Decolonization and African Society : The Labor Question in French and British Africa (African Studies)

Review
"His book provides a monumental account of major stage in this mediation..." Ralph A. Austen, American Historical Review

"This is a magnificantly researched and richly detailed account of the complex struggles over labour and colonial policies in French and British Africa." Jane Parpart, International History Review

"...a formidable book. ...not only in its length, but also in the prodigious range of its archival sources, and the brilliance and variety of its case studies. ...its theoretical ambition sets this book apart from conventional work in labor history. Cooper successfully combines the insights of discourse analysis with the strenghts of social history. This is a superb analysis of the colonial state that at the same time constitutes a major breakthrough in African labor history. It convinces by the sheer excellence of its historical research as well as the careful contextualization of its unremittingly theoretical vision. It deserves to be read well beyond the normal bounds of African studies." Christiane Harzig, Labor History

"This is a formidable book. It is formidable not only in its length, but also in thr prodigious rangeof its archival sources, and its brillianceand variety of its case studies" Labour History

"This is an important book by a leading Africanist labor historian." Michael O. West, Journal of Social History

"...elegant and erudite...." Sara Berry, Africa Today

"One has come to expect insightful historical analysis from Frederick Cooper, and his latest work does not diappoint. In size, scope, and depth this is a big book, drawing heavily on original research.... Gracefully written subtle, ironic, andprofound, it is a very important book as well." David Northup, Historian

"Frederick Cooper's work has consistently deserved the favorable and excited attention it has received. This book, like the rest of his corpus, is extensively researched and extremely original. The field of African historical studies is once again in debt to this fine scholar." Richard Rathbone, Int'l Jrnl of Afri Hist Soc


Book Description
This authoritative volume changes our conceptions of "imperial" and "African" history. Frederick Cooper gathers a vast range of archival sources to achieve a truly comparative study of colonial policy toward African labor forces. He shows how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equality and a share of power. In the end, Britain and France could not reshape African society. As they left the continent, the question was how they had affected the ways in which Africans could reorganize society themselves.


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This detailed and authoritative volume changes our conceptions of "imperial" and "African" history. Frederick Cooper gathers a vast range of archival sources in French and English to achieve a truly comparative study of colonial policy towards the recruitment, control, institutionalization of African labor forces from the mid-1930s, when the labor question was first posed, to the late 1950s, when decolonization was well under way. Professor Cooper explores colonial conceptions of the African worker, and shows how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equal wages, equal benefits, and share of power. This helped to persuade European officials that their post-war project of building a "modern" Africa within the colonial system was both unaffordable and politically impossible. France and Great Britain left the continent, insisting the they had made it possible for Africans to organize wage labor and urban life in the image of industrial societies while abdicating to African elites responsibility for the consequences of the colonial intervention. They left behind the question of how much the new language for discussing social policy corresponded to the lived experience of African workers and their families and how much room for maneuver Africans in government or in social movements had to recognize work, family, and community in their own ways.


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