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Drawing on archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic, and documentary evidence, this book uses a cis-oceanic framework to focus on littoral communities. It clarifies the relationship between ethnicity and other kinds of identities by framing research questions around a language family instead of an ethnic, religious, or diasporic group.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Language
Introduction: Disentangling Ethnicity from Its Ancestors in Littoral Kenya
PART I : ANCESTORS OF ETHNICITY
Chapter 1 Ancestors in the Doorway Claiming Kith and Kin in East Africa before 500 CE
Chapter 2 Making a Peaceful Home Organizing Clans through Knowledge along Sabaki Frontiers, ca. 150 BCE–1250 CE
Chapter 3 Dancing with Swords Domesticating Commerce through Clan Confederations in the Western Indian Ocean ca. 1000–1700 CE
PART II: INNOVATING ETHNICITY
Chapter 4 Polarizing Politics Imperial Ventures in Dar al-Islam, 1498–1813
Chapter 5 Practicing Muslims, Marginalized Pagans Accommodating Arab Orthodoxies in the Zanzibar Sultanate, 1813–1895
Chapter 6 Gazetting Identity Assembling Tribes and Demarcating Districts in the British East Africa Protectorate, 1895–1920
Chapter 7 Historicizing Tribalism A Kaleidoscope of Communities in the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, 1921–1953
PART III: TRANSCENDING ETHNICITY?
Chapter 8 Transcending Ethnicity? Nationalist Sentiments and the Appeal of Autonomy during Kenyan Decolonization, 1953–1962
Epilogue Reconciling Ethnicity and Nationalism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Daren E. Ray is an assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University, where he teaches African, Islamic, and world history. He has published his multidisciplinary research in
History in Africa and
Muslim World journals,
The Swahili World edited volume, and elsewhere. He also co-organizes the Rocky Mountain Workshop in African History.
Summary
Drawing on archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic, and documentary evidence, this book uses a cis-oceanic framework to focus on littoral communities. It clarifies the relationship between ethnicity and other kinds of identities by framing research questions around a language family instead of an ethnic, religious, or diasporic group.
