Araştırma Makalesi
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SÖMÜRGE ÖNCESİ AFRİKA'DA SİYASET: AFRİKA MERKEZLİ BİR YAKLAŞIM

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2 , 569 - 585 , 17.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757
https://izlik.org/JA98PK42RB

Öz

Bu çalışma, sömürge öncesi Sahra Altı Afrika'nın çeşitli siyasi sistemlerini inceleyerek, Avrupa sömürgeciliğinin başlangıcından önce var olan karmaşıklığa ve çeşitli yönetim yapılarına odaklanmaktadır. Afrika merkezli bir sosyoloji yaklaşımı kullanan araştırma, hem İgbo ve Tiv gibi merkezi olmayan toplumları hem de Mali İmparatorluğu ve Benin Krallığı gibi merkezi devletleri araştırmaktadır. Analiz, bu siyasi sistemlerin belirli sosyal, ekonomik ve kültürel bağlamlarına nasıl uyarlandığını ortaya çıkarmak için tarihi metinlere, arkeolojik kanıtlara ve sözlü geleneklere dayanan karşılaştırmalı bir metodolojiye dayanmaktadır. Çalışma, Afrika siyasi tarihini genellikle marjinalleştiren veya basitleştiren Avrupamerkezci anlatılara meydan okuyarak, bunun yerine sömürge öncesi Afrika yönetiminin yaratıcılığını, dayanıklılığını ve karmaşıklığını vurgulamaktadır. Bunu yaparak, Afrika toplumlarının kendi siyasi kaderlerini şekillendirmedeki faaliyetini ve yenilikçiliğini vurgulayarak, Afrika tarihinin daha ayrıntılı ve saygılı bir şekilde anlaşılmasına katkıda bulunmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Kaynakça

