| 1. |
- Lane, Paul, 1957-
(författare)
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The archaeological potential for the history of labor relations in East Africa, ca.1500–1900
- 2014
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Ingår i: History in Africa - A Journal of Method. - 0361-5413 .- 1558-2744. ; 41, s. 227-306
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous studies of past labor relations in different parts of Africa have relied almost entirely on documentary sources. While such records can provide valuable insights into the range of different labor categories that have existed and the relative proportions of the population involved, for much of the continent they are severely restricted in a temporal sense. Thus, for many areas suitable documentary materials covering the periods prior to AD 1850 are scarce; as is the case, for example, for much of East Africa. To extend scholarly understanding of the nature of labor relations prior to this date, alternative sources need to be utilized. This paper presents a brief overview of the potential scope for utilizing archaeological data, with specific reference to mainland Tanzania. The paper also highlights the many limitations of archaeological data and offers some thoughts on how these might be addressed from both a conceptual and methodological perspective. The paper concludes with an appeal for more studies oriented toward investigation of the archaeological remains of the last five hundred years and greater dialogue between the region’s historian and archaeologists.
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| 2. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
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The challenge of studying inflation in pre-colonial Africa
- 2018
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Ingår i: History in Africa - A Journal of Method. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0361-5413. ; 45 (2018)
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper studies the issue of inflation in pre-colonial West Africa. In a recent publication, it was argued that there was substantial inflation in West Africa already in the seventeenth century. In this paper, data from the Gold Coast is reported, in order to show that the prices of slaves, used in recent previous research for analyzing inflation, is a bad proxy for the prices of other traded commodities. Contrasting the case of the Gold Coast to that of Dahomey, it is furthermore shown that different societies in West Africa experienced different trends around the same period of time, cautioning against generalizations about broader regions.
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| 3. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
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The Idle and the Industrious: European Ideas about the African Work Ethic in Pre-colonial West Africa
- 2014
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Ingår i: History in Africa - A Journal of Method. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0361-5413. ; 41, s. 117-145
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a growing interest in the historical attitudes to work globally. This paper studies the stereotype of the “lazy African” in European travel accounts from pre-colonial West Africa. This was one of the central aspects in the European construction of an African “other” during this period, and came to be used as a justification for much European oppression in Africa in both pre-colonial and colonial times. It is argued in the paper that the stereotype has existed for much longer than suggested in previous literature in the field. Previous studies have also made over-simplified statements about the stereotype, since it overlooks a most significant trend among European writers, who described not only idleness, but also industriousness, among the Africans they wrote about. By the late eighteenth century, finally, the development of an anti-slavery ideology was followed by a challenge to the whole stereotype.
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