Read more
Based on rich archival and oral histories, this book uses the life of an African clerk who became a king under French indirect rule policies to examine the contested meanings of colonialism and the rule of law during the first three decades of colonialism in the French Soudan.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Mademba and the foundations of the bargains of collaboration, 1852-1888; 2. Conquest and construction of indirect rule in the French Soudan, 1886-1891; 3. 'A world of deception and defection': Misrule, rebellion, and indirect rule revisted, 1891-1895; 4. 'A curious and very engaging mixture of European and Native customs': Republican traditions and African kings, 1895-1899; 5. The coming storm, 1898-1899; 6. Rule of law and the bargains of collaboration: Mademba on trial, 1899-1900; 7: 'An unexpected and precious collaborator': Mademba's redemption, 1900-1906; 8: Remaking Mademba, 1906-1931; Conclusion.
About the author
Richard L. Roberts is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University, where he has served as the Director for the Center for African Studies for over two decades. One of the leading social historians of French West Africa, his research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has published numerous books and edited collections including Marriage by Force? Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa (2016), Litigants and Households: African Disputes and Colonial Courts in the French Soudan, 1895-1912 (2005) and Two Worlds of Cotton: Colonialism and the Regional Economy in the French Soudan, 1800-1946 (1996).
