'Masterful.' - The Economist The Congo-Ocean railroad stands as one of the deadliest construction projects in history. It was completed in 1934, when Equatorial Africa was a French colony. African workers were conscripted at gunpoint, separated from their families and subjected to hellish conditions as they hacked their way through dense tropical foliage; excavated by hand thousands of tonnes of earth in order to lay down track; blasted their way through rock to construct tunnels; or risked their lives building bridges over otherwise impassable rivers. In the process, they suffered disease, malnutrition and rampant physical abuse, likely resulting in at least 20,000 deaths. Drawing on exhaustive research in French and Congolese archives, a chilling documentary record and eye-opening photographic evidence, J. P. Daughton tells the epic story of the Congo-Ocean railroad, and in doing so reveals the human costs and contradictions of modern empire.

This book is about Angolan literature and culture. It investigates a segment of Angolan history and literature, with which even Portuguese-speaking readers are generally not familiar. Its main purpose is to define the features and the literary production of the so-called 'creole elite', as well as its contribution to the early manifestations of dissatisfaction towards colonial rule patent during a period of renewed Portuguese commitment to its African colonies, but also of unrealised ambitions, economic crisis, and socio-political upheaval in Angola and in Portugal itself. Nineteenth-century Angolan society was characterised by the presence of a semi-urbanised commercial and administrative elite of Portuguese-speaking creole families--white, black, some of mixed race, some Catholic and others Protestant, some old established and others cosmopolitan--who were based in the main coastal towns. As well as their wealth, derived from the functions performed in the colonial administrative, commercial and customs apparatus, their European-influenced culture and habits clearly distinguished them from the broad native population of black peasants and farm workers. In order to expand its control over the region, Portugal desperately needed the support of this kind of non-coloniser urban elite, which was also used as an assimilating force, or better as a source of dissemination of a relevant model of social behaviour. Thus, until the 1850s great creole merchants and inland chiefs dealt in captive slaves, bound for export to Brazil via Cape Verde and Sao Tome: the tribal aristocracy and the creole bourgeoisie thrived on the profits of overseas trade and lived in style, consuming imported alcoholic beverages and wearing European clothes. After the abolition, however, their social and economic position was eroded by an influx of petty merchants and bureaucrats from Portugal who wished to grasp the commercial and employment opportunities created by a new and modern colonial order, anxious to keep up with other European colonial powers engaged in the partition of the African continent. This book thus considers the first intellectuals, the early printed publications in the country, and the pioneers of Angolan literature who felt the need to raise their roots to higher dignity. Thus, they wrote grammar, dictionaries, poetry, fiction, and of course, incendiary articles denouncing exploitation, racism, and the different treatment afforded by the colonial authorities to Portuguese expatriates and natives.

This book examines the Empire's Patriotic Fund, established in Victoria, Australia, in 1901 to assist the dependants of the men serving in the Boer War and the men invalided home because of wounds or illness. Acting as an autonomous body and drawing on funds raised through a public appeal, its work marked one of the first attempts in Australia to deal with the consequences of Australian participation in a sustained war. This is the first full study of an Australian fund established to support those affected by a sustained war being fought for Empire by Australians. Rather than casting those affected by war as victims, John McQuilton examines how a body of middle class men attempted to come to grips with an experience that lay outside prevailing notions of social welfare. Based on applications submitted to the Empire's Patriotic Fund where both class and gender played their roles, this book opens up further study of such funds and the question of antecedents in the history of repatriation in Australia in the early twentieth century.

