
Ethnicity and the Colonial State
Finding and Representing Group Identifications in a Coastal West African and Global Perspective (1850-1960)
Alexander Keese(Author)
Brill (Publisher)
Published on 4. December 2015
Book
Hardback
388 pages
978-90-04-30734-6 (ISBN)
Description
Ethnicity and the Colonial State analyses, through a comparison of three West African communities (Wolof, Temne, and Ewe), the ways in which ethnic labels and arguments are used (or omitted) in dealings with colonial administrations. It follows these strategies and choices over more than a century, between the conquest periods and independence. Where state structures were weak as a factor of group cohesion, ethnic arguments were especially likely to come into play. The analysis discusses internal fissures and conflicting interests within the communities as other incentives for ethnic coalition-building. The observations made in this book are put into the context of a global historical perspective, for which "ethnicity" has so far remained a badly defined concept.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
7 farbige Abbildungen
7 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-30734-6 (9789004307346)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alexander Keese, Ph.D. (University of Freiburg, Germany, 2004), is SNSF Professor at the Universite de Geneve, Switzerland. He is the author of Living with Ambiguity: Integrating an African Elite in French and Portuguese Africa, 1930-61 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2007).
Content
Acknowledgements ... vii
Maps ... x
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Group Identifications: African and Global Categories ... 36
3 Wolof and Wolofisation: Statehood, Colonial Rule, and Identification in Senegal ... 84
4 Fragmentation and the Temne: From War Raids into Ethnic Civil Wars ... 158
5 'Ethnic Identity' as an Anti-colonial Weapon? Ewe Mobilisation from the Late Nineteenth Century to the 1960s ... 220
6 Conclusion ... 293
Bibliography ... 313
Index ... 361
Maps ... x
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Group Identifications: African and Global Categories ... 36
3 Wolof and Wolofisation: Statehood, Colonial Rule, and Identification in Senegal ... 84
4 Fragmentation and the Temne: From War Raids into Ethnic Civil Wars ... 158
5 'Ethnic Identity' as an Anti-colonial Weapon? Ewe Mobilisation from the Late Nineteenth Century to the 1960s ... 220
6 Conclusion ... 293
Bibliography ... 313
Index ... 361