State Formation in Eastern Africa PDF
Preview State Formation in Eastern Africa
State Formation Eastern in Balowoka Chewa Yao Luo Bunyoro Acholi Shona Lugbara Kitutu W Ethiopia Swahili Ahmed dited by Idha Salim BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY , ^u 5: pp State Formation in Eastern Africa Edited by Ahmed Idha Salim Associate Professor, DepartmentofHistory University ofNairobi IDRAWN Mo longcf tft§ property oftho l*w Sate of this material benefited fte Heinemann Educational Books NAIROBI LONDON IBADAN Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, Kijabe Street, PO Box 45314, Nairobi 22Bedford Square, LondonWC1B 3HH PMB5205,Ibadan EDINBURGH MELBOURNE AUCKLAND HONG KONG SINGAPORE KUALALUMPUR NEW DELHI KINGSTON PORTOFSPAIN © HistoryDepartment, UniversityofNairobi 1984 Firstpublished 1984 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data State formation in Eas—tern Africa. — 1. Africa—, Eastern Politics and go—vernment To 1886 2. Africa. Eastern Politics and government 1886-1918 I. Salim, Ahmed I. 320.1'09676 JQ2945 ISBN 0-435-94364-2 Setin 10/11 TimesbyActivityLtd, Salisbury, Wilts Printed in Kenya by General Printers Ltd, Homa Bay Road, P.O. Box 18001, Nairobi, Kenya. 1 Contents Listofmaps v Listofcontributors vi Introduction 1 Ahmed Idha Salim 1 PrecolonialstatesandEuropean merchantcapitalin 15 Eastern Africa Bonaventure Swai 2 The Balowokaandtheestablishmentofstates westof 36 Lake Malawi Owen J. M. Kalinga 3 Politicalchangeamongthe Chewaand Yaoofthe 53 Lake Malawi region, c.1750-1900 Kings M. Phiri 4 TheemergenceofBunyoro: thetributarymodeof 70 production and theformation ofthe state, 1400-1900 Edward Steinhart 5 'State'formationandlanguagechangein 9 westernmost Acholi in the eighteenth century Ronald R. Atkinson 6 Theconstruction ofdominance: thestrategiesof 126 selected Luo groups in Uganda and Kenya R. S. Herring, D. W. Cohen and B. A. Ogot Hi iv Contents 1 Ideologyandstateformation:political 162 and communal ideologies among the south-eastern Shona, 1500-1890 J. K. Rennie 8 The Lugbarastatesintheeighteenth and 195 nineteenth centuries O. J. E. Shiroya 9 Insearch ofastateamongthe Kitutuin 207 the nineteenth century William R. Ochieng' 10 Witu, Swahilihistoryandthehistorians 216 J. de Vere Allen 11 Stateformation insouth-western Ethiopia 250 Eike Haberland Index 261 maps List of Map 1 Northern Malawi in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, showing the Lowoka states and their neighbours Map 2 The Lake Malawi region: location ofsome nineteenth-century Chewa and Yao states Map 3 The Bunyoro area in Uganda Map 4 The Acholi region in the eighteenth century Map 5 The distribution of Luo groups in Kenya and Uganda Map 6 The south-eastern Shona area in Zimbabwe Map 7 The Lugbara and neighbouring ethnic groups Map 8 Western Kenya in the nineteenth century Map 9 The Kenya coast, showing the area surrounding the Witu Sultanate Map 10 South-west Ethiopia List of contributors James de Vere Allen, formerly of the Institute of African Studies and Department of History, University of Nairobi Ronald R. Atkinson, Department of General and African Studies, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana David W. Cohen, Johns Hopkins University Eike Haberland, Director, Frobenius-Institut, University of Frankfurt Ralph S. Herring, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara Owen J. M. Kalinga, Department of History, University of Malawi William R. Ochieng', Department of History, Kenyatta University College, University of Nairobi Bethwell A. Ogot, formerly of the Departments of History, University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University College Kings M. Phiri, Department of History, University of Malawi J. K. Rennie, Department of History, University of Zambia Ahmed I. Salim, Department of History, University of Nairobi O. J. E. Shiroya, Department ofHistory, Kenyatta University College, University of Nairobi Edward Steinhart, formerly of the Departments of History, University of Nairobi and University of Zambia Bonaventure Swai, DepartmentofHistory, UniversityofDaresSalaam VI Introduction AHMED IDHA SALIM This volume brings together eleven papers selected from those read at a conference held in Nakuru in September 1979 on the theme 'State formation in Eastern Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries'. The conference was organised by the Department ofHistory, University of Nairobi, and sponsored by the Goethe-Institut. Geographically speaking, the region covered by the conference papers stretches all the way from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south and from the Zairean-Ugandanborderinthewesttothe IndianOceanintheEast. Itis thus a vast area and the authors were given the freedom to write on