Showing papers on "Indirect rule published in 1991"

National Bodies, Unspeakable Acts: The Sexual Politics of Colonial Policy-making

Abstract: Government may claim and sometimes exercise its monopoly over the legitimate use of violence, but much of the time political rule can seem an elaborate charade, in which leaders only ratify policies decided elsewhere and fictions of compliance mask more complex networks of domination, inaction, or protest. In no area was authority so erratic as in British-controlled Kenya, where a "dignified" rhetoric of "native paramountcy" masked an "efficient" interest in labor control and economic growth on the part of settlers and (usually) the government. Indirect rule could thus devolve in practice into either arbitrary rule or no rule at all, as a patchwork of mediating social groups enforced, altered, or ignored the laws proceeding from an impervious Government House. The fictions of rule were exposed in 1926, when missionary pressure and some level of official concern about the prevalent practice of clitoridectomy led the governors of the East African dependencies to meet together to devise a strategy to combat the practice. Noting that one Kikuyu "native council" had passed a law requiring the licensing of all operators and restricting the extent of cutting to "simple clitoridectomy" (as opposed to the usual practice of removing the entire external genitalia), the governors endorsed this shift to the "less brutal" form. The new guidelines were adopted without protest by a range of councils and with a gratifying circulation of regulations and papers.' Imagine the surprise of the "native commissioners," then, when the

Indirect Rule in India: Residents and the Residency System 1764-1858

Abstract: This study concentrates on the origins, growth and function of the Residency system in India between 1760 and 1857, in particular the composition of three groups: British residents, Indian rulers and the Indian staff of the residencies. By studying the entire body of residents and political agents - their backgrounds, careers, strategies and tactics - the author attempts to provide a portrait of the men who carried out indirect rule over the major portion of India.

Sexuality and Cargo Cults: The Politics of Gender and Procreation in West New Britain

Abstract: The Kaliai area came under colonial rule in the early 20th century The Germans appointed a headman or luluai who was accountable for his village to visiting patrol officers This system of indirect rule continued under Australian colonial administration It ended when local councils were set up in 1967 (Counts 1968:10-38) Present administrative control is hindered by a total absence of roads into the Kaliai interior The major patrol posts (Gloucester and Talasea) can be reached only by a one-day boat journey along the coast There is a smaller patrol post at Iboki which is on the Kaliai coast and located about one-half to two days' walk from most interior villages Most government officials find the walk into the Kaliai interior troublesome and tend to visit the bush villagers only two or three times a year The Catholic priest at Kaliai makes visits of similar frequency Government and church officials, along with coastal villagers, generally regard bush villagers with disdain and fear Bush people are seen as being ignorant, superstitious, irreligious, wild, and even primitive The absence of ready transport into the Kaliai bush means that trade stores are found mostly on the coast and major rivers, along with the growing and processing of coconuts for copra A government ship travels along the coast every week collecting copra and delivering trade store goods The biggest form of cargo that bush Kaliai villagers remember coming into the interior was with the Americans during World War II This perhaps explains why it is Americans rather than Australians who tend to figure in bush Kaliai cargo cult narratives2 The recent setting up of a "school," a trade store, and an airstrip at Amkor by American New Tribes Missions has had the effect of reviving bush Kaliai cargo cults Apart from American missionaries at Amkor (which is two days' walk from the coast), there is only one other white person permanently in the area-a plantation manager at Iboki Bush villagers tend to not send their children to school or pay taxes; the major exceptions being the villagers of Bolo and Salke which are closer to the coast Many villagers find government imposed workdays odious Some have chosen to settle further inland so as to escape the control of councillors, teachers, and the scrutiny of government officials Most people are familiar with the plantation