Western terms like ethnicity, tribe, and caste obscure understanding of Africa, says research director

He highlights that while classification can aid understanding, rigid categorization can hinder it. Sanogo points out that these terms, when applied to Africa, carry historical baggage of classification, hierarchy, discrimination, and even racism, unlike the terms "nations" and "peoples" used for Europe. He emphasizes that the colonial administration's power to name had significant consequences, citing examples like the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi, where pre-colonial socio-economic categories were rigidified into ethnic identities by German and Belgian colonizers, leading to the 1994 genocide.

Similarly, in Côte d'Ivoire, the Bété identity was a colonial construct, and in Dahomey, now Benin, colonizers fragmented a single linguistic community into distinct "ethnicities." The British also rigidly fixed the caste system in India, transforming fluid social identities into strict legal categories. Sanogo notes that even within Africa, groups like the Dioula and the Moose have created sub-groups and classifications.

He concludes that ethnic identities are often constructions, not natural givens, and are shaped by external perspectives, a process he calls ethnogenesis. The article traces the etymology of "tribe," "clan," "caste," and "ethnicity," revealing their origins in poli