Empire in Africa: Angola and its Neighbors (review)

The collected works of David Birmingham need little introduction to scholars of the Portuguese World or Africa. He is perhaps best known to the former group for his Trade and Conflict in Angola: The Mbundu and Their Neighbors under the Influence of the Portuguese, 1483–1790 (1966) and to the latter for his co-authored (with Phyllis Martin) History of Central Africa (3 volumes, 1983–98). Birmingham is an established authority on Portuguese Africa in general and Angola in particular. This latest collection of essays underlines that fact and provides examples of the wide range and depth of Birmingham's interests and expertise on Angola. This collection of eleven essays, many of which were first delivered as speeches or were previously published in abbreviated forms, focuses on nineteenth and twentieth century Angola. Readers will also want to examine a complementary collection of Birmingham's essays, also published in this same Africa Series by Ohio University Press, Portugal and Africa (2003).

The eleven essays in Empire in Africa are chronological and begin with "The Idea of Empire," a very broad view of empires over time, eventually turning to nineteenth and twentieth century Africa. The second chapter, "Wine, Women, and War," contrasts the Portuguese and the Dutch in Africa. The essay wanders well beyond the limits of its title to discuss various forms of free and forced labor as well. It is followed by "Merchants and Missionaries," an examination of the Catholic and Protestant missionaries working in nineteenth century Angola, discussion the relative success of several Protestant groups and their strained relations with the government in Luanda and Lisbon. The fourth essay, "A Swiss Community in Highland Angola," uses what could have been an isolated example to shed light on the merchant connections and interactions in the Angolan hinterland in the nineteenth century. Birmingham is as comfortable discussing the technical aspects of nineteenth century long distance wagons, as he is the social interaction between the Swiss and the Boers. The next chapter, "The Case of Belgium and Portugal," contrasts the imperial roles played by two of Europe's smaller colonial powers in the Congo and Angola. Chapter six, "Race and Class in a 'Fascist' Colony," examines the shifting concepts of these three terms as they merged in the Angolan colony under Salazar's Estado Novo. Next is "The Death Throes of Empire," a discussion of the rationale for the violence following the transition to independence in the 1970's. Chapter eight, "Destabilizing the Neighborhood," is an overview of the international war (from 1975 to 1991) and contrasts the Angolan situation with that of Mozambique. It is followed by "Carnival in Luanda," a discussion of the social aspects of the annual festival as currently celebrated in the Angolan capital, where it has evolved into a municipal event, unrelated to the Christian calendar, focusing on the rivalry among neighborhoods. Chapter ten, "The Struggle for Power," is a discussion of the two civil wars (1992–94 and 1998–2002) between the MPLA and UNITA, two of the liberation movements. The final essay, "A Journey through Angola" concludes the collection and is a personal reflection from the 2003 British parliamentary visit to the country.

Since this is a collection of varied aspects of Angolan history, some gaps are inevitable. For example, this reviewer would have liked to see an essay on the rationale and role played by Cuba in Angola's civil wars. Birmingham touches on this in two of these essays, but not in an essay devoted to the subject.

He concludes this work with a very helpful annotated list for further reading. Three features make Empire in Africa a great little book. Because many of the essays were first delivered as talks, the writing style is clean and crisp, easy to follow, and a pleasure to read. Each chapter is short (10–15 pages in length), and is focused on one main idea. In each essay, Birmingham is able to start with a specific case (e.g. the Swiss in the Angolan...