Imposing Wilderness and Imagining Serengeti (Dual Book Review)

                               

Neumann, Roderick. Imposing Wilderness: Struggles over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002.

Shetler, Jan. Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape and Memory in Tanzania from Earliest Time to the Present. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007.

Here we will be looking at two books on similar subjects. Roderick P. Neumann’s Imposing Wilderness and Jan Shetler’s Imagining Serengeti both seek to unravel the true histories of the lands now under the jurisdiction of natural conservation parks in Tanzania, the former Arusha and latter Serengeti. They reveal that prior to colonization the landscapes were in fact shaped and used by the indigenous peoples. Though not building towns and cities in the vein of European cultures, they did consider the landscape their home and property. This changed in the 19^th Century. In Imagining Serengeti, the peoples of the Serengeti were temporarily displaced by a series of disasters in the mid 19^th century, among them Masai invasions and several droughts and famines. When the European colonizers arrived and saw no settlement on much of the land, they assumed that they were on a pristine land untouched by man’s intervention. They decided to keep it that way as a game preserve, setting the stage for the Serengeti National Park. Likewise, in Imposing Wilderness the colonizers believed that the wildlife and land needed to be preserved. In both cases indigenous peoples exercising their old land and hunting rights were mislabeled as villainous poachers. This mindset has continues today. Many within the Tanzanian government do not necessarily hold this viewpoint, but side with the exclusion of local peoples in order to acquire funding from international conservationist groups. Many who trespass or poach on the parks are merely trying to support themselves or see themselves as dispensing justice against park policies which cut off traditional resources. Overall, Neumann and Shetler want conservationists to understand that wildlife issues in Africa are not black-and-white, that the zealous fight to preserve wildlife is actually harming many indigenous peoples and trapping them in a cycle of poverty.

Neumann and Shetler’s books are eye-opening and appear to suggest that a moderate adjustment to national park policies is needed to address both Tanzanian and conservationist concerns. What this solution would look like is not given. So which book is better? Neumann spends less time on pre-colonial history. As a result he spends less time on oral history and more on examining the European, conservationist, and Tanzanian governmental viewpoints. One of the high points is his chapter on the psychology of Europeans towards nature, which Shetler does get into as well. The natural landscapes of 18^th-century European pastoralist paintings conjured up the images of true “nature”, usually absent of people, and influenced what colonizers thought landscapes should look like. Africans were often seen as part of the landscape, but only as a representation of European origins that instead of going on the path of civilization, remained in the “savage noble” state. The Meru who showed enterprise in clearing out vegetation for cultivation or finding ways to trap or ward off animals attacking their crops and livestock were seen as improper representations of the ideal native. To Europeans this divergence from the idealized African could not be allowed to taint the Mount Meru National Park. While not often sharing the early colonists’ racial views, conservationists have similarly stated that only people who are “harmonious” with nature can live on the park, and in their definition this does not include anybody who hunts or tears down plant life for cultivation or construction. This disqualifies almost all natives in the region from having access to the park.

Shetler’s book is much longer and involves much more oral research, digging deeper into Tanzanian peoples’ culture, religion, and pre-colonial history. A unique challenge for her is that Serengeti society had no clear hierarchy, thus there are no royal genealogies or royally approved tradition of the past within their oral tradition. She attempts to overcome this problem through what she calls spatial analysis, deducing the past by how the people in the oral traditions dealt with their geographic surroundings. She bolsters this with environmental and social history, as well as archaeology and what archival information she can find. Shetler’s book is longer and thus more chock-full of information and examples.

Imposing Wilderness is a better bet for a more casual reader, not merely because it’s shorter. Neumann’s text is clearer and easier to follow than Shetler’s, especially when it comes to explaining European views of nature and the reasons why African governments would feel pressured to dispossess some of their own people. Shetler’s book is more valuable for its methodological explanations, which she spends a good deal of time explaining in her introduction. A professional historian looking for ways to approach history obscured by illiteracy can appreciate and implement her use of spatial analysis.

Imposing Wilderness Rating: Highly Recommend

Imagining Serengeti Rating: Recommend

Neumann, Roderick. Imposing Wilderness: Struggles over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002. Buy the book here.

Shetler, Jan. Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape and Memory in Tanzania from Earliest Time to the Present. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007. Buy the book here.

Rating System

Must-Read: Definite read for history in general

Highly Recommend: Definite read within a certain subject

Recommend: Good for further information or into on a certain topic

Adequate: Useful if looking for further information certain topic

Pass: Awful, only useful for examining bad or ideologically-tainted history

Ten World War II Films to Watch

No war has gotten more time on theater screens than World War II. With its all-encompassing nature, diverse cast of characters and battles, and for many relatively clearer tale of good against evil, it makes for a very attractive cinematic subject. Also, being so recent, there is still plenty of original gear to use from tanks to uniforms to guns. That certainly saves filmmakers the trouble of building replicas from scratch. With so many World War II films out there, I thought I’d make a list of ten great films. This is not a list of the top ten films, though I only chose ones I consider to be at the least very good. I have tried to make a list that covers various aspects from the Holocaust to partisan warfare to the Nazi hierarchy. If you want to learn some history through movies, than watch these ten.

