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African Labor History

Robin Cohen editor Peter C W Gutkind editor Jean Copans editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:1st Apr '24

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

African Labor History cover

Originally published in 1978, this book was distinctive in translating the work of French labour specialists and includes chapters on Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, Tanganyika, Madagascar and Botswana. Although all the papers are set in historically specific events, some of the larger issues receive further treatment. These concern the reality of the existence of an African working class and its class identity and consciousness. Each contributor adds to the debate by means of demonstrating how African workers have responded to their work situation, to deprivation and exploitation, and to the political authority of the colonial or neocolonial state

Original Reviews of African Labor History:

‘A useful overview mapping progress made in both the Anglophone and Francophone traditions in labour studies’ – Mike Mason Labour/Le Travailleur, Spring 1981

‘[In this book] labor is now primarily an object of study not of anthropology but of history (and to a lesser extent sociology) in Africa. The colonial period has been reinterpreted as the era of capitalist penetration and, in varying degrees, the introduction into Africa of capitalist production. African Labor History posed a more radical challenge and insisted on the classic revolutionary thrust of the proletariat as its historic task in Africa’ – Bill Freund African Studies Review, 27 (2) 1984

ISBN: 9781032754871

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 680g

276 pages