The word Ivoirité (; sometimes translated into English as ''Ivoirity'') entered the social and political lexicon of

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

during the presidency of Henri Konan Bédié (1993–1999). It was used as a descriptor of the purported intrinsic characteristics of an indigenous Ivorian, in contrast to immigrants. During Bedie's presidency, ethnic tensions rose sharply, with growing attacks on foreign workers and a widening rift between the country's predominantly

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

north and mainly Christian south. Before the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

presidential election, a law drafted by Bédié and upheld by the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

required both parents of a candidate to be born in Ivory Coast. This led to the disqualification of the opposition candidate

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician and economist who has been List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, he worked for the I ...

, who claimed to represent the predominantly Muslim north, often poor migrant labourers from

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

and

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

working on coffee and cocoa plantations. His father had long been rumoured to have been born in Burkina Faso. Ouattara, an economist who worked for the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

, was the prime minister of Ivory Coast under President

Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny (; 18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was an Ivorian politician and physician who served as the first List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, pr ...

, from 1990 until 1993. The word Ivoirité is associated with the

Second Ivorian Civil War The Second Ivorian Civil War broke out in March 2011 when the 2010–2011 Ivorian crisis, crisis in Ivory Coast escalated into full-scale military conflict between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Ivory Coast since 2000, and supp ...

(2010–2011), in which at least 3,000 civilians were killed.

References

Culture of Ivory Coast Society of Ivory Coast Ivorian nationalism {{IvoryCoast-stub