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Imagining African Empires, Debating the Case of Dahomey

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Empires to be remembered

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Abstract

Understanding empires in terms of power systems where control over people and the politics of difference are crucial, this paper approaches African empires in two ways. The first part shows characteristics and origins of political structures and states in Africa, while the second part addresses the West African empire state Dahomey. Looking at the historiography from the late 18th century when derogatory images of Dahomey were solidified, the paper argues for a heightened awareness of particular historical contexts and local knowledge concerning individual empires as a prerequisite for drawing solid global comparisons.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Herskovits (1962).

  2. 2.

    I take the term basically from Chomsky (2013).

  3. 3.

    See Burbank and Cooper (2010).

  4. 4.

    Graeber (2004).

  5. 5.

    Graeber (2011).

  6. 6.

    Fortes and Evans-Pritchard (1940).

  7. 7.

    Cooper (2014, p. 42).

  8. 8.

    Sahlins (1963).

  9. 9.

    In such a vein, e.g., Elman Service (1975, p. 103ff). wrote of “the modern primitive states” while some later anthropologists and archaeologists use the phrase “early modern state” to the same evolutionist effect. For a critical account of those approaches, see Sonderegger (2008a, p. 600ff).

  10. 10.

    On the history of the Hamitic myth, see Rohrbacher (2002) as well as Law (2009).

  11. 11.

    See Connah in this volume.

  12. 12.

    Miller (1976).

  13. 13.

    See Lonsdale (1981), Graeber and Sahlins (2017), and Connah in this volume.

  14. 14.

    See Connah (2016).

  15. 15.

    Ehret (2002, p. 231ff.); Connah (2016, p. 154ff).

  16. 16.

    See Levtzion (2010, p. 63ff., 77ff). for a more detailed account on the early West African states and empires.

  17. 17.

    Cooper (2014, p. 43 f).

  18. 18.

    Cooper (2014, p. 47).

  19. 19.

    See Levtzion (2010, p. 80).

  20. 20.

    Levtzion (2010, p. 80ff).

  21. 21.

    Levtzion (2010, p. 81).

  22. 22.

    On the kingdom of Benin, see Harding in this volume.

  23. 23.

    On differing etymologies of Dahomey, see Bay (1998, p. 50).

  24. 24.

    See Bay (1998, p. 40ff).

  25. 25.

    See Law (2001); Sonderegger (2008b, 2018).

  26. 26.

    For recent overviews on the topic of abolitionism, see Drescher (2009); Sonderegger (2008b, 2009, 2010).

  27. 27.

    See Curtin (1973, p. 97ff).

  28. 28.

    Clarkson (1787); Equiano (1794 [1789]). On Equiano, see Lovejoy (2012).

  29. 29.

    See Walvin (2006, p. 11ff).

  30. 30.

    Norris (1789a [1788]).

  31. 31.

    See Law (1989) and Akinjogbin (1966), who demonstrate their worth as historical sources in detail.

  32. 32.

    Norris (1789b); Dalzel (1793).

  33. 33.

    Norris (1789a [1788]).

  34. 34.

    On his life, see Prince (n.d.) and Law (1989).

  35. 35.

    See Akinjogbin (1966).

  36. 36.

    See Law (1989).

  37. 37.

    Law (1989, p. 220).

  38. 38.

    Thornton (2014, p. 447).

  39. 39.

    Norris (1789b, p. x).

  40. 40.

    Norris (1789b, p. 172 f).

  41. 41.

    Norris (1789b, p. 156 f).

  42. 42.

    Norris (1789b, p. 157).

  43. 43.

    Norris (1789b, p. 157ff).

  44. 44.

    On the topic of racism and racial discourse in the British African scene, see Sonderegger (2009, 2010).

  45. 45.

    See Law (2001, p. 31 f).

  46. 46.

    Norris (1789b, p. 173).

  47. 47.

    Dalzel (1793, p. xix).

  48. 48.

    Law (1989, p. 220).

  49. 49.

    Law (1989, p. 220).

  50. 50.

    Thornton (2014, p. 448).

  51. 51.

    See, for instance, Hérissiér and René (1911); Herskovits (1967 [1938]); Campion-Vincent (1967); Law (1985, p. 54ff., 67ff.); Bay (1998, p. 32ff).

  52. 52.

    See Akinjogbin (1967, 1976).

  53. 53.

    See Law (2004).

  54. 54.

    See Sonderegger (2008a, p. 273ff).

  55. 55.

    See Law (1989); Akinjogbin (1966).

  56. 56.

    Law (2001, p. 30).

  57. 57.

    See Law (2004); Bay (1998).

  58. 58.

    For a broad discussion of the notion of “despotism” with regard to Africa in general and Dahomey in particular, see Sonderegger (2008a, pp. 268–283, 398–434, 436–438, 470–475).

  59. 59.

    See Bay (1998, p. 1ff., 29 f., 30ff.; Sonderegger (2008a, p. 398ff).

  60. 60.

    Norris (1789b, p. 157, 173).

  61. 61.

    See Sonderegger (2018).

  62. 62.

    Mudimbe (1988).

  63. 63.

    Anderson (1983); Gellner (1983); Hobsbawm (1992).

  64. 64.

    Burbank and Cooper (2010, p. 369), quoting Charles de Gaulle.

  65. 65.

    See Geertz (2004) for a substantial argument for changing the perspective concerning “politics in complicated places”.

  66. 66.

    Historians Gehler and Rollinger make a promising start for rethinking empire in a comparative historical perspective in their introduction to the recently edited volumes on “Imperien und Reiche”: Rollinger and Gehler (2014, pp. 1–32). See also Tölle (2018); Lachmann (2018).

  67. 67.

    See Sahlins’ essay in Graeber and Sahlins (2017, Chap. 6, pp. 345–376).

  68. 68.

    Burbank and Cooper (2010). Recall their subtitle, “Power and the Politics of Difference” (my emphasis).

  69. 69.

    Cooper (2014, p. 42).

  70. 70.

    Cooper (2014, p. 42).

  71. 71.

    With regard to state politics, such an approach has been realized most impressively by Geertz (1980) in his book on what he called the Balinese “theatre state”. However his intriguing comparative stance—resting on “thick description” (Geertz (2000a [1973]) and “local knowledge” (Geertz (2000b [1983])—is already well visible in his Islam Observed of Geertz (1968).

  72. 72.

    Cooper (2014, p. 41 f).

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  1. Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Arno Sonderegger

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  1. University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Deutschland

    Michael Gehler

  2. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Österreich

    Robert Rollinger

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Sonderegger, A. (2022). Imagining African Empires, Debating the Case of Dahomey. In: Gehler, M., Rollinger, R. (eds) Empires to be remembered. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34003-2_17

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