This book seeks to explain the events that have been taking place in
Côte d'Ivoire since 1999 and which are commonly referred to as 'la crise
ivoirienne' (the Ivorian crisis). It seems that the day to day
interpretation of the events did not provide a satisfactory explanation
of the deep fracture and that it was necessary to reconsider the
essentialist theoretical categories that are striving to impose on us a
false view, made cumbersome by ethnocentric prejudices. To avoid falling
into the trap of the day to day interpretation of events will require an
in-depth questioning of the causes of the foreseen collapse of the
Ivorian model. Having a grasp on the historical meaning of facts is
required in examining the sequence and interconnection of events which
we always need to rule on the historical weight in order to gauge the
tragic trend of the social dynamics. While looking for the causes of the
social and political rift, the authors of this volume started by asking
a central question: How does the weight of the modern Ivorian society
formation intervene in the modalities of the actions of individuals and
current collectivities? The brutal and violent fracture which the
Ivorian social formation underwent brings forth, once again, the issue
of collective identities and unveils, at the same time, the challenges
related to the incomplete nature of the construction of 'Nation States'
in Africa. In fact, it is a mistake to think that the crisis
spontaneously started among partisan higher authorities and to ignore
that behind the ostentatious declarations on National Unity,
pre-colonial groups have not completely melted into the modern 'Nation'.
Furthermore, in the process of 'national' social space formation, new
social combinations emerge by continuously re-inventing themselves. It
seems that the roots of current crises reside in the unprecedented
transformation which contemporary African societies have been
undergoing.
