African and South Asia History Real

Explain Lonsdale and Bermans (1979) theory on economic resistance

Created a "competition between accumulation and control".

E.g. the colonial state in Kenya sometimes blocked settler attempts to totally ban African coffee growing or livestock

Which historians argued that economic resistance created a competion between accumulation and control?

Lonsdale and Berman (1979)

Explain Gerlachs (2010) point on the cost of economic resistance

Mau Mau rebellion cost £55m to suppress

Who produced a study on the economic cost of the Mau Mau rebellion?

Gerlach (2010)

Explain Amins (1972) concept of how the importance of economic resistance declined over time

Amin - Dependency Theory (1972):   Colonisers developed their own companies and trade networks independent of local middleman, allowing them to sideline trans-Saharan traders, reducing their ability to mobilise their economic capital against the colonial state, creating a "dependency" on European finance (eg the United African Company)     

Who developed the concept of Dependency Theory?

Amin (1972)

Who identified the importance of ideological resistance?

Fanon (1962): “New Humanism”

Gandhi (1909): “Inner Swaraj” (self-rule/government)

Whats Fanons (1963) quote about the transformative effect of resistance to the colonised?

 “The "thing" which has been colonized becomes man during the same process by which it frees itself” (pg. 37) resistance breaks the ideological dominance of the colonial state

Who undermines the idea that ideological resistance was imporant?

Hopkins (1973)

Explain Hopkins (1973) point around the limiations of ideological resistance

 ideological break were (1) temporary (2) not radical, eg there were no major calls for independence in Gold Coast till Nkrumah in 1949

Who identified the importance of military resistance? (2)

 Barua (2009): Hyder Ali fielded 80k troops in second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84)

Marcus (1995): Menelik II 100k at the Battle of Adwa, First Italo-Ethiopian War

What did Barua (2009) identify about the nature of miliary resistance to colonialism?

 Barua (2009): Hyder Ali fielded 80k troops in second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84)

What did Marcus (1995) identify about the nature of miliary resistance to colonialism?

Marcus (1995): Menelik II 100k at the Battle of Adwa, First Italo-Ethiopian War

How did economic resistance actually increase, rather than decrease over time? (3)

Cooper (1996): Proletarianisation of Africa terrified the British increase their power

Isaacman (1972): Mining and smelting plants of the zambia copper belt because “schools of resistance”

Austin (2025): Proletarianisation increased economic power over time. South African mining revenue increased from £2.5m-£27m from 1860s-1906 once deep-caste methods introduced 

Hows study proved the proletarianisation of Africa increased their economic power?

Austin (2025): Proletarianisation increased economic power over time. South African mining revenue increased from £2.5m-£27m from 1860s-1906 once deep-caste methods introduced 

1950 Postive Action and General strike in Gold Coast

First Zambia president Kenneth kaunda was a trade union leader

Who coined the term “proletarianisation” in regards to the african population?

Cooper (1996)

Whats the counter to the argument that ideolgical resistance didnt have long term effects?

If there was no ideological break, how could the mass parties that delivered independence form, the INC in India or Convention Peoples Party 

Isaacman (1972):  revolt in the Zambexi valley represented "'a new level of political consciousness in which the Portuguese  were perceived for the first time as the common oppressor 

Why did military resitsance to colonialism not become more important over time?

Military resistance:

Harder, technology gap didnt necessary get smaller, eg bombing of Egypt 1919

What were the differences between African and South Asian resistance?

• Geography (Herbst, 2000, Africa - Headrick, 1981, South Asia)

• Social makeup/state organisation (Marks, 1972, Africa - Bagchi, 2010, South Asia, Bayly, 1988)

• Colonial population (Mamdani, 1996)
  

What were the similarities between African and South Asian resistance?

Economic resistance:

Non-cooperation movement saw boycotting in India (1919-22), Positive Action Campaign which saw a general strike in Cold Coast (1950)

Nationalist ideologies:

Gandhi (1909) for an inner-swaraj, Fanon (1963) for a new-humanism

To generalise the whole continent is pointless:

Geographic point only true for the coast, social makeup not true across all of Africa, state organisation exception not the rule

Which historian argues that the geography of African made it harder to control?

Herbst- Africa (2000): 
prohibitively expensive to control territory far from the coast, couldn't move troops or tax collectors quickly inland via rivers, they simply didn't have the “broadcast power ”to govern directly

What does Herbst (2000) say?

Herbst- Africa (2000): 
prohibitively expensive to control territory far from the coast, couldn't move troops or tax collectors quickly inland via rivers, they simply didn't have the “broadcast power ”to govern directly

Which historian argues that the geography of South Asia made it easier to control?

