The Madagascar Youths: British Alliances and Military Expansion in the Indian Ocean Region by Gwyn Campbell

Abstract

highlights a deep knowledge of the available archives about South Africa in this period, as well as a keen ability to bring a critical, interdisciplinary eye to these sources. Although Arndt places great importance on European intellectual production of these ideas, he also highlights the African interpreters and interlocutors who contributed to the standardization, translation, and promotion of the language projects at the heart of this effort: “At crucial moments of linguistic knowledge production, this dependence on African interpreters was particularly intense, which created opportunities for African ideas about language to shape and Africanize the missionaries’ understanding of the ‘Caffre’ language community” (90). The recovery of figures like Klaas Love, Charles Henry Matshaya, Diyani Tzatzoe, Noyi Gciniswa, John M. Nembula, and many others will inspire generations of scholars interested in African contributions to the intellectual development of the region.