Beyond the siege state - tracing hybridity during a recent visit to Eritrea

This article offers an alternative reading of the current situation in Eritrea that goes beyond the narrative of dictatorship and oppression. Based on recent fieldwork in Eritrea and among Eritrean refugees in Tel Aviv, it offers a hybrid interpretation of developments within Eritrea. The article argues that a transition process instigated by the current leadership is still possible. At the same time rising inequalities and other dynamics may ultimately jeopardise any such transition. More generally important sections of the population have become suspicious of grand political projects, but rather focus on the microcosms of potentially intangible transformations from within. © 2012 Copyright ROAPE Publications Ltd.