Dr Dmitri Van Den Bersselaar Ph.D.

My current research examines the careers of Ghanaian and Nigerian employees of the United Africa Company (UAC), a major European business, during the colonial and postcolonial eras. It contributes to our understanding of the domestication of capitalism in African societies, because the largely literate African employees of European businesses became part of the core of the management of African-owned enterprises and organisations, started their own businesses, and became successful politicians. The study considers the processes through which African management capacity was developed. The methodology combines archival research in the Unilever Archive and interviews with former UAC employees.
Future research will take the work on the impact of multinational business in a broader, comparative direction, with a project on “Multinationals and local cultures of work”. I also intend to work on cultural meanings of business in postcolonial Africa, looking for instance at national airlines.

My previous research centred around the cultural history of imported schnapps gin in West Africa, which examined how a relatively new import acquired an important place in traditional West African culture. I reported about the research in my book The King of Drinks. Schnapps Gin from Modernity to Tradition. I also wrote a number of articles and book chapters about the subject, including a pioneering exploration of advertising in West Africa (see the publication list for details). An exhibition based on this research "KING OF DRINKS - jenever in Ghana" was held in the Jenever Museum in Schiedam (the Netherlands).

I am interested in the interaction between colonial knowledge and missionary knowledge on the one hand, and how colonised people regard themselves on the other hand. This often unequal engagement has resulted in new ethnic and other definitions, new ways of doing cultural politics, and changing ways of using consumption to make political, status, and identity claims. I published a number of articles and book chapters on topics in this field, including: work on the knowledge production of the colonial state through census and anthropology; the ethnographical publications of Anglican missionary G.T. Basden; the debates about the correct way of writing the Igbo language; and discussions among Igbo migrants about the nature of their hometowns. See the list of publications for details. To read my book on the topic, click here: In Search of Igbo Identity. Language, Culture and Politics in Nigeria, 1900-1966 (Leiden, 1998)