| Description |
1 online resource (xvii, 293 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Series |
Social history of Africa |
|
Social history of Africa.
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| Contents |
Introduction: The Contradictory Consciousness of a Swahili Crowd -- 1. Peasants, Commodities and Power -- 2. Struggles for the Caravan Trade -- 3. Brute Beasts and Articulate Rebels -- 4. Theft and Marriage -- 5. Feasts and Riot -- 6. Big Men and Impudent Children -- 7. The Festival Riots of August and September 1888 -- 8. Pangani under Rebel Rule -- Epilogue: The Ambiguities of Conquest |
| Summary |
In 1888 a handful of German adventurers bungled an attempt to conquer the Muslim towns of the East African coast. They were expelled almost immediately, but their intrusion sparked a political crisis that led to the collapse of all civil authority in the Swahili towns. Feasts and Riot traces the background to that crisis, using the events of 1888 as a window through which to examine the nature of class conflict and popular consciousness in precolonial Africa. It focuses on tensions that had been mounting throughout the nineteenth century, linked in part to the rapid expansion of international trade. Yet rather than argue that external trade determined the relations of domination in Swahili society, Glassman instead shows how the contours of market penetration were themselves shaped by local patterns of struggle, particularly struggle over the definition of community institutions. Deriving his approach from the writings of Gramsci, the author focuses on the ambiguity of popular rebellion. Lower-class rebels were motivated neither by a distinct, class-based vision of society nor by dedication to any "traditional" way of life. Instead, they expressed a rebellious interpretation of community ideals, ideals they held in common with their social superiors. At the heart of the book is a colorful analysis of the raucous public rituals at which authority was challenged and debated and the competitive feasts at which hosts and guests aggressively challenged one another to disruptive displays of generosity and gratitude |
| Analysis |
Rebellions History |
|
East Africa |
| Notes |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-282) and index |
| Notes |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
|
Print version |
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digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL |
| In |
ACLS Humanities E-Book. |
| Subject |
Küste
|
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Swahili (volk)
|
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Oproeren.
|
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Geschichte.
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Geschichte 1856-1888.
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Swahili-speaking peoples -- Social life and customs.
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Africa, East -- History -- To 1886.
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Indian Coast (Africa) -- History
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Africa, East
|
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Africa -- Indian Coast
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Ostafrika
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Swahili (Volk)
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Afrique orientale anglophone -- Histoire -- jusquà -- 1886.
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Afrique orientale -- Jusqu'à 1886.
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Indien, Côte de lʹOcéan (Afrique) -- Histoire.
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Africa, East -- History.
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
94034509 |
| ISBN |
0435089560 |
|
9780435089566 |
|