Hierdie publikasie gee ’n volledige beeld van die kunstenaar Frans David Oerder (1867–1944) se oeuvre – sy Anglo-Boereoorlogtekeninge, landskappe, genrestukke, portrette, blomstudies en stillewes, interieurs, dierestudies en grafiese werk. Geen moeite is ontsien om hierdie boek so volledig en betroubaar moontlik te maak nie. Argivale bronne in die Kunsargief van die Universiteit van Pretoria, die Argief van die Johannesburg Kunsmuseum en die Nasionale Argief van Suid-Afrika in Pretoria het grootliks bygedra tot die toevoeging van inligting oor hierdie kunstenaar wat nie voorheen bekend was nie. Dieplakboek van Gerda Oerder en ’n lang lesing met detailinligting oor Oerder se vroee lewe deur mev. Lorimer in die Kunsargief van die Universiteit van Pretoria het bygedra tot ’n nuwe vertolking van die lewe en werk van hierdie belangrike Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar. Tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog was Oerder die enigste amptelike kunstenaar aan Boerekant, maar tot dusver is nog geen volledige geskiedenis van sy deelname aan die oorlog geskryf nie. In hierdie boek word Oerder se Anglo-Boereoorlogtekeninge nou vir die eerste keer so volledig moontlik afgedruk en beskryf.

"This is the first book-length study of the French Caribbean presence in Africa, and serves as a unique contribution to the field of African Diaspora and Colonial studies. By using administrative records, newspapers, and interviews, it explores the French Caribbean presence in the colonial administration in Africa before World War II"--Provided by publisher.

Springs, 1977. Robert en Jeanne Smit word wreed om die lewe gebring in wat die WVK later as 'n politiese gemotiveerde moord sou beskryf. Dekades daarna gons dit oor wie presies vir die grudaad verantwoordelik was. Daar is rookskerms en ontkenning, verduistering en misleidings, en bespiegelings en teorieë oor presies wie die aanvanklike opdrag gegee het.

En iewers in die politieke kookpot prut stories van 'n dapper dertienjarige dogter Liza Smit. Nadat haar ouers uit haar lewe geruk is, sou niks ooit weer dieselfde wees nie. Toe sy hoor dat die WVK die saak wil ontrafel, begin sy en die ondersoekende joernalis Alet van Rensburg die saak navors. Saam-saam durf die twee, met enorme deursettingsvermoë, vasberadenheid en 'n porsie domastrantheid die taak aan : om die waarheid te ontbloot oor die dood van Liza se ouers.

Liza se verhaal word afgewissel met uittreksels uit die oorspronklike veslag wat sy aan die ongure onderwêreld van die destydse Suid- Afrika vol korrupte politici, taakmagte en internasionale intriges. Dis ook die storie van 'n lewe wat afspeel teen hierdie agtergrond, en hoe een indrukwekkende vrou haarself uit haar persoonlike hel reg.

This is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds. Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa's longest and deadliest civil wars. The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued and ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction. This has resulted in double-digit growth in sub-Sahara's third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total Western aid to the entire continent. Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society. How has the regime, led by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations? Soares de Oliveira's book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.

The Angolan story is only another in the fantastic web of indulgence, misery, absurdity and suffering beyond expression that is bred in peace no less than war in 'situations' the world over. The story told in this title involves an understanding of what is particular to Angola, but it goes far beyond that. It is a story of the extremes of the human condition and, as such, its relevance is timeless. Combining reportage and analysis, Justin Pearce shows the human face of Angola at a critical juncture in its history. Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel movement UNITA, was killed in February 2002. Crippled by the large imbalance between its resources and those of the MPLA government and the death of its messianic leader, a cult figure who has been described as of Mao-Tse-Tung proportions, UNITA collapsed, giving Angola its first extended period of peace since the nationalist uprising against Portuguese rule in the 1960s. Working as the BBC correspondent based in Luanda, Justin Pearce was the only English-speaking journalist based in Angola in 2001 and 2002. He travelled extensively in Angola, hearing the testimonies of those whose lives were shaped by political divisions and war. He was also able to observe how Angola was governed in a manner which had little in common with the ideals professed by the government since independence. As is clear in the title, the words 'situation' and 'confusion' have a particular resonance in Angola. Both are part of the fatalistic discourse adopted by Angolans when talking about the war, or about the state of their society. Hunger, corruption and all manner of human misery may be blamed on the ‘situation', something which is implicitly unchanging. 'Confusion', for its part, can signify anything from the usual English sense of the word – a muddle, a misunderstanding – to a full-scale war, blurring the moral distinction between the two. This title speaks to the non-specialist reader with an interest in African affairs; or people who have a particular interest in Angola, be it through business, humanitarian or policy development work, and who are looking for a perspective on the country's recent social history.

Since the 1980s, democratic struggles have triggered constitutional reforms, elections, and other forms of political progress. This comprehensive volume offers refreshing perspectives on Africa's democratic renewal and will open up dialogue on the trends and trajectory of Africa's democratic future.

African research played a major role in transforming the discipline of anthropology in the twentieth century. Ethnographic studies, in turn, had significant effects on the way imperial powers in Africa approached subject peoples. Ordering Africa provides the first comparative history of these processes. With essays exploring metropolitan research institutes, Africans as ethnographers, the transnational features of knowledge production, and the relationship between anthropology and colonial administration, this volume both consolidates and extends a range of new research questions focusing on the politics of imperial knowledge. Specific chapters examine French West Africa, the Belgian and French Congo, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Italian Northeast Africa, Kenya, and Equatorial Africa (Gabon) as well as developments in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. A major collection of essays that will be welcomed by scholars interested in imperial history and the history of Africa. -- .

Selma Botman examines the virtually unknown history of communism in Egypt during the twentieth-century. In an original and well-documented study, the author has traced the development of the revolutionary left using political court cases, interviews with political activists, and literature from the communist movement itself. In the post-World War II period, Egyptian communists operated in an environment of extreme secrecy and periodic repression. While the communist movement never became a mainstream political force or had realistic capabilities for overthrowing the royalist regime, its importance and influence were much larger than its numbers imply. Egyptian Marxists had a significant ideological impact on Egyptian society, especially among the intelligentsia and to a lesser degree among trade unionists. Moreover, they were present at key moments of nationalist, student, and working-class militancy. The revolutionary left also contributed to the destabilization of the constitutional monarchy and the worn-out Wafd Party, the premier nationalist organization in Egypt, and helped pave the way for the emergence of Gamal Abdul Nasser and the Free Officers movement of 1952.

Breaking new ground in the study of European colonialism, this book focuses on a nation historically positioned between the Western and Eastern Empires of Europe - Finland. Although Finland never had overseas colonies, the authors argue that the country was undeniably involved in the colonial world, with Finns adopting ideologies and identities that cannot easily be disentangled from colonialism. This book explores the concepts of 'colonial complicity' and 'colonialism without colonies' in relation to Finland, a nation that was oppressed, but also itself complicit in colonialism. It offers insights into European colonialism on the margins of the continent and within a nation that has traditionally declared its innocence and exceptionalism. The book shows that Finns were active participants in various colonial contexts, including Southern Africa and Sapmi in the North. Demonstrating that colonialism was a common practice shared by all European nations, with or without formal colonies, this book provides essential reading for anyone interested in European colonial history. Chapters 1, 7 and 8 are available open access under a via link.springer.com.>

How did Tunisia succeed in eliminating the threat of militant Islamic fundamentalism? Borowiec examines the actions, which begin with the removal of the senile President Habib Bourguiba in 1987, known in Tunisia as the change. Today, while its next door neighbor, Algeria, is in the midst of an upheaval threatening modernization and a secular government, Tunisia is the only Muslim country to ban polygamy and to introduce state-funded contraception. Borowiec begins by sketching Tunisia's history from the Phoenician era onward. He provides a detailed analysis of the country's Islamic movement, and then examines the efforts of Bourguiba's successor, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to liberalize the economy, foster a Western orientation, and make education accessible to all. Interviews with leading government officials as well as educators, writers, and average Tunisians puts a human face on a process that may allow Tunisia to make the transition to become a young developed nation at the beginning of the next millennium. This book is important to scholars, researchers, and the general public concerned with events in North Africa and the Arab world.

