Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée

The study of emotions in African history is in its infancy, although it is expanding rapidly as a new frontier in scholarly work on the modern era. Considering the violent tumult experienced by the continent over the past two centuries, it seems apposite to begin to explore the role of emotions in t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Reid, R
Format: Journal article
Published: Brill Academic Publishers 2017
_version_ 1826274207219056640
author Reid, R
author_facet Reid, R
author_sort Reid, R
collection OXFORD
description The study of emotions in African history is in its infancy, although it is expanding rapidly as a new frontier in scholarly work on the modern era. Considering the violent tumult experienced by the continent over the past two centuries, it seems apposite to begin to explore the role of emotions in the experience and interpretation of those processes of change, which are ongoing at the time of writing. This paper represents an attempt to contribute to the emerging historiography on emotions history in Africa. It is specifically concerned with the power of melancholy, mourning and memory in the context of war and other forms of violent conflict. The paper seeks to adopt a longue durée perspective, encompassing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though the bulk of the source material is located in the colonial and postcolonial periods and this is reflected in the weight of the analysis. The analysis itself is concerned with both individual and collective interpretations of the violent past, but the central focus is an assessment of how states and societies mourn the dead; and how they develop processes and systems of socio-political control and memory based on experiences of profound loss and bitter discontent, as well as of supposed military triumph.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T22:39:56Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:5b34138c-a1a0-4545-a925-0a3733a52d8c
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T22:39:56Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Brill Academic Publishers
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:5b34138c-a1a0-4545-a925-0a3733a52d8c2022-03-26T17:20:36ZMourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue DuréeJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5b34138c-a1a0-4545-a925-0a3733a52d8cSymplectic Elements at OxfordBrill Academic Publishers2017Reid, RThe study of emotions in African history is in its infancy, although it is expanding rapidly as a new frontier in scholarly work on the modern era. Considering the violent tumult experienced by the continent over the past two centuries, it seems apposite to begin to explore the role of emotions in the experience and interpretation of those processes of change, which are ongoing at the time of writing. This paper represents an attempt to contribute to the emerging historiography on emotions history in Africa. It is specifically concerned with the power of melancholy, mourning and memory in the context of war and other forms of violent conflict. The paper seeks to adopt a longue durée perspective, encompassing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though the bulk of the source material is located in the colonial and postcolonial periods and this is reflected in the weight of the analysis. The analysis itself is concerned with both individual and collective interpretations of the violent past, but the central focus is an assessment of how states and societies mourn the dead; and how they develop processes and systems of socio-political control and memory based on experiences of profound loss and bitter discontent, as well as of supposed military triumph.
spellingShingle Reid, R
Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title_full Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title_fullStr Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title_full_unstemmed Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title_short Mourning and glory: Toward affective histories of violence in Africa over la Longue Durée
title_sort mourning and glory toward affective histories of violence in africa over la longue duree
work_keys_str_mv AT reidr mourningandglorytowardaffectivehistoriesofviolenceinafricaoverlalongueduree