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The Gilley ‘debate’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2019

Tom Young
Tom Young*
Affiliation:
Dunmow, Essex, UK
*
Email: youtom@gmail.com
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Abstract

I suggest that the recent furore over Gilley's article on colonialism raises at least three distinct issues both within academia and the wider space of public debate. The first concerns the category of ‘offence’, who can be offended and by what. The second concerns the nature of colonialism, its contemporary understanding and why that remains politically controversial. The third concerns possible continuities between certain aspects of colonial rule and current forms of Western intervention in Africa. In each case I make some very tentative suggestions as to why one journal article attracted so much attention and antagonism.

Type
Briefing Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 325 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

I am grateful to the following who, risking their reputations on social media, if not life and limb, commented at short notice on this essay: Ali Ansari, Peter Brett, Charles Tripp, David Williams and Alexej Ulbricht.

References

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