The Fulani, Fula or Fulɓe are an outstanding ethnic group in sub-Saharan Africa because they constitute the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world. They display a heterogenous identity and citizenship stretching from Senegal across the Sahel right to regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan. While many Fulani live a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle many others practice farming or a hybrid livelihood combining sedentary agriculture and livestock rearing while others have migrated to urban centres to expand their job possibilities. As an ethnic group, the Fulani are bound together by the Fula language, their history, and their culture. The vast majority of Fulani are Sunni Muslim who often practice Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism that is commonplace in west Africa and Sudan..
The Fulani are a critical aspect of the political, social, and economic fabric of West and Central Africa and in recent years, Fulani communities have become caught up in recurrent cycles of resource conflict and intercommunal violence in some areas of west and central Africa. What can be considered the main drivers of this violence and to what extent does religious ideology a factor? Under what circumstances are Fulani communities victims and perpetrators of this violence? Under what circumstances do herders and farmers co-exist peacefully? Important questions are being raised in certain parts of Africa about the real identity and citizenship of the Fulani because they are late arrivals in those regions and are permanently on the move. In Cameroon’s North West region, the Fulani were denied citizenship and treated as outsiders since colonial times. It was not until the 1990s when the Cameroon government and the UN instruments recognised the Fulani as ‘indigenous peoples’ of Cameroon’s North West region. To what extent is the conferment of the status of “indigenous people” and citizen on the Mbororo-Fulani a solution to the crisis of Fulani citizenship? There are several aspects of the Fulani problem in contemporary Africa with its regional characterisation which scholars are invited to formulate abstracts on. Please, submit your 200-250 words abstract to nicodemusfruawasom@gmail.com by 20 March 2024. All related questions can be directed to the same email address.
There are several aspects of the Fulani problem in contemporary Africa with its regional characterisation which scholars are invited to formulate abstracts on. Please, submit your 200-250 words abstract to nicodemusfruawasom@gmail.com by 11 March 2024. All related questions can be directed to the same email address.
