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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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A Social History of Firearms in Central Africa to the Early Twentieth Century
| Panel |
62. Copper and Migrants: Towards a social history of industrialisation and social change in central Africa 1890-1990
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| Paper ID | 625 |
| Author(s) |
Macola, Giacomo
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The paper makes a case for examining the pre-colonial origins of Central Africa’s engagement with the products of industrial technology. Its principal contention is that firearms tell us more about a society than its purely military dimension, and that a study of their introduction and social impact throws significant new light on neglected processes that are still relevant to our understanding of contemporary Central Africa. Alongside the military and economic applications of firearms, the paper will dwell on the political and cultural implications of their diffusion during the last centuries of the pre-colonial era. It will also stress the need to take a fresh look at the military aspects of the colonial encounter and to examine the broad socio-cultural and economic ramifications of the colonial administrations’ early attempts to regulate the gun trade and effect a general disarmament. |
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