Anti-colonial Struggle Research Articles

“IN THE CENTRE OF OUR CIRCLE”

This article examines how non-linear time and circularity are deployed in the historical novel Nehanda (1993), written by Zimbabwean author Yvonne Vera. Using Adriana Cavarero’s work on inclination, I suggest that circular time as well as spatial roundness, which pervade the novel, are mobilised to centre African women’s voices, bodies and experiences of colonial domination and anticolonial struggles. Rehabilitating women as key historical agents of anticolonial mobilisation, Vera also proceeds to re-legitimise African knowledge production and transmission by highlighting the importance of orality, prophecy and spirituality in the fight against colonialism. Through its implicit critique of verticality, Nehanda calls into question both Western historiography on Africa and African patriarchal narratives of resistance and liberation. In a colonial context where verticality, inspired by Kant’s philosophy, gestured towards the superiority of the European man as an autonomous subject, raising himself above the others, Vera highlights how Nehanda’s authority and legacy stemmed from her “relational subjectivity” (Cavarero), that is, from the strength of her connection with her people, her land and her ancestors.

A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Faith, Awareness, and Revolution in the Middle East

A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad: Faith, Awareness, and Revolution in the Middle East

Panchayat and colonialism in Humayun Kabir’s Men and Rivers

ABSTRACT Bengali peasants, as portrayed in Humayun Kabir’s 1945 novel Men and Rivers, have admirable notions of morality and justice, epitomized by the indigenous panchayat (village council/court) system. Written against the backdrop of peasant movements and anti-colonial struggles in Bengal, the novel implicitly provides an economic and cultural critique of British rule in the region. This article situates the text in colonial Bengal and the peasant revolutions of the 1930s. Referring to Frantz Fanon’s valorization of the peasants, it discusses Kabir’s depiction in Men and Rivers of the simplicity, integrity, and altruism of the peasantry as opposed to the sleaze and hypocrisy of colonialism and colonial modernity. It juxtaposes panchayat and colonialism to show the native peasants’ egalitarian potential and the encroaching colonizers’ exploitative motives, looks at Kabir’s celebration of rural traditions, and compares the South Asian panchayat system to its African counterparts – djemaas in northern, and kgotla in southern, Africa.

Historical Antecedents of the Cuban Revolution

Abstract The essay delves into the development of the revolutionary process promoted in Cuba from the fifties of the previous century by the July 26 movement and with the leadership of Fidel Castro. The historical contexts that were built in the anti-colonial struggle promoted by the Cuban people and with the active participation of thinkers of the stature of José Martí, among other patriots of the Island who dedicated their vital transit to the decolonizing task by offering their own lives, are detailed. The circumstances that the Spanish metropolis went through are studied when its influence in America was decimated due to the independence processes in the region and due to whose cause – in relation to its possession over Cuba – it allowed the United States of America to launch a strategy to seize several territories of the continent and promote a frank attack against Cuba.

Apartheid’s black soldiers: Un-national wars and militaries in Southern Africa

In his recent book, Apartheid’s black soldiers: Un-national wars and militaries in Southern Africa, Lennart Bolliger examines the history of black soldiers from Namibia and Angola who served in the security forces of apartheid South Africa from 1975 until 1989. He focuses specifically on the three all-male units that consisted predominantly of black troops that were commanded by white officers – 32 Battalion of the South African Defence Force (SADF), 101 Battalion of the South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF), and the infamous paramilitary police unit, Koevoet. During this period, these soldiers primarily fought against the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) – the military wing of the Namibian liberation movement, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) – in the anticolonial struggle in Namibia, as well as the post-independence civil war waged in Angola. The book builds on some earlier works by Bolliger, as well as another work co-authored with Will Gordon.

At Penpoint: African Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Cold War

At Penpoint: African Literatures, Postcolonial Studies, and the Cold War

Noir Expatriatism: Black Subjectivities in Anna's Sin

This essay examines Anna's Sin (1953), an Italian Othello film adaptation in which novelist William Demby (1922-2013) appears as an expatriate jazz saxophonist hiding from his criminal past. I argue that the film presents the emergence of transnational Black subjectivities through its various strains of Catholic antiracism, philosophies of anticolonial struggle, and the postwar skepticism of the intellectual left. In Anna's Sin, the conflation of these various discourses is played out in the film's noir aesthetics, constituting what I define as a mode of noir expatriatism.

