Religion in War and Peace in Africa

Religion in War and Peace in Africa shows how "Religious extremism" transcends the realm of belief, analysing current armed conflicts in Africa with perpetrators claiming to act in accord with their religion and moral values.

Many African countries today are beset by armed conflicts carried out by different radical groups. In most such cases, religion has been used to incite extremism and to justify violence and exclusion. Perpetrators who seek to violently impose their "order" believe, or claim, that they are acting in accord with their religious and values. Scholars, peacemakers, Religious leaders, and Military officers explore peace initiatives and security managements. These rich, informative and path-breaking contributions in this book span the spectrum from the prevention of violence through peace initiatives and the analyses of the many complex historical, political, economic, demographic and ideological causes of violence to the role of traditional religions, and military intervention.

Showing how religious leaders, scholars, peacekeepers, policy-makers, and military officers and others need to join their efforts in better understanding the intersections between religion and conflict, and to engage in shared missions focused on preventive actions and peace initiatives, Religion in War and Peace in Africa will be of great interest to scholars of military studies, African studies, peacekeeping, religion and conflict. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Peace Review.

Margee Ensign is the 29th President of Dickinson’s College. Prior to Dickinson, she served for seven years as the president of the American University of Nigeria (AUN). She also co-founded the Adamawa Peace Initiative, a locally based response to the threat from Boko Haram violence, which successfully promoted peace in the area, and assisted close to 300,000 refugees for three years. She is the author and editor of four books, including "Rwanda: History and Hope", "Confronting Genocide in Rwanda" and "Doing Good or Doing Well? Japan’s Foreign Aid Program". She has presented at the World Economic Forum, been interviewed multiple times by the BBC and CNN, written for The Washington Post and has testified before Congress on international affairs, and foreign assistance

Jean-Pierre Karegeye is visiting scholar in philosophy at Dickinson College. In addition to a Ph.D. in Francophone literature (University of California at Berkeley), Karegeye earned two master’s degrees in social ethics and in French, three bachelor’s degrees in African linguistics, philosophy, and theology. His work on genocide, religious violence, and child soldiering focuses on testimony and explores both fictional and non-fictional narratives. Some of his current projects explore how genocide and religious radicalization in Africa imply a reconstruction and a relocation of social sciences and humanities. He has (co-) authored six books and journals and more than 50 articles including Children in Armed Conflicts (2012), "Ruanda: de la literatura post-genocidio o el dialogo entre testimonio y compromiso" (2012) and "Religion, Politics, and Genocide in Rwanda" (2012).