Gender and Agency in the History of a West African Sufi Community: The Followers of Yacouba Sylla

In 1929, French colonial officials in Mauritania began monitoring a young man named Yacouba Sylla, the leader of a religious revival in the town of Kaédi. A Sufi teacher (shaykh), Yacouba Sylla had incurred the hostility of local administrators and the disdain of Kaédi's elite for preaching radical reforms of social and religious practice and for claiming authority out of proportion to his age and his rather minimal formal education. He claimed to derive his authority instead from a controversial shaykh named Ahmed Hamallah, then in exile from his home in Nioro, French Soudan (now Mali).

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Medina Gounass: Constructing Extra-National Space in a West African Borderland

African Studies Review ◽

10.1017/asr.2020.130 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-26

Author(s):

David Newman Glovsky

Keyword(s):

Islamic Law ◽

West African ◽

Religious Community ◽

National Space ◽

Cross Border ◽

History Of ◽

Postcolonial Africa ◽

Postcolonial States ◽

The Town

Abstract The historical autonomy of the religious community of Medina Gounass in Senegal represents an alternative geographic territory to that of colonial and postcolonial states. The borderland location of Medina Gounass allowed the town to detach itself from colonial and independent Senegal, creating parallel governmental structures and imposing a particular interpretation of Islamic law. While in certain facets this autonomy was limited, the community was able to distance itself through immigration, cross-border religious ties, and smuggling. Glovsky’s analysis of the history of Medina Gounass offers a case study for the multiplicity of geographical and territorial entities in colonial and postcolonial Africa.

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The Amazons of Dahomey

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.274 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Agbenyega Adedze

Keyword(s):

Oral Tradition ◽

West African ◽

Oral Traditions ◽

Historical Evidence ◽

The West ◽

West African Coast ◽

African Coast ◽

History Of ◽

French Colonial ◽

Female Fighters

The Amazons in general come from Greek legend and myth without any palpable historical evidence. However, there is no doubt about the historical female fighters of the erstwhile Kingdom of Dahomey (Danhome or Danxome) in West Africa, which survived until their defeat by the French colonial forces in 1893. The history of the historical Amazons of the Kingdom of Dahomey stems from vast amounts of oral tradition collected and analyzed over the years, as well as written accounts by Europeans who happened to have visited the kingdom or lived on the West African coast since Dahomey’s foundation in the 17th century to its demise in the late 19th century. These sources have been reviewed and debated by several scholars (including Amélie Degbelo, Stanley B. Alpern, Melville J. Herskovits, Hélène d’Almeida-Topor, Boniface Obichere, Edna G. Bay, Robin Law, Susan Preston Blier, Auguste Le Herisse, etc.), who may or may not agree on the narrative of the founding of the kingdom or the genesis of female fighters in the Dahomean army. Nonetheless, all scholars agree that the female forces traditionally called Ahosi/Mino did exist and fought valiantly in many of Dahomey’s battles against their neighbors (Oyo, Ouemenou, Ouidah, etc.) and France. The history of the Ahosi/Mino is intricately linked to the origins and political and social development of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Ahosi/Mino are still celebrated in the oral traditions of the Fon.

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Afro-Catholic Baptism and The Articulation of a Merchant Community, Agoué 1840–1860

History in Africa ◽

10.1017/hia.2015.19 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. 165-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luis Nicolau Parés

Keyword(s):

Early Period ◽

West African ◽

Northern European ◽

History Of ◽

Brazilian Identity ◽

Main Activity ◽

The Town ◽

Significant Mass ◽

Merchant Community ◽

Afro Brazilian

AbstractThis paper analyzes the “Southern” Afro-Brazilian Catholicism which was brought to West Africa by former slaves from Brazil prior to the expansion of the “Northern” European Catholic missions. In examining two significant mass baptisms held in the town of Agoué in 1846 and 1855, this paper explores the religious history of the Aguda or Afro-Brazilian freed slaves, and how they built a network of ethnic, commercial, and affective relationships by means of Catholic baptism and godparenting. The Aguda’s Catholic affiliation (rather than conversion), beyond being coextensive with Brazilian identity, served to produce a merchant community whose main activity, in the early period, was the slave trade. The paper also discusses the methodological potential of cross referencing and fertilizing West African data with Bahian data in order to elucidate how the returnees’ appropriation of Catholic ritual was shaped by their previous Brazilian experience.

