'Constructing Bula Matari', The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective, Crawford Young. (1994)
Crawford Young outlines his vision of the colonial encounter through the idea of
"Bula Matari", a phrase meaning "Breakstones" or "Breaker of Rocks" in KiKongo used to
describe Henry Morton Stanley's brutal methods of 'exploration'. (Hochschild, 1999, 68)
He emphasizes the brutal nature of the colonial encounter and the totality of its supposed
'victory' as evidence of the fundamental reordering that colonialism engendered in African
societies. He goes on to outline the stages of conquest, constructing the colonial state,
building hegemony, and establishing security.
Thus, Young's analysis is based on two premises, 1) that the colonial powers had a
well planned system of constructing hegemony, and 2) that this resulted in the fundamental
reordering of African society within a model envisioned by Europeans. This notion is
challenged by authors such as Cooper and Bayart, who examine the ways in which the
'colonial project' was based on (as Professor Hawkins emphasizes) wrong-headedness and
fundamental misunderstandings of African societies. Young's assertion of the hegemony
of colonialism also ignores five reasons identified by Isaacman(?) for the co-optation of
Africans by the colonial power. They are 1) the desire to protect one's society from
neighbours or other aggressors (e.g. Swaziland), 2) the attempt to facilitate one's own
expansionist ambitions (e.g. Uganda), 3) elites' endeavours to maintain or expand their
power within society (e.g. northern Nigeria), 4) attempts to overthrow existing elites, and
5) the seeking out of improved economic status and enrichment for oneself. [This is from
the lecture of January 15]
Young begins by emphasizing the violent, sudden nature of colonial conquest. He
stresses the relatively small European presence in the continent "on the eve of partition"
aside from Algeria, South Africa and a few coastal footholds, such as Senegal. This
emphasis on isolation is problematized by Mbembe's article from last term regarding the
domestication of world time and Bayart's extraversion thesis. Young goes on to emphasize
European motivations for the "Scramble", such as the European balance of power,
religious competition, economic ideology concerning free trade, and various other social
forces. In taking this Euro-centric approach, he examines the process of colonization in
two parts, 1) the conquest, and 2) the construction of the colonial state. His view of the
first phase is primarily that of violent conquest and skillful manipulation, which ignores
the fact that the majority of the process of colonization was not accomplished militarily
and involved a relatively small number of Europeans with very little understanding of local
power relations.
In his Bula Matari thesis, Young assumes the point of view of the colonizer by
regarding the role of Africans in the construction of the colonial state as either for or
against it. This conceptualization reproduces the problematic dichotomy between
"resisters" and "collaborators" dealt with by Terrence Ranger. It effectively negates
African agency and thus envisions a one-way relationship of Europeans inflicting
colonialism upon an inanimate, objectified Africa. This is reminiscent of Walter Rodney's
dependency thesis. He emphasizes the shift from a relationship between Europeans and
Africans of commercial trading to one of domination and subjugation - though he does not
investigate the significance of this shift to Africans themselves, nor how they asserted their
agency within this relationship.
He has several sections concerning the construction and use of hegemony in the
colonial state. He describes the colonial doctrines of "effective occupation" and "selffinancing" while emphasizing the differences in ideology among the various colonial
powers (British indirect rule, French assimilation, etc.) rather than their similarities. In this
discussion, he identifies 'collaborators' as "intermediaries of hegemony", and thus evidence
of the hegemony created by the new state. One seemingly contradictory subheading "The
Coercive Arm of Hegemony" illustrates the author's emphasis on the force of the colonial
state and its imposition on Africa. "Hegemony was in places initially won by guile and
diplomacy, but force was everywhere in the background." (123)
His sections on "the revenue imperative" and "accumulation" are valuable outlines
regarding the extent of colonial exploitation. He also examines how the imposition of
taxes was fundamental in the creation of the colonial state's hegemony. [This is also dealt
with in other readings - especially for February 5 (Mwangi and Breckenridge).] He
summarizes, "All fiscal trails led to the African subject." (126)
Young's primary thesis rests on the idea that colonization was a violent, traumatic
experience that marked a fundamental shift in the history of the entire continent, leaving no
area or society untouched. This argument is fundamental to the debate over the
periodization of African history, as Young clearly asserts that the distinction between precolonial and colonial Africa is enormous. The other articles for this week (January 15) by
Frederick Cooper and Jean-François Bayart each refute this by emphasizing the
continuities across these periods and the importance of African agency. The Bula Matari
thesis also proves to be quite Eurocentric by centralizing the actions of Europeans in
African history rather than those of Africans themselves.
The primary concern of this chapter is how the colonial order was constructed and
its significance in the longue durée of African history. The author argues that the
implementation of the colonial order was so disruptive that it fundamentally reordered the
direction of African history. "Bula Matari, crusher of rocks, managed in a short time to
assert a powerful hold on subject society and to smash its resistance.… No social contract
other than conquest bound its subjects to its rule." (139)
This article is relevant to -the periodization of history; -"resist"/"collaborate" dichotomy; the domestication of world time; -colonial extraction, not to mention several other themes.
Young presents the Bula Matari thesis that is refuted by Cooper and Bayart.