Agency and Action in Colonial Africa: Essays for John E. Flint

by C. Youï (Editor), T. Stapleton (Editor)

Overview

The coming of colonialism to Subsaharan Africa generated many forces that historians often describe in abstract terms: peasantization, leadership, nationalism and even colonialism. Such terms often hide or overwhelm the individual experiences of those who, in some way, contributed to the development and demise of colonial Africa. These 'agents' of empire - intellectuals and peasants, chiefs and ex-slaves, nationalists and colonial officials - symbolise the ambiguities of and limitations on colonial power. Agency and Action in Colonial Africa attempts to capture their role.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333778852
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	06/18/2001
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	219
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

MYRON ECHENBERG Lecturer, Department of African History, McGill University, Montreal CATHERINE HIGGS Author ALLISTER HINDS Lecturer, University of the West Indies, Mona ACKSON KANDUZA Lecturer, Department of History, University of Swaziland MARTIN KLEIN Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto ANN MCDOUGALL Professor of African History, University of Alberta, Edmonto APOLLOS NWAUWA Lecturer, Rhode Island College, Providence JOEY POWER Professor of History, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto PHIL ZACHERNUK Associate Professor, Dalhousie University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction: John Flint and Agency in History; C.Youé & T.Stapleton Chronology of John Flint's Publications Faku, the Mpondo and Colonial Advance in the Eastern Cape, 1834-53; T.Stapleton 'Scientific Gold': Robert Koch and Africa, 1883-1906; M.Echenberg Colonial Commandants and the Administration of Slavery Policy in French West Africa; M.Klein Slavery, Sorcery and Colonial 'Reality' in Mauritania, c.1910-60; E.A.McDougall 'You are tearing my skirt': Labotsibeni Gwamile Lamduli of Swaziland; A.Kanduza A Christian, Civilized Man: D.D.T.Jabavu of South Africa; C.Higgs Creech Jones and African Universities, 1934-50; A.Nwauwa Chiefs and the Making of Industrial Policy in Nigeria; A.Hinds Critical Agents: Colonial Nigerian Intellectuals and their British Counterparts; P.Zachernuk Rebellion and Quiescence: Kenyan and Rhodesian Responses to Forced Removals in the 1950s; C.Youé Hastings Banda and Cold War Politics in Malawi; J.Power Index

Editorial Reviews

'This collection is a fine tribute to John Flint, the Dalhousie University historian, whose wide-ranging research on the history of colonialism in Africa has done much to challenge established thinking. The book shows how Flint's ways of understanding the colonial era have been influential in the work of his students and colleagues. Presenting the results of research on all parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Agency and Action reveals the complexities and ambiguities of the colonial era through the lives and careers of a diverse group of colonial agents and subjects. In different ways, each of these chapters follows the approach of Flint himself by showing how individual ambitions, beliefs and actions were both shaped by and makers of the colonial experience.' - Alan Jeeves, President, Canadian Association of African Studies

'...an important book...the essays are all of a quality to rival those in the top journal...' - Toyin Falola, African Studies Review

From the Publisher