Fully updated, and coming up to the present day, with new material encompassing current concerns, such as African opposition to apartheid, international anti-apartheid activities and recent events, such as the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as President of the ANC, which have led to deeper consideration of the differing ideological approaches reflected in the history, the volume gives students, with no prior background in South African history, a full historical grounding for the current situation in South Africa and its position in the world. African history, particularly global South African history encompassing as it does a site of historical racial tension, is popular in universities around the world, and with anniversaries approaching, such as the 25th anniversary of the democratic transition, and the 60th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, this will only increase. Even in its fourth edition it remains the only student-friendly text that focuses on the history of apartheid, as one of the most defining periods in modern history, as distinct from trying to provide a full account of the entirety of South African history.

This book takes as its theme the ways in which governments legitimate their rule, both to themselves and to their subjects. Its introduction explores legitimacy and pre-colonial states, but the three sections of the book deal with colonial legitimacy, the question of legitimation in the transition from colonialism to majority rule, and the contemporary debate about accountability.

"A strength of the volume is its coverage of the "applied" aspects of knowledge, from Anthropology through to Eugenics and state and social planning. There is also a commendable sensitivity to the unique ethnic dynamics of southern Africa, not least, for example, the complications of an "indigenized" and powerful Afrikaner nationalism." Donal Lowry, Oxford Brookes University This collection, dealing with case studies drawn from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Mauritius, examines the relationship between scientific claims and practices on the one hand and the exercise of colonial power on the other. It challenges conventional views that portray science as a detached mode of reasoning with the capacity to confer benefits in a more or less even-handed manner. That science has the potential to further the collective good is not fundamentally at issue, but science can also be seen as complicit in processes of colonial domination. Not only did science assist in bolstering aspects of colonial power and exploitation, it also possessed a significant ideological component: it offered a means of legitimating colonial authority by counter-poising Western rationality to native superstition and it served to enhance the self-image of colonial or settler elites in important respects. This innovative volume ranges broadly through topics such as statistics, medicine, eugenics, agriculture, entomology and botany. Its interdisciplinary approach will find a readership amongst historians, sociologists, anthropologists and historians of science and medicine, both at an undergraduate and at a specialist level. Contributions are drawn from South Africa, Britain and North America.

This project documents the rich source material in European and North American repositories relating to the history of countries formerly under colonial rule. The manuscript and document holdings of public and private archives, libraries, museums and other institutions referred to in the guide cover all aspects of history. The primary emphasis is on political, diplomatic, commercial and military history, but there is good coverage of cultural history - especially in the reports and correspondence of explorers and travellers in missionary archives. Each series, of which this is the third, is arranged by country; sources within national volumes are described by repositories and archival groups.

The Women of Cairo: Scenes of Life in the Orient, first published in 1929, describes the trip to Egypt and other locations in the Ottoman Empire taken by French Romanticist Gerard de Nerval. The book focuses on both reinforcing and dispelling the old ways in which people saw the Orient, as well as examining their old and new customs. This book is perfect for those studying history and travel.

Victims of political persecution since 2000, Zimbabwe's whites have never overcome the problem of belonging. In North America and Australia, Europeans became the majority and "normal" partially through the genocide of native peoples. Settlers to Zimbabwe, however, only comprised a tiny minority. They monopolized the territory but struggled to assimilate culturally. Rather than integrating with African societies, many adopted a strategy of social escape. In this arresting and powerful study, David McDermott Hughes shows how they became emotionally and artistically invested in the non-human environment surrounding them. He traces how writers, artists, and farmers crafted a white identity focused on ecological conservation and how, emerging from state terror, some are now groping toward a whiteness of uncommon humanity and humility.

Did colonialism, a world-historical catastrophe, inflict only material damage on the colonized, or did it cause psychic injury as well? What would it mean, then, to read postcolonial writings under the prism of trauma? In History, Trauma, and Healing in Post-Colonial Narratives, Ifowodo tackles these questions through a psycho-social examination of the lingering impact of imperialist domination. His hybrid method that encompasses historicism, psychoanalysis and a realist concept of linguistic reference stakes a bold, new ground in postcolonial studies. The focus is trans-continental and the analysis centered on primary texts that explore the African, African-American, and Caribbean experience of slavery/colonialism. The result is a refreshing and necessary complement to the cultural-materialist studies that dominate the field.