Locating the politics of a Sierra Leonean chiefdom

Africa ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fanthorpe
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Primary Means

The chiefdoms of Sierra Leone are institutions of colonial origin but nevertheless continue to serve as local government units in the post-colonial state. The prevailing view among scholars is that these institutions have little basis in indigenous political culture, and have furthermore become breeding grounds of political corruption. This view has tended to elide anthropological analysis of internal chiefdom politics. However, it is argued in this article that such conclusions are premature. With reference to the Biriwa Limba chiefdom of northern Sierra Leone, it is shown that historical precedent, in many cases relating to prominent political figures of the late nineteenth century, continues to serve as a primary means of ordering local rights in land, settlement and political representation. This phenomenon is not a product of innate conservatism but emerges rather as a pragmatic response to the persistent failure of successive Sierra Leone administrations to extend modern measures of citizenship to the bulk of the rural populace. Rights and properties have become progressively localised in villages originally registered for tax collection in the early colonial era. Here one finds one of the most telling legacies of the British policy of indirect rule in post-colonial Sierra Leone.

The sovereignty of political economy: The Garos in a pre-conquest and early conquest era

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-387
Author(s):  
Sanghamitra Misra
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Eastern India ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Colonial Archive ◽  
The Hill

The article is an inquiry into the elision of an image—that of the cotton-producing Garo—in the colonial archive. It situates this inquiry within the pre- and early colonial era where it is still possible to uncover elements of the irrefutable sovereign presence of Garos in eastern India as well as of the regional economic and political system through which the Garo social being makes itself historically visible. Parsing together a narrative of the Garo political order in this period, the article will discuss the ways in which the sovereignty of a people was pivoted around the production and trade in cotton. Rescuing the image of the cotton-producing Garo from the colonial archive is also a retracing of the seamless becoming of the Garo peasant, as adept at working with the hoe as with the plough, into a cotton trader who embarked on long journeys on foot and on boats every cotton season to the lowlands. The article will also probe into the germaneness of the concept of the ‘hill/forest tribe’ with the sedentary plainsman as its oppositional image and the embedding of ethnicity in circumscribed ‘natural’ habitats in eastern India by the colonial state.

scholarly journals A kingdom with many internal facets: power, politics and instability in a post-colonial state. Ramifications for public stability

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Mlambo
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Relations

Lesotho offers an exciting case study for the analysis of the interface between power, politics and instability. Since gaining its independence from Britain in 1966, Lesotho has over the last five decades been plagued by persistent political instability that has paved way for the breakdown of the rule of law, gross human rights violations, underdevelopment and insecurity where at times the security sector like the Lesotho Defence Force has taken over several key institutions in the country. Political instability in the tiny kingdom has been a daunting agenda for all concerned actors, including political parties, civil society, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other continental stakeholders. While the security sector of any state is of importance, it becomes problematic if it becomes involved in a state’s political affairs. The repercussions of such trajectories of governance have been quite profound for democratic stability and security. Using a qualitative methodology, supplemented by secondary data, this article seeks to unearth Lesotho’s political instability, the role of its security forces and continental actors in its continuous internal governance crisis post the colonial era. The article rightfully shows that The power, possessed by both the military and police, has made them have a robust role in state affairs rather than institutions, mandated to safeguard Lesotho’s citizens. The legitimacy of the security sector underpins restructuring, transparent and accessible security sectors enhance healthy civil-military relations. Restructuring a state’s security and political dynamic reforms is not an easy task, it requires a state managerial and dedication prowess and assistance from different role players and therefore an ample amount of time and effort is invested in the coordination of this process.

scholarly journals ‘The Worldly Advantage It Gives … ’ Missionary Education, Migration and Intergenerational Mobility in the Long Nineteenth Century, Ceylon and Malaya 1816–1916

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Hodelin-ter Wal
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Intergenerational Mobility ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
American Missionaries ◽  
Missionary Education ◽  
The Core ◽  
Religious Networks ◽  
Education And Employment

During the mid-nineteenth century, many Tamils in Ceylon sent their children to Protestant missionary schools while some adults went to work for missionaries to gain education and employment. Though the ties to the Vellalar caste were strong, the gains of colonial employment and education were more influential to those of the Vellalar caste intermingling with Christian missionaries. Interaction with British and American missionaries in the early to late nineteenth century ultimately led to the migration of this group to British Malaya. Circumstances in Ceylon, as well as the drive for resources such as education and employment, led to the push away from the old colony of Ceylon to the frontier colony of Malaya. This article will showcase the agency of the Ceylonese Tamils within British Ceylon and Malaya during the late colonial era. In order to understand the clout of Ceylonese Tamils in the frontier colony of Malaya, an examination of the agency they held onto in British Ceylon is essential for review. The transfer of educational and religious networks from one colony to the other is the core of comprehending the migratory experiences and intergenerational mobility over generations in colonial to post-colonial Malaya/Malaysia. JEL: N00, Z12, Z10

Communism in Africa

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Drew
Keyword(s):  
State Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
International Alliances ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
New States

Communism in Africa can be analyzed along two dimensions: Communist movements that generally developed between the two world wars and were subjected to state repression and communism as a post-colonial state policy. During the colonial era communists built alliances with democratic and anti-colonial movements; any success reflected their ability to forge links with trade unions and nationalist organizations. Following independence, many new states adopted communist ideology and policies to facilitate international alliances and promote development. Those regimes form a subset of African one-party states that span the ideological spectrum. In post-colonial Africa communist and socialist movements have made episodic political gains during turbulent periods, but they have found it difficult to capitalize on such advances when faced with multiparty elections.