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Les Tirailleurs sénégalais

Postcolonial Realms of Memory ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781789620665.003.0026 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 290-297

Author(s):

David Murphy

Keyword(s):

First World War ◽

West African ◽

World War ◽

The First World War ◽

History Of ◽

French Colonial ◽

First World ◽

Important Site

This essay explores the history of the tirailleurs sénégalais, a corps of colonial infantrymen founded in 1857. The tirailleurs were initially deployed to aid the French in the ‘pacification’ of their West African Empire but they made their mark on metropolitan France when they served in their tens of thousands in the First World War, distinguishing themselves in major battles, including the famous victory at Verdun. In the aftermath of the war, the image of a cartoonish, wide-eyed, smiling tirailleur sénégalais on packets of the popular Banania powdered chocolate drink, still used today, arguably became the most important site of French colonial memory.

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A Neglected Source for the History of Little Popo: The Thomas Miles Papers ca. 1789–1796

History in Africa ◽

10.2307/3172219 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 28 ◽

pp. 293-330

Author(s):

Silke Strickrodt

Keyword(s):

Large Body ◽

West African ◽

External Trade ◽

The Public ◽

West African Coast ◽

Private Correspondence ◽

Major Exception ◽

History Of ◽

Public Record ◽

The Town

During the era of the slave trade, Aného (in modern Togo), which was known to Europeans as “Little Popo” or simply “Popo,” was normally marginal to English commercial interest on the west African coast. This lack of interest is reflected in the sources that exist in British archives today. Documentary material for trade at Aného is scarce, and references to the town rarely go beyond the mentioning of a ship going there to complement its cargo of slaves. However, there is a major exception: the papers of Thomas Miles, which document the activity of the “Popo Factory” of the English firm of Messrs Miles & Weuves in the 1790s. These papers, which are kept in the Public Record Office in London (PRO), comprise a large body of material, including accounts, inventories and commercial and private correspondence. Full of detail, they offer a unique glimpse of Aného and its external trade at a time when the town was at the height of its economic power.In spite of their great value for the history of Aného and the kingdom of Ge (Genyi/Guin), however, the Thomas Miles papers are virtually unknown to historians of the area. The object of this paper is therefore to draw attention to the existence of this material and make historians aware of the unparalleled wealth of information that it contains. The first part of this paper comprises an explanation of the background and a description of the documents, which is followed by a brief discussion of their special strengths and limitations. In the second part, I focus on one aspect, which is the African side of the trade. Here I look at the question of what these documents tell us about Popo society. I have compiled a list of the African traders that frequented the factory, whom I then tried to identify.

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Liepājai – veltījuma dzejas / dziesmu piemēri mūsdienās un 19. gadsimta baltvācu literārajā mantojumā

Aktuālās problēmas literatūras un kultūras pētniecībā: rakstu krājums ◽

10.37384/aplkp.2020.25.026 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 26-34

Author(s):

Ivars Orehovs

Keyword(s):

Travel Literature ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Geographical Environment ◽

Comparative Aspect ◽

Literary Heritage ◽

History Of ◽

Native Place ◽

History Of Literature ◽

The 19Th Century ◽

The Town

In a literary heritage with a developed tradition of genres, works whose main purpose is to attract the attention of readers to a selected geographical location, are of particular culture-historical and culture-geographical interest. The most widespread in this respect is travel literature, which is usually written by travellers and consist of impressions portrayed in prose after visits to foreign lands. Another type of literary depiction with an expressed poetic orientation, but a similar goal, is characteristic of dedicatory poetry. The author’s position is usually saturated with emotional expressiveness as well as the artistry of symbols, encouraging the reader or listener to feel the formation of a spontaneous attitude. It is possible to gain confidence in the engagement of the author of the poetry as an individual in the depicted cultural-geographical environment, which can be conceptually expressed by words or pairs of words ‘resident’, ‘native place’, ‘patriot’. With regard to the devotional depictions on the Latvian urban environment, one of the earliest examples known in the history of literature is the dedicatory poem in German by Christian Bornmann to the town Jelgava with its ancient name (Mitau, 1686/1802). The name of Liepāja town in this tradition of the genre has become an embodiment later – in the poetry selection in German, also using the ancient name of the town (Libausche Dichtungen, 1853), but in terms of contemporary literary practice with Imants Kalniņš’ music, there is a convincing dominance of songs with words of poetry. The aim of the article is, looking at the poetry devoted to Liepāja in the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th/21st century in the comparative aspect, to present textually thematic peculiarities as well as to provide the analytical interpretative summary of those.

