Honour in African History

This is the first published account of the role of honour in African history.

John Iliffe (Author)

9780521546850, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 December 2004

430 pages, 5 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.66 kg

'This is a monumental work, covering sub-Saharan Africa in its scope and revealing a depth of understanding and a width of reading and research which can be admired. … John Iliffe's book is both landmark and a model.' Oliver Furley, Coventry University

This is the first published account of the role played by ideas of honour in African history from the fourteenth century to the present day. It argues that appreciation of these ideas is essential to an understanding of past and present African behaviour. Before European conquest, many African men cultivated heroic honour, others admired the civic virtues of the patriarchal householder, and women honoured one another for industry, endurance, and devotion to their families. These values both conflicted and blended with Islamic and Christian teachings. Colonial conquest fragmented heroic cultures, but inherited ideas of honour found new expression in regimental loyalty, respectability, professionalism, working-class masculinity, the changing gender relationships of the colonial order, and the nationalist movements which overthrew that order. Today, the same inherited notions obstruct democracy, inspire resistance to tyranny, and motivate the defence of dignity in the face of AIDS.

1. The comparative history of honour
Part I. Hero and Householder: 2. Men on horseback
3. Honour and Islam
4. Christian Ethiopia
5. Honour, rank, and warfare among the Yoruba
6. Honour and the state in West and Central Africa
7. Honour without the state
8. The honour of the slave
9. Praise and slander in southern Africa
10. Ekitiibwa and martyrdom
Part II. Fragmentation and Mutation: 11. The deaths of heroes
12. Honour in defeat
13. The honour of the mercenary
14. Respectability
15. Honour and gender
16. Urbanisation and masculinity
17. Honour, race, and nation
18. Political honour
19. To live in dignity
20. Concluding questions.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH], History [HB]