The demographics of empire [electronic resource] : the colonial order and the creation of knowledge / edited by Karl Ittmann, Dennis D. Cordell, and Gregory H. Maddox.

Cover image for The demographics of empire [electronic resource] : the colonial order and the creation of knowledge / edited by Karl Ittmann, Dennis D. Cordell, and Gregory H. Maddox.

ISBN:

9780821443484

9780821419328

Title:

The demographics of empire [electronic resource] : the colonial order and the creation of knowledge / edited by Karl Ittmann, Dennis D. Cordell, and Gregory H. Maddox.

Author:

Ittmann, Karl.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 292 pages) : illustrations, maps

Contents:

Counting subjects: demography and empire / Dennis D. Cordell, Karl Ittmann, and Gregory H. Maddox -- African historical demography in the postmodern and postcolonial eras / Dennis D. Cordell -- "Where nature dominates man": demographic ideas and policy in British Colonial Africa, 1890-1970 / Karl Ittmann -- How to count the subjects of empire? Steps toward an imperial demography in French West Africa before 1946 / Raymond R. Gervais and Issiaka Mande ́-- Makwerekwere: separating immigrants and natives in early colonial Natal / Thomas V. McClendon -- Counting and recounting: dislocation, colonial demography, and historical memory in northern Gabon / John M. Cinnamon -- The discourse of overpopulation in western Kenya and the creation of the Pioneer Corps / Meshack Owino -- Disease and reproductive health in Ujiji, Tanganyika: colonial and missionary discourses regarding Islam and a "dying population" / Sheryl A. McCurdy -- Disease and environment in Africa: imputed dynamics and unresolved issues / Gregory H. Maddox -- Reproducing labor: colonial government regulation of African women's reproductive lives / Meredeth Turshen -- African population: projections, 1850-1960 / Patrick Manning.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Demography -- Africa -- History.

Geographic Term:

Africa -- Population -- History -- Research.

Added Author:

Ittmann, Karl.

Cordell, Dennis D., 1947-

Maddox, Gregory.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2010

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
304.6096 22	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The Demographics of Empire is a collection of essays examining the multifaceted nature of the colonial science of demography in the last two centuries. The contributing scholars of Africa and the British and French empires focus on three questions: How have historians, demographers, and other social scientists understood colonial populations? What were the demographic realities of African societies and how did they affect colonial systems of power? Finally, how did demographic theories developed in Europe shape policies and administrative structures in the colonies? The essays approach the subject as either broad analyses of major demographic questions in Africa's history or focused case studies that demonstrate how particular historical circumstances in individual African societies contributed to differing levels of fertility, mortality, and migration. Together, the contributors to The Demographics of Empire question demographic orthodoxy, and in particular the assumption that African societies in the past exhibited a single demographic regime characterized by high fertility and high mortality.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Despite the title, this is African history. All of the country studies (South Africa, Gabon, Kenya, Tanzania) come from the continent, with overviews on British and French population policy and uses of the census. The collection revitalizes important debates on African demographic history, which have languished since the 1990s. Colonial demography seems esoteric, but it embraces crucial topics: illness, public health, the slave trade and labor migration, land rights, environmental and economic change, and stereotypes of "dying races" doomed by disease or primitive customs. Some chapters review secondary literature, others present primary scholarship; all are consistently strong. Contributions span a continuum, from Cordell's qualified appreciation of postmodernist and postcolonial skepticism toward colonial sources, to Patrick Manning's sharply empirical revision of population trends from 1850 to 1960. Poor data frequently impose research and policy constraints in a continent where literacy (and numeracy) arrived late, remains restricted, and often is subject to official or elite control. Nevertheless, interdisciplinary methods and analytical rigor make this demanding work useful for understanding other former colonized territories as well as Africa. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic libraries, especially with African studies collections; upper-level undergraduates and above. T. P. Johnson University of Massachusetts, Boston