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Apprenticeship

10.1093/oso/9780198793700.003.0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

W. B. Patterson

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

English History ◽

Religious Issues ◽

Moral Leader ◽

History Of ◽

The Town ◽

The Church

In 1634 Fuller became the minister of the parish at Broadwindsor, in Dorset. This provided him the opportunity to know John White, the minister in nearby Dorchester. White, the spiritual and moral leader of the town became a pastoral model for Fuller. In this setting, Fuller wrote The Historie of the Holy Warre, the first English history of the Crusades. His use of medieval sources was extensive, and his analysis of the motives and tactics of western leaders is shrewd and persuasive. Elected to the clerical Convocation that met in 1640, during sessions of the first Parliament to be called in eleven years, Fuller dissented from the leadership of Archbishop William Laud, who sought to impose more stringent rules or canons on the Church of England. This Convocation, continuing to meet after Parliament was dissolved, passed canons whose legality was contested. War with the Scots ensued over religious issues, forcing the king to call what came to be known as the Long Parliament.

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A Study in the History of Clare, Suffolk; with Special Reference to its Development as a Borough (Alexander Prize Essay, 1928)

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society ◽

10.1017/s0080440100000256 ◽

1928 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 83-115

Author(s):

Gladys A. Thornton

Keyword(s):

Special Reference ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Subsequent Development ◽

Considerable Importance ◽

Medieval Period ◽

South West ◽

Full Development ◽

History Of ◽

The Town ◽

Prize Essay

Clare is situated in the south-west corner of Suffolk, in the valley of the Stour River. At the present day it is only a village, for its market is no longer held; yet its history shows that in earlier times it was of considerable importance, especially during the medieval period, when it was a favourite residence of the Clare lords. The town then had a busy market and a flourishing cloth-making industry; and at one time it seemed possible that Clare might attain full development as a borough, possessing as it did some burghal characteristics. In the following pages it is proposed to study in detail the history of Clare as a seignorial borough during the Middle Ages, and its subsequent development.

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A brief history of small business in Australia, 1970-2010

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy ◽

10.1108/jepp-08-2012-0044 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 222-236 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michael T. Schaper

Keyword(s):

Small Business ◽

Small Firms ◽

Formal Education ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

Business Sector ◽

Role Of Government ◽

Content Type ◽

Support Tools ◽

History Of ◽

Training And Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the development of the SME sector in Australia, concentrating on a number of key areas: small business definitions and numbers; the role of government; the emergence of key industry groups; and the evolution of education, training and research services. Design/methodology/approach – The study is a result of extensive literature reviews, desk research and the recollections of various participants in the field. Findings – There have been major changes to the Australian small business sector over the last 40 years. In 1983-1984 there were an estimated 550,000 small firms, and by 2010 this had grown to almost two million. Government involvement in, and support for, SMEs was virtually non-existent before 1970. Following the delivery of the Wiltshire report (1971), however, both state and federal governments responded by developing specialist advisory services, funding programmes and other support tools. Virtually non-existent before the 1970s, several peak industry associations were formed between 1977 and the 1990s. At the same time, formal education and teaching in the area expanded in the 1970s and 1980s and is now widespread. Practical implications – Development of the small business sector in Australia has often paralleled similar trends in other OECD nations. State and territory governments have often (but not always) been the principal drivers of policy change. Originality/value – There has been no little, if any, prior documentation of the evolution of the small business sector in Australia in the last 40 years.

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