Finn Fuglestad
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 227097 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Finn Fuglestad |
| NOMBRES | Finn |
| APELLIDO | Fuglestad |
| FIRMA | FUGLESTAD F |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Oslo |
| VERIFICADO | No |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 38 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 74 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 38 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1973 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2018 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Allada, its Vassals and Neighbours, and the Europeans
It is clear that Allada, reputedly founded by people from Tado, was for long the main polity on the Slave Coast. It is also clear that it was a polity of the traditional kind, typical of West Africa of old. As such, the society was a kindred-type society, its kings of the sacred kind, and the power of those kings possibly limited by “contrapuntal paramountcy”. The kings ruled most of their realm indirectly, since most local vassals were in fact (…
Convulsions Further West
The chapter seeks to map what happened west of Allada/Dahomey, on the Western or “Little” (peripheral) Slave Coast. It was conditioned in part by occurrences on the Gold Coast – the center of the European presence in West Africa – among the Twi-speaking Akan. The central event is the conquest on the Eastern Gold Coast of the Ga-Adangbe of Accra by Akwamu in 1677–82. It sent waves of refugees into the Western Slave Coast. Many of these Ga-Adangbe …
Focus on the European Side
The Portuguese were (from 1471) the European “pioneers” everywhere in West Africa. They were interested in gold, hence the region called ‘the Gold Coast’ (Ghana today). The slave trade, and especially the Slave Coast, came much later, the Slave Coast because of the forbidding local conditions that long dissuaded the Europeans (they had in fact to be invited in). Rivalry between the Europeans meant that (from the 1590s) the Dutch, the English, the…
Near Disaster
Tegbesu, king of Dahomey (1740–74), found himself at the helm of a polity on the brink of implosion and was also faced with formidable external foes. He managed to wade through by accentuating the regime of terror, possibly establishing something akin to a “totalitarian” state, complete with internal purges. Dahomey’s enemies (Oyo, the exiled Huedans, Glidji etc.) were unable to coordinate their efforts. The relationship with (and between) the Eu…
A Few Comments on Certain Economic Matters
This chapter argues that the economic behavior of the people of the Slave Coast cannot be adequately explained by concepts drawn from market economics or from Marxism for that matter. Instead, concepts such as ‘moral economy’ and ‘ostentatious economy’ are pertinent. There may have existed a market-based sector, but it was severely controlled and not allowed to expand. The central question is what happened to the profit from the slave trade. The …
Dahomey and its Neighbours
Dahomey emerged on the Abomey plateau in the north, possibly in the 1640s/50s. Those who established the new polity were probably a horde of outlaws who succeeded in lording it over the local population (most known as Guedevi). The author repeats that the newcomers did not try to establish any modus vivendi with the indigenes, as the traditional “rule” required, but instead eliminated them, appropriating for themselves the position of earth-pries…
The Database and the Slave Trade from the Slave Coast
The monumental Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade database has its limitations. It tells us, however, that of the 12 million (or more) slaves embarked from Africa for America, around 2 million (or more) came from the Slave Coast. Between 1696 and 1730 – that is, before the rise of Dahomey – one-third of all slaves came from the Slave Coast, which was then the leading African supplier. But under Dahomey, and much to the dismay of the new rulers, that coas…
Epilogue
In the epilogue, the author laments the marginalization of African history even in this day of global history. He then puts forward the claim that the sorts of sacred/pagan societies we have encountered on the Slave Coast were in no way unique to that region and may have constituted a long-standing, widespread norm. The author reflects on the neglect Ouidah suffered from until the emergence of “ethnic tourism”, something which has not really been…
The Slave Coast
Apart from the Yoruba in the east and the north, most people of the Slave Coast spoke the Gbe language. The author briefly touches upon the debate about Gbe ‘language’ or ‘languages’, arguing that the people of the Slave Coast spoke ‘what is basically the same language’. There was considerable ethnic diversity. The region corresponds to the Benin Gap – a savanna-type vegetation in what is basically a rainforest zone. It was, above all, an amphibi…
Aftermath and General Considerations
