio-economic factors.

This collaborative project has as its point of departure understanding conflict, not as manifestations of ancient hatreds or stemming from economic interests, but rather as struggle over distribution of power, wealth and the representation of identities. The proposed research within this collaborative project further assumes that conflict is a lived social space. Taking Central and West Africa regions (mainly Uganda, Congo, Sierra Leone and Liberia) as cases in point, the proposed collaborative research seeks to understand marginalisation, youth and economies of conflict.

Activities: The exploratory study is still underway.