Burundi: The Biography of a Small African Country by Nigel Watt (review)

Nigel Watt's biography of Burundi remains the premier English-language text on Burundi's post-independence history. Having worked in Burundi from 1998 to 2002 for Christian Aid and CARE International, Watt uses interviews and his personal experiences to enhance his scholarship. He then places the events and conditions he describes within broader social and political contexts, which he details expertly. This second edition of the book, the original having been published in 2008, updates Watt's work so that it accounts for recent events, most notably those surrounding Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term as president in 2015. In keeping with the methodologies used in the first edition, much of the new material is informed from personal accounts following the author's 2014 research trip to Burundi. Watt's conclusion that the Burundians themselves are their nation's greatest resource supports their prominence in his history (244).

Burundi: The Biography of a Small African Countryis successful partially because Burundi is often overlooked in English-language texts. The nation's limited exposure exists as much in Anglophone academic writings as it does in media publications. This book, therefore, sheds light on events and conditions that are often little understood, except by experts. Watt exploits this gap in most people's knowledge with an easy writing style and a focus on personal accounts, rather than on the minutiae of historical theory. He thus makes Burundi's history accessible to Anglophone undergraduates, development workers, and interested travelers.

Watt's strongest contribution to historical knowledge amongst academics revolves around his analysis of space. That is, the ways in which he places Burundi and its numerous composite parts within both micro and regional contexts. Most impressive is the way in which he describes moving frontiers between warring parties and communities during the 1990s and 2000s, particularly in the major cities. His deep understanding of Bujumbura's geography and peoples provokes further analysis in what could become an urban history of Bujumbura; something that is yet to be written, and which appeared less attainable before Watt's book. The new edition then explains how these frontiers have shifted in form and nature since the 2005 election; an important dynamic for understanding the current political situations. Furthermore, Watt places Burundi's history in the context of broader regional dynamics. One clear objective with this book was to take Burundi out of Rwanda's shadow, whose history is much better-known. Burundi's centrality in Watt's discussion shows how historians should integrate this oft-overlooked nation further into regional analyses.

The book's novelty, however, masks some methodological issues. Watt tries to place his history of independent Burundi within a longer history dating from formation of the kingdom of Urundi in the seventeenth century. While this is admirable, his ten-page chapter does not do justice to the complexities of the precolonial kingdom or the colonial encounter (25–34). Watt also presents some misconceptions about Congolese populations, nineteenth-century Muslim traders, and Lake Tanganyika in his introductory chapters. Citing texts by historians such as Vansina (1961), Wagner (1993), or Newbury (2009) could have assuaged such problems and helped him to link the precolonial era to present-day Burundi more successfully.

Finally, there is an element of disappointment with the second edition of Burundi. Apart from the addition of three chapters, little has changed from the first edition. More editing would have helped. Watt often uses the present tense when discussing conditions in 2007. Given that the second edition was meant to update this information, surely this should now be in the past tense, especially given the changes to the political environment since the first edition's publication. Also, when edits to the existing text are made, they are often inserted in an awkward manner. For example, in chapter 1, Watt describes Bujumbura's central market with the same words as in the first edition (3–4). The fact that this market was destroyed by...