Trade and Transformation: Participation in the Ivory Trade in Late 19th-Century East and central Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper identifies problematic elements in the literature on the ivory trade during the late 19th century and proposes an alternate approach that draws on insights from economic anthropology and history. It suggests ways in which various groups, both African and external, participated in the ivory trade. This participation grew out of differing beliefs about the power of trade to bring about economic, social and political change. While late 19th-century British debates about trade with Africa had no direct counterpart in the African communities involved in the ivory trade, the changing nature and meaning of trade and trade goods produced a variety of contending political, social and economic options. An examination of these beliefs about trade, focusing on the Eastern Congo, offers an interesting point of comparison with contemporary debates about the power of appropriately structured trade to transform Africa.