Headrick- South Asia (1981):  British used iron steamboats for rapid movement of heavy artillery and the "Broadcasting of Power" (Herbst’s term) deep into the interior long before railways were built. In Africa, such a feat was impossible until the 1880s. Eg iron steamboats to sail 800 miles up the Ganges to Allahabad (1834) in a show of power projection

What does Headrick (1981) say?

Headrick- South Asia (1981):  British used iron steamboats for rapid movement of heavy artillery and the "Broadcasting of Power" (Herbst’s term) deep into the interior long before railways were built. In Africa, such a feat was impossible until the 1880s. Eg iron steamboats to sail 800 miles up the Ganges to Allahabad (1834) in a show of power projection

Which histroain talks about the social makeup of Africa and how this shaped the dynamics of resistance?

Marks (1972): The decentralised, stateless nature of groups like the Khoisan made them harder to subdue, (1) no central authority or city to capture (hydra effect), (2) employed gorilla tactics like attacking supply lines

What did Marks (172) say?

Marks (1972): The decentralised, stateless nature of groups like the Khoisan made them harder to subdue, (1) no central authority or city to capture (hydra effect), (2) employed gorilla tactics like attacking supply lines

Which historian talks about the nature of state organisation in South India and how this shaped resistance?

Bayly (1988): Mysore was a fiscal-military state, having a system of direct tax collection that didn`t rely on subsidiary middlemen, unlike most feudal states, allowing more revue extraction to fund resistance 

What did Bayly (1888) say?

Bayly (1988): Mysore was a fiscal-military state, having a system of direct tax collection that didn`t rely on subsidiary middlemen, unlike most feudal states, allowing more revue extraction to fund resistance 

How did colonialism promote free labour?

Chambliss 1993 – the law: Hut Tax Regulations (1901) forced move to wage labour to pay for them

Austin 2015 – coercion: South Africa Natives Land Act 1913 African land ownership to 7% of country, displacing people from substance livelihoods, forcing them to become wage labourers

Birla 2010 – open borders: created open borders that facilitated movement of wage labour. Eg underdeveloped Rajputana province migrated to commercial centres such as Mumbai and Kolkata, from the Sahel to coca producing areas of the Gold Coast

In this way, colonialism clearly acted to promote Capitalism, using its legal authority (eg monetary taxation), monopoly of coercion (forced displacement) and freedom of movement (subsumption of previously divided polities) to provide the source of free, wage labour that capitalist enterprise is dependent upon.

Who talks about how the law was used to promote free labour?

Chambliss 1993 – the law: Hut Tax Regulations (1901) forced move to wage labour to pay for them

What does Chambliss (1993) say?

Chambliss 1993 – the law: Hut Tax Regulations (1901) forced move to wage labour to pay for them

Who says that coercion was used to promote free labour?

Austin 2015 – coercion: South Africa Natives Land Act 1913 African land ownership to 7% of country, displacing people from substance livelihoods, forcing them to become wage labourers

What does Austin (2015) say?

Austin 2015 – coercion: South Africa Natives Land Act 1913 African land ownership to 7% of country, displacing people from substance livelihoods, forcing them to become wage labourers

Who argues that open borders were used to promote free labour?

Birla 2010 – open borders: created open borders that facilitated movement of wage labour. Eg underdeveloped Rajputana province migrated to commercial centres such as Mumbai and Kolkata, from the Sahel to coca producing areas of the Gold Coast

What did Birla (2010) say?

Birla 2010 – open borders: created open borders that facilitated movement of wage labour. Eg underdeveloped Rajputana province migrated to commercial centres such as Mumbai and Kolkata, from the Sahel to coca producing areas of the Gold Coast

Summarise the point relating to the way colonialism promoted free labour?

In this way, colonialism clearly acted to promote Capitalism, using its legal authority (eg monetary taxation), monopoly of coercion (forced displacement) and freedom of movement (subsumption of previously divided polities) to provide the source of free, wage labour that capitalist enterprise is dependent upon.   

In what way did colonialism promote the forces of production?

Washbrook (1988) - Exposed colonies to international markets: By the 1780s, almost £600,000 of Indian cotton textile and yarn were sold in the Levant every year

Austin (2025) - introduced new technologies: South Africa, largely an agrarian and pastoral economy, was transformed by the introduction of deep-caste mining methods imported from Britain,  with the colony’s annual exports exploding from £2.5m in the 1860s (when commercial mining first began) to £27m by 1906, an 11-fold increase in just 40 years.