any Eastern African society here amidst which a state of sorts was established. Inevitably,eachauthormusthavebeenconfrontedwiththeproblemof A defining the term 'state' in the course of writing his contribution. considerable amount of time was expended during the conference's deliberation on debating this issue ofthe definition of'state' (even ifthis is not reflected anywhere in this volume) and, not surprisingly, a consensusprovedelusive. Notsurprisingly, becausesuchaconsensushas neverpreviously been achieved. One is aware ofthe on-goinginterest in the theoretical side of the 'state' and the 'state formation' debate. This volume provides additional case-study material reflecting some of the points at issuewhichwill be dealtwith in this introduction. Much of the literature devoted to the subject of the definition of the term 'state' hasbeenpolemical andnormative, giventoadvancingproofs of the 'superiority' of one system as opposed to another. Conflict and parochialism have prevented arrival at an agreement and have overshadowedthe searchforasetofcommondenominators. Asaresult, it has proved impossible to offer a uniformly acceptable definition ofthe term 'state'. Thus, definitionsofthetermhavetendedtocoverawidespectrum. At one extreme, the state is defined as possessing one or more concrete or specific features such as organised law-and-order institutions (e.g. a policeforce) spatialboundariesoraformaljudiciary. Attheotherendof , the spectrum, the state is seen simply as the institutional aspect of political interaction, with no specific politico-juridicial structures. In between come other definitions, invariably inspired by the historical period and the socio-political situation the theorist lived in, observed or 2 AhmedI. Salim wished to see created. Thus, Machiavelli, the man who introduced the word 'state' in its modern sense into the vocabularyofpolitics, was more concerned with the sixteenth-century problems facing his native Italy, 'the traditional bone ofcontention' betweenemperors and popes, where petty republics and principalities were engaged in a ruthless struggle for power, and where, therefore, there existed a dire need for one powerful rulertoserveasafocusforthecreationofasinglestate. Inevitably,sucha rulerhadtohavemaximumpowerandpossesstheskillsandthegeniusto maintain it. The early critics of this theory were the first to give 'machiavellian' itsperjorative meaning. More acceptable in Europe wasJean Bodin'sconcept of'state' which, like Machiavelli's, was shaped by the sixteenth-century conditions ofhis native country, France. Bodin laid more emphasis on the ruler as law-makerthan ascustodianofsupremepower. Then came 'thestormof change' lateintheeighteenthcentury. Rousseau'sSocialContractsought to replace monarchical power with popular sovereignty, a theory that gained currency during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Karl Marxwastobase histheoryofstateformationonclassformation andthe mode of production. In his view, the state is thrown up when a class society has developed within which a dominant class, possessing control over the modes of production, perpetuates this dominance and the control upon which depends its dominance. It does so by using instruments of coersion (e.g. police and the military) or ideology (e.g. religion and ritual). In other words, Marx sees the state simply as an agencyofeconomicoppressionofone classby another. It will be seen therefore that theories about, and definitions of, 'state' developedout ofthe Europeanexperience and milieu. These definitions have linked the concept of state to one or several of the following: territoriality, sovereignty, religion and economy. Thus, questions on these lines have arisen: does a state have to be a defined territorial unit? Answer: there are problems in the association of a state with a defined and bounded territory. The result is that the term has been stretched so broadlyastoencompassbothacephalous, territoriallyunfocusedkinship groupsandaformallyorganised,territoriallydelimited,complexsociety. Territoriality in turn raises the question of sovereignty - a final authority in charge of decision-making. But, again, sovereignty is a relative concept. Some states claim total power in the hands of their rulers. In other polities, the ruler's authority may be circumscribed and reduced. Thus, in England, Magna Cartaserved thispurpose in a feudal setting. Anthropologists and sociologists working among precolonial African societies have recorded the structural limits imposed on the poweroftherulerwho,inmanypolities,hasbeenfoundtobeinhibitedin theexerciseofhisofficebythe needtorelyon advisersandagentsandby theweightofritual andtradition. Someessaysinthisvolume reflect this, aswill beseen.
The list of books you might like
