| WORLD STUDIES BOOK LIST FOR AFRICA |
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| WORLD STUDIES BOOK LIST FOR AFRICA |
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| While not meant to be exhaustive, this list of readings provides some general background on different facets of African and African American cultural history. The selected titles consider a range of little-known in addition to well-known aspects. A recurring theme of each book is the interrelationships and interdependencies between African and other civilizations, an important aspect of Global History that is often omitted or downplayed by conventional textbook authors. Covering topics ranging from international finance to music, each book opens an inquiry and provides food for thought as well as resources for teaching and learning about African history. |
| Francis Bebey, African
Music: A People's Art (1975). Discussions of African music as an expression of life, along with profiles of African musicians. Includes chapters on various African musical instruments, and a listening guide to various African musics.
A. Adu Boahen, African Perspectives on Colonialism (1987). Challenges Eurocentric and white supremacist accounts of the late 19th century European "scramble for Africa," by a Ghanaian scholar affiliated with UNESCO. Considers Africa on the eve of colonialism, the imposition and operation of the colonial system, and its impact. Includes a useful bibliography.
Michael Barratt Brown & Pauline Tiffen, Short Changed: Africa & World Trade (1992). A useful update to Rodney, especially with regard to the role of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other transnational agencies. Includes chapters on Africa's resources, export crops, mineral wealth, energy resources, and manufacturing. Considers the relationship between export-led growth and African politics. Makes clear that in the present "free-market," some countries are more free than others.
Michael Crowder (ed.), West African Resistance: The Military Response to Colonial Occupation (1971). Reconsiders from various perspectives the extent and effectiveness of African resistance to the European invasion in the 19th century. Includes chapters on Ghana, Dahomey, Guinea, and the Sokoto Caliphate.
Franz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism (1965). A discussion of the destruction of French colonialism in Algeria by one of the great political analysts of the 20th century. Includes chapters on medicine and colonialism, the Algerian family, and the European minority in Algeria. Fanon's books inspired a wave of revolutionary movements for Afro-Asian liberation.
Mervyn Hiskett, The Development of Islam in West Africa (1984). Traces the introduction and development of Islam in West Africa from the 9th to the 20th centuries, emphasizing how it became integrated into African societies. Includes discussions of Islamic religion and culture, Islamic states in sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabic language and African scholarship, and Islam's role in resistance to European colonialism. Profiles African Islamic civilizations, including Bornu and Sokoto.
Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1982). A pioneering study on European colonization of Africa. Considers how European slavery and exploitation of natural resources simultaneously developed Europe and underdeveloped Africa. Includes an overview of African societies before European contact, and an annotated guide to further reading.
Mwalimu J. Shujaa (ed.), Too Much Schooling, Too Little Education: A Paradox of Black Life in White Societies (1993). An overview of the issues in education for peoples of African descent living in Euro-American societies, drawing upon case studies from the United States and Britain. Includes essays on Black intellectuals and the crisis in Black education, literacy and cultural identity, and the Afro-centric education movement.
Richard P. Stevens & Abdelwahab M. Elmessiri (eds.), Israel & South Africa: The Progression of a Relationship (1977), with a foreword by John Henrick Clark. Well-documented historical account of the little known military, economic, and social relationships between Israel and the apartheid regime in South Africa. Includes a selection of related United Nations documents.
Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy (1983). Discusses art and aesthetics in five African civilizations--Yoruba, Kongo, Ejagham, Mande, Cross River--and their continuity through art, music, and religion among peoples of African descent in the Americas. |
