"Language and Collective Mobilization analyzes the origins of communal conflict in five phases of Zanzibar's modern history. The first phase examines the implementation of British colonial control, focusing on the conversion of Zanzibar's subsistence farming economy to a cash crop plantation complex. This first phase of colonial rule disrupted a variety of indigenous political and social institutions that traditionally promoted peace and stability. During subsequent phases of colonial rule, the British government devised political, economic, and educational policies that promoted elite Arab rule at the expense of the majority Swahili-speaking population. Colonial authorities rendered illegal any attempts by Swahilis to organize political resistance, a rule that exacerbated anti-Arab animosity." "The analysis offered in this book will find an audience in students, scholars, journalists, and policymakers interested in understanding so-called ethnic conflict in Africa."--Jacket.

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