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Network building and political power in northwestern Sierra Leone, 1800–65

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Allen M. Howard  and
David E. Skinner
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Extract

The study of social, economic and political networks provides a new perspective on the history of northwestern Sierra Leone and neighbouring parts of Guinea during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This article concerns the men and women of wealth, rank and power who built and maintained local and extensive networks focused on towns in northwestern Sierra Leone, Port Loko and Kambia, at two time periods, c. 1800 and c. 1865. These activities involved the production and exchange of resources; the migration, settlement and intermarriage of families; and the creation, expansion and fission of households, alliances and other groups. Network analysis illuminates major historical changes, such as the development of towns, kingdoms and interregional trade systems. Furthermore, it reveals the shifting nature of ethnic identities, particularly among the Mande. And finally, it helps to show how society in the northwest became more class differentiated as internal and external commerce expanded.

Résumé

Elaboration de réseaux sociaux et puissance politique en Sierra Leone du nord-ouest, 1800–65

L'étude de réseaux sociaux, économiques et politiques apporte une nouvelle perspective sur l'histoire de la Sierra Leone du Nord-Ouest et sur les régions voisines de Guinée au cours des 18 et 19ème siècles. Cet article examine les réseaux centrés sur les notables qui vécurent dans et aux alentours de deux villes: Port Loko et Kambia vers 1800 et ensuite vers 1865. Ces villes devinrent d'importants centres d'échange de commerce intérieur et extérieur et devinrent également profondément engagées dans la politique régionale. Les families qui s'établirent dans ces villes et dans les régions voisines forgèrent des réseaux en tirant des ressources qu'elles obtenaient au travers de la production par les membres de leur famille, par le commerce et par d'autres formes d'échange. Une analyse de la nature de tels réseaux – qu'ils soient diffus ou spécifique, intensif ou extensif, révèle la position politique changeante des families prépondérantes ainsi que les relation en changement parmi elles. Au cours du 19ème siècle, de telles families s'unirent par le manage ou autres attachements pour former une élite dirigeante qui pris petit à petit les caractéristiques d'une classe. Les esclaves constituèrent une sous classe croissante. Les lignes de division de classe ne devinrent pas cependant rigides, car les notables étaient divisés par des intérêts matériels et autres, parce que l'endogamie ne prévalait pas, et parce qu'ils avaient à répondre aux demandes de la parenté moins puissante et des paysants qui étaient liés à eux au travers des réseaux. L'analyse de réseaux apporte une nouvelle lumière sur les autres problèmes historiques dans la région. En démontrant que les identités ethniques étaient fluides, l'analyse de réseaux démontre que les explications ethniques d'alliance et de guerre sont fallacieuses. Qui plus est, elle apporte des informations sur les modèles de migration et de peuplement, démontrant en particulier qu'il y avait trois modèles importants de migration parmi les families Mande, dont les identités ethniques changèrent au cours des temps.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 2 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1984

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