- 368 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
During the colonial period, Africans told each other terrifying rumors that Africans who worked for white colonists captured unwary residents and took their blood. In colonial Tanganyika, for example, Africans were said to be captured by these agents of colonialism and hung upside down, their throats cut so their blood drained into huge buckets. In Kampala, the police were said to abduct Africans and keep them in pits, where their blood was sucked. Luise White presents and interprets vampire stories from East and Central Africa as a way of understanding the world as the storytellers did. Using gossip and rumor as historical sources in their own right, she assesses the place of such evidence, oral and written, in historical reconstruction. White conducted more than 130 interviews for this book and did research in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition to presenting powerful, vivid stories that Africans told to describe colonial power, the book presents an original epistemological inquiry into the nature of historical truth and memory, and into their relationship to the writing of history.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Contents
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Currencies and Talk
- PART ONE
- 1 . Blood and Words: Writing History with (and about) Vampire Stories
- 2. Historicizing Rumor and Gossip
- PART TWO
- 3. "Bandages on Your Mouth": The Experience of Colonial Medicine in East and Central Africa
- 4. "Why Is Petrol Red?" The Experience of Skilled and Semi-Skilled Labor in East and Central Africa
- PART THREE
- 5. "A Special Danger": Gender, Property, and Blood in Nairobi,1919-193
- 6. "Roast Mutton Captivity": Labor, Trade, and Catholic Missions in Colonial Northern Rhodesia
- 7. Blood, Bugs, and Archives: Debates over Sleeping- Sickness Control in Colonial Northern Rhodesia,1931-1939
- 8. Citizenship and Censorship: Politics, Newspapers, and "a Stupefier of Several Women" in Kampala in the 1950s
- 9. Class Struggle and Cannibalism: Storytelling and History Writing on the Copperbelts of Colonial Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo
- 10. Conclusions
- Bibliography
- Credits
- Index