Book Review: Africa: Colonialism in Africa 1870–1960 I. The History and Politics of Colonialism 1870–1914
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207002500324 |
| Date | 01 September 1970 |
| Published date | 01 September 1970 |
| Author | Jane Banfield Haynes |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
652
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Africa
Colonialism
in
Africa
1870-1960.
1.
The
History
and
Politics
of
Colonial-
ism
1870-1914.
Edited
by
L.
H.
GANN
and
PTEMR
DUIGNAN.
Cam-
bridge:
At
the
University
Press
[Toronto:
Macmillan of
Canada].
1969.
xii,
532pp.
$16.00.
This
is
the
first
in
a
four-volume
collaborative
history
of modern
Africa
sponsored
by
the
Hoover
Institution
of
Stanford
University,
the
editors
being
staff
members
of
that
institution.
Succeeding
volumes
will
deal
with
decolonization,
social
development,
and
economic
history.
This
first
volume has
a
good
index,
valuable
bibliographies
following each
chapter,
and several
useful
maps.
To
review
such
a
book
is
like
describ-
ing
in
detail
the
individual
items
on
a
vast
and
varied
buffet
table:
there
is
something
edible,
refreshing,
and
satisfying
for
any
reader,
whether
a
generalist
or
a
specialist. The
fifteen
contributors
were
asked
to
write
on
the
subject
of
most
interest
to
themselves
and
were
allowed
great
choice.
There
are
gaps, in
terms
of
coverage
and
space,
but overall
there
are
considerable
riches,
both
in
terms
of new
interpretations
based
on
unpublished
material
and original
research
and
in
a
new
approach
to
the
writing
of
African
history,
that
which
might
be
termed
Afro-
centred.
Further,
in
an
age
of
specialized
monographs and
the
exponen-
tial
growth
of
published
material
in
almost
all
fields,
a
single volume
of
collected
but
disparate materials
and
views
has
considerable
merit.
The
reader
might
usefully
approach
the
book
by
reading
first
the
contribution of
the
editors,
not
only
the
introduction, but
also their
reflections
on
imperialism
and
the
scramble
for
Africa,
in
this
short
but
eventful
forty-year
period.
Here
are
the
socialists and
capitalists
propounding theories to
explain or
justify
the
course of
empire,
inter-
preting the
scramble
for
wealth,
sovereignty,
and
glory
according
to
their
respective
Europe-centred
views.
It
is
a
useful
contribution
remind-
ing
us
that
the
history
of
imperialism
cannot
be
explained
by
any
one
theory.
The
reader
might
then
well
read
J. F.
A.
Ajayi's
contribution,
the
last,
appropriately
entitled
"Colonialism:
An
Episode
in
African
History."
It
is
not
a
postlude;
it
is
a
sensitive
but
strong
statement
proposing
a
more balanced
view of
African
history.
Contemporary
writers
no
longer
see
African
history
as
the
impact of
superior
European
civilizations
on
"primitive"
peoples;
they pay
attention
to
the
African
reaction
to
European
activities,
hence
the
phrase,
Afro-centred.
But,
says
Ajayi,
they
also
tend
to
think
of
African
reactions
as
discrete events;
that
is,
they
do
not
relate
this reaction
to the
internal
history
of
Africa
and
of
the
African
peoples.
In
the
long
march
of
history,
the
entrance
of
Europeans
was
only
an
incident
and
must
be
seen
as
one
of
many
factors
continuously affecting
African
ethnic
and
political
groups.
Cer-
tainly
the
colonial
impact
was
important,
and
Ajayi
would
not
deny
it;
but
he
does
point
out
that
"although
Europeans
were
generally
masters
of
the
colonial
situation
and
had
political
sovereignty,
and
cultural
and
economic
dominance,
they
did
not
possess
a
monopoly
of
initiative
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