The Spatial Factor In African History: The Relationship Of The Social, Material, and Perceptual (African Social Studies Series)

384 Pages·2004·2.52 MB·English

by  Allen M. Howard

The Spatial Factor in African History
African Social
Studies Series
Editorial Board
Mahamadou Diallo, University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Mongi Bahloul, University of SFAX, Tunisia
Kimani Gacau, University of Zimbabwe
Kempe Ronald Hope, University of Botswana
Muyiwa Falaiye, University of Lagos
Funwi Ayuninjam, Kentucky State University, USA
George Agbango, Bloomberg University, USA
Daniel Mengara, Montclair State University, USA
Janet McIntosh, Harvard University, USA
Hannington Ochwada, University of Florida, USA
Gerti Hesseling, Africa Studies Centre Leiden, The Netherlands
Louis Brenner, SOAS, London
A. B. Bodomo, University of Hong Kong, China
VOLUME 8
The Spatial Factor
in African History
The Relationship of the Social,
Material, and Perceptual
Edited by
Allen M. Howard
Richard M. Shain
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2005
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data is available on the
Library of Congress website: catalog.loc.gov
LC control number: 2004058586
ISSN 1568-1203
ISBN 90 04 13913 3
© Copyright 2005 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers,
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................ vii
Titles and Locations of Maps and other Figures .................. xi
Introduction: African History and Social Space in Africa .... 1
Allen M. Howard and Richard M. Shain
Nodes, Networks, Landscapes, and Regions: Reading
the Social History of Tropical Africa 1700s–1920 ............ 21
Allen M. Howard
“Region” as Historical Production: Narrative Maps from
the Western Serengeti, Tanzania ........................................ 141
Jan Bender Shetler
Mobility, Genealogical Memory, and Constructions of
Social Space in Northern Gabon ........................................ 177
John M. Cinnamon
The Disappearing District? Territorial Transformation in
Southern Gabon 1850–1950 ................................................ 221
Christopher Gray
The Salt That Binds: The Historical Geography of a
Central Nigerian Regional Identity .................................... 245
Richard M. Shain
Habitation and Warfare Strategies in 19th Century
Mande—a View from the Kafu ............................................ 261
Jan Jansen
Re-Marking on the Past: Spatial Structures and
Dynamics in the Sierra Leone-Guinea Plain,
1860–1920s ............................................................................ 291
Allen M. Howard
vi contents
Abstracts .................................................................................... 349
Contributors .............................................................................. 353
Index .......................................................................................... 355
PREFACE
The Spatial Factor in African History. The Relationship of the Social, Material,
and Perceptual is the product of a planned, long-term effort to bring
together scholars who have been applying spatial analysis in their
work. From the beginning, we have hoped to demonstrate the use-
fulness of spatial analysis for many problems in the writing of African
history and for current issues as well. The project originated infor-
mally when most of the present contributors, and others, began talk-
ing after a panel at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the African Studies
Association, where Allen Howard presented a paper on spatial analy-
sis. At that time, we discovered that we had many common inter-
ests and were seeking new ways of applying spatial analysis in our
work. All of us agreed with the proposition that social space is not
simply something “out there,” a passive backdrop for events, but
rather that space and social practices are dynamically linked. We
decided that we would form an on-going group to pursue our joint
interests. In order to get to know one another’s work, recruit oth-
ers, and receive criticism about the spatial models we were employ-
ing or considering using, five of us participated in a panel we organized
at the 1998 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association.
Two of us also joined a panel on spatial analysis at the 1997 Social
Science History Association Meeting. All of the chapters here, except
one, were originally given as papers at one or more of those con-
ferences. We also met regularly at the Annual Meetings of the African
Studies Association to discuss our individual research and writing
and the progress of the overall project. Charles Ambler, of the
University of Texas at El Paso, and Eli Bentor, of Appalachian State
University, were part of our original group and added to the evo-
lution of our thinking, but did not prepare a chapter for this
volume.
We also made other efforts to provide an intellectual integrity to
this book, even though the particular case studies and theoretical
approaches vary significantly. Most important, we selected and cir-
culated a number of theoretical and conceptual writings by geogra-
phers and others that we felt were particularly salient for questions
of spatiality in the African past. We did not, however, try to find
viii preface
one way, or “the way” to apply theory. An important feature of this
volume is how authors use different theories and illustrate the vari-
ous directions in which the study of African social space is devel-
oping. Nonetheless, we all have sought to extend the spatial approach
in four major ways: by demonstrating the active quality of space,
applying spatial theory explicitly, focusing on regions, and combin-
ing social, material, and perceptual approaches.
We would especially like to thank Margaret Jean Hay, of the
African Studies Center at Boston University, for her continuous sup-
port and encouragement in the development of this book. Many
thanks also to Michael Siegel, Cartographer of the Geography
Department at Rutgers University, who created most of the maps
and diagrams, and redrafted others from the originals. The Center
for Historical Analysis at Rutgers provided a research fund that
assisted in the production of the graphics. We are very appreciative
of the skilled editorial work and production oversight by our editors
at Brill Academic Publications: Joed Elich, Mattie Kuiper, and espe-
cially Regine Reincke and Ivo Romein, who saw the manuscript
through to completion. In the individual chapters, each of us acknowl-
edges those who gave us critical commentary, as well as support for
research and writing. As will be clear in the volume, most of us
have been directly or indirectly influenced by the writing and think-
ing of Jan Vansina, Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin—
Madison.
This book is dedicated to the memory and scholarly inspiration
of Chris Gray (1958–2000), who died a few months after sending
Allen Howard the revised version of his chapter. We all greatly
enjoyed Chris’ comradeship and miss his bright personality and
insightful contributions. We have asked John Cinnamon, who knew
Chris longest and best, to write a brief remembrance, and we also
encourage readers to peruse the more extended biography and the
bibliography of Chris Gray’s writings that are included in his excel-
lent posthumous monograph.
Piscataway, NJ, June 2004
John Cinnamon writes: I first met Chris Gray in summer 1982 in
Libreville, when he arrived in Gabon for Peace Corp training. He
was a friendly, thoughtful person, motivated by deep intellectual
preface ix
curiosity. He had already begun to assemble a library of available
publications on Gabonese history and culture. While a Peace Corp
volunteer in Mouila, he developed an abiding interest in southern
Gabon, which would come to fruition in his 1995 dissertation in his-
tory, directed by Phyllis Martin at Indiana University, and his 2002
book, Colonial Rule and Crisis in Equatorial Africa. Southern Gabon ca.
1850–1940, with Rochester University Press.
In 1984 Chris transferred to Peace Corps Senegal for two years,
then in 1986 enrolled in a Master’s program in African Studies at
the School for African and Oriental Studies, London. His master’s
thesis compared the works of Cheikh Anta Diop and his prominent
Congolese disciple, Théophile Obenga. This study was later pub-
lished as a book: Conceptions of History in the Works of Cheikh Anta Diop
and Théophile Obenga (London: Karnak House, 1989).
As a historian, teacher, colleague, and friend, Chris Gray distin-
guished himself by his thoughtful, probing, original scholarship, his
deep integrity and commitment to social justice, and his generosity.
He was at the center of a small network of Gabon scholars and also
maintained important ties with the African Studies community.
Although his life was cut short by cancer at the age of forty-two,
he had already made a significant contribution to African Studies
and to the lives of all who came into contact with him. His loss is
deeply felt by his many friends and colleagues. Chris Gray was a
gentleman and a scholar, in the true senses of both terms.
Hamilton, OH, June 2004