'Enduring Difference' in Post Colonial Botswana.
Jackie Solway

Much recent scholarship on ethnicity has painstakingly revealed the constructed nature of ethnic identities, boundaries, and consciousness and how ethnic processes must be considered in light of historical realities as well as other forms of social distinction such as class, gender, language, and nation. That identities are made, remade, and are constantly reworked in a complex set of interlinking relations is strikingly captured in titles such as Imagined Communities (Anderson) and The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (Vail). However, despite our increasing awareness of the malleability of identities, one is still left with the observation that while the form and content may change, difference endures. It is now a cliché to note that the assimilationist promise of modernity - assumed by both the left and the right - has not prevailed and post cold war - and post colonial - conflicts have increasingly been tied to 'ethnic' discontent. Recent liberal theory (for example, Kymlicka) acknowledges the persistence of difference and seeks ways to theorize nation building modes that enable genuine multiculturalism. This paper is situated within such a theoretical framework and examines contemporary struggles within Botswana on the part of minority groups to gain official recognition and counter powerful assimilationist forces. Botswana is an interesting case for this purpose; it is, by African standards, a peaceful, liberal, and prosperous multiparty democracy with a functioning bureaucracy. Politicized ethnicity in Africa is often attributed to the failure of the post colonial state to meet citizen needs. Botswana defies this stereotype; it provides a powerful and meaningful civic identity for its citizens and a range of services. Yet strident pressure from ethnic minorities has led a major re-examination of policy towards ethnic diversity. Botswana is now engaged in the process of rethinking the constitutional basis of the House of Chiefs (the primary institutional form by which ethnic difference gains national recognition) and has established a commission to seek submissions on this matter from on this matter from throughout the country. This paper will examine the work of the commission; what led to it, and its outcome (if known) in light of theoretical approaches that both acknowledge enduring difference and look for ways in which society can endure difference.