Soldiering Lives, Working Lives: Life Courses of African Colonial Soldiers

Does it make sense to think of soldiering as “work”, or to think of soldiers as workers? What historical and historiographical insights might be gained from doing so? This paper brings together African history, military history, and labor history as a productive nexus for exploring the relationship between soldiering and work. In particular, this paper will use colonial soldiers’ life histories to examine how individuals became linked to broader historical trends and patterns in nineteenth-century Africa, when colonial armies were being built. By using the concept of the “life course” as an analytical lens on soldiers’ work lives, I highlight possibilities for differentiating between soldiers at different stages of their lives. For example, in northeastern and eastern African history, men progressed through different kinds of soldiering labor as they passed from boyhood to manhood. Studying life histories in conjunction with wider historical trends sheds light on the kinds of work that mattered, in socio-cultural and socio-economic terms, in these different phases. Throughout the paper, my concern will be to demonstrate the utility of pursuing further research in this direction as a way of gaining better perspective on the similarities and differences between colonial armies in Africa, and also to advance our understanding of “work” across human experience.