ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the conclusions of each chapter and presents the end remarks of the book. Having looked at the problem of ethnicity in Angola, the chapter underscores the limitations of both Ovimbundu and Angolan identities, showing how even though they remain complementary, the latter exhibits much greater variation between regions and groups. It traces this variation to the country’s post-colonial history, particularly to the wars fought during the second half of the 20th century. The chapter argues that while Portuguese colonialism and Christian evangelisation did represent elements of modernity among the Ovimbundu, the force driving the modernisation and politicisation of Ovimbundu ethnicity was in fact UNITA, the liberation movement–turned–political party that became associated with the Ovimbundu to this day. Recognising that Christianity and colonialism, the liberation and civil wars, and processes of post-war reconciliation and citizenship did alter the ways people relate to each other, the chapter concludes that ethnicity is a subjacent force to these processes, one that must not be dismissed in readings of Angolan and Ovimbundu ethnicity.
