Colonial Authorities Research Articles

La República de Los Indios: Tlaxcala, Survival, and the Struggle for Autonomy within New Spain, 1519-1558.

This thesis examines the strategies Tlaxcalan leaders employed to maintain their autonomy directly with the Spanish colonizers and administrative officials in their province in the 16th century. Previous scholarship has portrayed the Tlaxcalans as insignificant collaborators or willful allies of Spanish colonizers. This thesis, by contrast, shows that they maintained their autonomy through their strategic appeals to various colonial authorities, integration of Catholicism into native culture, and the use of both prestige and alliance to emphasize the importance of the province. This thesis uses contemporary annals, government records, literature, artwork, and letters created by the Tlaxcalans, and Spaniards, to analyze the methods and reasonings behind their adaptations.

The Return of the Repressed: Political Deportation in the 
Indian Ocean during the Age 
of Revolutions

Abstract Between the second half of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Indian Ocean became a theatre of the global war waged by European imperial states. This article compares how three colonial powers, in French, Danish, and British colonial territories, dealt with interconnected political threats, in a region where the limits of imperial sovereignty and jurisdictions were often blurred and frequently renegotiated. Rather than a formally sanctioned doctrine and legal category, deportation should be understood as a crude tool for solving a variety of problems. Although the forced removal of criminals, religious minorities or political opponents was not a new instrument to the late eighteenth century, it is often ignored that political deportation was also a widely used legal practice in the Indian Ocean during the ‘age of revolutions’. In this region, deportation was used by imperial centres to get rid of political enemies, but also by regional authorities, without referring to metropolitan orders. It was usually not a judicial punishment, but an administrative measure justified in the name of political necessity. This article focuses on three small colonial enclaves, French Reunion, Danish Tranquebar, and British Pondicherry, where a siege mentality and fear of political sedition were omnipresent in this period. Contemporaries believed, with some justifications, that a single conspiracy linked these three colonial theatres, involving the same set of protagonists, who redeployed their projects as they were removed from one place to the next. But in these three sites and societies, deportation raises different issues. Dumping radicals on a foreign shore might have been a short-term fix, but it rarely solved problems in the long term: deportees often returned after some time, which was a direct consequence of the colonial authorities’ reluctance to take irreparable decisions, and of the entanglement of empires and polities in the Indian Ocean.

Gender, Human Rights Networks, and the State of Emergency During the Arab Revolt (1936–1939)

Abstract Contrary to the current literature on the British state of emergency during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, that sees women as victims of counterinsurgency policies or the differential objects within national-military cultures, this article argues that Palestinian women played an active role in fostering the rise of early human rights networks, and highlights how the politics of race and gender-based violence marked an embedded dimension of the imperial and colonial political authority and practice. By focusing on the emotional and divisive question of Palestine during the Arab Revolt, and using gender as a polyhedric tool of analysis, the article aims to show the centrality of gender and women’s activism in forging and grasping technologies of colonial emergency governance as tools of resistance to colonial violence. It enriches current histories of international law and adopts a critical feminist intersectional approach.

Printing and publishing in Saigon-Cho Lon, Vietnam: Catalysts of colonial social and cultural transformation

In 1859, the French invasion of Gia Dinh marked the beginning of their acquisition of Cochinchina. Shortly after their arrival, France brought printers on their ships, along with firearms and artillery. The printers were intended to quickly disseminate the policies of the invading army to the inhabitants of the occupied territory. At the end of 1861, the inaugural official newspaper in Cochinchina, ‘Le Bulletin officiel de l’expédition française de la Cochinchine’, had been published. The Royal Printing House (l’Imprimerie Impériale), the first printing facility in Cochinchina, was also established at the end of 1861 to accommodate printing tasks, particularly the production of gazettes. In 1873, various private printing houses emerged in Saigon-Cho Lon. Printing and publishing efforts gradually assimilated into the social fabric of Cochinchina after serving as a tool of the invaders. They transformed into political and cultural institutions within colonial society, notably in Saigon-Cho Lon. The progression of these activities during the process was observable, at least for those granted permission to participate. The requirements of the colonial environment and the vitality of the private sector fuelled these new activities, although the colonial authorities deemed it necessary to exert control over them. This article offers additional information on the printing and publishing activities in Saigon-Cho Lon, Vietnam, highlighting the accomplishments of some distinguished printers.

