Beyond gatekeeper spatial metaphors of the state in Africa: relational geo-histories of Angola

Abstract

The state in Africa has sometimes been studied using spatial metaphors that entail certain limitations. The metaphor of a ‘gatekeeper state’ relies on ambiguous notions of the gate, narrow pathways, islands, and vast spaces, as well as binaries of internal/external and island/non-island, which occlude spatial relations that are important to understanding state–society dynamics. In contrast, relational geographies emphasise multiple spatialities, spatial dialectics, and places as formed through interrelations. This approach can help to reconceptualise state power in colonial Africa through the conjoining of governmental indirect rule, violence, infrastructure, and patriarchal and domestic authority. This helps to rethink assumptions of ‘gatekeeper states’, including taxation as fiscal and indirect, rural areas as residual, infrastructure as narrow and static, and infrastructural protest as most significant. The article focuses on colonial Angola, briefly connects this analysis with an outline of Angola’s post-colonial period, and concludes with implications for understanding pessimism, patronage, and possibilities.