The complementarity of divergent historical imaginations: narratives of mobility and alterity in contemporary Liberia

Abstract

Since the end of the civil war in Liberia (1989–2003), inter-ethnic tensions are often identified as potential causes for future conflict both by local actors and by analysts. In this article, I address how the past serves as a resource in the constitution of inter-ethnic relations and describe the divergent ways in which the past is imagined among the Dan and the Mandingo, two ethnic groups in the border region of Liberia. The Dan consider themselves autochthonous in the region and think of the Mandingo as ‘strangers from Guinea’. Even though Dan derive political authority from these autochthony claims, relations between landlords and strangers rely on mutual recognition and reciprocity. Rather than competing autochthony claims, collective Mandingo representations are inspired by a divergent historical imagination. Whereas the Dan narratives evolve around kin relationships and a particular locality, Mandingo historical imagination is set in a much wider national and regional framework. They stress their belonging to the transnational Mandingo diaspora across West Africa and claim the right to citizenship based on their role in the development of the Liberian nation. I argue that the divergent historical imagination that is reproduced at the collective level among the Mandingo allows their inscription into the autochthonous Dan discourses through which they can more easily accept their position as strangers in more personal narratives. In the end, this unlikely compatibility illustrates the integrative potential of apparently different categories.