In 1990, shotguns and M-16s were adopted into Enga warfare, setting off some 15 years of devastation as youths (~17 to 28) took charge of interclan warfare. In response, people called on elder leaders to adapt customary institutions to restore peace; subsequently, war deaths and the frequency of war declined radically. Data from precolonial warfare, 501 recent wars, and 129 customary court sess...

This article is a brief historical overview of the Queer archive in India. The precolonial and colonial archive provides several possibilities for ‘authenticating’ the queer identity and claiming some of the history that modern nationalist homophobia seeks to wipe out. Identities are complex to begin with and become more complicated when relating them to the nation and sexuality. Contemporary I...

THE VALUABLE EMPHASIS ON MODERNITY in colonial and postcolonial African studies has profoundly divided precolonial African history from what comes after. But the depth and complexity of African aspirations for moral community and the forms of collective action they inspire, often in the face of severe material constraints, exceed the explanatory power of narratives of modernity oriented toward ...