Books in African Studies, V. 61. series

This authoritative volume changes our conceptions of "imperial" and "African" history. Frederick Cooper gathers a vast range of archival sources to achieve a truly comparative study of colonial policy toward African labor forces. He shows how African trade union and political leaders used the new language of social change to claim equality and a share of power. In the end, Britain and France could not reshape African society. As they left the continent, the question was how they had affected the ways in which Africans could reorganize society themselves.

Eighty-five percent of Black African migrants to France come from a single ethnic group in a single region of West Africa. The Soninke have the oldest tradition of labor migration within Africa and were also probably the first itinerant traders of West Africa; an important proportion continue to be merchants today.The first major study of the Soninke labor migration within Africa and to France, Willing Migrants is based upon critical analysis of French precolonial and colonial records and oral interviews with Soninke migrants. François Manchuelle shows that these migrations were driven by a search for improved economic conditions and that these labor movements have a great deal in common with European and American migrations.The empirical evidence runs sharply contrary to the theoretical arguments common in the Africanist literature that have stressed the role of the colonial state in forcing migration through coercive violence and taxation. Providing a vital link between African Studies and the study of labor migrations around the world, Willing Migrants marks a major advance in Africanist labor migration literature and should initiate new lines of historical inquiry and set off wide-ranging debate.

With Gikuyu and English texts presented on facing pages, this volume explores the practice and cultural meaning of male and female ritual circumcision as revealed in an ancient circumcision song of the Gikuyu people of Kenya. Independent researcher Osotsi also seeks to explore the way the song is used as a manner of education through ritual. The bulk of the text is taken up by the bi-lingual presentation of 489 stanzas of the Muumburo na Irua . Before the presentation of the stanzas she explains the context of the ritual and argues that it plays a vital part in the transition to adulthood among those who have retained traditional cultural values. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The first major study of the Soninke labor migration within Africa and to France, Willing Migrants is based upon a critical analysis of French precolonial and colonial records and interviews with Soninke migrants. Francois Manchuelle shows that these migrations were driven by a search for improved economic options and that these labor movements have a great deal in common with European and American migrations.