Engaging debates around ethnic nationhood and knowledge production, this article examines the influence of Bible translation on corporate identity formation in Toro and Ituri (1900–40). It studies translations instigated by one individual to investigate textual agency wherever it leads. The translator Apolo Kivebulaya promoted adherence to Christianity as an inclusive and linguistically-plural global community. His translation for the Mbuti, which had limited circulation among its intended audience, shows an aspect of this global community at work, remaking the international image of the Mbuti. His earlier Runyoro-Rutoro translation, however, encouraged a local and political form of corporate identity in which translation and Old Testament stories helped to form an ethnic moral economy. In focusing upon Bible translation among the Toro and the Mbuti, the article moves from the politically influential Ganda, the focus of much historiography of Christianity in East Africa, and explains the roots of later revivalism and patriotism.

This article describes the debilitating illness of Menilek and its effects upon the Ethiopian state. Prior to his incapacity, the old emperor established a European-style cabient, reformed the appelate judiciary, named Lij Eyyasu as his heir, and appointed Ras Bitwodded Tessema Nado as regent. The latter two actions were opposed by Empress Taitou, who hoped to become the real ruler of Ethiopia, operating behind the scenes. As the emperor weakened, she managed to concentrate many of his functions and much of his authority in her own hands. Given the confusion caused by Menilek's condition, she went unchallenged for a time, during which she attempted futilely to construct a viable power base in the north. Finally, in reaction, the Shoan, southern faction, which had much to lose if Menilek's settlement was upset, united and successfully deposed the empress in 1910. A regency government, composed of Menilek's council of ministers and the more important provincial governors, operated more or less functionally until April 1911, when the Ras-Regent died. At the time Lij Eyyasu became chairman of the regency council, and by 1913 he was exercising more or less full authority over the empire. Contrary to contemporary official European expectations and calculations, Menilek's empire did not crack apart upon his removal, nor from regional and personal rivalries. The diplomats showed complete ignorance about the effectiveness of the administrative and military occupation of the newly annexed parts of the empire; they grossly undervalued the strength of Amhara–Tigrean nationalism; they misunderstood the vitality of the mythology of the Solomonic dynasty; and they failed to consider the veneration which Menilek elicited from his people. More than any other point, this article demonstrates the transcendent vitality of the empire which Menilek constructed.

This article traces histories of the Kru in West Africa from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, arguing that divergent identities of fifteenth- to eighteenth-century Kru canoers became unified when that unified identity was necessary for maintaining political, economic, and cultural autonomy during and after the slave trade. In conjunction with earlier multilingual work on the Kru mariners of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this article seeks to place the narrative of Kru identity and labor in a larger context of maritime history across the region at large. This article argues that the Kru relied on longstanding maritime traditions from localized groups to capitalize on the need for work and cash in a capitalist economy driven by growing European imperialism. The historical narrative of Kru maritime power shows how local and global identities in Atlantic Africa shifted in response to exploitation, blurring the lines between response and resistance.

I rejoice with Messrs Gleave and Prothero in the opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion of a problem which is of interest to both historians and geographers. Before replying to their lengthy ‘Comment’ I feel that an explanatory note regarding the genesis of my article might remove any misapprehensions that it was done as a simple exercise in cavil.