Watu-muhimu[1] – the experience of African Labour Across Two World Wars
Introduction
1. There is a need to write a wider history/account of the experiences of labour in the two World Wars in Africa. The experience of that labour was an epoch in the process of entanglement and encounter between Europe and Africa and was a huge driver in what came next in the development of Africa.
2. Until recently, the overwhelming writing about the two World Wars in Africa has concentrated upon the military campaigns and experiences, largely, of the white or European servicemen and women who participated in them. While there has been a growing recognition of the lack of representation of African or indigenous peoples in the writings about the wars’ impact on Africa, works addressing this have tended to concentrate upon the First World War and the experiences of African labour. This body of work has also tended to focus upon issues of memory, memorialisation and the experience of African labour in the campaigns in East Africa of 1914-18. Even in that regard, the body of writing has tended to concentrate very much upon the suffering of those who laboured. Wider consideration has yet to be given to issues such as the agency of the labourers, what benefits they obtained from their experiences and how their service influenced post-war colonial Africa. Writing in English has also tended to concentrate upon the experiences of those Africans from colonies within the British Empire.
3. African labour was fundamental to the various war efforts of all of Africa in both World Wars – i.e. labour was essential, it was the foundation. The Editors therefore wish to collate a series of chapters that more broadly address the experiences of labour across all of Africa in the two World Wars.
Output
4. The intention is to publish an edited volume of chapters submitted. The edited collection will be published by the Great War in Africa Association as part of its There Came a Time… series [2]. The output will be collated and edited by Dr Anne Samson, and will be peer reviewed. (Anne will be assisted by Robert Coyle. Robert recently completed a Master of Studies at Cambridge University where his research focused on African Labour in WW1).
Themes to explore
5. If you would like to contribute to the volume, on any aspect of labour in and of Africa, during one or both World Wars, please email your ideas to the editor by 30 September 2025 – marked Watu-muhimu – to gwafrica@outlook.com.
The Submission process
6. It is expected that contributions/chapters will be between 8,000 and 10,000 words in length and referencing should be standardised within the document (in any consistently applied format). While the publication will be in English, if you would like to contribute in another language, please email Anne to discuss if this can be accommodated.
7. All articles will be peer reviewed.
Deadline for submissions
8. Final drafts/contribution should be emailed to the editor by 30 September 2026.
[1] Watu-muhimu – a Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Chichewa word, and Arabic derivative, meaning ‘those who are important/essential’
[2]See – https://gweaa.com/home/resources/books-to-purchase/