Cambridge University Press eBooks· 2012· Book chapter
The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa
- 548citations
- 2012year
Short summary
European invented traditions flourished in the late 19th century, coinciding with the rush into Africa, with African empires demonstrating the effects rather than causes of these European traditions.
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Key points
- European invented traditions experienced a significant expansion in the 1870s-1890s.
- This period of tradition invention in Europe paralleled the European colonization of Africa.
- African empires were a result, not a cause, of European invented traditions.
- Traditions deployed in Africa developed unique characteristics compared to European and Asian forms.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The 1870s, 1880s and 1890s were the time of a great flowering of European invented tradition – ecclesiastical, educational, military, republican, monarchical. They were also the time of the European rush into Africa. There were many and complex connections between the two processes. The concept of Empire was central to the process of inventing tradition within Europe itself, but the African empires came so late in the day that they demonstrate the effects rather than the causes of European invented tradition. Deployed in Africa, however, the new traditions took on a peculiar character, distinguishing them from both their European and Asian Imperial forms.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: Anthropology
AnthropologySocial Sciences