Development, (dual) citizenship and its discontents in Africa : the political economy of belonging to Liberia

"Liberia's official seal captures competing contexts colliding and co-mingling. It consists of a shield with an idyllic image of a passenger ship seen from the shore approaching new territory. An invisible, straight line connects the ship with an inviting palm tree jutting out of the earth. Its beak carrying a scroll conveying peace and freedom, a white dove hovers on the horizon. Beaming rays from a half-exposed sun appear in the background to complete the allegory of newness and discovery. In the foreground of the shield, on lush, green grass, lie a shovel dug into the earth and a plough representing the dignity of hard labour primarily from subsistence agriculture. Above the shield is a scroll proudly proclaiming Liberia's national motto: The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here. This pictorial symbolises Africa meeting its diasporas, yet it depicts the exploits of only a small fraction of Liberia's population at independence in the mid-nineteenth century-black transatlantic migrants who championed civilisation, Christianity, and commerce as their triple heritage-and even less so now, almost 200 years later in a twenty-first century post-war period."