Rebellion in Black Africa

Rebellion in Africa has played a central role in the giant continent's recent history. The half-dozen essays in this volume, a selection from the larger and longer work Protest and Power in Black Africa, survey representative African protest movements during and after the era of colonialism. Covering the Sudan, Natal, Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, and the Congo, they range in time from 1880 to the present, and show the diversity of methods Africans have adopted to cope with or protest against the complex and intrusive strands of social change. While they are focused upon overt rebellions against European or post-European domination, they also explore related topics such as religious expression of discontent, and the emergence of pressure groups and political parties. The Mahdiya, Nyabingism, Mumboism, and Chilembwe's rebellion were organized by or around religious figures and were sustained, as were the *simba* of the Congo, by the force of powerful supernatural observance. Even the Zulu uprising, the most avowedly secular of the six, was assisted by traditional para-religious loyalties to ancestors and their contemporary representatives. With the exception of Chilembwe's rebellion, all were mass movements, tied in many ways to agrarian disaffection and basic economic grievances. Each achieved some measure of success, if not territorial independence, before succumbing to stronger firepower. The final essays, on the post-independence Congo, is a fitting conclusion to the book, for which the editor has written a new introduction.

Softcover. English. OUP. 1971. ISBN: 0. 261 pp. Fair/good, light wear. Book No: 2506361