Lotus and its afterlives: Memory, pedagogy and anticolonial solidarity

In this article we examine the Lotus: Afro-Asian Writings journal as an insurgent space that reflected Afro-Asian solidarity. We argue that Lotus constituted “infrastructures of dissent” and “infrastructures of solidarity” which were constructed between different anti-colonial movements. Though Lotus was widely circulated through different geographies, debated and discussed, there remains very little scholarly attention around its origins, impact, and the forms of solidarity it aspired to engender. There have been a number of studies on the “Bandung Spirit” and the “Tricontinental” conferences, yet there is generally less attention to the networks of artists, authors, exhibits, and magazines that discussed and debated forging insurgent solidarities under difficult circumstances. The article thus explores how cultural production was used by Afro-Asian artists to enact “creative solidarity” and the ways Lotus provided a means for cultural producers to share knowledge, theorize, and build relations across anti-colonial struggles, albeit in a space not outside the political dynamics and contradictions of the moment. We also conceptualize Lotus as an anti-colonial archive and suggest that such archives can be used pedagogically in efforts to decolonize curriculum, through a histories from below approach, to remember those occluded from history.

Resisting Narratives: An African Soldier in Sri Lanka’s Anticolonial Struggle

After three hundred years of militant, anti-colonial resistance, in 1803, the last independent monarchy in Sri Lanka waged its final successful campaign against the British. Though it would take another twelve years for the British to capture the Kandyan king, British failures in the battle of 1803 served as a turning point in England’s approach to colonialism in Sri Lanka. By mobilizing what Sujit Sivasundaram calls “counter-revolutionary” tactics in the Indian Ocean, the British not only spread its empire but also erased a long history of indigenous resistance. For a number of reasons, the histories of Sri Lankan and Kandyan anti-colonialism have received relatively little scholarly attention. The battle of 1803 opens a window into Lanka’s notions of itself as a globally-engaged kingdom. This essay investigates the history of the battle through the lens of one African soldier – a man named Joseph Fernando – who purportedly worked as the Kandyan king’s “chief executioner.” Through close reading of documents pertaining to the events of 1803, the essay contends that while Fernando himself is likely British propaganda, he nevertheless speaks to the island’s indigenous cosmopolitanism.

Gender and Decolonisation in Zambia: Re-Examining Women’s Contributions to the Anti-Colonial Struggle

Zambia obtained its independence from British colonial rule in 1964. While significant portions of historiography focus on how the struggle was predominantly fought by men, some more recent literature examines the various ways in which women contributed to the movement. This paper re-examines women’s participation in the anti-colonial movement of the 1950s and early 1960s by taking a cue from the development studies theories of women in development, women and development, and gender and development (WID, WAD and GAD respectively). The paper uses primary interviews and archival sources to focus on specific woman-led protests and their participants to investigate how women contributed to the struggle. It assesses the ways historians have portrayed women’s participation in decolonisation through specific lenses, critiquing the historiographical framing of women’s roles in the movement. I assert that the existing literature compartmentalises women’s contributions into political and non-political endeavours, and this limits how we can understand their work. This paper addresses the question of how we can better understand women’s contributions to the Zambian independence movement by realising that historiography has framed female labour in terms of reflecting the WID and WAD paradigms and by reframing the narratives through a lens reflective of the GAD paradigm. I argue that we can see how women’s labour has been characterised in ways that prevent us from seeing the larger picture: that both men’s and women’s work were essential to dismantling colonialism. I argue that a gendered lens, which views male and female contributions together, is necessary to a comprehensive understanding of the movement.

The Study Features of the Southeast Asian Countries at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

A brief analysis of the general trends in Southeast Asian studies carried out by the authors of the article showed that during the Soviet era, for a long time, this region was studied in two practically unrelated aspects. The first one was closed and subordinate to the tasks of the world revolution, and the second one was opened, devoted mainly to history of the countries of Southeast Asia and certain aspects of the anti-colonial struggle. It was only in the 1950s that the formation of the Southeast Asian school of studies began, but this process was complicated by the need to withstand work in the spirit of the “general line” of the party and government. A new, one might say “golden period” on the region study began after 1991 in modern Russia. The opening of archives, the expansion of communication opportunities and the removal of ideological barriers, as well as the highest qualifications of the majority of domestic scientists made it possible to bring the research of Southeast Asia to a new level. At the same time, an important motivational component, the connection between science and power, was almost completely lost. In the ruling structures, interest in scientific research through academic institutions was largely lost in favor of “strategic centers” close to the authorities, which began to perform expert functions. Scientists began to receive beggarly salaries, many under pressure of circumstances were forced to leave the country or even leave science. However, it was during these difficult years that scientists were able to prepare and publish world-class works, which for a long time will be the main reference points for all those who study the history, politics, economy and culture of the Southeast Asian countries. The authors did not set themselves the goal of presenting a complete bibliography of publications on Southeast Asia and the South Pacific region, do not claim to fully cover the entire problem, they can be subjective in their assessments, referring only to key works that characterize, in their opinion, the main periods and main directions studies of the countries of the region.

