Humanities & Social Sciences

Conquest and resistance in West Africa

The Jeandet Affair and the illusion of colonial justice

by Ruth Ginio

Description

This book is an enthralling account of a legal scandal, which erupted in colonial Senegal in 1890 and reached the French metropolitan press and the parliament. The murder of a colonial administrator, Abel Jeandet, by one of his soldiers led to the brutal and illegal executions without trial of the killer and two local dignitaries. The volume follows the fascinating story of Ndiereby Ba, the widow of one of the dignitaries, who with the help of powerful métis men in the capital Saint Louis sued the French administrators who had supervised the executions for the murder of her husband. Through this captivating tale the book articulates the French expansion into West Africa, the resistance to colonial rule both violent and non-violent, and the lack of interest on the part of French politicians in the brutal conquest of a territory they know nothing about.

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Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo [DRC], Congo, Republic of the, Costa Rica, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hongkong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, China, Macedonia [FYROM], Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Cyprus, Palestine, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Dominican Republic, Myanmar, Monaco

Reviews

Murder, summary execution, and legal scandal in late 19th-century French colonial Senegal are vividly described from the conflicting perspectives of the French colonial administration, the French legal system, local politicians, and activist métis, as well as through the eyes of a young widow pursuing justice against impossible odds. In this book, Ruth Ginio expertly analyses key aspects of French colonial expansion along the Senegal River and the politico-legal machinations and distortions the colonial administration resorted to when confronted with a strong and legitimate legal challenge. The book is a micro-history centred on Ndiereby Bah, a young woman wrongfully widowed, whose dogged pursuit of justice led to harassment, intimidation, and the cynical distortion of French law and political process by an administration determined to assert its narrative. It also offers a fascinating account of how this story has remained and percolated through Senegalese cultural memory, remaining relevant more than a hundred years after these events took place.

Author Biography

Ruth Ginio is Professor of History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

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Manchester University Press

Manchester University Press

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date July 2025
  • Orginal LanguageEnglish
  • ISBN/Identifier 9781526187376 / 152618737X
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
  • FormatPrint PDF
  • Pages264
  • ReadershipGeneral/trade; College/higher education; Professional and scholarly
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Dimensions216 X 138 mm
  • Biblio NotesDerived from Proprietary 6421
  • SeriesStudies in Modern French and Francophone History
  • Reference Code17552

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