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Article: Mombasa, the Swahili, and the Making of the Mijikenda.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- June 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Other than the problems of economic mismanagement and political instability in the independent African nation state, few issues have attracted more attention recently than that of ethnic particularity and its attendant nepotism. Africans have often been presented as incapable of transcending ethnic boundaries to fashion a national identity. Justin Willis' book, a welcome addition to studies on the invention of ethnicity, exposes the colonial machinations that often imposed division even in African societies that had opted for a less balkanized existence.
The author presents the precolonial relations between hinterlanders and the people of Mombasa as largely a ...