From Labour Elites to Garveyites
West African Migrant Labour in Namibia, 1892-1925
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4603631 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William Blakemore Lyons (0000-0002-7558-1095, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 37-55 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2021.1851972 |
| OpenAlex | W3124846595 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This article focuses on the aftermath of the First World War for West African Kru in colonial Namibia. It posits that Kru had been a ‘labour elite’ in the colony under German rule and that the war and resulting years of South African occupation led to their economic decline. By the early 1920s, this situation was a strong factor in West Africans’ robust engagement and leadership within the colony’s ‘Africa for the Africans’ Garveyite movement. Economic troubles after the First World War, as well as an increasing tendency towards intermarriage between Kru and local Namibians, factored into Kru workers’ decisions to join political ranks with the Herero and other groups who had suffered under German rule. Both local and migrant Africans saw Garveyism as a possible solution for their new economic and societal challenges. The article utilises a South West African migrant worker database that I compiled for this research (WBL Namibian Worker Database) and micro-histories to give insight into individual workers’ experiences between 1892 and 1925. On a broader note, this work expands research on the role of West African labour in colonial Namibia, bringing regional historiography more firmly into the scope of the discipline of global history
Economic growth · Economics · Gender relations · Migrant workers · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies · German Colonialism and Identity Studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories
Skilled labour in colonial economies. Recruitment, education and employment in construction companies in German colonial West Africa, c. 1902–1912
Port cities, shipping lines and hinterlands in the Southern African mining economy c.1890–1950
How the Media Constructs Namibian Tourism as Escapism for Global Traveler in Post-Pandemic Era
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |