BY Prete eens During the colonial period, Africans tld each other terrifying rumors that Africa ‘who worked for white colonists captured unwary residents and took thei blood. ly Peep eee ae ere eer ete ee eee coments ‘were said to abduct Afticans and keep them in pits, where thei blood was sucked Lage White presents and interprets vampire stories from East and Central Africa asa ‘way of understanding the world asthe storytellers did. Using gossip and rumor 35. historical sources in their own right, she assesses the place of such evidence, oral and ‘written, in historical reconstruction Pee een one Ceca ‘Uganda, and Zambia. She examines the vampire stores told by migrants, artisans, and ‘women in these countries to show how these stores can be used to write and revise perme ye ar ce nce co describe colonia! power, her book is an original epistemological inquiry into the nature of historical truth, memory, and the writing of history. Speaking with Vampires develops eee eer on teen anor a eae re ey Bee eee een ec eee ena eee er eee nae Hy Ss ee ee eC ee ee cee | Pe eee nnn er niece White's book convincingly demonstrates that these tls of the fantastic canbe sources aa of historywritng giving us access to realities that ae ignored by those who unitcally Hl | | Rumor a eerie nen tr ere eer cer er as | ' 7 Ce Remembering the Preset: Painting ond Popular History in Zaire ci : History rr Sc07 See eee ee ar eo crt | ‘TA | ra en Ree ee een eeu counts Prone net meen n | : in Luise White : leo Pie Re es ete eta een er ee eae eg eee eee ere es POR cee cee eee nee eee eae ae ere retary : Pa Prince ners ;Contents List of Maps Acknowledgments A Note on Currencies and Talk PART ONE 1, Blood and Words: Writing History with (and about) ‘Vampire Stories 2. Historicizing Rumor and Gossip PART TWO 3. “Bandages on Your Mouth”: The Experience of Colonial Medicine in East and Central Africa 4. “Why Is Petrol Red?” The Experience of Skilled and Semi-Skilled Labor in East and Central Af PART THREE Special Danger”: Gender, Property, and Blood in Nairobi, 1919-1939 56|. “Roast Mutton Captivity”: Labor, Trade, and Catholic Missions in Colonial Northern Rhodesia Blood, Bugs, and Archives: Debates over Sleeping- Sickness Control in Colonial Northern Rhodesia, 1931-1939 Citizenship and Censorship: Politics, Newspapers, and “a Stupefier of Several Women” in Kampala in the 19505 Class Struggle and Cannibalism: Storytelling and History Writing on the Copperbelts of Colonial Northern Rhodesia and the Relgian Congo, Conclusions Bibliography Credits Index 208 aya 269 307 333 M7 Maps 1, East and Ceneral Africa 2. The Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia,wi Note on Currencies and Talk secure a liter of blood for 50,000/- they did mean present-day rates of exchange, not to fix an exact value on a liter of blood, but to show that this was a payment for which individuals might have done extraordinary things. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Congolese data made avail- able to me through interviews conducted for Bogumil Jewsiewicki in 1992. Referring to the early 1940s—World War I—AMricans spoke of the Fr 2,50 African women received for helping batumbula find vietims. Whatever the value of this figure to the speaker, the reference to francs in a wartime story erased the occupation of Belgium and the use of the Reichsmark there, and gave Africans a way to speak about the continu- ities of Belgian rule, despite the fall of Belgium and a weak government incxile in London. The Africans who recalled the protests of the 19405, protests fueled by the conquests of Belgium, nevertheless naturalized Belgian rule when they spoke in francs. Indeed, this particular reference to francs suggests something else, something that is a point ofthis book, that details and facts and figures not only deseribe but illustrate: they are tused to get a point across, to make clear, to demonstrate, ro reveal that these were specific actions done by people for specific rewards. People tell stories about bloodsucking, and they give details in shillings and francs to make their points. PART ONE