The powerful presence of the past : integration and conflict along the upper Guinea Coast

390 Pages·2010·1.92 MB·English

by  Jacqueline Knörr

The Powerful Presence of the Past
African Social Studies Series
Editorial Board
Martin R. Doornbos, International Institute of
Social Studies, The Hague
Carola Lentz, University of Mainz
John Lonsdale, University of Cambridge
VOLUME 24
The Powerful Presence of the Past
Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast
Edited by
Jacqueline Knörr and Wilson Trajano Filho
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
On the cover: Varela, Cacheu region, Guinea-Bissau, on 1 May 2008. Courtesy of
Markus Rudolf.
On May 1st, Varela is the most popular place for people from all over Guinea-
Bissau to celebrate the national holiday. The party takes place on the beach among
ruins of factories, hotels, and military barracks. People dance, drink, cook and set
up an open air festival. Tents are set up in and around steel skeletons of industrial
landmarks.
The slogan on the barrel is a reminder of the socialist days: “Jovem, o futuro
depende dos sonhos que alimentamos no presente!” which means “Juveniles/young
men and women—the future depends on the dreams we are feeding (developing/
keeping alive) in the present.”
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The powerful presence of the past : integration and conflict along the upper
Guinea Coast / edited by Jacqueline Knorr and Wilson Trajano Filho.
p. cm. — (African social studies series ; v. 24)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-19000-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Social integration—Africa, West. 2. Social conflict—Africa, West. 3. Intergroup
relations—Africa, West. 4. Africa, West—History. 5. Guinea, Gulf of, Region—
History. I. Knörr, Jacqueline, 1960– II. Trajano Filho, Wilson. III. Title. IV. Series.
HN820.A8P69 2010
303.60966—dc22
2010033568
ISSN 1568-1203
ISBN 978 90 04 19000 9
Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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Fees are subject to change.
CONTENTS
List of Maps ........................................................................................ vii
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix
List of Contributors ........................................................................... xi
Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
Jacqueline Knörr & Wilson Trajano Filho
(PRE-)COLONIAL LEGACIES
Patrimonial Logic of Centrifugal Forces in the Political
History of the Upper Guinea Coast ........................................... 27
William P. Murphy
Insurrection as Socioeconomic Change: Three Rebellions in
Guinea/Sierra Leone in the Eighteenth Century ..................... 55
Bruce Mouser
Kouankan and the Guinea-Liberian Border ................................. 75
James Fairhead
A Saucy Town? Regional Histories of Conflict, Collusion,
and Commerce in the Making of a Southeastern
Liberian Polity ................................................................................ 101
Elizabeth Tonkin
‘Traditional’ Jola Peacemaking: From the Perspectives of an
Historian and an Anthropologist ............................................... 137
Peter Mark & Jordi Tomàs
REVISITING THE POLITICS OF ELITE CULTURE
The Creole Idea of Nation and its Predicaments: The Case of
Guinea-Bissau ................................................................................ 157
Wilson Trajano Filho
vi contents
The Mutual Assimilation of Elites: The Development of
Secret Societies in Twentieth Century Liberian Politics ......... 185
Stephen Ellis
Out of Hiding? Strategies of Empowering the Past in the
Reconstruction of Krio Identity .................................................. 205
Jacqueline Knörr
THE POWER AND POLITICS OF MEMORIES
Map and Territory: The Politics of Place and Autochthony
among Baga Sitem (and their Neighbours) .............................. 231
Ramon Sarró
The Invention of Bulongic Identity (Guinea-Conakry) .............. 253
David Berliner
Victims and Heroes: Manding Historical Imagination in a
Conflict-ridden Border Region (Liberia-Guinea) .................... 273
Christian K. Højbjerg
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN INTERGENERATIONAL
AND GENDER RELATIONS
Are ‘Child Soldiers’ in Sierra Leone a New Phenomenon? ........ 297
Susan Shepler
Generating Rebels and Soldiers: On the Socio-Economic
Crisis of Rural Youth in Sierra Leone before the War ........... 323
Krijn Peters
Index .................................................................................................... 357
LIST OF MAPS
Bruce Mouser
Insurrection as Socioeconomic Change: Three Rebellions in Guinea/
Sierra Leone in the Eighteenth Century
Map 1: “Three eighteenth-century slave rebellions on the Guinea/
Sierra Leone Coast”
Elizabeth Tonkin
A Saucy Town? Regional Histories of Conflict, Collusion, and Com-
merce in the Making of a Southeastern Liberian Polity
Map 1: “Varying definitions of the Kru Coast”
Map 2: “Kru languages”
Map 3: “Liberian state boundaries at the end of the nineteenth century”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the contributors for their great coopera-
tion and patience in turning this volume into a reality. We are grateful
to those who have read the contributions and highly appreciate their
comments, as well as to those who assisted us in the copy-editing and
layout procedures. We would also like to thank the Max Planck Insti-
tute for Social Anthropology (Halle/Saale, Germany) for providing the
financial and institutional means to organize the conference that gave
way to the chapters of this book.