  • Alesbury, A. (2013). A society in motion: the Tuareg from the pre-colonial era to today. Nomadic peoples, 17(1), 106-125.
  • Asante, M. K. (1988). Afrocentricity: The theory of social change (p. 12). Amulefi Pub. Co.
  • Beach, D. N. (1980). The Shona and Zimbabwe 900-1850: An Outline of Shona History (pp. 112, 158). Heinemann.
  • Bıçakçı, H. (2018). Sömürge öncesi dönemden günümüze Afrika’da kentler ve kentleşme hareketleri. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 1(32), 58-88.
  • Bohannan, P. (1958). Justice and Judgement Among the Tiv (pp. 54, 77). Oxford University Press.
  • Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40.
  • Bradbury, R. E. (1973). Benin Studies (pp. 43, 67, 89). Oxford University Press.
  • Chemhuru, M. (2018). African Communitarianism and Human Rights: Towards a Compatibilist View. Theoria, 65(4), 37-56.
  • Daban, C. (2024). The Role of England in 19th Century Colonialism Activities: The Case of the Continent of Africa . Journal of International Relations Studies, 4(2), 92107.
  • Davidson, B. (1991). Africa in History: Themes and Outlines (p. 122). Simon & Schuster.
  • Drower, M. S. (1970). Nubia: A Drowning Land. Longmans.
  • Escobar, A., Osterweil, M. & Sharma, K. (2024). Relationality: An Emergent Politics of Life Beyond the Human. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1971). The Azande: History and Political Institutions. Oxford University Press. Fortes, M., & Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1940). African Political Systems (p. 7). Oxford University Press.
  • French, S. (2011). Partial Structures and the Logic of Azande. Principia, 15(2), 17–44.
  • Gordon, L. R. (1997). Her Majesty’s Other Children: Sketches of Racism from a Neocolonial Age (p. 88). Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Graeber, D. & Wengrow, D. (2024). Her Şeyin Şafağı - İnsanlığın Yeni Tarihi. Trans. Kerim Kartal. Epsilon.
  • Hall, B. S. (2013). The question of ‘race'in the pre-colonial southern Sahara. In The Sahara (pp. 87-115). Routledge.
  • Jennings, R. C. (1989). Zande Logic and Western Logic. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 40(3), 275–285.
  • Karenga, M. (2002). Introduction to Black Studies (p. 45). University of Sankore Press.
  • Kimmerle, H. (1995). Afrika’da Felsefe Afrika Felsefesi Kültürlerarası Bir Felsefe Kavramına Doğru. Trans. Mustafa Tüzel. Kabalcı: İstanbul.
  • Lee, R. B. (1979). The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society (pp. 98, 132). Cambridge University Press.
  • Lejano, R. P. & Kan, W. S. (2022). Relationality: The Inner Life of Public Policy. Cambridge University.
  • Levtzion, N. (1973). Ancient Ghana and Mali (p. 82). Methuen.
  • Mashoud, S. (2025). Afrika Tarihinde Geleneksel Şeflerin Yönetimdeki Rolü: Mossi Krallığı Örneği. Disiplinlerarası Afrika Çalışmaları, 3(1), 67-85.
  • Mazama, A. (2003). The Afrocentric paradigm (pp. 4, 78, 92). Africa World Press.
  • McCaskie, T. C. (1995). State and Society in Pre-colonial Asante (p. 47). Cambridge University Press.
  • Menkiti, I. (2017). Community, Communism, Communitarianism: An African Intervention. In A. Afolayan & T. Falola (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy (pp. 461-473). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Metz, T. (2019). An African Theory of Moral Status: A Relational Alternative to Individualism and Holism. (Ed. Munamato Chemhuru) African Environmental Ethics: A Critical Reader. Springer.
  • Metz, T. (2020). African Communitarianism and difference. In E. Imafidon (Ed.), Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference (pp. 32-49). Springer.
  • Mızrak, B. (2022). Afrika’daki Devletleşme Süreçlerinde Yaşanan Sorunlar: Sömürge Öncesi ve Sonrası Döneme Dair Bir Değerlendirme. Bölge Çalışmaları Dergisi, 1(1), 50-77.
  • Michalopoulos, S. & Papaioannou, E. (2014). On the ethnic origins of African development: Chiefs and pre-colonial political centralization. NBER Working Paper No. 20513.
  • Monroe, J. C. (2013). Power and Agency in Precolonial African States. Annual Review of Anthropology, 42, 17-35.
  • Moraña, M. (2020). Philosophy and Criticism in Latin America: From Mariátegui to Sloterdijk. Trans. Andrew Ascherl. Cambria Press.
  • Munro-Hay, S. C. (1981). The Kingdom of Aksum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Nhemachena, A. (2017). Relationality and Resilience in a Not So Relational World? Knowledge, Chivanhu and (De-)Coloniality in 21st Century Conflict-Torn Zimbabwe. Langaa Research & Publishing CIG.
  • Nobles, W. W. (1986). African Psychology: Toward its reclamation, reascension, and revitalization (p. 63). Black Family Institute Publications.
  • Osafo-Kwaako, P., Robinson, J. A. (2013). Political centralization in Pre-Colonial Africa. Annual Review of Political Science, 16, 19-38.
  • Pankhurst, R. (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century (p. 146). Red Sea Press.
  • Phillips, J. (2016). “Aksum, Kingdom of.” In J. M. MacKenzie (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Empire (pp. 1–5). Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Phillipson, D. W. (2012). Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the Northern Horn, 1000 BC–AD 1300. Boydell & Brewer.
  • Prior, L. (2003). Using documents in social research. SAGE Publications.
  • Rubbo, D. A. (2025). José Carlos Mariátegui: Marxism and Critique of Eurocentrism. Trans. Sean Purdy & Gabriel Assirati Purdy. Routledge.
  • Scott, J. (1990). A matter of record: Documentary sources in social research. Polity Press.
  • Simmons, A. (2022). Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World, 1095-1402. Routledge.
  • Soyinka, W. (2018). Afrika’ya Dair. Trans. Merve Yalçın. Hece: İstanbul.
  • Spencer, N., Stevens, A., & Binder, M. (2017). Introduction: History and historiography of a colonial entanglement, and the shaping of new archaeologies for Nubia in the New Kingdom. Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived experience, pharaonic control and indigenous traditions, 1-61.
  • Tosh, J. (2015). The pursuit of history: Aims, methods, and new directions in the study of modern history (6th ed.). Routledge.
  • Williams, B. B., & Emberling, G. (2019). Nubia, A Brief Introduction. In G. Emberling & B. Williams (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia (pp. 3–6). Oxford University Press.
  • Wise, C. (2017). Sovereignty in Pre-colonial Mali and Northern Africa. In: Afolayan, A., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59291-0_27

POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2 , 569 - 585 , 17.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757
https://izlik.org/JA98PK42RB

Öz

This study examines the diverse political systems of pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the complexity and variety of governance structures that existed before the onset of European colonialism. Utilizing an African-centered sociology approach, the research explores both decentralized societies, such as the Igbo and Tiv, and centralized states like the Mali Empire and the Kingdom of Benin. The analysis is rooted in a comparative methodology that draws on historical texts, archaeological evidence, and oral traditions to uncover how these political systems were adapted to their specific social, economic, and cultural contexts. The study challenges Eurocentric narratives that often marginalize or simplify African political history, instead highlighting the ingenuity, resilience, and sophistication of pre-colonial African governance. By doing so, it seeks to contribute to a more nuanced and respectful understanding of African history, emphasizing the agency and innovation of African societies in shaping their own political destinies.

