Cover of Critical Terms for the Study of Africa
Critical Terms for the Study of Africa
edited by Gaurav Desai and Adeline Masquelier
University of Chicago Press, 2018
Cloth: 978-0-226-54883-8 | Paper: 978-0-226-54897-5 | Electronic: 978-0-226-54902-6
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.001.0001

AVAILABLE FROM

University of Chicago Press (cloth, paper, ebook)
ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

For far too long, the Western world viewed Africa as unmappable terrain—a repository for outsiders’ wildest imaginings. This problematic notion has had lingering effects not only on popular impressions of the region but also on the development of the academic study of Africa. Critical Terms for the Study of Africa considers the legacies that have shaped our understanding of the continent and its place within the conceptual grammar of contemporary world affairs.
 
Written by a distinguished group of scholars, the essays compiled in this volume take stock of African studies today and look toward a future beyond its fraught intellectual and political past. Each essay discusses one of our most critical terms for talking about Africa, exploring the trajectory of its development while pushing its boundaries. Editors Gaurav Desai and Adeline Masquelier balance the choice of twenty-five terms between the expected and the unexpected, calling for nothing short of a new mapping of the scholarly field. The result is an essential reference that will challenge assumptions, stimulate lively debate, and make the past, present, and future of African Studies accessible to students and teachers alike.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Gaurav Desai is professor of English at the University of Michigan. Adeline Masquelier is professor of anthropology at Tulane University.
 

REVIEWS

“Critical Terms for the Study of Africa is an essential introduction to the fields of teaching and learning Africa. This book engages students more critically in the failures, limits, and values of a succession of ‘critical terms’, to help them understand the ways in which concepts can privilege certain ways of knowing, and to give them some particularly valuable concepts that might lead to growth in their knowledge and sophistication in the study of Africa.”
— David William Cohen, emeritus, University of Michigan

“Critical Terms for the Study of Africa will serve as a sourcebook for connecting contemporary African Studies not only to the classical canon but also to the specific regional, global, and colonial history that forged the concept of Africa. This book will serve both as a crucial teaching tool in undergraduate and graduate classes and as required reading for Africanist scholars. The essays it contains deftly master a readable tone that makes a complex history and set of theoretical ideas accessible without dumbing down the material or making it redundant to those who are already well versed in the field. Perhaps most remarkable is that despite the great diversity of authors, perspectives, and disciplines present in this book, there remains an underlying unity of vision connecting the threads—a vision with the capacity to breathe new life into the domain of Africanist scholarship.”
— Sasha Newell, Université libre de Bruxelles

"African studies is a field strongly influenced by deconstruction. Often, our use of language directs the boundaries of what we do and do not know. For an introduction to Africanist scholarship, one could hardly do better than to start with this volume. Desai and Masquelier have assembled 25 essays examining common topics—religion, politics, language, economics, and more. . . It moves beyond myth busting and challenges the reader to think more deeply. Highly recommended."
— CHOICE

