HIAF 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Mahatma Gandhi, Paternalism, Assimilado
Document Summary
Dual mandate: do what is good for africans but also act in britain"s best interest, this was how the british government looked at this, main question was how did they control them. The idea that all africans were part of a tribe. In ways is an inappropriate term- due to history. Era of 1870"s and 1890"s of europeans in africa. Saw as- self contained cultural, linguistic etc units that had little interaction with others. Tribe is ideal unit for exert political control. Took a lot of power from pre-colonial powers. Used as a terminology for political factions- in roman era. A group of people with shared ancestry . Originially a political term, but came to be used for a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. This has little revevance to most african societies. Usually didn"t pertain to african societies: natives. Being at the bottom of the social heriachy.
