The Gun in Central Africa. Giacomo Macola

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       Acknowledgments

      Considering the increasingly marginal status of precolonial African historiography in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the curiosity sparked by this book came as a pleasant surprise. I am indebted to the following Africanists for taking the trouble to comment on sections of the manuscript: David Birmingham, Paul la Hausse de Lalouvière, John Iliffe, Dirk Jaeger, Bill Nasson, Andrew Roberts, Ken Vickery, and, especially, Jean-Luc Vellut. Not only did I learn a great deal from Jean-Luc’s own work on the subject of firearms in central Africa, but he was also generous enough to put me in touch with Paul Dubrunfaut, the supremely knowledgeable keeper of firearms at the Musée Royal de l’Armée, Brussels. Needless to say, none of these scholars ought to be held responsible for any errors and/or misconceptions that remain in the book despite their much appreciated cooperation.

      Other colleagues contributed in less direct but still invaluable ways. Bill Storey kindly participated in a conference I co-organized in Canterbury in May 2011. Although our approaches to the history of firearms in Africa are far from identical, I readily admit to having been initially much influenced by his Guns, Race and Power in Colonial South Africa. Achim von Oppen, the author of an important and original study of the upper Zambezi and Kasai region, Terms of Trade and Terms of Trust, graciously allowed me to use one of his splendid photographs for the cover of this book. Ray Abrahams, Jeff Hoover, Martin Walsh, Judith Weik, and Samba Yonga helped me with their linguistic expertise. Hugh Macmillan, John McCracken, and Kings Phiri pointed me in the direction of fundamental sources in Scotland, where I also benefited from the hospitality of, and discussions with, Tom Molony. In Lubumbashi, Donatien Dibwe dia Mwembu and Léon Verbeek showed a keen interest in my project and, alongside Pierre Kalenga and Liévain Mwangal, went out of their way to facilitate it. Doing research in my adoptive country, Zambia, is a rather easier proposition than in the Congo. Not its least attractive feature is the extensive support network on which I am able to rely. Marja Hinfelaar, Bizeck J. Phiri, and Mauro Sanna have always been the most dependable of friends. Institutionally, both the National Archives of Zambia and the Livingstone Museum have invariably done their best to accommodate all of my research requirements. In Livingstone, special thanks must go to the then keeper of history, Friday Mufuzi, СКАЧАТЬ