"One of the most notable qualities of this excellent volume is its ability to bridge the divide between anthropology, politics, thought, history, and literary studies. While answering many questions, there is no doubt that Critical Terms for the Study of Africa will also stimulate new conversations about the past, present, and future shape of African Studies in the U.S. and beyond."
— African Studies Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0001
[Africa;African studies;Maps;Cartography;Representation]
Beginning with a discussion of cartography and the ways in which Africa has been represented over the ages through maps, this introductory chapter asserts the importance of the power of representation and the authority such representations bestow upon map-makers. It goes on to discuss the challenges and critiques of such conventional representations of Africa and introduces the conceptual aims of the volume. (pages 1 - 11)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0002
[Africa;African;Diaspora;Sub-Saharan;African studies]
This chapter interrogates the varied usages of the terms “Africa” and “African” both as geographical markers and as markers of identity. The division of Africa North and South of the Sahara is discussed along with the racialization of Africa that often accompanies such a division. Attention is also played to the history of the study of Africa by scholars within and outside of the academy and by scholars of African descent. (pages 12 - 26)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0003
[Belonging;Autochtony;Indigeneity;Identity;Cities;African mobility]
This chapter outlines the increasing emphasis placed on notions of local belonging, autochthony, and indigeneity in contemporary African settings. The chapter discusses these concepts in the context of African mobility and relations between rural and urban areas. (pages 27 - 39)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0004
[Bondage;Slavery;Pawnship;Indentured Labor;Human Trafficking;Indian Ocean]
Working against the grain of more restricted discussions of slavery, this chapter argues for a more comprehensive discussion of various forms of bondage from chattel slavery to pawnship to indentured labor to domestic servitude. The chapter draws extensively on forms of bondage in the Indian Ocean and brings the discussion up to more recent practices of human trafficking. (pages 40 - 55)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0005
[Citizen;Flexible citizenship;Conviviality;Ethnicity;Nation-State]
This chapter outlines the many ways in which the notion of the citizen is challenged and contested by contemporary practices of African nation-states and those in the past. It discusses ethnic and cultural forms of citizenship and argues for an understanding of flexible forms of citizenship based on the notion of conviviality. (pages 56 - 68)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0006
[Colonialism;Modernity;Political Economy;Culture;State formation]
Presenting seven propositions for understanding colonialism, this chapter presents a heuristic for studying colonial processes in Africa and beyond. Included are discussions of state formation, the interplay between culture and political economy, the making of metropolitan modernity among others. (pages 69 - 85)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0007
[Design;Kuba;Aesthetics;Textiles;African languages;Craft]
This chapter argues for the fundamental role of design in a number of aspects of African aesthetic practices including architecture, markets, traditional craftwork and textiles. The chapter also includes a discussion of design terms in African languages and how they can inform our otherwise Eurocentric notions of design. (pages 86 - 101)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0008
[Environment;Wilderness;Resource Extraction;Environmental Security;Peace Parks]
This chapter presents an Africa centered discussion of the environment and environmental concerns. It challenges Euro-American conceptions of landscapes, wilderness and wildness and discusses the ways in which environmental racism operates. The chapter also includes an important discussion of resource extraction and resource sovereignty, an emerging concern on the African continent. (pages 102 - 114)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0009
[Evidence;History;Oral Tradition;Ethnography;Archaeology]
This chapter showcases the various ways in which the past is studied not only by historians but also by other actors. At one level, the chapter is a narrative of the development of the study of African history beginning with early ethnography to later study of oral history and archaeology. But at another level, the chapter is an engagement with the very nature of evidence and how it is sought, constructed and contextualized. (pages 115 - 126)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0010
[Gender formations;Sexuality;Heternormativity;Homosexuality;Feminism]
The chapter introduces the terms ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’ both as they have emerged in the Western academy as well as in debates in African contexts. Attention is paid to changes in gender and sexual regimes across historical periods and particularly with the arrival of European colonial rule and the structural adjustment programs following the formal end of colonialism. The chapter concludes by engaging with ongoing debates about gender formations and sexual normativity in African contexts. (pages 127 - 144)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0011
[Governance;Democratization;I.M.F.;World Bank;Structural Adjustment]
Focused primarily on the dictates of “good governance” in the context of structural adjustment programs spurred by the World Bank and IMF, this chapter outlines both the reach and the fallout of good governance initiatives of the 1980s that still have an effect on contemporary African societies. (pages 145 - 163)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0012
[Health;Well-being;Traditional medicine;AIDS epidemic;Social accountability]
This chapter argues for an understanding of a health framework in Africa that is based not solely on cure but rather on a more comprehensive sense of well-being and social accountability. There is a discussion of traditional healing and western medicine and how individual actors negotiate their choices between the two. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the AIDS epidemic and how it was handled over time by local actors. (pages 164 - 178)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0013
[Humanitarianism;Victims;Abusers;Human Rights;Aid]
This chapter begins with a discussion of global discourses of humanitarianism and the local toll that such discourses can have in particular African contexts. It challenges readers to understand how well-meaning efforts at humanitarian aid can end up creating misguided representations of both victims and their abusers. At play is the power differential between the humanitarians and the local actors whose voices and concerns are often misheard if not unheard. (pages 179 - 189)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0014
[Labor;Work;Entrepreneurship;Wage;Labor History]
This chapter attempts to differentiate between the concepts of “labor” and “work” and how each of them have historically been treated in both African and non-African contexts. How might the hoary tradition of labor studies be embellished, modified and extended with a more nuanced attention to histories of work? (pages 190 - 201)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0015
[Liberation;Emancipation;Freedom;Epistemological Liberation;Trans-Atlantic Slavery;Liberia;Independence]
This chapter begins with a discussion of the terms “liberation”, “emancipation” and “freedom” in the context both of trans-Atlantic slavery and of Euro-American Enlightenment thought. It discusses how the idea of liberation could also lead to the colonization of Liberia where liberated slaves could themselves become a colonizing force. The chapter moves on to discuss national liberation from colonial rule on the African continent and includes a discussion of epistemological liberation – a process often referred to as a decolonization of the mind. (pages 202 - 215)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0016
[Mobility;Migration;Enslavement;Colonialism;Diaspora]
Emphasizing the fact that contrary to historically prevalent representations of static, traditional societies, communities in Africa have always been in motion, this chapter outlines the history of African migrations both within and without the continent. Such migrations have sometimes been forced, sometimes taken on willingly, sometimes affected by “push” factors and at other times by “pull” factors. The chapter presents an overview and ends with a discussion of contemporary migrations. (pages 216 - 227)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0017
[Modernity;Modernism;Modernization;Colonialism;Desire]
Arguing that modernity is both an essential and contested term in African studies, this chapter distinguishes between discourses of modernity, modernization and modernism. It presents an inter-disciplinary perspective drawing on philosophers, anthropologists, political theorists, literary scholars, novelists and African politicians. The chapter argues that the contestations of the terms and their relevance to Africans is a testimony to the ways in which the terms are imagined as part of a larger conversation of African desires and aspirations. (pages 228 - 244)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0018
[narrative;story;representation;mimesis;Internet;Frantz Fanon;colonialism;Bessie Head]
Casting a wide net over a variety of narrative forms this chapter emphasizes the role of stories and story-telling in the fashioning of identities on the African continent. It opens with a discussion of the often distorted representations of Africa in colonial narratives and showcases the ways in which Africans have sought to counter such narratives. The role of mimesis itself is questioned and a discussion of works by Frantz Fanon and Bessie Head allows for an investigation of how post-colonial subjects challenge the master narratives of the continent that have preceded them. The chapter includes a discussion of more contemporary forms of narratives, including those on the internet. (pages 245 - 259)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0019
[Performance;Performativity;Speech Acts;Festival;Music;Dakar]
Beginning with a case study of the World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar in 1966, this chapter emphasizes the centrality of performance in Africa. Performance is understood here not only in the everyday sense of theatrical enactment but also in the sense derived from J.L. Austin who first explained the notion of a linguistic performative utterance that was characterized as an action rather than as a statement. The chapter mobilizes both these senses of performance and performativity and turns to specific genres such as popular music, theater, sports and political rallies as well as the performative nature of the political state. (pages 260 - 273)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0020
[Population;Age;Demographics;Youth;Family]
This chapter explores the demographic challenges in contemporary Africa and the ways in which demographic analysis and measures have historically taken shape. Of particular importance are youth and the chapter outlines various ways in which youth are defined by modern nation-states as well as by particular individuals within them. Family, marriage and their relation to aging and social relations are also discussed. (pages 274 - 287)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0021
[Spirit;Religious belief;Polyontology;Christianity;Islam]
Asserting that the word for ‘spirit’ in many African languages is breath, wind or air, this chapter argues for the importance of spirits in the epistemological and ontological lives of Africans. Discussing the arrival of Christianity and Islam and their interactions with indigenous African beliefs, the chapter showcases the myriad ways in which different religious traditions have been incorporated together by believers. An emphasis in the chapter is on understanding that for many there is no clear natural/supernatural divide and that spirit and matter are often not considered to be distinct. The chapter concludes with a discussion of polyontology – a form of pluralism that recognizes the ontological reality of several distinct sources of religious power. (pages 288 - 301)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0022
[Theory;Philosophy;Engagement;Negation;Knowledge;Ngugi wa Thiongo;Frantz Fanon;Amilcar Cabral]
This chapter works against the grain of a long held belief that theory is the provenance of the West and that it is only an import into Africa. Instead, the chapter showcases the various ways in which theory and theoretical thinking has been generated in Africa and the global South. Theory in Africa has often been related to praxis and the chapter includes discussions of activist thinkers such as Frantz Fanon, Ngugi wa Thiongo and Amilcar Cabral to make its case. (pages 302 - 316)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0023
[Value;Economy;Liberalization;Socialism;Privatization;Neoliberalism]
How has the value of Africa – its natural resources, its human capital, its intellectual offerings, its economies – been historically rendered by the West? And how is value construed in Africa today? These are the informing questions of this chapter. The chapter presents a historical account of value extraction from Africa and more contemporary postcolonial efforts by African states in value creation. Part of this discussion involves choices that African leaders had to make between versions of African socialism and a more free-market styled liberal economy. The chapter highlights the effects of these choices as well as of later structural adjustment programs and the processes of neoliberalism. (pages 317 - 330)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0024
[Vernacular;Literature;Literacy;Language Standardization;Print]
This chapter traces the development and standardization of languages and vernaculars and the role of Christian missionaries in this process. It highlights the social effects of literacy including the empowerment that it afforded to the literate and the possibility of envisioning a new political identity among potential readers and audiences. The chapter presents numerous examples of print media, including the important role played by African language newspapers. Literacy, the chapter argues, allowed for bringing together the vocation of the moral reformer and the literary genius. (pages 331 - 345)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0025
[Violence;International Jurisprudence;Harm;Structural Violence;Truth and Reconciliation]
This chapter presents an account of violence in all its forms in the context of Africa and African Studies. Included are legal definitions of violence with an examination of International justice norms and legal definitions of what constitutes harm. In addition to understanding the physical violence that such jurisprudence targets, the chapter insists on foregrounding other forms of structural violence such as poverty, economic inequality and ethnic bias which often escape such international attention. We need to be attentive to both the extraordinary forms of violence such as genocide, but also to the everyday banal forms of violence such as undernourishment. (pages 346 - 364)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226549026.003.0026
[Witchcraft;Witches;Occult;Harm;Accusation]
Recognizing that the term ‘witchcraft’ is a contentious one among scholars of Africa, the chapter nonetheless presents a history of the debates associated with its study. After presenting a broad review of the scholarship on witchcraft, the chapter presents witchcraft primarily as a means of controlling inter-personal relations. The relative legitimacy of various practices referred to as witchcraft are discussed as are the social and spiritual ways of protecting oneself and one’s family from the harmful aspects of the practice. (pages 365 - 380)
This chapter is available at:
    University of Chicago Press

List of Contributors

Acknowledgments

Index

Book published by University of Chicago Press, 2018. Page maintained by BiblioVault.