Freund (1998) - broke up feudal monopolies: eg buttressed the power of the sultans in zanzibar 

Introduced a system of profit reinvestment, integration colonies into international markets, and introducing more advanced technologies, colonialism transformed the productive forces of Africa and south Asia

Who talked about the way colonial exposed colonies to the international market, thus promoting the forces of production?

Washbrook (1988) - Exposed colonies to international markets: By the 1780s, almost £600,000 of Indian cotton textile and yarn were sold in the Levant every year

What did Washbrook (1988) say?

Washbrook (1988) - Exposed colonies to international markets: By the 1780s, almost £600,000 of Indian cotton textile and yarn were sold in the Levant every year

Who argued that the introduction of new technologies increased the forces of production in colonies?

Austin (2025) - introduced new technologies: South Africa, largely an agrarian and pastoral economy, was transformed by the introduction of deep-caste mining methods imported from Britain,  with the colony’s annual exports exploding from £2.5m in the 1860s (when commercial mining first began) to £27m by 1906, an 11-fold increase in just 40 years.

Who argues that the breakup of feudal monopolies helped increase the forces of production in colonies?

Freund (1998) - broke up feudal monopolies: eg buttressed the power of the sultans in zanzibar 

What did Freund (1998) say?

Freund (1998) - broke up feudal monopolies: eg buttressed the power of the sultans in zanzibar 

Summarise the point relating to the way colonialism promoted the forces of prodcution?

Introduced a system of profit reinvestment, integration colonies into international markets, and introducing more advanced technologies, colonialism transformed the productive forces of Africa and South Asia alike

In what ways were the relation between colonalism and industrialisation contradictory?

Undermined by colonial resistance:  Gerlach (2010): Mau Mau rebellion cost £55m to suppress Lonsdale&Berman (1979): Created a "competition between accumulation and control". E.g. the colonial state in Kenya sometimes blocked settler attempts to totally ban African coffee growing or livestock Industrialisation only as long as it benefitted the west: Roy, 2010: Import charges were imposed on Indian clothing imports into Britain, reducing the competitiveness of the cotton and causing it to go into rapid decline Washbrook 1988: Subsiduary system of Mughal control allowed greater fisical autononmy  Just cause it aimed to develop industry didnt mean it was always successful: Austin 2015: European methods of agricultural development in Africa, seen in the Niger Valley and Tanganyika, which relied on intensive, primarily labour dependant cultivation regimes proved fruitless, compared to the extensive, primarily land dependant methods utilised by local African producers  Onselen (1976): Economic resistance often took on the form of labour migration, granted this became harder as borders began to soldify in the late colonial era

Who argues that labour migration was used as a kind of economic resistance?

Undermined by colonial resistance:  Gerlach (2010): Mau Mau rebellion cost £55m to suppress Lonsdale&Berman (1979): Created a "competition between accumulation and control". E.g. the colonial state in Kenya sometimes blocked settler attempts to totally ban African coffee growing or livestock Industrialisation only as long as it benefitted the west: Roy, 2010: Import charges were imposed on Indian clothing imports into Britain, reducing the competitiveness of the cotton and causing it to go into rapid decline Washbrook 1988: Subsiduary system of Mughal control allowed greater fisical autononmy  Just cause it aimed to develop industry didnt mean it was always successful: Austin 2015: European methods of agricultural development in Africa, seen in the Niger Valley and Tanganyika, which relied on intensive, primarily labour dependant cultivation regimes proved fruitless, compared to the extensive, primarily land dependant methods utilised by local African producers  Onselen (1976): Economic resistance often took on the form of labour migration, granted this became harder as borders began to soldify in the late colonial era

Whats Wolfs (1982) definition of capitalism?

An economic system characterized not only by the private ownership of the means of production, but also by (1) the selling of labour power for wages, and (2) the creation and reinvestment of surpluses to generate more wealth (largely through technological and infrastructural development)

How was industrialisation different in Africa and South Asia?

• Geography (Herbst, 2000, Africa - Headrick, 1981, South Asia)

• Social makeup/state organisation (Marks, 1972, Africa - Bagchi, 2010, South Asia, Bayly, 1988)

• Colonial population (Mamdani, 1996)

What is Austins (2025) counter to the idea that geography created a difference between the industrialisation of Africa or South Asia?

Austin (2025): Natural resources of Africa. South African mining revenue increased from £2.5m-£27m from 1860s-1906 once deep-caste methods introduced

What is Lovejos (178) counter to the idea that state makeup created a difference between the industrialisation of Africa or South Asia?

Lovejoy (1978): Kano, in the Sokoto Caliphate already had complex trade relations, with 500 tons of raw cotton imported to Kano for the purpose of spinning by 1904

What was Mamdanis (1996) point about the effect of settler colonial populations on reistance and industrialisation?

Mamdani (1996): The colonial state felt they could control the "dangers" of urban concentration because the settlers acted as an unofficial paramilitary force and a middle-management class

his is why Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Kenya industrialized faster than "Peasant Colonies" like Nigeria. 

Cooper (1996): Proletarianisation. But it would seem this was less of a problem in 

who made the point around the effects of settler population on resistance and industry?

Mamdani (1996): The colonial state felt they could control the "dangers" of urban concentration because the settlers acted as an unofficial paramilitary force and a middle-management class

his is why Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Kenya industrialized faster than "Peasant Colonies" like Nigeria. 

Who made the point around the precolonial advanced nature of economic relations in Africa?

Lovejoy (1978): Kano, in the Sokoto Caliphate already had complex trade relations, with 500 tons of raw cotton imported to Kano for the purpose of spinning by 1904

In what way did Elites lead nationalist movements?

Ideological

- Chatterjee (1986): postcolonial nationalism was a "derivative discourse" borrowed from European thought, which meant it reproduced European assumptions about the state, sovereignty and elite political leadership even while claiming to resist colonialism and giving power to local elites 

Material domain, west #1, spiritual domain, global south #1 = accepts modernisation, while asserting distinctiveness and need for independence

-  Nehru educated at Cambridge, Nkrumah at Oxford, Senghor at the Sorbonne 

Material/Practial:

-  Bourdieu: Practical view that the elites were often better positioned to navigate the institutions of the state (1986)

- Example: Number of lawyers who led independence movements shocking, Gandhi, Nehru, Mandela 

Who argued that elites lead nationalist movements because they justified independence but on terms that concerved elite power?

- Chatterjee (1986): postcolonial nationalism was a "derivative discourse" borrowed from European thought, which meant it reproduced European assumptions about the state, sovereignty and elite political leadership even while claiming to resist colonialism and giving power to local elites 

What did Chatterjee (1986) say about elite power and independence?

- Chatterjee (1986): postcolonial nationalism was a "derivative discourse" borrowed from European thought, which meant it reproduced European assumptions about the state, sovereignty and elite political leadership even while claiming to resist colonialism and giving power to local elites 

How did individuals leed struggles for national independence?

Gandhi:
- Organiational genius: Transformed the INC into a mass party, making them geographically widespread - travelling across India conducting campaigns in local venacular, and constructing a strong base through empasis on grass route organising
 by travelling across India, conducting campaigns in the vernacular languages, and building the grass roots branches of the party
- Relgious authority: His self-presentation as an ascetic — the simple dress, vegetarianism, fasting, was carefully constructed to resonate with Indian spiritual traditions and establish moral authority that transcended politics. The title Mahatma (great soul) was given to him by the poet Tagore and captures this dimension.
- Resonate with the masses: Salt March (1930), salt was something every Indian used regardless of religion, caste or class, making it the perfect vehicle for mass civil disobedience

Nkrumah:
- Pushed the movment forward: Broke with the United Gold Coast Convention, calling for full independence in 1949 
- Postive Action Campaign (1950) general strike for independence, rely on workers and thus bringing them to the forefront of the movement 
verandah Boys

Max Weber identified three types of authority: charismatic, traditional, and rational-legal. Charismatic authority comes from a leader's personal charm or extraordinary qualities, traditional authority is based on long-standing customs and traditions, and rational-legal authority is derived from laws and established rules.

Who did the masses lead independence movements?

Peasantry:
- Fanon: Have the most logical material interest in changing society “The starving peasant, outside the class system, is the first among the exploited to discover that  only violence pays.” (Wretched of the Earth, pg 61, 1961)
Guha: Specifically in South Asia, Peasants "Dominated without hegemony"

Workers:
- Fanon: The very means of colonial cohersion is dependent upon workers production "“the triumph of violence depends upon the production of armaments, and this in its turn depends on production in general" (Wretched of the Earth, pg 61, 1961)

Women:
- Presley (1992): Women played a crucial role in the Mau Mau rebellion by providing logistical support, gathering intelligence, actively participating in combat, and aiding in recruitment and propaganda efforts
- ANC Womens League March against Apartheid saw 20,000 women march on Pretoria in 1956 

How do we synthesis these different groups that contributed to the national liberation movements for independence? (3)

These to groups can work together:

-          Apply Gramscis theory of Historic bloc (previously separate or even antagonised groups coming together in times of political revolution with the aim of enacting change) to understand 

-          Nairn the janus face of nationalism, it can be progressive and regressive

These can be shaped by local dynamics:

-          In 1945 in lagos, there was what was called a “national strike” that involved the railway workers, government employees, some docker

What is wrong with questions about nationalism?