The Concrete Conditions of Human Rights: Western and Chinese Approaches

ABSTRACT Based on the principle that universals are valid if they are concrete universals, this article provides a comparison between Western liberal and Chinese Marxist approaches to human rights. It does so in three steps. First is the analysis of the foundations, or roots, of the Western liberal emphasis on an individual’s mastery over a “right” understood in terms of private property, and the Marxist tradition’s emphasis on anti-hegemonic sovereignty in light of anti-colonial struggles for national liberation. Second is the contrast between the development of the Western approach to the core human rights in terms of freedom of expression, movement, and assembly, and the Marxist emphasis on the right to socioeconomic well-being, or common prosperity. Third is the comparison between the fruits of either tradition, one in terms of identity politics, and the other in the emphasis on civil, political, cultural, and environmental rights. The article concludes by asking whether the two approaches are able to come to an understanding of each other, and proposes that such an understanding may need to take place in light of the concept and reality of concrete universals.

Memorializing Masculinity?

The Black Lives Matter movement has delivered a timely reminder of the colonial narratives underpinning commemorative statuary in the public sphere. Crucial to this renewed scrutiny of public memorialization is a consideration of the intersection of political and historical narratives with systems of oppression such as gender and race. This essay explores the gendering of colonial and anticolonial commemorative statuary on display in the French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. As overseas departments of France, these islands remain politically, administratively and economically tied to their former colonizer. The essay traces the evolution in Antillean memorialization from the glorification of the white male colonizer or abolitionist to the celebration of slave resistance through the figure of the maroon. It examines a range of public artworks dating from 1904 to 2002, questioning the extent to which these memorials, whether commemorating colonial history, abolitionist rhetoric or anticolonial resistance, uphold “great men of history” narratives. The essay explores the subversion of classical representations of colonial and abolitionist figures through the vandalism and destruction of a number of statues of abolitionist Victor Schoelcher. It examines the masculine iconography of resistance, often premised on the radical appropriation of classicist forms to celebrate male resistors, while women and their roles in anticolonial struggle are commonly obscured or depicted in ways which uphold dominant racial narratives and gender stereotypes. Finally, the essay explores the subversive anticolonial forms employed in several recent installations, which move beyond mimetic depictions of the male body to showcase elements usually excluded from representation, including the grotesque, disfigured or wounded body, or to eschew portrayals of the (gendered and racialized) body altogether. These works point to more inclusive ways of portraying not only resistance to colonialism, but also the suffering and the collective humanity of enslaved peoples.

The WIDF's Work for Women's Rights in the (Post)colonial Countries and the “Soviet Agenda”

AbstractThe primary aim of this article is to problematize the WIDF's interpretations of the rights of women from (post)colonial countries and its tactics in working for and together with these women. It shows that, in the context of rapid geopolitical changes – the growing anti-colonial struggle and Cold War competition – the WIDF had to change its ideology, ways of working, and communication strategies in order to keep its leading position in transnational work for women's rights and to maintain the sympathies of women from countries outside Europe. The main focus is on the contradictions, negotiations, and adjustments inside the WIDF with respect to the new political situation and the demands of women from Africa and Asia, in particular, during the highest period of anticolonial transformation (1950s to early 1970s). This article also pays attention to Soviet ideas on the emancipation of women and, in particular, to the influence of Soviet experiences of emancipating women from non-Slavic (Eastern and Southern) parts of the USSR on the WIDF's perception of and policies for the improvement of the situation of women in Asia and Africa. This article is based primarily on analysis of the WIDF's archival documents preserved in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) in Moscow, along with the WIDF's official publications.

