Drawing on an ethnography of Sherbro coastal communities in Sierra Leone, this book analyses the politics and practice of identity through the lens of the reciprocal relations that exist between socio-ethnic groups. Anaïs Ménard examines the implications of the social arrangement that binds landlords and strangers in a frontier region, the Freetown Peninsula, characterized by high degrees of individual mobility and social interactions. She showcases the processes by which Sherbro identity emerged as a flexible category of practice, allowing individuals the possibility to claim multiple origins and perform ethnic crossovers while remaining Sherbro.

Series: Volume 28, Integration and Conflict Studies

Subject: Anthropology (General) Political and Economic Anthropology Development Studies

Area: Africa

LC: DT516.45.S45 M46 2023

BISAC: SOC008010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Ethnic Studies/African Studies; SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC042000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Developing Countries