Before starting the list I have to recommend HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific. They’re mini-series, not movies, but they are must-see due to their accuracy. I should also note that I only include films based directly on real people or events, so no Saving Private Ryan or one of those special mission action films like Dirty Dozen.

#1: City of Life and Death (2009)

The Sino-Japanese War does not get much play in Western film. There are plenty of Chinese movies on the subject, but they're hard to track down or rife with propaganda. One sub-topic that has lent itself well to film is the Rape of Nanking. In late 1937 the Japanese captured the Chinese capital of Nanking and embarked on one of the greatest streaks of terror in human history. At least tens of thousands of Chinese civilians were slaughtered, often with torturous methods. Almost as many women, ranging from young girls to the elderly, were raped, and many of these victims were killed afterwards. It’s a war crime matching and usually exceeding any incident in Hitler’s war with Russia.

John Broich's Blood, Oil, and Axis (book review)

Broich, John. Blood, Oil, and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against a Fascist State in Iraq and the Levant, 1941. Harry N. Abrams, 2019.

World War II was a massive war and many fronts and battles remain unknown by the general public. John Broich tells the story of a forgotten campaign in which British Commonwealth forces faced off against Vichy France and several indigenous foes in the Middle East. Broich believes that this was a campaign that, if had gone the other way, could have spelled doom for the British Empire.  If the Axis Powers had gained control of the region, it would have access to plenty of oil, as well as the means to transport it back to Europe via Syria. It would also be closer to taking the Suez Canal, thus hamstring British supply, and to India, which might feel inspired to rebel against Britain. Iraq at the time was nominally independent, but heavily controlled via British influence. Thus it was not a stretch for Iraqi or other Mid-Eastern groups, most notably the pro-Nazi Golden Square, to side with the Axis Powers out of nationalist aspirations. Bordering Iraq to the west was Syria. Its current ruler, Vichy France, was under immense pressure from Germany to supply aid if requested.

Broich’s work is more narrative than argumentative. He chooses a cast of characters to focus on, from Francophile American Jack Hasey to Palestinian interpreter code-named Reading to traveling writer Freya Stark to Nazi liaison in Vichy Syria Rudolf Rahn. Regardless of whether or not they were officially in the military or a member of the belligerent nations, they all felt a need to defy or assist the Axis. The book is thus full of personal stories to help connect with events of the ground. It also is infused with a great deal of tragedy. Perhaps one reason this front is often overlooked is the make-up of the two sides, which does not gel with the favored good vs. evil narrative. The Axis forces consisted of few Germans, mainly Luftwaffe planes coming in from Greece and the Mediterranean. Instead it was primarily made of Iraqis, French, and French colonial troops. Most tragic of all was that Free French with the British fought with Vichy French. Also, at the beginning of most chapters, Broich provides quotes related to America’s recent and ongoing war in Iraq. He seems to suggest a comparison, but aside from the geographic locations and western interventionism he doesn’t elaborate.

While Broich’s book reveals an oft-ignored aspect of World War II, it fails to be truly great thanks to a couple minor flaws. One is that Broich too broadly employs the “fascist” and “anti-fascist” label for characters and factions in the Middle East. Some were undoubtedly attracted to fascism and some were opposed to it. But Broich shows within his own text that most Arabs, Palestinians, Jews, and others were not primarily concerned with growing or fighting fascism, if at all, but with nationalist aspirations or personal honor (for example, many of the Indian troops volunteered to gain prestige in their village, not to battle fascism or serve the British Empire). A second nitpick is Broich’s failure to follow up on his argument, even within a narrative style. He argues that if Hitler had focused his energies on the Middle East rather than the Soviet Union, he could have knocked out Britain. It would have helped if he set some time aside to examine Hitler’s ideology and motivations in regard to coming after the Soviet Union in 1941, and why he possibly would not have considered prioritizing the Middle East.

Overall, Blood, Oil, and Axis is full of information and stories rarely told. Whoever wants to broaden his or her knowledge of World War II should give this a look. It also provides material for those who like to imagine alternate scenarios.

Rating: Highly Recommend

Broich, John. Blood, Oil, and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against a Fascist State in Iraq and the Levant, 1941. Harry N. Abrams, 2019. Buy the book here.

Rating System

Must-Read: Definite read for history in general

Highly Recommend: Definite read within a certain subject

Recommend: Good for further information or into on a certain topic

Adequate: Useful if looking for further information certain topic

Pass: Awful, only useful for examining bad or ideologically-tainted history