John Cropper
Biographic Data
| ID | 1400308 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Cropper |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Cropper |
| SIGNATURE | CROPPER J |
| AFFILIATIONS | College of Charleston |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7065-4339 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Imperial Energy Economy
In the early nineteenth century, France and its overseas territories functioned within an organic economy in which all forms of energy stemmed from solar radiation and plant photosynthesis. To break free from this, the French constructed what I call an “imperial energy economy”— a bricolage of labor, production, and industrial raw materials from their expansive overseas empire. As African states— and the Wolof kingdoms of the Senegal Valley in pa…
A Ritual Geology
‘Growing a World Wonder’
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of …
The sparrow loves millet, but labors not”
This article examines the history of precolonial energy use in the Senegal Valley from 1450–1760, showing how the Wolof kingdoms developed technologically sophisticated systems of energy use to construct an infrastructure of what I call ‘organic refineries’. As co-constructed sites of energy use, technological innovation, and material production, the organic refineries of the Senegal Valley relied on the expertise of peasant farmers, the labor of…
Growing a World Wonder’
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of …
Colonial Suspects
Studies of colonialism in the confederated territories of French West Africa (AOF) have offered a wide variety of interpretations of state power and colonial governance, underscoring the colonial state's oppressive and authoritative expressions of power as well as its inherent weaknesses. In her book, Colonial Suspects: Suspicion, Imperial Rule, and Colonial Society in Interwar French West Africa, Kathleen Keller provides a novel approach to this…
Running on Empty
This article examines the history of energy use in colonial Senegal from 1885 to 1945, and it considers how African populations and French colonial officials built a colonial energy economy through overlapping and competing infrastructures of local and imported fuels, labor, and networks of transportation. As the colonial state constructed a new system of infrastructure, from railways and roads to trains and trucks, the French extended their reac…
Haiti in the Balance - Why Foreign Aid Has Failed and What We Can Do About It
Washington DC, Brookings, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-8157-1391-3, 230 pp. Haiti in the Balance takes a refreshingly honest and rounded view of what can only be described as a catastrophic failure of develop
Running on Empty
This article examines the history of energy use in colonial Senegal from 1885 to 1945, and it considers how African populations and French colonial officials built a colonial energy economy through overlapping and competing infrastructures of local and imported fuels, labor, and networks of transportation. As the colonial state constructed a new system of infrastructure, from railways and roads to trains and trucks, the French extended their reac…
Haiti in the Balance - Why Foreign Aid Has Failed and What We Can Do About It
Washington DC, Brookings, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-8157-1391-3, 230 pp. Haiti in the Balance takes a refreshingly honest and rounded view of what can only be described as a catastrophic failure of develop
Colonial Suspects
Studies of colonialism in the confederated territories of French West Africa (AOF) have offered a wide variety of interpretations of state power and colonial governance, underscoring the colonial state's oppressive and authoritative expressions of power as well as its inherent weaknesses. In her book, Colonial Suspects: Suspicion, Imperial Rule, and Colonial Society in Interwar French West Africa, Kathleen Keller provides a novel approach to this…
Running on Empty
This article examines the history of energy use in colonial Senegal from 1885 to 1945, and it considers how African populations and French colonial officials built a colonial energy economy through overlapping and competing infrastructures of local and imported fuels, labor, and networks of transportation. As the colonial state constructed a new system of infrastructure, from railways and roads to trains and trucks, the French extended their reac…
‘Growing a World Wonder’
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of …
The sparrow loves millet, but labors not”
This article examines the history of precolonial energy use in the Senegal Valley from 1450–1760, showing how the Wolof kingdoms developed technologically sophisticated systems of energy use to construct an infrastructure of what I call ‘organic refineries’. As co-constructed sites of energy use, technological innovation, and material production, the organic refineries of the Senegal Valley relied on the expertise of peasant farmers, the labor of…
Growing a World Wonder’
This article offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. By situating the GGW within the longue durée of the Sahel’s environmental history, it examines how the narratives of environmental decline that underpin the initiative are not only misguided but born out of …
A Ritual Geology
The Imperial Energy Economy
In the early nineteenth century, France and its overseas territories functioned within an organic economy in which all forms of energy stemmed from solar radiation and plant photosynthesis. To break free from this, the French constructed what I call an “imperial energy economy”— a bricolage of labor, production, and industrial raw materials from their expansive overseas empire. As African states— and the Wolof kingdoms of the Senegal Valley in pa…
Archaeology (5 works) · Geography (5 works) · Colonialism (4 works) · Economic history (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Economy (3 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (3 works) · History (3 works) · Law (3 works)