Africa's 'Agitators'

作者:Derrick, Jonathan

页数:320

出版时间:2008-11

价格:$ 56.50

isbn号码:9780231700566

具体描述

The period between the two World Wars were troubling years for colonial empire. Individuals and organizations began to call for major reforms and an end to white supremacy and colonial rule, contributing first to local unrest and protest and then to anticolonial activity not only in Africa but the United States and Europe as well. In this compelling history, Jonathan Derrick, a renowned scholar of Africa's past, recounts the opposition to British and French rule practiced both by Africans living on the continent and by European anticolonialists and members of the Black Diaspora. He covers campaigns waged by an early incarnation of the African National Congress and other groups in South Africa who fought against legal and other aspects of white minority rule.He also talks of the Kikuyu protests against the settler regime in Kenya; Marcus Garvey's African American movement and its role in sparking interest in Africa; the Etoile Nord Africaine, formed mainly by Algerians in France, that called for the independence of French North Africa; protests led by European critics against forced labor in Kenya and French Equatorial Africa; and the activity of small militant groups like the Ligue de Defense de la Race Negre (LDRN) in France and George Padmore's International African Service Bureau (IASB) in Britain. Derrick examines the role of the Comintern and Western Communist parties that were opposed to Western colonialism and ready to support militant action against it. He highlights common misunderstandings regarding the collaboration between Communists and other left-wing organizations on the one hand and African nationalists and pan-Africanists on the other, and examines the Communists' separation from Padmore, as well as the LDRN leader Garan Kouyate. He shows that, although colonial rulers greatly feared the specter of Communism in Africa, actual Communist activity was in fact quite small.Derrick reveals how, with the exception of a few colonies, anticolonial activity was easily organized, primarily because militants in Europe had the freedom to operate and create a tremendous impact. In the later 1930s, nationalist movements, fuelled by African outrage at the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, began to spread in parts of Africa. The approach and onset of the Second World War affected the rhetoric of anticolonialists, with French Communists opposing calls for independence as long as the danger of Nazism and Fascism existed, but some militants continued their anti-empire campaigns until 1939. The war then pushed colonial issues to the background, but as Derrick argues, in the long term the anticolonialists of the interwar era may have helped pave the way for later decolonization.

用户评价

这本书最让我印象深刻的地方，在于它提供了一个极具穿透力的观察点，去审视“现代化”进程中那些被牺牲和边缘化的声音。它不是在歌颂胜利者，而是在记录那些努力试图发声，却常常被历史的洪流所淹没的群体。作者的写作姿态非常谦逊，他仿佛只是一个忠实的记录者，将发现的碎片和留存的记录小心翼翼地拼凑起来，然后将最终的解释权交还给读者。这种处理方式非常高明，它避免了居高临下的说教，而是通过翔实的细节和多角度的侧写，引导我们自己去得出结论。读完之后，我感到自己对某些现代社会议题的理解被彻底颠覆了，它迫使我重新审视“进步”的定义，以及那些看似“稳定”的现状背后，究竟隐藏着多少未被消弭的张力和历史遗留问题。这是一部需要耐心品读，并值得反复回味的重量级作品。

说实话，我本来以为这会是一部晦涩难懂的学术专著，但读进去之后才发现，它更像是一部精心编织的时代浮世绘。作者的笔力之老道，体现在他对复杂议题的处理上——他从不急于给出简单的答案，而是耐心地铺陈出各种矛盾的根源和持续的影响。这种克制的叙事态度，反而让故事的力量愈发强大。我特别注意到，书中对那些长期被主流历史忽略的“局外人”的关注，是如此的细致入微且充满同情，但这种同情绝不是廉价的煽情，而是一种基于深入调研和理性分析的理解。它迫使我跳出固有的思维框架，去审视那些我们习以为常的社会结构是如何建立起来的，以及它对不同群体造成了怎样的隐形创伤。每当我觉得自己似乎抓住了某个核心论点时，作者总能通过一个意想不到的史料或人物侧写，将我的认知再次打散、重塑。这是一种极其愉悦的智力游戏。

这本书初翻时，那种扑面而来的历史厚重感和复杂的人性纠葛，着实让我沉下心来，一页一页地啃读。作者的叙事节奏把握得极佳，总能在看似平静的文本流淌中，突然抛出一个令人猝不及防的转折点，将读者的思绪猛地拽入更深层的思考漩涡。我尤其欣赏他对地域文化肌理的描摹，那些热带的阳光、尘土飞扬的小径、古老的仪式与现代冲突交织的场景，都被描绘得栩栩如生，仿佛我正身临其境，感受着边缘群体的挣扎与不屈。叙事视角在宏大历史叙事与个体微观体验之间游走自如，使得那些遥远的事件不再是教科书上的冰冷符号，而是活生生的人的悲欢离合。阅读过程中，我常常需要停下来，反复咀嚼那些充满哲思的句子，思考其中蕴含的关于权力、自由和身份认同的深刻见解。这种阅读体验是极其充实且富有挑战性的，它要求读者不仅要跟上情节的推进，更要深入理解作者埋藏在字里行间的时代精神与文化张力。

这部作品带给我的冲击，更多的是一种感官上的震撼和情感上的共鸣。它的文字结构有一种独特的韵律感，时而如暴风雨般猛烈，时而又如同夏日午后的微风，带着一丝慵懒和宿命感。我发现自己对书中某些人物的命运产生了强烈的代入感，他们的抗争、妥协、乃至最终的湮灭，都牵动着我的情绪起伏。更难能可贵的是，作者在描绘冲突时，避免了简单的善恶二元对立，成功塑造了一系列性格鲜明、动机复杂的形象。你会发现，即便是被描绘为“对立面”的角色，也拥有其自身的逻辑和生存的无奈。这种对人性的深掘，让整部作品的张力得以持续维持，读完之后，我需要很长一段时间才能从那种沉浸式的氛围中抽离出来，回味其中的酸楚与力量。

从文学技巧的角度来看，这本书的结构设计堪称一绝。作者巧妙地运用了多线叙事和时间跳跃的手法，将看似分散的片段串联成一张巨大的历史织锦。初读时可能会感到一丝迷惘，需要集中注意力去梳理不同时间线和人物关系，但一旦理清头绪，那种豁然开朗的阅读快感是无与伦比的。它成功地将严肃的历史研究与引人入胜的故事讲述融为一炉，使得那些关于社会变迁、政治动荡的议题，不再是枯燥的理论陈述，而是鲜活的生命体验。此外，对白的设计也极其精妙，寥寥数语，便能勾勒出人物的阶层、教育背景和内心情感，显示出作者深厚的语言功底和对民间语境的精准捕捉。