An Uneasy Embrace: Africa, India and the Spectre of Race

Abstract

agement in ex-colonial contexts like Namibia, even if African agency is centered (64–65). Although the central argument of Diamond Warriors is, of course, based on evidence from Namibia, it has implications for other parts of Africa too. Indeed, the author’s claim that his monograph is a pathbreaking addition to the literature on diamond stealing in colonial Namibia is without question (x). Amupanda’s work, particularly its “endogenous” emphasis, stands as a crucial example that should inspire similar in-depth accounts that uncover clandestine dealing in diamonds in other African contexts. That the author engages more with the scholarship on illegal diamond dealing or smuggling in colonial southern African settings, his area of specialty, than he does for other regions signals two related points: first, it highlights the fact that existing historical scholarship on diamond theft in the western, central, and eastern African contexts is sparse; and, second, it draws attention to gaps as yet unfilled. Additional scholarship on diamond smuggling in West and Central Africa would be significant especially because these regions are often cited to support the natural resource curse theory. Thus, new contributions to the historiography focusing on these regions will potentially offer useful insights against which to evaluate Dr. Amupanda’s “Afrocentric interpretation” and the “endogenous” turn he proposes.