Introduction

Abstract

Ⅲ ABSTRACT: Th e enduring experience of hardship, in the form of layers of various crises, can become deeply ingrained in a society, and people can come to act and react under these conditions as if they lead a normal life. Th is process is explored through the analytical concept of duress, which contains three elements: enduring and accumulating layers of hardship over time, the normalization of this hardship, and a form of deeply constrained agency. We argue that decisions made in duress have a signifi cant impact on the social and political structures of society. Th is concept of duress is used as a lens to understand the lives of individual people and societies in Central and West Africa that have a long history of ecological, political, and social confl icts and crises. Ⅲ

Homemaking through Music in Urban Africa: Creating Opportunities as a Refugee and a Migrant in Kinshasa and Dar es Salaam

“…He did not want to endure a life in the camp again. Past experiences of conflict and the internalisation of experienced violence colour the decisions of individuals (De Bruijn and Both, 2018). But, after their house had been raided, Esatis' mother handed her son a significant sum of money and convinced him to cross the river into Congo again.…”

Connected Sahel-Sahara in Turmoil: The Past in the Future

“…First, stories and images from the pre-colonial era provide people with the collective memory they use to exert power in the present. Second, remembering the past plays a role in establishing a person's identity, and it does not need to be a conscious process (de Bruijn and Both 2018;Stoler 2016). This leads to two further points, namely (a) how the re-establishment and reimagination of the Sahel-Sahara as a space for communication and economic activity is seen as an important source of wealth for empire; and (b) how the pre-colonial past is remembered informs both the leaders of the 'counter' movements and the population and citizenry at large of the new power constellations of the present.…”