This chapter explores how Dahomey did not really manage to stabilize the situation and especially failed to conquer new regions, a negative mark for a warrior state whose raison d’être was precisely conquest. The slave trade declined, due in part to the counterproductive regulations imposed by the new authorities. The Dahomeans were faced with competition from a new quarter: the slow rise of the slave ports of the Eastern Slave Coast, a region wh…
Societal, Religious and Political Structures
This chapter presents a model for the understanding of the “traditional” societies of the Slave Coast and, in fact, of most of West Africa. It explores concepts which are not prevalent in the anthropological literature, and much less so in historical literature: “owners of the land” in the ritual sense; earth-priests; water priests; “ritual control of the land”; “contrapuntal paramountcy” (very central for our purpose and explained later); “sacre…
Historiography, Sources and Epistemology
Apart from a discussion of the voluminous historiography (due in part to the fascination with the reputedly despotic and tyrannical Dahomey), this chapter addresses the central problem of the abundant but biased – because mainly European – sources. The second problem the chapter addresses is how to write African history with an inadequate Eurocentric conceptual framework, but the only one available so far. Finally, it looks at how the focus on Da…
The 1680s–1720s
The chapter attempts to provide a bird’s eye overview of the period in question. It details the strong rivalry between the Europeans in this period of intense slave-trading, due in part to the arrival of the French (linked to the War of the Spanish Succession, 1702–1714). The rivalry was heightened by the strengthened position of the Portuguese/Brazilians, thanks to Brazilian gold and the famous third-grade tobacco. This climate of rivalry on the…
The Long Goodbye
The ruler of Dahomey from 1797 (up until possibly 1818) was Adandozan. But his reign has been erased from oral memory and the local tradition. Why this is so, constitutes another mystery in Dahomean history. In any case, his reign and that of his successors saw the official but slow and tortuous disentanglement of the European and American powers from slavery, the slave trade, and the Slave Coast (until the colonial conquest). As the locals were …
Continuation
From around the 1760s, we enter into the Age of the Atlantic Revolutions with the corresponding growing opposition in many quarters to slavery and the slave trade. The pivotal date is 1807 when Britain abolished the slave trade. But on the local scene, little changed initially. Dahomey continued to be immersed in crisis and its rulers proved utterly unable to conquer any new territory – although the Dahomeans did manage at times to send raiding p…
The Dramatic and Decisive 1720S
From 1724, dramatic changes took place on the Slave Coast, with the Dahomean conquests of Allada (1724–6) and Hueda/ Ouidah-Glehue in 1727-30/33. It was, all told, a tremendously bloody affair. But those conquests did not go unchallenged; they provoked the intervention of the mighty northern (and Yoruba) polity of Oyo – not quite a newcomer on the local scene, since Oyo had since exported a considerable number of slaves through the Slave Coast. T…
Slave Traders by Invitation
The small Slave Coast between the river Volta and Lagos, and especially its central part around Ouidah, was the epicentre of the slave trade in West Africa. But it was also an inhospitable, surf-ridden coastline, subject to crashing breakers and devoid of permanent human settlement. Nor was it easily accessible from the interior due to a lagoon which ran parallel to the coast. The local inhabitants were not only sheltered against incursions from …
Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa and the Ancient Norse World
Comparative history may be fashionable these days, but references to the past of precolonial sub-Saharan Africa in the literature on early Scandinavia, and vice versa , are still hard to come by. Perhaps this is as it should be, as Scandinavia and Sub-Saharan Africa are generally considered to be worlds apart. Besides, there is the time-lag involved: pre-Christian Scandinavia, including the Norse world, came to an end in roughly the eleventh cent…
L'histoire coloniale de la France revisitée. A propos de publications récentes
Fuglestad Finn. L'histoire coloniale de la France revisitée. A propos de publications récentes . In: Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée, n°63-64, 1992. Minorités religieuses dans l'Espagne médiévale. pp. 257-268
The Trevor-Roper Trap or the Imperialism of History. An Essay
This is, as the title makes clear, an essay; that is to say, a genre in which it is considered legitimate for the author to put forward his own more or less (in this case rather more) subjective viewpoints. As such it contains quite a number of short cuts and mouthfuls. I have also deemed it necessary, for the sake of the logic of the argumentation, to make occasional and rather long de-tours via a number of obvious, and at times downright elemen…
Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 2
Ranking and Resistance
A note on orthography 1. Introduction 2. Fieldwork setting and research methodology 3. The Bamenda plateau as a regional system 4. Precolonial Meta' 5. Patrilineal descent 6. Village-level leadership: the ideal model 7. Village-level rituals and activities 8. Ideal and real in village-level conflict management 9. Process and variation in village organization 10. Political organization in the intervillage sphere 11. Conflict and competition in the…
Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century
Historical Dictionary of Togo (Second Edition)
Les Souverains de Madagascar, l'Histoire Royale et ses Resurgences Contemporaines
The Trevor-Roper Trap or the Imperialism of History. An Essay
This is, as the title makes clear, an essay; that is to say, a genre in which it is considered legitimate for the author to put forward his own more or less (in this case rather more) subjective viewpoints. As such it contains quite a number of short cuts and mouthfuls. I have also deemed it necessary, for the sake of the logic of the argumentation, to make occasional and rather long de-tours via a number of obvious, and at times downright elemen…
The 1974 Coup d'État in Niger
In the early hours of Easter Sunday, 14 April 1974, the army, led by Lieutenant Colonel Seyni Kountché, overthrew the Government which had held power in Niger since independence. President Hamani Diori's régime became the twenty-fifth in Africa to fall to a coup d'état in eleven years, and Niger the eighth republic of former French Africa to come under the control of the military
Les révoltes des Touareg du Niger (1916-17)
F. Fuglestad - The Rebellions of the Twareg of Niger Colony, 1916-1917. Analysis of the causes and circumstances of these rebellions. French colonisation and its administrative methods were strongly grievous to Twareg interests and ways of life. Not only did the onset of W.W.I. resuit in the French losing the support of the sedentary, non-Twareg tribes, due to conscription and réquisition, but it also facilitated the spread of Senusiya propaganda…
A Reconsideration of Hausa History before the Jihad
It is argued in this paper that what happened in the region of Katsina in c. 1492–3 was not a dynastic change, but the establishment of the institution of ‘kingship’. This ‘kingship’ did not grow out of local pre-existing institutions. Rather, it was imposed on the kinship-society by the leaders of the new (Wangara) community of Muslim clerics and traders. These leaders aimed probably at creating a Muslim state in Katsina. However, owing to the r…
Djibo Bakary, the French, and the referendum of 1958 in Niger
This article concentrates on the events of 1958 in Niger. It tries to show that Djibo Bakary's power-base was a very weak one. This could be the reason why Djibo decided to opt for ‘No’ at the Referendum, namely that he needed command of the whole state machinery in order to crush his enemies, especially the chiefs. The French were bent on thwarting Djibo for geo-political reasons (e.g. the nearness of Algeria), but did so in a rather lighthanded…
Slave Traders by Invitation
The small Slave Coast between the river Volta and Lagos, and especially its central part around Ouidah, was the epicentre of the slave trade in West Africa. But it was also an inhospitable, surf-ridden coastline, subject to crashing breakers and devoid of permanent human settlement. Nor was it easily accessible from the interior due to a lagoon which ran parallel to the coast. The local inhabitants were not only sheltered against incursions from …
Les Hauka. Une interprétation historique
F. Fuglestad - The Hauka: A Historical Interprétation. Description of the genesis of the hauka spirit cuit in the late twenties and comparison with the modem forms of the bori and holey cuits, which use the same kind of mimicry of the colonial and post-colonial institutions. The early hauka movement is seen as a defence mechanism invented by a stable society threatened by a crisis, while the modem forms have rather an integrative function in a di…
The tompon-tany and the tompon-drano in the History of Central and Western Madagascar
At some undefined time in the fairly recent past central and western Madagascar witnessed a conceptual 'revolution' which had far-reaching political consequences. The religious beliefs and symbols which constituted the main ingredients of this 'revolution'--and probably also the people who propagated them--were in some way connected with the Zafindraminia-Antanosy and the Anteimoro of the southeastern and eastern coast. It is quite clear that the…
Les Souverains de Madagascar, l'Histoire Royale et ses Resurgences Contemporaines
Earth‐priests, “priest‐chiefs” and sacred kings in ancient Norway, Iceland and West Africa
