| 9DThe Residue of Racist Images of Africa: 'Semitic',
'Hamitic' and 'Negro' Configuration in North East and East Africa |
| KURIMOTO, Eisei (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan, kurimoto@kta.att.ne.jp) |
| Looking back from today, it may be a wonder that
well up to the middle of the 20th century the racist perspective dominated
the European view of Africa. For instance, in Races of Africa (1930, revised
editions 1939 and 1957), C. G. Seligman, one of the authorities in anthropology
at the time, argues that anything that could be worthy of the name 'civilization'
in Africa was brought solely by the 'Caucasians' and Blacks with Caucasian
blood, that is, 'Semites' and 'Hamites', and 'Hamiticized Negros'. There
was a strong and dominant belief that the 'Negros', indigenous inhabitants
of Africa, were not able to develop any sign of indigenous civilization:
agriculture and pastoralism, art of iron manufacture, writing system and
state. We, living at the beginning of the 21st century, both Africans and non-Africans, have not yet freed ourselves from such racial views. Rather, there is evidence that they are persistent and, in some cases, being revitalized. The most remarkable and disastrous consequence of this is that the racial ideology of Western origin that advocates the superiority of 'Semitic' and 'Hamitic' peoples were internalized by some African elite, and it has been manipulated in order to divide and mobilize people. It is a crucial aspect of on going ethnicized politics, armed conflicts and civil wars in North East and East Africa and beyond. The examination of the Semitic and Hamitic theory not only reveals the past, but proves its relevance to today's political culture. |
| KURIMOTO, Eisei Associate Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan. Majors: Social anthropology and ethnography Major interests: Nilotic ethnography, political anthropology, anthropology of history, conflict, civil war, refugees. Fieldwork: South Sudan (1978-1986), Ethiopia (1988-1999) Major Books: People Living through Ethnic Conflict (Sekaishisosha, 1996, in Japanese); Primitive and Modern Wars (Iwanamishoten, 1999, in Japanese); Colonial Experience(with Kumie Inose, Jinbunshoin, 1999, in Japanese); Conflict, Age & Power in North East Africa (with Simon Simonse, James Currey, 1998); Remapping Ethiopia (co-ed., James Currey, 2002). |