War of Words, War of Stones : Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar

Jonathon Glassman

ISBN 10: 025322280X / ISBN 13: 9780253222800

Published by Indiana University Press Feb 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware - The Swahili coast of Africa is often described as a paragon of transnational culture and racial fluidity. Yet, during a brief period in the 1960s, Zanzibar became deeply divided along racial lines as intellectuals and activists, engaged in bitter debates about their nation's future, ignited a deadly conflict that spread across the island. War of Words, War of Stones explores how violently enforced racial boundaries arose from Zanzibar's entangled history. Jonathon Glassman challenges explanations that assume racial thinking in the colonial world reflected only Western ideas. He shows how Africans crafted competing ways of categorizing race from local tradition and engagement with the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds.

Seller Inventory # 9780253222800

Bibliographic Details

• Title: War of Words, War of Stones : Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar
• Publisher: Indiana University Press Feb 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025322280X
• ISBN 13: 9780253222800
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 32D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 32 millimeters depth
• Weight: 571 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The Swahili coast of Africa is often described as a paragon of transnational culture and racial fluidity. Yet, during a brief period in the 1960s, Zanzibar became deeply divided along racial lines as intellectuals and activists, engaged in bitter debates about their nation's future, ignited a deadly conflict that spread across the island. War of Words, War of Stones explores how violently enforced racial boundaries arose from Zanzibar's entangled history. Jonathon Glassman challenges explanations that assume racial thinking in the colonial world reflected only Western ideas. He shows how Africans crafted competing ways of categorizing race from local tradition and engagement with the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds.

About the Author

Jonathon Glassman is Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University. He is author of Feasts and Riot: Revelry, Rebellion, and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856–1888, which was awarded the Herskovits Prize in African Studies.