Maroon Rice Genomic Diversity Reflects 350 Years of Colonial History.

Maroons in Suriname and French Guiana descend from enslaved Africans who escaped the plantations during colonial times. Maroon farmers still cultivate a large diversity of rice, their oldest staple crop. The oral history and written records of Maroons by colonial authorities provide contrasting perspectives on the origins of Maroon rice. Here, we analyzed the genomic ancestry of 136 newly sequenced Maroon rice varieties and found seven genomic groups that differ in their geographical associations. We interpreted these findings in light of ethnobotanical and archival investigations to reconstruct the historical contexts associated with the introduction of rice varieties to the Guianas. We found that two rice groups trace to West Africa, which we propose are linked to the transatlantic slave trade (c. 1526 to 1825). We posit that the Maroon rice stock additionally contains varieties that derive from rice introduced by indentured laborers from Java (1890 onwards), USA rice breeders (1932 onwards), and Hmong refugees who fled the Vietnam War (1991). Furthermore, on the Maroon fields, we found rice types never documented before that were derived from crosses. Overall, our results demonstrate that the Maroon farmers prioritize maintenance of a high stock diversity, which we posit reflects the expertise they inherited from their (African) ancestors. Ignored by agricultural modernization initiatives, Maroon farmers today are custodians of a unique cultural heritage. Notably, the genomic findings underline many Maroon stories about their past. We anticipate that a similar study approach can be applied to other heirloom crops of (Indigenous) communities that may have preserved their history on their farms to reconstruct, acknowledge, and honor the past.

A Historical Analysis of Ethnic Conflicts in Nigeria

Evidently, a significant number of developing nations exhibit ethnic diversity. The presence of a variety of ethnic groups within a given society has the potential to result in heightened levels of civil unrest. Nigeria's National Question is widely regarded as one of the most intricate in the world, owing to the country's vast array of over 250 ethnic groups and the presence of approximately 120 distinct languages. The colonial authorities, under the guise of promoting ethnic harmony, deliberately and methodically divided the diverse Nigerian populace, thereby fostering a conducive environment for inter-group strife. The diverse composition of the nation leads to a proclivity among its constituent groups to prioritise local awareness over national awareness. The present study employs content analysis as its research methodology to investigate ethnic conflicts in Nigeria. The study also analysed the underlying factors that give rise to ethnic conflicts within the nation and delineated potential avenues for their amelioration juxtaposing between the old and new dimensions.

Accounting for informalization in Africa's extractive industry: Evidence from Ghana's small‐scale gold mining sector during the colonial period

AbstractIn this paper, we draw on the accountability and institutional theories to explicate the informalized state of Ghana's small‐scale gold mining sector as an exemplar of informalization of the extractive industry in Africa during the colonial period. We present a critical and historical perspective on the role of colonial subjugation that took the form of discriminatory policies and lack of accountability, in laying the foundations for the current challenges of continuous informalization of the indigenous gold mining sector and its implications on livelihoods, the economy and the environment in Ghana. We analyzed archival data on the mining industry in Ghana, consisting of official correspondences between colonial bureaucrats in Britain and Ghana, as well as colonial policies on mining, interpreted through the lenses of institutional theory. Specifically, we used records comprising letters, mineral policies, mineral output, and labor relations in the Gold Coast during the colonial period as well as minutes of meetings held by those governing mining enterprises that operated in Ghana before 1957. We also drew on periodic reports of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and their member enterprises, Government of Ghana white papers, parliamentary records among others. We found that the colonial authority, as the new institutional power with vested interest in the extractive industry, adopted discriminatory policies that banned small‐scale gold mining by indigenous population in Ghana, marginalizing the sector's operation to the advantage of foreign large‐scale gold miners. We demonstrate that the control of mineral resources by the colonial authority under new ownership structures disenfranchised the indigenous population and their right to the mineral resources of the Gold Coast. We argue that this institutionalized discriminatory policy, and the resulting lack of accountability is largely responsible for the ongoing informalization of Ghana's small‐scale gold mining sector. This paper contributes to the corpus of critical and historical scholarship that investigates the role of racialization and accountability during colonial period, but with notable distinction that departs from specific professional or disciplinary perspectives. Instead, it focuses on the colonial subjugation and exploitation of the small‐scale gold mining sector and its ongoing informalization that traces its roots to the era of British colonial rule in Ghana. It reiterates the need for accountability for these historical inequalities affecting the small‐scale mining operators, to facilitate the sector's formalization and to effectively control and manage the myriads of negative impacts associated with it.