Why was it nationalism that these groups adopted?

-          Why were these anti-colonial movements predominantly nationalist:

-          Internationalism: Undermined by foreign involment who saw the unity of the global south as a threat, eg Nkrumah (who organse the 1958 All-African Peoples Conference was deposed in 1966 by CIA coup) 

-          Ethnic/regionalism: the fear of balkanisation, “we must unite now or perish” (1958), colonial boundaries respected by the Organisation for African Unity in their founding conference, 1963

How were the subaltern ideolgically represented?

• Guha (1982): established the problem, saw peasants as active agents, “dominated without hegemony”

• Dyke (1956): Similarly central in establishing Africa as a place with its own history, and one that was not defined by European encounter, "african history must be the history of africans." rather than the history of europeans in africa. Part of psychological declonisation 

How were the subaltern ideologically represented? (pt 2)

• Prakash (1990): Foucault concept of “multiple axis of domination”

• Ki-zerbo (1981): Through the UNESCO “General History of Africa” esablished an implicity pan-African history that didnt confine the subaltern experience purely through the lens of the nation state

How were the subaltern methodolgically represented?

• Guha (1982): Against the grain

• Dyke (1956): "oral tradition must be seen as valid material for historical reconstruction." 

• Prakash (1990): Written records are by their very nature exclusionary, in a state were the mass of the population has been illiterate up until the last 2 or 3 generations

What are O`Hanlon and Washbrooks (1982) criticisms of subaltern studies?

That the hyper anti-structuralism utilised by Prakash, in which no level of categorisation is seen as legitimate, is unable to address the systemic oppression many of these groups face, using the analogy that if, “feminism abandons the category of women and the proposition that they have a different history, it dissolves its own subject.[

What was Spivaks criticism of subaltern studies?

Unrepresenatative and detached:“speaking for the oppressed”, claimed by the subaltern groups, by its very nature of reconstructing and mediating other ideas, involves intellectual imposing their own framework and conceptualisations however well-intentioned, and thus can never be truly representative. She goes on to take this argument from the general to the specific. Many of the original subaltern studies group were high caste - including Guha himself, who was of Taluqdar lineage, were all male, and over half were Bengali (with not a single academic from the Southern India).  

What are the methodological criticisms of subaltern studies?

Guha, still colonial and value-committed: , To view these deeply biased colonial sources as an accurate representation of subaltern history, regardless of political perspective, is not enough in-and-of itself to construct an accurate representation of subaltern history, providing a historical patchwork rather than a mosaic

Prakash, ahistorical: reliance on anthropological methods is ahistoric, relying on oral traditions and mythologies that are often absent from the historical or archaeological record, and therefore limited in the extent to which it can accurately represent marginalised voices

How does Chakrabarty deal with the criticisms raised by O`Hanlon and Washbrook, in regards to the tensions betwee structuralist and poststructuralist analysis? 

On the one hand, he adopts a structuralist analysis, arguing that capitalist relations of production institute systemic inequalities, what he termed history 1. On the other hand, also utilises a post-structuralist analysis that refuted universalising claims, arguing that religious, cultural and kinship based connections are not purely shaped by material relations, and therefore are not simply collapsable into history 1 – what he called history 2. In this way, Chakrabarty was able to add a theoretical depth to subaltern studies that helps resolve the tensions between its structuralist and post-structuralist wings, and address the inconsistencies raised by O`Hanlon and Washbrook

How does Spivak address her own internal criticisms about the lack of accurate representation in Subaltern Studies?

Spivak became one of the most prominent academics within the discipline – writing extensively about the female experience, though it must be noted that no major Dalit contributors have emerged

How odes Amin address the methodological criticisms of subaltern studies? 

Amin (1995) combines both quantitative analysis of historical documentation with qualitative ethnographic research, representing the voices of the marginalised whilst remaining historically grounded

What was Mamdani (1996) criticism of historiography?

• Mamdani (1996): not political neutral, dar el salaam school to close to the nyerere regime, constructing a history that fitted his Ujamma (fraternity) ideology. Also more general point about the focus on urban rather than rural african history, despite teh latter making up the vast majority fo africans