Indirect Rule and Social Class Formation in Colonial Sierra Leone

Abstract

At independence in 1961, Sierra Leone inherited a social class system that would create a persistent conflict even long after the departure of the British colonizer. The present article focuses on the role of ‘Indirect rule’, which was applied by colonial Britain to shape the Sierra Leone society. Through a descriptive analytical method, this paper examines how this system, which was based on the role of chiefs as intermediate rulers to dominate the interior regions beyond the coastal areas around Freetown, vertically altered social organization and created new social classes in colonial Sierra Leone. The study reveals that the social class division created by this system was an alien structure that contradicted the traditional social order, paved the way for the formation of an interior educated elite, a proletariat, and a rural class of peasants, and eventually steered the country towards class conflict that manifested in an ongoing struggle between the marginalized classes and those who dominated and hence benefited from the state.