José Rizal és a Fülöp-szigeteki függetlenség kérdése

The Philippines’ primary national hero is undoubtedly José Rizal. His role in shaping Philippine identity and nationhood is unquestionable. It is also little disputed that, although Rizal enjoyed considerable fame and respect in his lifetime, the US colonial administration had significantly contributed to his reputation as a national hero. Following the Spanish-American War, the victorious new colonial authorities’ first impressions of Rizal, who had been executed a few years earlier in 1896, were that he was a moderate, anti-revolutionary reformer. As a result of American propaganda, it soon became the generally accepted view that Rizal not only opposed the revolution but also supported assimilation with Spain. However, from the 1960s onwards, more and more people began to question this assertion. The primary aim of the study is to examine Rizal’s views on independence and revolution in depth, based primarily on his published writings and surviving correspondence.

Nubians Are Baganda from Bombo: Unpacking the Luwalo Tax Protests and the Nubian Identity Crisis in Colonial Buganda (1891-1940)

This study challenges the dominant narrative that the 1940 Luwalo tax protests in Buganda were solely a result of the Nubians' militant and uncompromising nature. Instead, it posits that these protests were deeply rooted in unresolved identity issues imposed on the Nubian community by British colonial authorities since their arrival in Uganda in the 1890s. By examining the 1940 protest and the subsequent arrest and imprisonment of Nubian protesters, the research raises critical questions about the politics of colonial identity construction and deconstruction. It investigates why some Nubians resisted the payment of native taxes while others complied, the minimal press coverage of the protests, and the role of colonial tax policies, such as the Luwalo tax, in reshaping Nubian identity. Additionally, the study highlights the often-overlooked role of Nubian women in these protests. A historical research methodology was employed, utilizing both primary and secondary sources, including government documents, colonial correspondences, and newspapers, to uncover the broader socio-political context of the protests. Oral histories, gathered through interviews with 5 surviving Nubian elders and 9 of their descendants, provided valuable insights into identity struggles and the impact of colonial policies. This combination of archival research and oral history offers an elaborate analysis of how colonial tax policies influenced Nubian identity, contributing to the broader narrative of resistance and identity preservation within the community

Resistance and stylistic reverence: A typological study of colonial facades in Tlemcen (Algeria)

Abstract In Algeria, which was colonised for over a century, the arrival of the French colonisers led to the introduction of new architectural styles imported from Europe. This adoption of an exogenous style in a different cultural context was only made possible by French military domination. Importing and imposing a style was not always easy, as Algerian resistance was as much stylistic and socio-cultural as it was military. To illustrate this point, we have taken the case of the historic city of Tlemcen (Northwest Algeria), where the French occupiers met with stylistic resistance complicating the achievement of their colonial project. Our research raises the following question: What forms of stylistic resistance are manifested in colonial architecture in the city of Tlemcen? Our aim is to identify the specific characteristics of colonial architecture in Tlemcen, in order to bring out the signs of stylistic resistance that testify to a desire to maintain a local cultural identity despite the colonial influence. The typological analysis of colonial facades serves as a tool and a means of providing in-depth understanding of architectural facades and typological classification in view of the diversity of styles and ornamentation of colonial facades in Tlemcen. This resistance manifests itself in European revivalism in Tlemcen, which involved an exceptional effort aimed simultaneously at composition and a search for stylistic anchorage and originality. It also manifested itself at the level of the native population, who stepped in to protect their cultural heritage and identity against the colonial authorities. Moreover, a certain form of stylistic reverence can be detected, expressed in avoiding pronounced aesthetic or stylistic expressions, favouring instead a more universal and timeless appearance.

