Gino Vlavonou. Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2023. 243 pp. Bibliography, Index. $89.95. Paper. ISBN: 9780299345709.

Belonging, Identity, and Conflict in the Central African Republic sheds light on the social and political dynamics in the Central African Republic that led to the construction of autochthony discourses which took a violent and unprecedented turn during the civil war.Through the analysis of political speeches, newspapers, and qualitative interviews, Gino Vlavonou retraces how the categories of "foreignness" and "autochthony" have been produced before and during the crisis and contributed to explaining the eruption of violence against the Muslim minority in 2013.Vlavonou points out that autochthony discourses are not necessarily tied to the soil and can be related to various forms of competitions: they are temporally and spatially specific and require empirical investigation.He interprets identity as a capital, which means that identities are not only principles of social affiliations, but also indicate a rank in the access to resources in a context of unequal competition between groups (Dorronsoro & Grojean, 2018).The "value" of this capital is determined through elites' discourses and policies as well as through the discursive practices nonelites employ to exclude the "other" (the "Muslim-foreigners").The book illustrates the importance of moving beyond a top-down approach to grasp the logics of autochthony, while elites' and nonelites' discourses shape each other in a fluid process.Vlavonou details how "Muslims" have been othered in different ordinary spaces where autochthony finds expression, such as the political, the linguistic, and the religious ones.For instance, the national language, Sango, has been crucial in defining national identity and normalizing Muslim exclusion.In the same vein, Vlavonou shows how religious identity is a marker between "autochthons" and "foreigners" and played a key role in the conflict.More generally, he explains how the "non-Muslims" deployed the "host-guest" metaphor toward "Muslims," whom they claimed have been "welcomed" to the country.As "guests," the Muslims historically had no place in the political sphere and should conform to the hosts' political choices.In this context, the support of some Muslims to the Seleka rebellion was perceived as a treason in 2013 and they were conceptualized as "ungrateful guests" who took up weapons against their hosts.At the opposite end, Central African "Muslims" offer counterclaims to the narratives that construct them as "guests."They express their belonging through counter rhetoric, for instance by claiming their historical presence on the territory.