(1979). Earth‐priests, “priest‐chiefs” and sacred kings in ancient Norway, Iceland and West Africa. Scandinavian Journal of History: Vol. 4, No. 1-4, pp. 47-74
Unis and Bna
The institutional framework imposed upon Niger in 1946, tended to function according to traditional political concepts, norms, notions and values. Hence the distinction established in this paper between ‘traditionalist’ (UNIS/BNA) and ‘modern’ political parties, refers to the degree of reliance upon this traditional culture and also to the degree to which party-leaders were able to manipulate the norms, notions, etc., of the traditional political…
Djibo Bakary, the French, and the referendum of 1958 in Niger
This article concentrates on the events of 1958 in Niger. It tries to show that Djibo Bakary's power-base was a very weak one. This could be the reason why Djibo decided to opt for ‘No’ at the Referendum, namely that he needed command of the whole state machinery in order to crush his enemies, especially the chiefs. The French were bent on thwarting Djibo for geo-political reasons (e.g. the nearness of Algeria), but did so in a rather lighthanded…
Les révoltes des Touareg du Niger (1916-17)
F. Fuglestad - The Rebellions of the Twareg of Niger Colony, 1916-1917. Analysis of the causes and circumstances of these rebellions. French colonisation and its administrative methods were strongly grievous to Twareg interests and ways of life. Not only did the onset of W.W.I. resuit in the French losing the support of the sedentary, non-Twareg tribes, due to conscription and réquisition, but it also facilitated the spread of Senusiya propaganda…
La grande famine de 1931 dans l'Ouest
Une sécheresse relative et surtout une invasion de sauterelles sont à de la grande famine qui ravagea l'Ouest nigérien en 1931. L'administration française, partiellement coupée du pays, demeura inactive, et ne prit conscience de la gravité de la situation qu'au moment où il était déjà trop tard. Il est d'autre part probable que le système administratif en vigueur (indigénat, travaux forcés, obligations militaires, etc.), en privant le secteur agr…
Unis and Bna
The institutional framework imposed upon Niger in 1946, tended to function according to traditional political concepts, norms, notions and values. Hence the distinction established in this paper between ‘traditionalist’ (UNIS/BNA) and ‘modern’ political parties, refers to the degree of reliance upon this traditional culture and also to the degree to which party-leaders were able to manipulate the norms, notions, etc., of the traditional political…
The 1974 Coup d'État in Niger
In the early hours of Easter Sunday, 14 April 1974, the army, led by Lieutenant Colonel Seyni Kountché, overthrew the Government which had held power in Niger since independence. President Hamani Diori's régime became the twenty-fifth in Africa to fall to a coup d'état in eleven years, and Niger the eighth republic of former French Africa to come under the control of the military
Les Hauka. Une interprétation historique
F. Fuglestad - The Hauka: A Historical Interprétation. Description of the genesis of the hauka spirit cuit in the late twenties and comparison with the modem forms of the bori and holey cuits, which use the same kind of mimicry of the colonial and post-colonial institutions. The early hauka movement is seen as a defence mechanism invented by a stable society threatened by a crisis, while the modem forms have rather an integrative function in a di…
A Reconsideration of Hausa History before the Jihad
It is argued in this paper that what happened in the region of Katsina in c. 1492–3 was not a dynastic change, but the establishment of the institution of ‘kingship’. This ‘kingship’ did not grow out of local pre-existing institutions. Rather, it was imposed on the kinship-society by the leaders of the new (Wangara) community of Muslim clerics and traders. These leaders aimed probably at creating a Muslim state in Katsina. However, owing to the r…
Earth‐priests, “priest‐chiefs” and sacred kings in ancient Norway, Iceland and West Africa
(1979). Earth‐priests, “priest‐chiefs” and sacred kings in ancient Norway, Iceland and West Africa. Scandinavian Journal of History: Vol. 4, No. 1-4, pp. 47-74
À propos de travaux récents sur la mission Voulet-Chanoine
Les agissements de la mission Voulet-Chanoine furent dénoncés principalement parce qu'ils étaient dirigés contre des Africains considérés, à la suite d'un malentendu, comme des sujets français. En fait, les difficultés rencontrées par la mission s'expliquent d'abord par la résistance acharnée que les Africains lui opposèrent et ensuite par l'évolution rapide de la situation politico-diplomatique. Cette évolution incita le gouvernement à lâcher la…
The tompon-tany and the tompon-drano in the History of Central and Western Madagascar
At some undefined time in the fairly recent past central and western Madagascar witnessed a conceptual 'revolution' which had far-reaching political consequences. The religious beliefs and symbols which constituted the main ingredients of this 'revolution'--and probably also the people who propagated them--were in some way connected with the Zafindraminia-Antanosy and the Anteimoro of the southeastern and eastern coast. It is quite clear that the…
