Colonial Conscripts sets a new standard for African historical analysis, one which shows how military history can be effectively used to understand other critical aspects of African and colonial society.
—from the Herskovits Award citation
In Colonial Conscripts, Myron Echenberg traces the social history of a large and diverse group of West Africans who served in Sénégalese regiments of the French colonial army. Examining both how the soldiers and veterans lived out their lives in service and how the military institution functioned, Dr Echenberg also reviews the African military within a framework bounded by such issues as labor, migration, and demography. The main focus is on how rank-and-file African soldiers, officers, and veterans responded to their ambiguous and often contradictory position within the colonial social formation.
