Slave and Enclave: The Political Ecology of Equatorial Africa

About the Book

The Equatorial Africa of this study--Gabon, the Congo and the Central African Republic--has a long, sad history of slavery and the deprivations of foreign forest product extraction. For the forest communities of the region the slave wars, conquest, forced resettlement and labour in extractive industries and the lumber camps has meant the undermining of their ways of life. Deprived of rights and marginal to national economies built up on oil, timber, coffee and diamonds, these people still find themselves deprived of a political voice or control of their destinies. Leaked studies carried out for the World Bank and published here for the first time, show how the foreign dominated timber companies act with complete contempt for tentative resurgence of community authority and the re-awakening of long-submerged indigenous traditions of equality and justice.


Contents

Introduction
Origins
Conquest and Concessions
The Administrative Yoke
'Devourers of men': The Logging Boom
Independence: Plus CA Change, Plus c'est la meme chose
Pacts with the Devil: Enclave Economies
Logging
Rural Stagnation
Land Rights
Future Options
Notes
References