assistants.
Several archives outside of Nigeria provided essential documentary evidence of Nigerian seamen employed by British shipping lines. The Elder Dempster archive at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool was a vital source of information for this study, and the staff there provided tremendous assistance on several research trips. The Modern Records Centre of the University of Warwick houses the archive of the International Transport Workers Federation, and the staff there was extremely helpful in providing material on the Nigerian seamen’s union. I was also aided by records on British shipping at the British National Archives in Kew Gardens, and the Peter Waterman Papers at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to several people in the United Kingdom who provided interviews and answered endless queries about the historic relationship between Elder Dempster and the Nigerian National Shipping Line. The historian Peter Davies has published extensive and detailed research of the Elder Dempster Lines that provided essential background for my work, and Peter also gave a very informative interview early in the project. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Kenneth Birch, former Elder Dempster executive. Following an initial interview in Liverpool in 2009, Ken has generously provided thoughtful responses and clarifications to several queries over the years. I also thank former seaman Derek Bailey, who worked on NNSL ships in the very early years. Derek provided a wealth of information regarding the inaugural journeys of Nigerian ships, and his experiences and insights have greatly enriched this book. Photos were generously provided by Chris Clarke, Claes Moburg, Malcom Cranfield, Paul Strathdee, and Pete Bass.
I prepared the final manuscript while on sabbatical leave at the HUMA Institute at the University of Cape Town. As a visiting scholar at HUMA, I was provided with the space and resources that enabled me to complete the manuscript. I would like to thank Deborah Posel, Shamil Jeppie, Ilana van Wyk, Zethu Matebeni, Heather Maytham, and Rifqah Kahn for the opportunity to be a part of their vibrant intellectual community. A particular thanks goes to Deborah Posel for helping me to jump-start the concluding arguments of the book. I would also like to thank the Department of History at UCT for the opportunity to present my work, and for the encouraging feedback. While in Cape Town, we were assisted in numerous ways by Ronit and Stephen Segerman and Janine and Werner Thetard, all of whom have become lifelong friends.
There are several institutions and people in Israel that provided support for this project. Funding for the research was provided by an individual research grant from the Israel Science Foundation. Nurit Klein helped with the administration of these funds. Additional sources came from the dean’s office in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. I was assisted by several graduate students with the bibliography and references, and I would like to thank Hilah Segal, Itamar Dubinsky, Noa Ginosar, Roy Knafo, and Tally Eyal for their hard work.
I divide my time at Ben Gurion University between two homes. I am honored and extremely fortunate to be a member of the Department of Politics and Government. This community of scholars embodies the best mixture of intellectual rigor, professional support, and deep dedication to human rights and political and social justice. Despite the ongoing challenges presented by the encroachment of antidemocratic forces, the Department of Politics and Government promotes a multiplicity of opinions and vantage points, evidenced by the crucial role the department played in the revival of African studies in Israel. For providing me with this exceptional and valued institutional home, I am extremely grateful to Gal Ariely, Dani Filc, Michal Givoni, Neve Gordon, Becky Kook, David Newman, Jennifer Oser, Sharon Pardo, Rene Poznanski, Ahmad Sa’di, Haim Yacobi, and Dina Zisserman-Brodsky.
My second home is the community of Africanist scholars, including colleagues in the Inter-University Program in African Studies and the Tamar Golan Africa Centre at Ben Gurion University. I would like to thank Ruth Ginio, Louise Bethlehem, Galia Sabar, and Ella Keren for years of camaraderie in the effort to promote African studies in Israel. A special thank you is due to Ruth Ginio, who has been the ideal colleague for many years. It has been my great fortune to work so beneficially with someone whose research interests overlap so closely with my own, and who has consistently provided a critical eye, enthusiastic encouragement, and friendship. I am also extremely privileged to work with the talented and dedicated staff of the Africa Centre. It is impossible to enumerate the countless ways in which Ayala Kuriel, Noga Miller, Moran Mekamel, Noa Levy, Itamar Dubinksy, and Tamar Ben Moshe work tirelessly to promote knowledge of Africa in Israel, and the human rights of Africans in and beyond Israel. Individually and as a staff, they constitute an example to follow.
This project was born in the course of field research for my PhD that focused on the history of Douala in the colonial era. Richard Roberts was my adviser then, but many years later, he continues to be a source of intellectual and professional guidance. And as a teacher and mentor, Richard is a rare role model that all his former students aspire to emulate. From those days in graduate school until the present, Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, Walter Hawthorne, Benjamin Lawrance, Thom McClendon, and Emily Osborn continue to provide support and friendship. Becky Kook, Walter Hawthorne, Tijani Hakeem, Ayodeji Olukoju, Louise Bethlehem, Ruth Ginio, Emily Osborn, and Gai Rofeh have read all or parts of the manuscript and gave important feedback. A special thanks to Haggai Ram, who has heard and commented on each of the arguments in endless car rides to Beer Sheva. I owe an intellectual debt to the scholars whose work has fundamentally shaped the theoretical and empirical grounding of this research. This list includes, but is not limited to, the work of Toyin Falola, Ayodeji Olukoju, Peter Davies, Diane Frost, Frederick Cooper, Carolyn Brown, and Tijani Hakeem. I have learned from each one of these scholars, but the shortcomings of this work are, of course, mine alone. To the editors of the New African Histories series at Ohio University Press: Jean Allman, Gillian Berchowitz, Allen Isaacman, and Derek Peterson, and I would like to express my sincere appreciation for their hard work and support of this book. The final product has been much improved by their close reading, insightful criticisms, and their strong commitment to high-quality scholarship. The entire field of African studies has been greatly enriched by the many important works that this editorial team has put their support behind over the years.
Several friends have been enthusiastic supporters, despite having little connection to or knowledge of African history. Danny Rosen, Lisa Russ, Debbie Hill, and Gayle Kirschenbaum have pushed me for detailed updates at every stage of the project, thus helping me more than they each realize to clarify the arguments to myself, and to make sure that I always had some progress to report. My sister, Miriam, remains my most enthusiastic reader even without reading, and I cherish her for being my link to every part of my past and present.
The final thanks go to those who deserve them the most. At some point in the course of writing, I realized that the storage shed in our yard would make an ideal office space. I thought George would talk me out of my sudden need for “a room of one’s own,” but instead he immediately took part in the planning and implementation. Ellie and Mika helped with the painting. Amos provided some sharp critique of the decor. In these symbolic gestures, and in countless acts of similar significance, my family has provided me with the physical, intellectual, and emotional spaces that I have needed for both work and home. To George, Amos, Ellie, and Mika—all of my love and deepest gratitude.
Introduction
MY FIRST ENCOUNTER with Nigerian seamen was in the stories I heard and collected in Douala, Cameroon, in the late 1990s. I was in this West African port city to research and interview residents about the social and cultural history of the colonial era, and several of the testimonies and reminiscences that I gathered made reference to the African seamen who passed through Douala while employed on colonial ships. Women in particular described the spectacle of the eye-catching seamen in their bright white uniforms as they crossed the city from the port to the bars and brothels of the popular quarters. These seamen inspired admiration among the local residents, but the former beer brewers and prostitutes of Douala also remembered the seamen as a raucous bunch of troublemakers. The larger-than-life portrayals and stories of these African seafarers stuck with me, and ultimately inspired the research that led to the writing of this book.
