Management of Ethnocultural Diversity in the Identity Construction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Case of Ivory Coast

Abstract

This article discusses, from an essentially analytical perspective, the management of ethnocultural diversity in sub-Saharan Africa, based on an approach to the Ivorian case. It is argued that most of the African states that experienced colonization in the assimilation of their ethnocultural diversities - established by Western models of identity homogenization - were plunged into identity crises that had repercussions on their postcolonial construction process. The case provides an insight into a problem common to the African continent, which raises the need to reflect on models of identity construction appropriate to regions with enormous ethno-cultural diversities. A decolonial turn is proposed, assumed by interculturality as a paradigm of identity construction which, by connecting with the classical African cosmovision, means the revaluation of an ancient civilization propitiated by the resignification of the most autochthonous cultural origins and identity idiosyncrasies.