Africa in the World: Capitalism, Empire, Nation-State

145 Pages·2014·0.83 MB·English

by  Frederick Cooper

Africa in the World

Africa in the World
Capitalism, Empire, Nation-State
frederick cooper
Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England
2014
Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cooper, Frederick, 1947– author.
Africa in the world : capitalism, empire, nation-state / Frederick Cooper.
pages cm
“The origins of this book lie in an invitation to deliver the McMillan-Stewart Lectures
at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute of Harvard University. The three lectures that
became the book’s core chapters were presented in February 2012.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-674-28139-4
1. Africa—History—20th century. 2. Africa—Politics and government—20th century.
3. Africa—Foreign relations—20th century. 4. African diaspora. I. Title.
DT29.C59 2014
960.32—dc23
2013031634
Contents
Maps vii
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Africa and Capitalism 11
2. Africa and Empire 38
3. Africa and the Nation-State 66
Conclusion: Africa in the World, Past, Present, Future 90
Notes 103
Index 125

Maps
Dates of independence from colonial powers of African nations 2
Rail networks of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East 23
Empires mentioned in text 41
French West Africa 67

Preface
The origins of this book lie in an invitation to deliver the McMillan- Stewart
Lectures at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute of Harvard University. The three
lectures that became the book’s core chapters were presented in February
2012. I am grateful to the Institute, and particularly to its Director, Henry
Louis Gates, Jr., for giving me this honor and this opportunity. I am also
grateful to Skip for asking the sharpest questions after each of my lectures.
I would also like to thank Caroline Elkins, Emmanuel Akyeampong, and
David Armitage for their generous introductions to the lectures and for
presiding thoughtfully over each of them. The staff at the Du Bois Institute
helped to make the experience an enjoyable one. The present text bene-
fitted from questions from the audience and from a critique of the written
version by Jane Burbank. Joyce Seltzer went beyond what most of us expect
from an editor not only to provide encouragement and wise supervision
of the publication project, but to give me a careful and astute reading of
the text.
In preparing the lectures for publication I have developed fuller discus-
sions of several points that had to be compressed for the lecture format,
rethought a number of points, and added references. But I have tried to
keep something of the flavor of the original lectures. These are reflective
essays, not a comprehensive analysis of Africa’s place in the world. They
are intended to increase the reader’s thirst rather than to satisfy it. For me,