Abstract This paper endeavors to scrutinize the political and economic transformation within Central Saharan regions, concentrating specifically on Ghadames and Murzuq from the 1700s through the 1850s. Despite being neighboring regions, their respective political and economic systems exhibited stark contrasts, which precipitated divergent responses when broader regional shifts occurred following the 1790s. After the Ottoman Empire’s establishment of direct rule in Tripolitania in 1835, the changes became more pronounced. Consequently, not only did these regions undergo significant internal transformations from the 1700s to the 1850s, but local actors also significantly influenced the Ottoman Empire’s engagement with the Sahara.
Abstract This article discerns commonalities and distinctions between Zanzibar’s printed publics and other publics that emerged around the Indian Ocean between the 1860s and 1930s. Problematizing the concept of public, it traces the development of discrete publics in Arabic, Indian languages, and to a lesser degree Swahili as the diasporic triumphed over the local. Comparative analysis suggests Zanzibar’s status – as an independent sultanate that in 1890 became a duopolistic protectorate but never a full colony – shaped what was put into print. The article finally suggests how the legal foundations of these publics, and their social consequences, might be further investigated.
Abstract Since 2020, Tanzania’s state museums have reoriented toward two overlapping constituencies: international tourists whose spending underwrites heritage diplomacy, and a domestic audience whose identification with CCM’s conservative nationalism the regime actively cultivates. These purposes converge in the museums’ depiction of women’s history, particularly in exhibits centered on Emily Ruete, a nineteenth-century Zanzibari princess whose narrative of oppression echoes post-9/11 imperial feminist discourse and positions President Samia Suluhu Hassan as a historical culmination of Tanzanian women’s liberation.
Abstract In Somalia Italiana, Africans and Arabs employed in the security forces were critical to the expansion and maintenance of the colonial state. Despite their significance, there is little research on these soldiers due to the scarcity of archival records and oral histories that sheds light on their lives and labor in the colonial military. This article examines colonial military tribunal records, the only available archive with substantive information on individual soldiers, and suggests possible themes for future research.
