Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (African Studies) [Paperback]

Frederick Cooper (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521566002 | ISBN-13: 978-0521566001 | Publication Date: August 28, 1996 | Edition: 1

This authoritative volume changes our conceptions of "imperial" and "African" history. Frederick Cooper gathers a vast range of archival sources to achieve a truly comparative study of colonial policy toward African labor forces. He shows how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equality and a share of power. In the end, Britain and France could not reshape African society. As they left the continent, the question was how they had affected the ways in which Africans could reorganize society themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"His book provides a monumental account of major stage in this mediation..." Ralph A. Austen, American Historical Review

"This is a magnificantly researched and richly detailed account of the complex struggles over labour and colonial policies in French and British Africa." Jane Parpart, International History Review

"...a formidable book. ...not only in its length, but also in the prodigious range of its archival sources, and the brilliance and variety of its case studies. ...its theoretical ambition sets this book apart from conventional work in labor history. Cooper successfully combines the insights of discourse analysis with the strenghts of social history. This is a superb analysis of the colonial state that at the same time constitutes a major breakthrough in African labor history. It convinces by the sheer excellence of its historical research as well as the careful contextualization of its unremittingly theoretical vision. It deserves to be read well beyond the normal bounds of African studies." Christiane Harzig, Labor History

"This is a formidable book. It is formidable not only in its length, but also in thr prodigious rangeof its archival sources, and its brillianceand variety of its case studies" Labour History

"This is an important book by a leading Africanist labor historian." Michael O. West, Journal of Social History

"...elegant and erudite...." Sara Berry, Africa Today

"One has come to expect insightful historical analysis from Frederick Cooper, and his latest work does not diappoint. In size, scope, and depth this is a big book, drawing heavily on original research.... Gracefully written subtle, ironic, andprofound, it is a very important book as well." David Northup, Historian

"Frederick Cooper's work has consistently deserved the favorable and excited attention it has received. This book, like the rest of his corpus, is extensively researched and extremely original. The field of African historical studies is once again in debt to this fine scholar." Richard Rathbone, Int'l Jrnl of Afri Hist Soc

Book Description

Gathering a vast range of archival sources, this authoritative volume achieves a truly comparative study of colonial policy towards African labor forces. It reveals how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equality and a share of power.

Product Details

• Paperback: 700 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (August 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521566002
• ISBN-13: 978-0521566001
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,214,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frederick Cooper is Professor of History at New York University. He is the author of a trilogy of books on labor and society in East Africa and more recently of Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (1996), Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present (2002), and Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History (2005). He is also co-author with Thomas Holt and Rebecca Scott of Beyond Slavery: Explorations of Race, Labor, and Citizenship in Post-Emancipation Societies (2000) and with Jane Burbank of Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (2010). He is co-editor with Ann Stoler of Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World (1997), with Randall Packard of International Development and the Social Sciences: Essays in the History and Politics of Knowledge (1997), and with Craig Calhoun and Kevin Moore of Lessons of Empire: Imperial Histories and American Power (2006). He is currently writing a history of citizenship in France and French West Africa between 1945 and 1960.