The ‘Native’ Undefined

Colonial Categories, Anglo-African Status and the Politics of Kinship in British Central Africa, 1929–38

Bibliographic Data

ID8977140
AuthorsChristopher Joon-Hai Lee (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume46
Issue3
Pages455-478
Publication date2005-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853705000861
OpenAlexW2138783914
LanguageEN
Citations received16

This article examines the categorical problem that persons of ‘mixed-race’ background presented to British administrations in eastern, central and southern Africa during the late 1920s and 1930s. Tracing a discussion regarding the terms ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ from an obscure court case in Nyasaland (contemporary Malawi) in 1929, to the Colonial Office in London, to colonial governments in eastern, central and southern Africa, this article demonstrates a lack of consensus on how the term ‘native’ was to be defined, despite its ubiquitous use. This complication arrived at a particularly crucial period when indirect rule was being implemented throughout the continent. Debate centered largely around the issue of racial descent versus culture as the determining factor. The ultimate failure of British officials to arrive at a clear definition of the term ‘native’, one of the most fundamental terms in the colonial lexicon, is consequently suggestive of both the potential weaknesses of colonial state formation and the abstraction of colonial policy vis-à-vis local empirical conditions. Furthermore, this case study compels a rethinking of contemporary categories of analysis and their historical origins

Archaeology · Colonialism · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Indirect rule · Kinship · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · African history and culture studies · Anthropology · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · South African History and Culture

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