Research on Tropical Medicine and Germ Theory in Colonial Hong Kong: Focusing on Malaria and Plague Prevention.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Hong Kong was in the midst of a malaria and plague epidemic which caused a fierce dispute within the medical community over disease theories and quarantine practices. However, the Hong Kong colonial authorities and medical community did not immediately accept the theory of etiology based on germ theory. Although germ theory was becoming scientifically established through research on plague and malaria in the 1890s, the Hong Kong colonial authorities and medical community did not immediately accept it. Patrick Manson (1844-1922) began studying tropical medicine based on germ theory by studying elephantiasis and malaria in Amoi and Hong Kong during the 1880s. However, he was unable to strongly advocate for a quarantine policy based on germ theory because the exact transmission routes of these diseases were not yet fully understood. Although the scientific community began to shift towards germ theory after the discovery of causative bacteria for diseases like malaria and plague in the 1880s and 1890s, many medical and colonial health officials in Hong Kong still held on to the quarantine policy based on miasma theory. However, a series of infectious diseases and destructive miasma theory-based quarantine measures were pushing Hong Kong society into chaos, and the existing quarantine measures was no longer sustainable. In the twentieth century, colonial authorities and medical community in Hong Kong adopted tropical medicine and quarantine measures based on germ theory as their prominent position. Despite the establishment of tropical disease theory based on germ theory, racial perceptions of disease did not change significantly. Instead, the theory of tropical medicine reinforced orientalist views of disease.

1910~20년대 일본인 교원의 ‘만주·북지나(北⽀那)’ 시찰

This article examines the observation trip to Manchuria·North China of Japanese teachers in colonial Korea during the 1910s and 1920s. The observation trip was conducted under the following background. At that time, it was popular in Japan for students and teachers to travel to Manchuria. And in colonial Korea the teacher retraining policy was actively being implemented. In the beginning, the trip group visited only Manchuria. However, the area of the visit gradually expanded to Qingdao, Beijing and Tianjin. The members of observation trip observed the natural environment, cityscapes, facilities of South Manchuria Railway Company, the Russo-Japanese War sites, the battlefield of the war between Germany and Japan, historic sites of China and a variety of schools. As a result, the observation trip to Manchuria·North China contributed to the improvement of Japanese teachers' qualities. In addition, it provided information about the situation of education for Koreans in South Manchuria and the current state of education in China to colonial authorities of Korea.

A Critical Voice on the Hajj by a Sumatran Pilgrim from the Early Twentieth Century

This paper examines a late 19th-century brochure entitled ‘Perdjalanan ke-‘Tanah-Tjoetji’ (A Pilgrimage to the ‘Holy Land’) written by Dja Edar Moeda, a Dutch-educated native teacher and a pioneer journalist and vernacular press entrepreneur in Sumatra. The text offers a critical perspective on the Hajj, differing from the majority of this corpus, which tends to show religious enthusiasm and saintly connotations. This paper demonstrates that the ‘deviant’ voice on the Hajj in the Brochure reflects the author’s concerns. As a native intellectual and religious modernist with a Western-secular education, he worries about the fate of his fellow native pilgrims, who are often victimised by rampant fraudulent practices in the organisation of the Hajj due to their illiteracy, map illiteracy, innocence, naivety and tendency to be submissive in their religious practice. In this respect, the Brochure indirectly criticises the Dutch East Indies colonial authority’s deficiencies in organising the pilgrimage and protecting the pilgrims as its colonial subjects.

The roles of Dutch skippers as partners and principals in colonial endeavours: Lessons from Amsterdam to New Netherland (1639–1664)

While Atlantic skippers were vital to seventeenth-century Dutch imperial expansion, few histories address the roles of skippers in colonial ventures. Drawing on archival records in Amsterdam and New York, this study examines the activities of skippers along roughly 200 voyages between Amsterdam and New Netherland from 1639 to 1664. In Amsterdam, skippers in relationships with voyage outfitters functioned as trusted partners who offered continuity for operations. As principals at sea, skippers navigated hazards and managed contingencies during inherently risky transatlantic passages. In the colony, skippers collaborated with local merchants to facilitate trade, and with colonial authorities to provide maritime support. With an impact on every stage of the endeavour, skippers were key players in the colonial complex, which depended on them for its functioning. Beyond New Netherland, these findings have applications for evaluating other European colonial undertakings, and for understanding the wider mechanisms of imperial expansion into the Atlantic.

Komunikasi Strategis Lobi dan Negosiasi dalam Upaya Peredaman Konflik Agraria Desa Pakel, Banyuwangi

Land is an important part of human life. Therefore, the state as the highest organization is obliged to provide people's agrarian rights. However, until now, agrarian conflicts still haunt the affected communities. An example is Pakel Village, Banyuwangi, where most of the area is still controlled by the colonial plantation authorities and Perhutani. The conflict, which started in 1993, then re-emerged in 2012 and continued in 2017 until now. Until now there has been no clear solution and the state has not been able to fulfill its promise. Neither legally nor has it been able to provide a protective umbrella that can guarantee the Pakel community. This research aims to analyze conflict and how strategic communication can reduce agrarian disputes in Pakel Village. The research is descriptive qualitative type. Data collection techniques in this research were obtained through literature study or library research through journal research article sources and online news. The research results reveal several stages of strategic communication that can be pursued in the process of reducing agrarian conflict, namely: (1) consolidating internal parties related to conflict resolution; (2) conducting mediation involving all parties involved in the conflict; and (3) involving stakeholders in conflict resolution. Consolidation is a communication process, where all parties are involved in high intensity discussions. The mediation process is also part of the communication strategy in resolving agrarian conflicts. Through this consolidation and mediation, the government as the guarantor of law and justice or what we can call a mediator can map the point of origin of the conflict, the actors involved, the magnitude of the losses, as well as the strategies and tactics for resolving it.

The making, unmaking and adaptation of Mayeyi multispecies entanglements within the Kwando-Linyanti wetlands: eighteenth century to 1990

The Kwando-Linyanti wetlands of Namibia are known for their rivers, floodplains and woodlands with abundant wildlife and a diversity of birds and fish. Within these landscapes reside the Mayeyi, a Bantu-speaking people whose culture is closely entangled with the wetlands but whose traditional multispecies relations have been irrevocably unmade by colonialism. This unmaking has resulted in the slow, intergenerational extinction of the traditional Mayeyi way of life and the emergence of new species connections and cultural practices. This article draws on Van Dooren’s notion of entanglements to explore these processes of making, unmaking and adaptation of the Mayeyi multispecies relations within the Kwando-Linyanti wetlands. Drawing from a review of literature and archival material together with oral accounts and interviews, the article describes the emergence of the Mayeyi multispecies entanglements in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the successive alienation from these entanglements as colonial authorities sought to control the tsetse fly and create conservation landscapes. Against the backdrop of contemporary policies that fail to recognise historical injustices and often continue to marginalise communities living within conservation landscapes, the article highlights the unique multispecies relations and associated culture of the Mayeyi and the ongoing impact of the severance of these relations.

