Constructing Colonial Power: Tradition, Legitimacy and Government in Kano, 1903-63

摘要

This article deals with the development of indirect rule in Kano Emirate of Northern Nigeria. It focuses on the day-to-day relationships between the local African political elite and a succession of British colonial officers in order to understand how the Kano government was recreated in the colonial period. It argues that African elites played the central role in the formulation and practice of indirect rule in the region. The contradiction between the need of the British to rely on local rulers and their desire to produce a more progressive form of local government gave the Kano emirs and their political allies opportunities to shape the structure of both the Kano government and colonialism. Emirs Abbas, Usman and Abdullahi Bayero used these opportunities to resist and undermine colonial policies, as well as to defend and create the local government that they wanted, often as part of a larger debate over how best to define what was and was not corruption. In the end, the Kano Emirs succeeded in creating a powerful and exploitative Native Authority, which was at the same time regarded by the British as the hallmark of advanced bureaucratic rule.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2011.568760