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%T The Resurgence of Religious and Ethnic Identities among Eritrean Refugees: A Response to the Government's Nationalist Ideology %A Mohammad, Abdulkader Saleh %J Africa Spectrum %N 1 %P 39-58 %V 56 %D 2021 %K Eritrea; ethnicity; diaspora; identity; nationalism %@ 1868-6869 %U file:///tmp/Dokumente/10.1177_0002039720963287.pdf %X This article explores processes of identity formation in Eritrean diaspora communities that have reverted to subnational patterns of identification grounded in the historical-political crises of their homeland. Refugees from Eritrea’s open-ended national service have ambivalent feelings towards their national identity: on the surface, they stress the cohesiveness of the Eritrean people, but in their daily lives they embrace ethnic or religious communities. I elaborate the dilemmas of identity formation in the transnational space between religious and ethnic affiliations and Eritrean nationalism. I analyse the expansion of ethnolinguistic and regional associations among diaspora communities and discuss their impact on identity formation. I link cleavages along ethnic and religious lines to collective memories and the government’s attempts to eradicate subnational identities. The study is based on long-term participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Eritreans in exile, and engages with relevant bodies of literature discussing identity formation in African and diaspora contexts. %C DEU %G en %9 Zeitschriftenartikel %W GESIS - http://www.gesis.org %~ SSOAR - http://www.ssoar.info