What Was the Late Colonial State?

Itinerario ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Darwin
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Subaltern History

The historiography of the late colonial era has had a love-hate relationship with the colonial state. In the early years of post-colonial independence, much history was written to record and celebrate the achievements of ‘nation-building’. The founding fathers of independence had defeated the colonial state in their struggle against its oppressions. The old state, now under new management, but with the same boundaries, language and (usually) administrative structure, had become a nation, with an undisputed claim to the loyalty of its former colonial subjects. The task of the historian was to show how a national identity had emerged ineluctably from the bundle of districts cellotaped together by colonialism into a dependency, and how it had been mobilised to throw off colonial rule and create a sovereign nation. Subsequently, as this version of the recent colonial past was undermined by the difficulties and divisions of the independent present, and, in some cases, by disillusionment with its ruling elite, the focus shifted towards the sources of popular resistance in the colonial period. In this ‘subaltern’ history, the emphasis was upon uncovering rural struggles, local solidarities, and ‘hidden’ communities of belief that colonial rulers had ignored, or suppressed but which had played a key part in destroying the legitimacy and exercise of their power. The implication here was that the colonial state was an alien coercive force whose continuation into the post-colonial era (even with a change of crew) had frustrated social justice and the achievement of an authentic post-colonial identity.

Sex and Song

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Firpo
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
The State ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
Illegal Activities ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
State Restrictions

In the late nineteenth century, the French colonial government legalized prostitution in French-controlled areas of Tonkin. Although the colonial state tolerated prostitution, state regulations forced sex workers to register with the state and limited sex workers’ profits, mobility, and freedom. Consequently, a black market for clandestine unregistered prostitution developed, enabling workers to evade state restrictions. This article asserts that during the inter-war years (1920–1945) unregistered sex workers used Ả Đào music houses as fronts for clandestine prostitution. The colonial state attempted to curb illegal activities in various ways, but clandestine prostitutes easily evaded the state. By the late colonial era, Ả Đào music’s association with prostitution had damaged its reputation.

Discerning an African Post-colonial Governance Imbroglio: Colonialism, Underdevelopment and Violent Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sierra Leone

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 66-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pak Nung Wong
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
African State ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Colonial Governance ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Violent Conflicts

Abstract By attributing recent violent conflicts in Africa to decades of underdevelopment which can be traced back to the colonial times, there is scholarly consent among pan-African scholars that the present African state is a neo-colonial construct and must be democratically reconstituted. In response to the pan-African intellectual-political project, this paper will provide a comparative historical-structural analysis of the post-colonial state formation processes in D. R. Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. There will be a discussion in the conclusion on the confrontation of the sub-Saharan African states with post-colonial governance imbroglio.

Removing the Blinders and Adjusting the View: A Case Study from Early Colonial Sierra Leone

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 169-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Magaziner
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
West African ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Colonial Government

Mende raiders caught Mr. Goodman, “an educated young Sierra Leonean clerk,” at Mocolong, where he “was first tortured by having his tongue cut out, and then being decapitated.” His was a brutal fate, not unlike those which befell scores of his fellow Sierra Leoneans in the spring of 1898. Others were stripped of their Europeanstyle clothes and systematically dismembered, leaving only mutilated bodies strewn across forest paths or cast into rivers. Stories of harrowing escapes and near-death encounters circulated widely. Missionary stations burned and trading factories lost their stocks to plunder. Desperate cries were heard in Freetown. Send help. Send gun-boats. Send the West India Regiment. Almost two years after the British had legally extended their control beyond the colony of Sierra Leone, Mende locals demonstrated that colonial law had yet to win popular assent.In 1898 Great Britain fought a war of conquest in the West African interior. To the northeast of the Colony, armed divisions pursued the Temne chief Bai Bureh's guerrilla fighters through the hot summer months, while in the south the forest ran with Mende “war-boys,” small bands of fighters who emerged onto mission stations and trading factories, attacked, and then vanished. Mr. Goodman had had the misfortune to pursue his living among the latter. In the north, Bai Bureh fought a more easily definable ‘war,’ a struggle which pitted his supporters against imperial troops and other easily identified representatives of the colonial government. No reports of brutalities done to civilians ensued. In the south, however, Sierra Leoneans and missionaries, both men and women, joined British troops and officials on the casualty rolls.

Imitation, Then and Now: On the emergence of philanthropy in early colonial Calcutta

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN A. HATCHER
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Cultural Borrowing ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe goal of this article is to provide conceptual and historical orientation useful for thinking about the emergence of philanthropy in modern South Asia. Conceptually, the article suggests the need to approach the expression of philanthropy in early colonial Bengal in terms of processes of imitation. To do so, we must overcome the stigma attached to the idea of imitation within both nationalist and post-colonial thought. In the particular context of early colonial Calcutta, local actors entered into intimate relationships with Europeans and these relationships provided occasions to borrow, translate, and retool a range of ideas and practices relevant to new modes of public charity. The importance of attending to historical context is suggested by reading such early colonial developments against the grain of late nineteenth-century perspectives—a time when Bengalis grew anxious about cultural imitation. Rather than deferring to these late-colonial anxieties over imitation, we need to situate them within a critically informed historical framework. To do this, the present article draws on the writings of the Brāhmo intellectual Rajnarain Bose, who pondered the relationship between an earlier colonial moment (‘then’) and his own late-colonial ‘now’. Close reading of Bose allows us to plumb the nature of late-colonial anxiety about cultural borrowing while opening up a new perspective on imitation and intimacy in early colonial Bengal that is not predicated on the teleology of the late-colonial modern.

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