Kaynakça

  • Alesbury, A. (2013). A society in motion: the Tuareg from the pre-colonial era to today. Nomadic peoples, 17(1), 106-125.
  • Asante, M. K. (1988). Afrocentricity: The theory of social change (p. 12). Amulefi Pub. Co.
  • Beach, D. N. (1980). The Shona and Zimbabwe 900-1850: An Outline of Shona History (pp. 112, 158). Heinemann.
  • Bıçakçı, H. (2018). Sömürge öncesi dönemden günümüze Afrika’da kentler ve kentleşme hareketleri. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 1(32), 58-88.
  • Bohannan, P. (1958). Justice and Judgement Among the Tiv (pp. 54, 77). Oxford University Press.
  • Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40.
  • Bradbury, R. E. (1973). Benin Studies (pp. 43, 67, 89). Oxford University Press.
  • Chemhuru, M. (2018). African Communitarianism and Human Rights: Towards a Compatibilist View. Theoria, 65(4), 37-56.
  • Daban, C. (2024). The Role of England in 19th Century Colonialism Activities: The Case of the Continent of Africa . Journal of International Relations Studies, 4(2), 92107.
  • Davidson, B. (1991). Africa in History: Themes and Outlines (p. 122). Simon & Schuster.
  • Drower, M. S. (1970). Nubia: A Drowning Land. Longmans.
  • Escobar, A., Osterweil, M. & Sharma, K. (2024). Relationality: An Emergent Politics of Life Beyond the Human. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1971). The Azande: History and Political Institutions. Oxford University Press. Fortes, M., & Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1940). African Political Systems (p. 7). Oxford University Press.
  • French, S. (2011). Partial Structures and the Logic of Azande. Principia, 15(2), 17–44.
  • Gordon, L. R. (1997). Her Majesty’s Other Children: Sketches of Racism from a Neocolonial Age (p. 88). Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Graeber, D. & Wengrow, D. (2024). Her Şeyin Şafağı - İnsanlığın Yeni Tarihi. Trans. Kerim Kartal. Epsilon.
  • Hall, B. S. (2013). The question of ‘race'in the pre-colonial southern Sahara. In The Sahara (pp. 87-115). Routledge.
  • Jennings, R. C. (1989). Zande Logic and Western Logic. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 40(3), 275–285.
  • Karenga, M. (2002). Introduction to Black Studies (p. 45). University of Sankore Press.
  • Kimmerle, H. (1995). Afrika’da Felsefe Afrika Felsefesi Kültürlerarası Bir Felsefe Kavramına Doğru. Trans. Mustafa Tüzel. Kabalcı: İstanbul.
  • Lee, R. B. (1979). The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society (pp. 98, 132). Cambridge University Press.
  • Lejano, R. P. & Kan, W. S. (2022). Relationality: The Inner Life of Public Policy. Cambridge University.
  • Levtzion, N. (1973). Ancient Ghana and Mali (p. 82). Methuen.
  • Mashoud, S. (2025). Afrika Tarihinde Geleneksel Şeflerin Yönetimdeki Rolü: Mossi Krallığı Örneği. Disiplinlerarası Afrika Çalışmaları, 3(1), 67-85.
  • Mazama, A. (2003). The Afrocentric paradigm (pp. 4, 78, 92). Africa World Press.
  • McCaskie, T. C. (1995). State and Society in Pre-colonial Asante (p. 47). Cambridge University Press.
  • Menkiti, I. (2017). Community, Communism, Communitarianism: An African Intervention. In A. Afolayan & T. Falola (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy (pp. 461-473). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Metz, T. (2019). An African Theory of Moral Status: A Relational Alternative to Individualism and Holism. (Ed. Munamato Chemhuru) African Environmental Ethics: A Critical Reader. Springer.
  • Metz, T. (2020). African Communitarianism and difference. In E. Imafidon (Ed.), Handbook of African Philosophy of Difference (pp. 32-49). Springer.
  • Mızrak, B. (2022). Afrika’daki Devletleşme Süreçlerinde Yaşanan Sorunlar: Sömürge Öncesi ve Sonrası Döneme Dair Bir Değerlendirme. Bölge Çalışmaları Dergisi, 1(1), 50-77.
  • Michalopoulos, S. & Papaioannou, E. (2014). On the ethnic origins of African development: Chiefs and pre-colonial political centralization. NBER Working Paper No. 20513.
  • Monroe, J. C. (2013). Power and Agency in Precolonial African States. Annual Review of Anthropology, 42, 17-35.
  • Moraña, M. (2020). Philosophy and Criticism in Latin America: From Mariátegui to Sloterdijk. Trans. Andrew Ascherl. Cambria Press.
  • Munro-Hay, S. C. (1981). The Kingdom of Aksum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Nhemachena, A. (2017). Relationality and Resilience in a Not So Relational World? Knowledge, Chivanhu and (De-)Coloniality in 21st Century Conflict-Torn Zimbabwe. Langaa Research & Publishing CIG.
  • Nobles, W. W. (1986). African Psychology: Toward its reclamation, reascension, and revitalization (p. 63). Black Family Institute Publications.
  • Osafo-Kwaako, P., Robinson, J. A. (2013). Political centralization in Pre-Colonial Africa. Annual Review of Political Science, 16, 19-38.
  • Pankhurst, R. (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands: Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century (p. 146). Red Sea Press.
  • Phillips, J. (2016). “Aksum, Kingdom of.” In J. M. MacKenzie (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Empire (pp. 1–5). Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Phillipson, D. W. (2012). Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the Northern Horn, 1000 BC–AD 1300. Boydell & Brewer.
  • Prior, L. (2003). Using documents in social research. SAGE Publications.
  • Rubbo, D. A. (2025). José Carlos Mariátegui: Marxism and Critique of Eurocentrism. Trans. Sean Purdy & Gabriel Assirati Purdy. Routledge.
  • Scott, J. (1990). A matter of record: Documentary sources in social research. Polity Press.
  • Simmons, A. (2022). Nubia, Ethiopia, and the Crusading World, 1095-1402. Routledge.
  • Soyinka, W. (2018). Afrika’ya Dair. Trans. Merve Yalçın. Hece: İstanbul.
  • Spencer, N., Stevens, A., & Binder, M. (2017). Introduction: History and historiography of a colonial entanglement, and the shaping of new archaeologies for Nubia in the New Kingdom. Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived experience, pharaonic control and indigenous traditions, 1-61.
  • Tosh, J. (2015). The pursuit of history: Aims, methods, and new directions in the study of modern history (6th ed.). Routledge.
  • Williams, B. B., & Emberling, G. (2019). Nubia, A Brief Introduction. In G. Emberling & B. Williams (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia (pp. 3–6). Oxford University Press.
  • Wise, C. (2017). Sovereignty in Pre-colonial Mali and Northern Africa. In: Afolayan, A., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59291-0_27
Toplam 49 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil İngilizce
Konular Avrupa ve Bölge Çalışmaları
Bölüm Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar

Özgür Yılmaz 0000-0003-3020-8550

Gönderilme Tarihi 17 Eylül 2024
Kabul Tarihi 5 Aralık 2025
Yayımlanma Tarihi 17 Aralık 2025
DOI https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757
IZ https://izlik.org/JA98PK42RB
Yayımlandığı Sayı Yıl 2025 Cilt: 13 Sayı: 2

Kaynak Göster

APA Yılmaz, Ö. (2025). POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi, 13(2), 569-585. https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757
AMA 1.Yılmaz Ö. POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi. 2025;13(2):569-585. doi:10.14514/beykozad.1551757
Chicago Yılmaz, Özgür. 2025. “POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH”. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi 13 (2): 569-85. https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757.
EndNote Yılmaz Ö (01 Aralık 2025) POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi 13 2 569–585.
IEEE [1]Ö. Yılmaz, “POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH”, Beykoz Akademi Dergisi, c. 13, sy 2, ss. 569–585, Ara. 2025, doi: 10.14514/beykozad.1551757.
ISNAD Yılmaz, Özgür. “POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH”. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi 13/2 (01 Aralık 2025): 569-585. https://doi.org/10.14514/beykozad.1551757.
JAMA 1.Yılmaz Ö. POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi. 2025;13:569–585.
MLA Yılmaz, Özgür. “POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH”. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi, c. 13, sy 2, Aralık 2025, ss. 569-85, doi:10.14514/beykozad.1551757.
Vancouver 1.Özgür Yılmaz. POLITICS IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA: AN AFRICAN-CENTERED APPROACH. Beykoz Akademi Dergisi. 01 Aralık 2025;13(2):569-85. doi:10.14514/beykozad.1551757