Sierra Leonais, Créoles, Krio: la dialectique de l'identité

Africa ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odile Goerg
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West Indies ◽  
African Continent ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Uk ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Town

The study of phenomena relating to identity has prompted new approaches to the subject on the part of historians as well as anthropologists. They include the study of ethnicity, a dynamic combination of socio-economic, religious, cultural and political factors. In this regard the population of Freetown is particularly interesting, for it stems from several discrete migrations from the end of the eighteenth century onwards. Some of the immigrants came direct from the African continent, ‘Liberated Africans’ disembarked on the Sierra Leone peninsula, while others, formerly slaves, came from the UK, North America or the West Indies. The result of this diversity of origin was the formation of a very rich and specific society, with a mixture of European, African and West Indian characteristics. Among the town dwellers are those called successively Sierra Leoneans, Creoles and Krio.Since the 1950s several studies have focused on these people. After a polemical article published in 1977, new research was undertaken. Krio identity, which is at the same time a historical theme and politically contested territory, remains at the heart of the debate. In this article, emphasis is placed on terminology, to address the question of ‘ethnicity’ as applied to those known as Creoles. What were they called by administrators or historians (past and present)? What did they call themselves? How did they react to the various attempts at categorisation? How did the names, which are the visible aspect of ethnicity, evolve? What did the terms really mean and how can one move from a given name to the object it represents? These questions take into account several points of view, from within Krio/Creole society and from outside it.

The Politics of Sacred Lineages in 19th-Century Central Asia: Descent Groups Linked to Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi in Shrine Documents and Genealogical Charters

1999 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin DeWeese
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Religious History ◽  
The West ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Town

Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi, the celebrated saint of Central Asia who lived most likely in the late 12th century, is perhaps best known as a Sufi shaykh and (no doubt erroneously) as a mystical poet; his shrine in the town now known as Turkistan, in southern Kazakhstan, has been an important religious center in Central Asia at least since the monumental mausoleum that still stands was built, by order of Timur, at the end of the 14th century. While Yasavi's shrine, owing to the predilections of Soviet scholarship, was extensively studied by architectural historians and archeologists, its role in social and religious history has received scant attention; at the same time, Ahmad Yasavi's legacy as a Sufi shaykh has itself been the subject of considerable misunderstanding, resulting from two related tendencies in past scholarship: to approach the Yasavi tradition as little more than a sideline to the historically dominant Naqshbandiyya, and to regard it as a phenomenon definable in “ethnic” terms, as limited to an exclusively Turkic environment. Even less well known in the West, however, is one aspect of Ahmad Yasavi's legacy that is of increasing significance in contemporary Central Asia, as the region's religious heritage is recovered and redefined in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse—namely, the distinctive familial communities that define themselves in terms of descent from Yasavi's family, and have historically claimed specific prerogatives associated with Yasavi's shrine.

Conclusion: Legacies

2018 ◽  
pp. 238-242
Author(s):  
Deirdre Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Mixed Race ◽  
West African ◽  
Small Step ◽  
Commercial Agriculture ◽  
The West ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Black Poor ◽  
The Relationship

Smeathman dies in London from a ‘putrid fever’ in July 1786. The Committee for the Black Poor sully his posthumous reputation, possibly because of his support for a mixed-race constitution in Sierra Leone. They fail to see that Smeathman’s scheme for commercial agriculture, powered by the labour of redeemed slaves, presented a small step forward in recasting the relationship between forced labour and empire. Smeathman’s essay on the West African termite has many afterlives, especially in terms of its engravings, but the big book on Africa and the West Indies—his ‘Voyages and Travels’—is never published.

scholarly journals How to boost the Western response to Russian hostile influence operations

European View ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-188
Author(s):  
Jakub Janda
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
The West ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Uk

The Russian Federation has become a rogue state in international relations, invading and occupying the territories of three European countries (Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine), waging war in the Ukrainian territory, producing massive disinformation campaigns against the West, threatening the Baltic republics, and interfering in various elections and referendums. Despite Russia’s aggressive behaviour, the West’s response to it has been significantly limited, particularly when it comes to non-military deterrence by Continental Europe. The US and the UK are leading the punishment of Russia’s aggression, while many countries, mainly in Western and Southern Europe, are hesitant to respond to this threat. This article makes recommendations as to what should be done in practical terms to boost the European portion of the Western response to Russian aggression from the political and policy points of view.

scholarly journals Updating Qualifications for the Career Guidance Profession in Scotland: Navigating the Maze

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Allan ◽  
Janet Moffett ◽  
Peter J. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Career Guidance ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
The West ◽  
Quality Assurance Agency ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

This paper describes work in progress to modernise the initial training arrangements for the career guidance profession in Scotland. In a process initiated by the University of the West of Scotland, the Quality Assurance Agency benchmark for the subject is under review. The outcomes of the process may have implications for the training of career advisers and guidance practitioners across the UK.

