In the early 1900s the motor-vehicle (car, bus, lorry or motor-cycle) was introduced in sub-Saharan Africa. Initially the plaything and symbol of colonial domination, the motor-vehicle transformed the economic and social life of the continent. Indeed, the motor-vehicle is arguably the single most important factor for change in Africa in the twentieth century. A factor for change that thus far has been neglected in research and literature. Yet its impact extends across the totality of human existence; from ecological devastation to economic advancement, from cultural transformation to political change, through to a myriad of other themes. This edited volume of eleven contributions by historians, anthropologists and social and political scientists explores aspects of the social history and anthropology of the motor-vehicle in Africa.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of photographs ix List of maps x Preface xi MOTOR VEHICLES AND PEOPLE IN AFRICA: AN INTRODUCTION 1 Jan-Bart Gewald, Sabine Luning & Klaas van Walraven PART I: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 1 PEOPLE, MINES AND CARS: TOWARDS A REVISION OF ZAMBIAN HISTORY, 1890-1930 21 Jan-Bart Gewald 2 MOTORCARS AND MODERNITY: PINING FOR PROGRESS IN PORTUGUESE GUINEA, 1915-1945 48 Philip J. Havik 3. VEHICLE OF SEDITION: THE ROLE OF TRANSPORT WORKERS IN SAWABA’S REBELLION IN NIGER, 1954-1966 75 Klaas van Walraven PART II: ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 4 HUG ME, HOLD ME TIGHT! THE EVOLUTION OF PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN LUANDA AND HUAMBO (ANGOLA), 1975-2000 107 Carlos M. Lopes 5. STRIKING GOLD IN COTONOU? THREE CASES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE EURO-WEST AFRICAN SECOND-HAND CAR TRADE IN BENIN 127 Joost Beuving 8 table of contents PART III: ANTROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES 6 THE ART OF TRUCK MODDING ON THE NILE (SUDAN): AN ATTEMPT TO TRACE CREATIVITY 151 Kurt Beck 7 THE HILUX AND THE ‘BODY THROWER’: KHAT TRANSPORTERS IN KENYA 175 Neil Carrier 8 MODERN CHARIOTS: SPEED AND MOBILITY IN CONTEMPORARY ‘SMALL’ WARS IN THE SAHARA 191 Georg Klute 9 RELIGION ON THE ROAD: THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF ROAD TRAVEL IN GHANA 212 Gabriel Klaeger 10 A CHIEF’S FATAL CAR ACCIDENT: POLITICAL HISTORY AND MORAL GEOGRAPHY IN BURKINA FASO 232 Sabine Luning 11 ‘ANYWAY!’: LORRY INSCRIPTIONS IN GHANA 253 Sjaak van der Geest List of authors 295 Index 297