A history of Niger, 1850-1960
This comprehensive history of Niger during the colonial period is a work based on primary research which attempts an overall appraisal of the colonial past. Dr Fuglestad questions the assumption that the colonial conquest constituted a clear break in African history. He traces the main trends of the colonial period back to their origins in the pre-colonial past. He also demonstrates that the power of colonial officials was less effective than is …
Historical Relations across the Indian Ocean
Changements Sociaux Dans l'Ouest Malgache
Les Souverains de Madagascar, l'Histoire Royale et ses Resurgences Contemporaines
Historical Dictionary of Togo (Second Edition)
Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century
L'histoire coloniale de la France revisitée. A propos de publications récentes
Fuglestad Finn. L'histoire coloniale de la France revisitée. A propos de publications récentes . In: Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée, n°63-64, 1992. Minorités religieuses dans l'Espagne médiévale. pp. 257-268
The Trevor-Roper Trap or the Imperialism of History. An Essay
This is, as the title makes clear, an essay; that is to say, a genre in which it is considered legitimate for the author to put forward his own more or less (in this case rather more) subjective viewpoints. As such it contains quite a number of short cuts and mouthfuls. I have also deemed it necessary, for the sake of the logic of the argumentation, to make occasional and rather long de-tours via a number of obvious, and at times downright elemen…
Norwegian Missions in African History Vol. 2
Ranking and Resistance
A note on orthography 1. Introduction 2. Fieldwork setting and research methodology 3. The Bamenda plateau as a regional system 4. Precolonial Meta' 5. Patrilineal descent 6. Village-level leadership: the ideal model 7. Village-level rituals and activities 8. Ideal and real in village-level conflict management 9. Process and variation in village organization 10. Political organization in the intervillage sphere 11. Conflict and competition in the…
Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa and the Ancient Norse World
Comparative history may be fashionable these days, but references to the past of precolonial sub-Saharan Africa in the literature on early Scandinavia, and vice versa , are still hard to come by. Perhaps this is as it should be, as Scandinavia and Sub-Saharan Africa are generally considered to be worlds apart. Besides, there is the time-lag involved: pre-Christian Scandinavia, including the Norse world, came to an end in roughly the eleventh cent…
Allada, its Vassals and Neighbours, and the Europeans
It is clear that Allada, reputedly founded by people from Tado, was for long the main polity on the Slave Coast. It is also clear that it was a polity of the traditional kind, typical of West Africa of old. As such, the society was a kindred-type society, its kings of the sacred kind, and the power of those kings possibly limited by “contrapuntal paramountcy”. The kings ruled most of their realm indirectly, since most local vassals were in fact (…
Convulsions Further West
The chapter seeks to map what happened west of Allada/Dahomey, on the Western or “Little” (peripheral) Slave Coast. It was conditioned in part by occurrences on the Gold Coast – the center of the European presence in West Africa – among the Twi-speaking Akan. The central event is the conquest on the Eastern Gold Coast of the Ga-Adangbe of Accra by Akwamu in 1677–82. It sent waves of refugees into the Western Slave Coast. Many of these Ga-Adangbe …
Focus on the European Side
The Portuguese were (from 1471) the European “pioneers” everywhere in West Africa. They were interested in gold, hence the region called ‘the Gold Coast’ (Ghana today). The slave trade, and especially the Slave Coast, came much later, the Slave Coast because of the forbidding local conditions that long dissuaded the Europeans (they had in fact to be invited in). Rivalry between the Europeans meant that (from the 1590s) the Dutch, the English, the…
Near Disaster
Tegbesu, king of Dahomey (1740–74), found himself at the helm of a polity on the brink of implosion and was also faced with formidable external foes. He managed to wade through by accentuating the regime of terror, possibly establishing something akin to a “totalitarian” state, complete with internal purges. Dahomey’s enemies (Oyo, the exiled Huedans, Glidji etc.) were unable to coordinate their efforts. The relationship with (and between) the Eu…
History (31 obras) · Political science (27 obras) · Law (21 obras) · Geography (20 obras) · African history and culture studies (19 obras) · Ancient history (18 obras) · Archaeology (17 obras) · Philosophy (16 obras) · Ethnology (15 obras) · Sociology (15 obras)