West African Challenge to Empire

Culture and History in the Volta-Bani Anticolonial War

By (author) Professor Mahir Saul, Professor Patrick Royer

Publication date:

01 March 2002

Length of book:

440 pages

Publisher

James Currey

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9781800106697

Contributes to the anthropology of colonialism, the military history of indigenous Africa, and to theoretical debates on structure and agency.

Winner of the 2001 Amaury Talbot Prize for African Anthropology

The anti-colonial war in the Volta and Bani region of West Africa in 1915-16 was one of the largest armed oppositions to colonialism anywhere in Africa, yet it is largely unknown in the English-speaking world. This book combines cultural and sociological analysis to explore the origins of the movement, its strategy, the reasons for its initial success, and its legacy for the region after its defeat.

North America: Ohio U Press

Introduction
1 The West Volta in the Nineteenth Century
2 The Muslim Houses of the Volta and the Beginnings of French Occupation
3 An Incomplete Colonial Occupation
4 Before the Storm
5 The Call to Arms
6 The First Victories of the Anticolonial Party
7 Terror as Strategy: The War in the Cercle of Dedougou
8 The War in the Cercle of Bobo-Dioulasso
9 The Pilgrim and the Shrines: The War in Koutiala, San, and Bandiagara
10 East of the Volta: The War in the Cercle of Ouagadougou
Conclusion
Appendix: Letters Used as Evidence in the Muslim Conspiracy Trials

This highly recommended work will recast the history of colonial West Africa for years to come. All levels and collections. -