War of Words, War of Stones: Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar

by Jonathon Glassman

The Swahili coast of Africa is often described as a paragon of transnational culture and racial fluidity. Yet, during a brief period in the 1960s, Zanzibar became deeply divided along racial lines as intellectuals and activists, engaged in bitter debates about their nation's future, ignited a deadly conflict that spread across the island. War of Words, War of Stones explores how violently enforced racial boundaries arose from Zanzibar's entangled history. Jonathon Glassman challenges explanations that assume racial thinking in the colonial world reflected only Western ideas. He shows how Africans crafted competing ways of categorizing race from local tradition and engagement with the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds.

Genres: History

414 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 2011 book by Jonathon Glassman, War of Words, War of Stones: Racial Thought and Violence in Colonial Zanzibar, examines the racial thinking that led to the pogrom in Zanzibar of Zanzibaris of Arab descent by Zanzibaris of Black African descent, culminating in the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964. Glassman defines racial thought as “a general set of assumptions that humankind is divided among constituent categories, each of which is distinguished by inherited traits and characteristics” (10). Glassman articulates that racism is when people assume that racial traits are in a hierarchy (10). Glassman stresses the influence of racial thought among Zanzibaris from non-European sources in the lead up to the pogroms (23). Even though Glassman’s monograph is focussed on the Zanzibari sources of racial thought, the British colonists played a role in structuring the racial ideologies of Zanzibaris (41-43). Glassman shows the effects of pan-Africanist nationalism and Arab nationalism on racial thought in Zanzibar (57, 78). Part of the increase in racial tension happened when the Zanzibar National Party (ZNP), the party which was seen as the party of Zanzibaris of Arab descent, tried to restrict voting in the 1957 election only to people who were born in Zanzibar. This caused a reawakening of historical memories of slavery encouraged by the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), the party which was seen as the party of Zanzibaris of African and Shirazi descent (156). There were other factors as well; these were just some of the key factors that led to the ‘othering’ of two racial groups that led to violence. Glassman is also interested in how community violence among groups that see each other as innately ‘different’ in a 'racial' way creates a cycle of fear and revenge. Glassman’s monograph is an excellent monograph on the factors that caused racial thinking that led up to the program that took place during the Zanzibar Revolution against Zanzibaris of Arab descent.