Bureaucrats, Businessmen and Bananas: The Colonial Office and Shipping Services in the West Indies, 1895-1925

1992 ◽  
pp. 73-96
Author(s):  
Robert G. Greenhill
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Government Intervention ◽  
The West ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Colonial Office

The interplay between the Colonial Office and British businessmen around the turn of the last century forms the background of this essay. Although the subject has been well-documented in a number of scholarly books and articles, we still lack an unambiguous definition of the relationship. Wide interpretations are still possible on the limits and the extent of the influence exercised by both officials and entrepreneurs. On the one hand, it is argued that the Colonial Office “had an instinctive dislike of government intervention in economic activity.”...

scholarly journals On the temperature of man within the tropics

1851 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 946-947
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Atmospheric Temperature ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Tabular Form ◽  
Present Communication ◽  
The West ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Tropics

In a former paper which was published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1845, the author gave the results of an inquiry on the temperature of man in England, as measured under the tongue by a thermometer made for the purpose, and using certain precautions necessary to ensure accuracy. An inquiry of the same kind and with the same instrument he has conducted in the West Indies, extending over a period of nearly three years' and a half. This is the subject of his present communication. For the sake of comparison, he has followed in it nearly the same order as in the former. The results are given in a tabular form, divided into sections, and are followed by an appendix in which are recorded the daily observations in monthly sequence, accompanied by observations on the pulse, respiration and atmospheric temperature. The following are the principal conclusions which seem to be warranted by the results:— 1. That the temperature of man within the tropics, on an average, is nearly 1° higher than in a temperate climate, such as that of England.

scholarly journals Antenatal survey for the seroprevalence of HTLV-1 infections in the West Midlands, England

1993 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nightingale ◽  
D. Orton ◽  
D. Ratcliffe ◽  
S. Skidmore ◽  
J. Tosswill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Milk ◽  
Antenatal Care ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Antenatal Clinic ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
The West ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Caucasian Women ◽  
The Uk

SUMMARYThe sera of 3522 women who attended an antenatal clinic in Birmingham. England were tested anonymously for antibodies against HTLV-1. Samples from 5 women (0·14%) were positive, one serum showed indeterminate reactivity. Two of the women (0·06%) were born in the West Indies (of Afro-Caribbean ethnic origin), one (0·03%) in Africa (of African ethnic origin), and three (0·09%) were white Caucasian women born in the UK. Thus, HTLV-1 infection in pregnant women in the UK, though comparatively rare, is not negligible. As transmission of HTLV-1 to the newborn via breast milk has been observed and as seropositive mothers can be advised to refrain from breastfeeding or to treat their milk, the question of routine screening for HTLV-1 infection during antenatal care is discussed.

Calling the West Indies: Una Marson’s Wireless Black Atlantic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Whittington
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
West Indian ◽  
Caribbean Literature ◽  
Black Atlantic ◽  
The West ◽  
Kamau Brathwaite ◽  
Cultural Autonomy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Edward Kamau Brathwaite ◽  
The Uk

As a colonial subject and woman of colour, Una Marson occupies a unique place in the history of wartime broadcasting in Britain. Her weekly programCalling the West Indies began as a “message home” program for Caribbean soldiers stationed in the UK but grew, as the war progressed, into a literary and cultural forum for writers from across the Black Atlantic. Though barred from advocating openly for independence, Marson used her program to promote West Indian cultural autonomy by spotlighting emerging Caribbean literary figures and forging connections with activists and intellectuals from the U.S., Britain, Africa, and elsewhere. Beyond building such transatlantic networks, Calling the West Indies afforded listeners in the Caribbean the first opportunities to hear literature spoken in the West Indian forms of English which Edward Kamau Brathwaite would go on to call “nation language.” By focusing on Marson’s wartime work, this chapter rectifies a persistent tendency, in histories of Caribbean literature and broadcasting, to omit not only the central role played by this progressive feminist intellectual, but also the role of the war itself as catalyst to the postwar literary renaissance in the West Indies.

Henry Smeathman, the Flycatcher

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre Coleman
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West Indies ◽  
West African ◽  
Middle Passage ◽  
The West ◽  
Plantation Slavery ◽  
West African Coast ◽  
The World ◽  
African Coast

In 1771 Joseph Banks, John Fothergill and other wealthy collectors sent a talented, self-taught naturalist to Sierra Leone to collect all things rare and curious, from moths to monkeys. The name of this collector was Henry Smeathman, an ingenious and enterprising Yorkshireman keen on improving his position in the world. His expedition to the West African coast, which coincided with a steep rise in British slave trading in this area, lasted four years during which time he built a house on the Banana Islands, married several times into the coast’s ruling dynasties, and managed to negotiate the tricky life of a ‘stranger’ bound to landlords and local customs. In this book, which draws on a rich and little-known archive of journals and letters, Coleman retraces Smeathman’s life and his attitudes to slavery, both African and European, as he shuttled between his home on the Bananas and two key Liverpool trading forts—Bunce Island and the Isles de Los. In the logistical challenges of tropical collecting and the dispatch of specimens across the middle passage we see the close connection forged in this period between science, collecting, and slavery. The book also reproduces and discusses Smeathman’s essay describing his journey on a fully slaved ship from West Africa to Barbados, a unique account because it is written by a passenger unconnected to the slave trade. After four years in the West Indies observing plantation slavery Smeathman returned to England to write his ‘Voyages and Travels’.

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