Fugitive Archives: Architecture, Police Photography, and Decolonial Futures

ABSTRACT This paper examines underexplored police photographs of Chinese migrants in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, with a focus on architectural spaces. In 1940, a secret anti-Japanese association known as Ildonghoe was established by a group of Chinese migrants in the Korean city of Incheon. Following the arrest of its members in 1943, Japanese colonial authorities documented with photographs locations and objects related to the organization’s activities. This investigation serendipitously created a photographic archive of architectural spaces in and around Incheon’s Chinatown, many of which have since disappeared. The paper sheds light upon these police photographs as an “accidental archive,” a repository of historical materials that gives rise to unintended outcomes with critical information about certain events, places, and moments. The paper pays particular attention to the peculiarity of police photographs as a form of happenstance yet significant documentation capturing historical moments that might otherwise remain elusive. Reading against the grain of colonial archives, this paper shows how the Ildonghoe photographs invite viewers to envision a different narrative of the racial relations forged under colonial rule and imagine decolonial futures that have yet to come.

The State, Religion, and Violence in Colonial and Postcolonial Malawi

In the histories of both colonial and postcolonial Malawi, there have been cases of religious-related violence, both in its physical and non-physical forms. Such cases have led to the deaths of the “perpetrators” of violence and ‘innocent’ believers, destruction of property, prison detentions, and even the forced removal of citizens from the country. This paper analyzes two case studies, one in which private citizens perpetrated the violence, led by a preacher called John Chilembwe, of the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM), challenging British colonial authorities during the second decade of the twentieth century. In the second case, the focus is on the independent Malawi government, which used violence against members of the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) religious sect from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, owing to the Witnesses’ disassociation from the demands of the secular state. Using data primarily drawn from various archives and other published studies, this paper argues that the use of ‘religious-based violence’ is not just a domain ‘reserved’ for those experiencing oppression, exclusion, and marginalization. Rather, authoritarian governments, like the one that emerged in postcolonial Malawi and other parts of Africa, also resorted to using ‘religious-based violence’ to serve as a tool for eliminating ‘non-conforming’ religious sects and organizations. In doing so, this paper contributes to the various fields of scholarship, including the relationship between religion and violence in modern Africa and the dynamics and operations of the state in both colonial and postcolonial Africa.

Power Dynamics and Cultural Clashes in Doris Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing: Decolonising the Discourse of Differences

This paper examines the power dynamics and cultural clashes in Doris Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing, focusing on the interactions between the white protagonist, Mary Turner, and her black servants Samson and Moses, as well as a white servant Tony. Set in colonial Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), the novel portrays the pervasive racism and superiority complex of the white colonialists. Mary’s negative perceptions of black culture highlight the colonialists’ failure to appreciate indigenous traditions, reinforcing unequal power structures. Drawing attention to theoretical frameworks such as Franz Fanon’s concept of anti-racism and Ngugi wa Thiang’o’s theory of decolonisation, this paper examines Moses’s resistance to oppression and his quest for decolonisation as manifestations of individual agency within imperialism. Moses’ journey toward decolonisation symbolises a broader struggle for psychological, cultural, and economic liberation from colonial oppression. This analysis underscores the complexities of authority and resistance, illustrating how Mary’s attitudes inadvertently trigger Moses’s decolonisation process. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of Lessing’s exploration of colonial authority, cultural differences, and the necessity of decolonisation.

Examination of Proprietary Land Structure in Amaigbo, Imo State, Nigeria

The proprietary structure of land throughout Nigeria and among the Amaigbos in the Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State was examined. The proprietary land structure, which sheds light on absolute and derivative interest, was the subject of the study. Despite the passage of the Land Use Act of I978, the Igbo people traditionally understood property ownership to be of the absolute interest and derived interest basically. The Amaigbo community was no exception to the sacredness of Igbo land ownership, which was further demonstrated by the practice of only transferring land to sons. Women are only permitted to use land by virtue of their status as daughters or wives in the family, which is similar to the derivative interest. Three periods comprised the ownership pattern: before, during, and after colonization. The analysis of this pattern is being conducted at present time. The study's data collection methods included important interviews and historical records. Land was not originally subject to sale, but as the population grew, land pledges, sales, and occasional land exchanges occurred. It was determined that the Amaigbo people now sell land and have welcomed the modernization and progress brought about by the colonial authority.