Abstract
Chapter 7 evaluates the second major claim of the proponents of the concept of ethnicity in SSA. Similarly to the evaluation of the first major claim of these proponents (see Chapters 5 and 6), using the conceptual, historical, empirical, and comparative evidence, this chapter argues against assigning the paternity of tribal allegiance in SSA to the colonial and postcolonial states. It examines many of the cases often exhibited as “ethnic” outcomes of colonial rule and shows that the role of colonial rule in such cases was minimal. Rather, tribes in SSA evolved on their own. Their tribal allegiances predated colonial rule. In many instances, it was actually the profusion of tribes that dictated tribal policies to the colonial state, and not the other way around. This chapter shows that the role of the postcolonial state in fostering tribal allegiance has also been overstated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Leroy Vail, “Introduction: Ethnicity in Southern African History,” in Leroy Vail, ed., The Invention of Tribalism in Southern Africa, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988) (Vail 1988).
- 2.
Other explanations of tribal/ethnic allegiance view it as an outcome of both specific historical circumstances and primordialism; see John Comaroff, “Of Totemism and Ethnicity: Consciousness, Practice and the Signs of Inequality,” Ethnos, Vol. 52. no. 3–4 (1984), pp. 301–323 (Comaroff 1984).
- 3.
Richard Sklar, “The Nature of Class Domination in Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 17, no. 4 (1979), pp. 531–552 (Sklar 1979); R. Lemarchand, “The State and Society in Africa,” in Donald Rothchild and Victor Olorunso, eds., State Versus Ethnic Claims, Boulder: Westview Press, 1983, pp. 44–64 (Lemarchand 1983); and Timothy M. Shaw, “Ethnicity as the Resilient Paradigm for Africa: From the 1960s to the 1980s,” Development and Change, Vol. 17 (1986), pp. 587–605 (Shaw 1986).
- 4.
For an example of such circular answers, see Richard Sandbrook, The Politics of Africa’s Economic Stagnation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, chapters 2–4, esp. pp. 39, 43, 63–66, 76 (Sandbrook 1985). For an alternative way out of the impasse, see S.N. Sangmpam, Pseudocapitalism and the Overpoliticized State, Aldershot: Averbury/Ashgate, 1994 (Sangmpam 1994); and S.N. Sangmpam, “Social Theory and the Challenges of Africa’s Future,” Africa Today, Vol. 43, no. 3 (1995), pp. 39–66 (Sangmpam 1995b). In these two works, I show that, because of the preeminence of lineage in the making of the tribe, clan/tribal allegiance stifled class consciousness. More importantly, an explanation of the pervasiveness of tribal markers requires that we come to terms with the history of SSA.
- 5.
Henry M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, New York: Harper and Bros, 1878 (Stanley 1878).
- 6.
See Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998, p. 47 (Hochschild 1998).
- 7.
It would not come as a surprise if “lingala” was a take on and a distortion of “lingua” (in “lingua franca”) by the locals. But this guess does not square with the fact that le lingala emerged as a lingua franca only in the early twentieth century by supplanting Bobangi as the trade language; see Robert Harms, River of Wealth, River of Sorrow: The Central Basin in the Era of the Slave and Ivory Trade, 1500–1890, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981, p. 93 (Harms 1981) and Eyamba G. Bokamba, “The Lives of Local and Regional Congolese Languages in Globalized Linguistic Markets,” in C.B.Vigouroux and S.S. Mufwene, eds., Globalization and Language Vitality: Perspectives from Africa, 2008, p. 113 (Bokamba 2008).
- 8.
R. Harms, River of Wealth, River of Sorrow, p. 44. Some studies devoted to the issue doubt that Stanley or his associates could have invented the name. They tend to confirm that the Mongala river and its tributaries are the more plausible origin of the name Bangala; see G. Hulstaert, “A propos des Bangala,” Zaire-Afrique, Vol. 83 (1974), pp. 173–185 (Hulstaert 1974).
- 9.
See J.C. Willame, Patrimonialism and Political Change in the Congo, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972, chapter 3 (Willame 1972); and CRISP publications (Congo 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965), Brussels: 1960–1966.
- 10.
Crawford Young, Politics in the Congo, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965, pp. 249–250, 266.
- 11.
Mabika Kalanda, Baluba et Lulua. Une ethnie a la recherche d’un nouvel equilibre. Bruxelles: Editions de Remarques Congolaises, 1959 (Kalanda 1959).
- 12.
Brian Weinstein, Gabon: Nation-Building on the Ogooue, Boston: MIT Press, 1966, pp. 21–44.
- 13.
Chinua Achebe, The Trouble with Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1983, p. 58 (Achebe 1983).
- 14.
For both claims on colonial stratification and incorporation, see Lemarchand, “The State and Society in Africa,” pp. 53–55.
- 15.
Peter Ekeh, “Social Anthropology and Two Contrasting Uses of Tribalism in Africa,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 32, no. 4 (1990), pp. 683–685.
- 16.
M.P.K. Sorrenson, Land Reform in the Kikuyu Country, Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 44–45 (Sorrenson 1967).
- 17.
See Crawford Young, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994 (Young 1994).
- 18.
Mathias C. Kiemen, The Indian Policy of Portugal in the Amazon Region 1614–1693, Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1954, 139ff (Kiemen 1954).
- 19.
T. Skidmore and P. Smith, Modern Latin America, New York: Oxford University Press, 1992, chapter 1 (Skidmore and Smith 1992); David Rock, Argentina 1516–1982, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987, pp. 1–18 (Rock 1987); E.B. Burns, A Concise Interpretive History; Wiarda & Kline, eds., Latin American Politics and Development.
- 20.
Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America, New York: Norton, 1984, pp. 25–28 (LaFeber 1984).
- 21.
E. Kim and L. Ziring, An Introduction to Asian Politics, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1977, chapters 4, 6, 7, 8 (Kim and Ziring 1977).
- 22.
Armajani Yahya and Thomas Ricks, Middle East: Past and Present, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1986, parts 2, 3, 4 (Yahya and Ricks 1986).
- 23.
Quoted by Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis and Anthony Esler, World History: Connections to Today, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997, p. 637 (Ellis and Elser 1997).
- 24.
The Tutsi presence in the Congo is more the result of Belgium’s role as the colonial mandate authority for Rwanda and Burundi after Germany’s defeat in World War I than it is an outcome of the 1885 territorial splitting. The mandate allowed Belgium to administer the Congo and Rwanda-Urundi as one colonial entity, thus making the transfer of the Tutsi to the Congo easier.
- 25.
Howard Handelman, The Challenge of Third World Development, Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, p. 80 (Handelman 2006).
- 26.
A. Mazrui and M. Tidy, Nationalism and New States in Africa, London: Heinemann, 1984, pp. 85–89 (Mazrui and Tidy 1984).
- 27.
Seyoum Y. Hameso, Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa, Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 1997, chapters 2 and 5 (Hameso 1997).
Bibliography
———. 1983. The Trouble with Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension.
Armajani, Yahya and Thomas Ricks. 1986. Middle East: Past and Present. Englewood: Prentice Hall.
Bokamba, Eyamba G. 2008. “The Lives of Local and Regional Congolese Languages in Globalized Linguistic Markets.” In Globalization and Language Vitality: Perspectives from Africa, eds. C.B. Vigouroux and S.S. Mufwene, 97–121. London: Continuum.
Comaroff, John. 1984. “Of Totemism and Ethnicity: Consciousness, Practice and the Signs of Inequality.” Ethnos 52(3–4): 301–323.
Ellis, Elisabeth G. and Anthony Esler. 1997. World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hameso, Seyoum Y. 1997. Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa. Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Handelman, Howard. 2006. The Challenge of Third World Development. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Harms, Robert. 1981. River of Wealth, River of Sorrow: The Central Basin in the Era of the Slave and Ivory Trade, 1500–1890. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Hochschild, Adam. 1998. King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Hulstaert, Gustaaf. 1974. “A propos des Bangala.” Zaire-Afrique 83: 173–185.
Kalanda, Mabika. 1959. Baluba et Lulua. Une ethnie à la recherche d’un nouvel équilibre. Bruxelles: Editions de Remarques Congolaises.
Kiemen, Mathias C. 1954. The Indian Policy of Portugal in the Amazon Region 1614–1693. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.
Kim, E. and L. Ziring. 1977. An Introduction to Asian Politics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
LaFeber, Walter. 1984. Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America. Norton: New York.
Lemarchand, R. 1983. “The State and Society in Africa: Ethnic Stratification and Restratification in Historical and Comparative Perspective.” In State Versus Ethnic Claims, Eds. D. Rothchild and V. Olorunsula, 44–64. Boulder: Westview Press.
Mazrui, A. and M. Tidy. 1984. Nationalism and New States in Africa. London: Heinemann.
Rock, David. 1987. Argentina, 1516–1987. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sandbrook, Richard. 1985. Politics of Africa’s Economic Stagnation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sangmpam, S.N. 1994. Pseudocapitalism and the Overpoliticized State: Reconciling Politics and Anthropology in Zaire. Aldershot: Averbury/Ashgate.
———. 1995b. “Social Theory and the Challenges of Africa’s Future.” Africa Today 43(3): 39–66.
Shaw, Timothy M. 1986. “Ethnicity as the Resilient Paradigm for Africa: From the 1960s to the 1980s.” Development and Change 17: 587–605.
Skidmore, T. and P. Smith. 1992. Modern Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sklar, Richard. 1979. “The Nature of Class Domination in Africa.” Journal of Modern African Studies 17(4): 531–552.
Sorrenson, M.P.K. 1967. Land Reform in the Kikuyu Country. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
Stanley, Henry M. 1878. Through the Dark Continent. New York: Harper and Bros.
Vail, Leroy. 1988. “Introduction: Ethnicity in Southern African History.” In The Invention of Tribalism in Southern Africa, ed. Leroy Vail. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Willame, J.C. 1972. Patrimonialism and Political Change in the Congo. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
———. 1994. The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sangmpam, S.N. (2017). Tribal Allegiance and the Overstated Role of the Colonial State. In: Ethnicities and Tribes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50200-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50200-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50199-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50200-7
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)