ARTICLES
“I Am the Subject of the King of Congo”: African Political Ideology and the Haitian Revolution, p. 181
John K. Thornton
Slaves from the kingdom of Kongo made up a substantial proportion of the inhabitants of Saint-Domingue at the time of its revolution in 1701, and it is not surprising that their leaders occasionally invoked loyalty to the kingdom of Kongo. The civil wars that fed the slave trade from Kongo to the Caribbean included ideological dimensions concerning the proper use of power and authority, which had echoes in the ideology of the revolution. Exploring the African dimension of the revolutionary ideology suggests an alternative to the widely accepted notion of the role played by the ideology of the French Revolution as an inspiration for the rebels of Saint-Domingue.
Treaties and Friendships: British Imperialism, the Ottoman Empire, and China in the Nineteenth Century, p. 215
Resat Kasaba
Britain signed free trade treaties with the Ottoman empire and China in 1836 and 1842, respectively. These treaties were designed to curb Ottoman and Chinese control over their markets and to open the interior of these empires to British goods. After securing the cooperation of the two empires, the British had to deal with a vast network of intermediaries who were now free to pursue their own interests. After trying and failing to undermine the local networks, the foreigners ended up having to negotiate with and work through local merchants and brokers. In the end, the British had to readjust their priorities according to local conditions, and they also had to be content with less than what they had originally hoped to achieve in the Ottoman empire and China. This paper highlights the important role played by local interactions in shaping the pattern of incorporation of these two empires into the world economy.
Rhetorics and Rights of Identity in Islamist Movements, p. 243
Valentine M. Moghadam
Islamist movements are now widespread in the Middle East, having emerged in the context of social change, economic crisis, and political authoritarianism. Their discourses focus less on economic than on political and cultural issues, such as public morality, application of Islamic law, and the comportment of women. Their concern with religious and cultural identity is invariably translated into a focus on gender and the position of women; cultural integrity is seen as dependent upon women’s appearance and behavior. Thus veiling and nonveiling are symbolic of opposing political and cultural identities. Although the turn to identity is a global phenomenon, and Islamist movements represent a specific type of identity politics, the movements in the Middle East are political in nature and seek to acquire power. This article underscores the centrality of gender in Islamist movements and examines the contradictions of their rhetoric in general and of their conceptions of rights.
FORUM: THE FORMATION OF ETHNIC IDENTITIES IN FRONTIER SOCIETIES
Ethnogenesis and Frontiers, p. 267
David A. Chappell
This essay introduces the three following articles, all of which originated as papers delivered at the “Symposium on Comparative Frontier Studies,” held at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in March 1992. The theme was ethnogenesis, a process of distinctive identity formation that cross-cultural frontiers often generate or politicize. This essay reviews recent approaches to the analysis of frontiers. It suggests that global interdependence is challenging the European-derived model of the nation-state, so that nations may take different forms in the future.
Ethnogenesis and the Religious Revitalization beyond the Roman Frontier: The Case of Frankish Origins, p. 277
David Harry Miller
The intrusions of states into the habitats of indigenous populations are usually associated with destabilization of existing indigenous social forms. Ethnogenesis, the formation of new ethnic identities, often occurs in such a case. The formation of the Frankish war confederation, which took place about the second or early third century C.E., seems to constitute an example of this sort of ethnogenesis. It was associated with the development of a new religious tradition and a new form of political and military leadership, both of which represented adaptations to the stressful conditions created by the Roman intrusion into the frontier region beyond the Rhine River.
Ethnogenesis and Ethnohistory of the Seminole Maroons, p. 287
Kevin Mulroy
This paper discusses the factors leading to the “birth” of one of the “new peoples,” the Seminole maroons of Florida. It argues that the ethnogenesis and ethnohistory of the group should be considered in comparative perspective and within the models of “neoteric” and “cenogenic” societies proposed by Nancy L. Solien González and Kenneth M. Bilby. The Seminole maroons’ experience was similar to that of other maroon societies throughout the Americas. Their ethnohistory furnishes considerable insight into the larger historical and cultural processes contributing to the formation and development of new ethnic identities.
Frontier Ethnogenesis: The Case of New Caledonia, p. 307
David A. Chappell
When French colonial rule was imposed on New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific, its diverse Melanesian societies found themselves confronted by immigrants, both free and unfree, European and non-European. Colonial conflict and segregation created a bipolar polity, which ranged the indigenous Kanak against caldoche settlers. Each new ethnicity has resulted from frontier amalgamation as well as differentiation. The Kanak have worked to build political solidarity, but they remain a slight numerical minority. France thus continues to hold power, though “Kanaky” is emerging as a nation within a nation.
VIDEO REVIEW, p. 325
BOOK REVIEWS, p. 329
INDEX TO VOLUME 4 (1993)
