List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction: the pilgrims' politics; 2. The infrastructure of cosmopolitanism; 3. Religious movements in southern Uganda; 4. Civil society in Buganda; 5. Taking stock: conversion and accountancy in Bugufi; 6. Patriotism and dissent in western Kenya; 7. The politics of moral reform in northwestern Tanganyika; 8. Subjects of the law: conversion and court procedure; 9. Casting characters: autobiography and political argument in central Kenya; 10. Confession, slander, and civic virtue in Mau Mau detention camps; 11. Contests of time in western Uganda; Conclusion: pilgrims and patriots in contemporary East Africa; Bibliography.
This book focuses on the struggle between cosmopolitan Christian converts and East African patriots to define culture and community in the mid-twentieth century.
Derek R. Peterson teaches African history at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Creative Writing: Translation, Bookkeeping, and the Work of Imagination in Colonial Kenya and the editor of several books, including Recasting the Past: History Writing and Political Work in Modern Africa and Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa and the Atlantic. Peterson is a recipient of the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Modern History and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
'In this superb book, Peterson pulls off the rare feat of combining
a compelling, comprehensive argument about a huge regional movement
with sharply drawn, detailed documentation of the local singularity
of the forms it took in seven different areas in Uganda, Tanzania,
and Kenya. The big picture positions the East African Revival as a
form of critical practice, engaged in contestation with
alternative, more conservative visions of society based on ethnic
consolidation and the re-invention of tradition. In the
documentation of local trajectories, what comes through most
vividly is the converts themselves, in all their idiosyncrasy and
humanity … individual voices and vignettes reveal the energy,
initiative, and creativity these people brought to the radical
project of convening a new kind of community. This book is a major
achievement by any standards - original, convincing, deeply and
broadly researched, and beautifully written.' Karin Barber,
University of Birmingham
'This is a remarkable book, admirably researched and deeply
thoughtful … Few historians of Africa have equalled Peterson's
capacity to hear the people of the past talking to one another.'
African Studies
'As a meticulous researcher and astute scholar, Peterson provides
excellent footnotes and an extensive bibliography on the topic,
including detailed descriptions of forty-six archives on three
continents and 170 informants from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.
This insightful and comprehensive monograph serves the scholarly
purpose of stimulating further research on the Revival and its
socio-political implications in late colonial Africa.' Daewon Moon,
African Studies Quarterly
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