Agency and Action in Colonial Africa

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction: John Flint and Agency in History

   • Chris Youé, Tim Stapleton

   Pages 1-8

3. Faku, the Mpondo and Colonial Advance in the Eastern Cape, 1834–53

   • Timothy J. Stapleton

   Pages 12-33

4. ‘Scientific Gold’: Robert Koch and Africa, 1883–1906

   • Myron Echenberg

   Pages 34-49

5. Colonial Commandants and the Administration of Slavery Policy in French West Africa

   • Martin A. Klein

   Pages 50-68

6. Slavery, Sorcery and Colonial ‘Reality’ in Mauritania, c. 1910–60

   • E. Ann McDougall

   Pages 69-82

7. ‘You Are Tearing My Skirt’ :Labotsibeni Gwamile LaMdluli

   • Ackson Kanduza

   Pages 83-99

8. A Christian, Civilized Man: D. D. T. Jabavu of South Africa

   • Catherine Higgs

   Pages 100-125

9. Creech Jones and African Universities, 1943–50

   • Apollos Nwauwa

   Pages 126-140

10. Chiefs and the Making of Industrial Policy in Nigeria

    • Allister Hinds

    Pages 141-155

11. Critical Agents: Colonial Nigerian Intellectuals and their British Counterparts

    • Philip S. Zachernuk

    Pages 156-171

12. Rebellion and Quiescence: Kenyan and Rhodesian Responses to Forced Removals in the 1950s

    • Chris Youé

    Pages 172-194

13. Hastings Banda and Cold War Politics in Malawi

    • Joey Power

    Pages 195-212

14. Back Matter

    Pages 213-219

    PDF

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.

• Africa
• African
• chronology
• cold war
• colonialism
• empire
• experience
• history
• individual
• knowledge
• Nigeria
• peasant
• policy
• slavery
• slaves

'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

• Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, Canada

  Chris Youé

• Trent University, Peterborough, Canada

  Tim Stapleton

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

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