Originally published in 1953, this book discusses the Sukuma people who represent the largest ethnic group in Tanzania. It is devoted mainly to the resources, use, problems and systems of tenure of the territory of Sukumaland, but also contains an account of Sukama social structure, organisation and functions of hereditary and elected authorities and of the religious aspects of landholding and cattle ownership. The book is supplemented by numerous diagrams and maps.
Introduction -- Culture and identity among the Sukuma -- Origin and growth of Sukuma identity -- The intrusions of colonialism -- The hopes and frustrations of socialist ideology -- The Sukuma and the ideology of a free market -- Sukuma identity and modernization -- References -- About the authors.
Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire provides the first wide-ranging environmental history of the heyday of European imperialism, from the late nineteenth century to the end of the colonial era. It focuses on the ecological dimensions of the explosive growth of tropical commodity production, global trade, and modern resource management-transformations that still visibly shape our world today-and how they were related to broader social, cultural, and political developments in Europe's colonies. Covering the overseas empires of all the major European powers, Corey Ross argues that tropical environments were not merely a stage on which conquest and subjugation took place, but were an essential part of the colonial project, profoundly shaping the imperial enterprise even as they were shaped by it. The story he tells is not only about the complexities of human experience, but also about people's relationship with the ecosystems in which they were themselves embedded: the soil, water, plants, and animals that were likewise a part of Europe's empire. Although it shows that imperial conquest rarely represented a sudden bout of ecological devastation, it nonetheless demonstrates that modern imperialism marked a decisive and largely negative milestone for the natural environment. By relating the expansion of modern empire, global trade, and mass consumption to the momentous ecological shifts that they entailed, this book provides a historical perspective on the vital nexus of social, political, and environmental issues that we face in the twenty-first-century world.
