Territory.: Spatio-Historical Approaches to State Formation

What does the notion of territory entail for state formation? As Elden (2013) has made clear in his recent genealogy of territory, it may be seen as a spatial extension of state power. While Elden’s point is crucial, in this chapter I will entertain the idea that the colonial state form is not different in its key dynamics from later state forms, as well as certain African polities, and in this way the chapter challenges the idea of the colonial state as radically different from earlier or later state forms. While basing myself on information from Manica Province, the empirical

DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv8bt1ff.13