Naming the ghost of capitalism in sport management

ABSTRACT Research question This paper questions why, despite capitalism’s intimate connections with sport, it is rarely named, let alone explicitly discussed in sport management. It questions whether capitalism should remain as the invisible, ghostly backdrop wherein sport management is located and conceptualized. Research methods This paper is primarily a position and conceptual paper, though it is foregrounded with a search of the term ‘capitalism’ within leading sport management academic journals, conference abstracts, and textbooks. It also provides a synopsis of capitalism (as a global system of power) and suggests that capitalism has a ghostly presence in contemporary sport management scholarship. Results and findings This paper advocates for an expansive understanding of ‘sport management’ as the organizing processes of sport activities, as opposed to the ‘managing’ modalities with capitalist values. Naming capitalism is a necessary first step for sport management research to become more accountable to social justice and emancipation. Implications Naming capitalism makes it analyzable. It opens up intellectual space to support multi-racial, multi-gender working-class and anti-colonial struggles within and beyond the sport industry, furthering existing analyses on racism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, etc. with a renewed focus on contradictions under capitalism. Moreover, it opens up possibilities to theorize non-capitalist forms of organizing sport that challenge the default logics of the sport ‘industry’.

The City Makers of Nairobi: An African Urban History

The City Makers of Nairobi: An African Urban History

Https://www.arabmediasociety.com/pathways-to-global-justice-turning-points-media-and-palestine-solidarity-among-diaspora-jews/

This article examines the processes by which Jewish Americans become involved in Palestine solidarity activism through a case study of the non-profit organization, Jewish Voice for Peace. This study finds American Jews tend to attribute their support for Palestine to historical events and media rather than planned activities such as interfaith dialogue and awareness-raising initiatives. In addition, despite popular perceptions that understand Jewish Americans’ paths to supporting Palestinians as uniquely arduous, my data suggest that most Jewish activists in the Palestine solidarity movement did not go through major ideological transformations to arrive at their positions. Instead, support for Palestine appears to be more ideologically accessible to Jewish activists than previously theorized. These findings suggest that media can serve as a powerful force to reorganize diasporic commitments and generate transnational support for justice and peace in the Arab world. They also imply that Western support for anticolonial struggles in the Middle East is more likely to be won through accurately reporting on such events rather than more targeted interventions designed to change people’s minds. While many social change organizations devote considerable resources to shifting the thinking of people who oppose their cause, my data suggest that such resources may be better spent mobilizing these groups’ existing bases.

The Hands Off Ethiopia campaign, racial solidarities and intercolonial antifascism in South Asia (1935–36)

AbstractThe transnational campaign against the Italian invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (1936–36) has been widely acknowledged as a turning point for antiracist and anticolonial political organizing in the African continent and diaspora. This article seeks to reconstruct the South Asian participation in the Hands Off Ethiopia protests, to expand historical knowledge of the early-twentieth-century development of Afro-Asian solidarity ties as well as the intersection of anti-Fascist and anticolonial struggles. It examines the institutional responses to the invasion on the part of the Indian Legislative Assembly, and a series of demonstrations, local meetings and boycotts whose implications reverberated in the local and international press as well as in the concerns of British colonial authorities. As will be argued, this mobilization was fueled by feelings of racial solidarity, anti-imperialist analyses, anti-caste critiques, scriptural interpretations and religious universalisms.

Globalizing the Second World War

Abstract Entrenched within national histories, the Second World War has largely resisted the ‘global turn’ despite its eminent globality. The broad reconceptualization presented here views the Second World War as a paroxysm of worldwide war (December 1941−September 1945) embedded within a capacious cycle of regional wars and revolutions beginning with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and ending in Korea in 1953. This expanded temporal frame is intertwined with a broadening of spatial horizons that allows the assimilation of world regions from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa, facilitates the integration of transnational flows of matériel, people and ideas, and underscores hybridity and popular agency. These conceptual shifts challenge the reified imaginary of the war of 1939–45, blurring ‘war’ and ‘post-war’ and allowing us to picture an American-led world order emerging directly from the war while illuminating the fighting that continued uninterrupted by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This approach explores the tension between global and national histories — itself a reflection of the contradiction between capitalism’s push for worldwide markets and the nation states within which it is organized — and views American hegemony as the primary outcome of the long war while highlighting the qualifications posed by the Chinese Revolution, the strengthening of the USSR, and the rise of anti-colonial struggles.

Atlantic Transformations: Empire, Politics, and Slavery during the Nineteenth Century

Atlantic Transformations: Empire, Politics, and Slavery during the Nineteenth Century