Are ethnic conflicts in Africa the product of age-old ancient hatreds? Tsega Etefa’s new book, The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Politics and Violence in Darfur, Oromia, and the Tana Delta (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019), provides an answer, arguing that elites mobilize their co-ethnics for political gain. To do so, Etefa analyzed the historical roots of three different cases of ethnic conflict in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.  Not only does his new book tell us why elites mobilize ethnically, Etefa also provides a series of recommendations to escape colonial legacies of identity politics.   He also recommends two books for listeners keen to learn more. McCauley’s The Logic of Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Africa (Cambridge, 2017) and Fujii’s Killing Neighbors (Cornell, 2009).Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices