Honour in African History

Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-0-521-83785-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 107, 430 Seiten, Format (B × H): 162 mm x 233 mm, Gewicht: 676 g

Reihe: African Studies

This is the first published account of the role played by ideas of honour in African history from the fourteenth century to the present day. It argues that appreciation of these ideas is essential to an understanding of past and present African behaviour. Before European conquest, many African men cultivated heroic honour, others admired the civic virtues of the patriarchal householder, and women honoured one another for industry, endurance, and devotion to their families. These values both conflicted and blended with Islamic and Christian teachings. Colonial conquest fragmented heroic cultures, but inherited ideas of honour found new expression in regimental loyalty, respectability, professionalism, working-class masculinity, the changing gender relationships of the colonial order, and the nationalist movements which overthrew that order. Today, the same inherited notions obstruct democracy, inspire resistance to tyranny, and motivate the defence of dignity in the face of AIDS.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Iliffe, John

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The comparative history of honour; Part I. Hero and Householder: 2. Men on horseback; 3. Honour and Islam; 4. Christian Ethiopia; 5. Honour, rank, and warfare among the Yoruba; 6. Honour and the state in West and Central Africa; 7. Honour without the state; 8. The honour of the slave; 9. Praise and slander in southern Africa; 10. Ekitiibwa and martyrdom; Part II. Fragmentation and Mutation: 11. The deaths of heroes; 12. Honour in defeat; 13. The honour of the mercenary; 14. Respectability; 15. Honour and gender; 16. Urbanisation and masculinity; 17. Honour, race, and nation; 18. Political honour; 19. To live in dignity; 20. Concluding questions.

Über Autor(innen)

Iliffe, John
John Iliffe is Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College. He is the author of several book on Africa, including The African Poor: A History (Cambridge, 1987) and Africans: The History of a Continent (Cambridge, 1995). The African Poor was awarded the Herskovits Prize of the African Studies Association of the United States.