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Author Keese, Alexander, author

Title Ethnicity and the colonial state : finding and representing group identifications in a coastal West African and global perspective (1850-1960) / by Alexander Keese
Published Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016]
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Description 1 online resource (ix, 377 pages)
Series Studies in global social history ; volume 22
Studies in global social history ; v. 22.
Contents Introduction -- Group identifications : African and global categories -- Wolof and Wolofisation : statehood, colonial rule, and identification in Senegal -- Fragmentation and the Temne : from war raids into ethnic civil wars -- 'Ethnic identity' as an anti-colonial weapon? Ewe mobilisation from the late nineteenth century to the 1960s -- Conclusion
Summary Ethnicity and the Colonial State analyses, through a comparison of three West African communities (Wolof, Temne, and Ewe), the ways in which ethnic labels and arguments are used (or omitted) in dealings with colonial administrations. It follows these strategies and choices over more than a century, between the conquest periods and independence. Where state structures were weak as a factor of group cohesion, ethnic arguments were especially likely to come into play. The analysis discusses internal fissures and conflicting interests within the communities as other incentives for ethnic coalition-building. The observations made in this book are put into the context of a global historical perspective, for which "ethnicity" has so far remained a badly defined concept
Notes "An earlier version of this monograph was accepted as habilitation thesis by the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Berne, Switzerland, in 2010"--Title page verso
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on December 17, 2015)
In Books at JSTOR: Open Access JSTOR
OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) OAPEN
Subject Ethnicity -- Africa, West -- History
Group identity -- Africa, West -- History
Wolof (African people) -- Ethnic identity
Ewe (African people) -- Ethnic identity
Temne (African people) -- Ethnic identity
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
HISTORY -- Social History.
Ethnic relations
Ethnicity
Group identity
SUBJECT Africa, West -- Ethnic relations
Subject West Africa
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2015040771
ISBN 9789004307353
9004307354