Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa: Archaeological Perspectives

by J. Cameron Monroe (Editor), Akinwumi Ogundiran (Editor)

Overview

This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139209748
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/13/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

J. Cameron Monroe is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Director of the Abomey Plateau Archaeological Project in the Republic of Bénin, West Africa. He serves on the editorial board of Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa and has published in various journals, among them Historical Archaeology, The Journal of African History and Current Anthropology.
Akinwumi Ogundiran is Professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology, and History at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and Director of the Upper Osun Archaeological and Historical Project. He is the author or editor of several publications including Archaeology and History in Ilare District, Central Yorubaland; Precolonial Nigeria; and Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora.

Table of Contents

Forward Merrick Posnansky; 1. Introduction: the politics of landscape in Atlantic West Africa J. Cameron Monroe and Akinwumi Ogundiran; Part I. Fragmented Landscapes: 2. Atlantic impacts on inland Senegambia: French penetration and African initiatives in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gajaaga and Bundu (Upper Senegal River) Ibrahima Thiaw; 3. Political transformations and cultural landscapes in Senegambia during the Atlantic era: an alternative view from the Siin (Senegal)? François Richard; 4. The Eguafo polity: between the traders and raiders Sam Spiers; 5. From the shadow of an Atlantic citadel: an archaeology of the Huedan countryside Neil L. Norman; Part II. State-Generated Landscapes: 6. Segou, slavery, and sifinso Kevin C. MacDonald and Seydou Camara; 7. Building the state in Dahomey: power and landscape on the Bight of Benin J. Cameron Monroe; 8. The formation of an Oyo imperial colonial enclave during the Atlantic Age Akinwumi Ogundiran; Part III. Internal Frontier Landscapes: 9. The rise of the Bassar Chiefdom in the context of Africa's internal frontier Philip de Barros; 10. Fortified towns of the Koinadugu Plateau: northern Sierra Leone in the pre-Atlantic and Atlantic worlds Christopher R. DeCorse; 11. Rethinking the Mandara political landscape: cultural developments, climate, and an entry into history in the second millennium AD Scott MacEachern; Part IV. Conclusion: 12. The local and the global: historiographical reflections on West Africa and the Atlantic Age Ray A. Kea.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a good and useful collection presenting much innovative and important work on Atlantic era social and political transformations in a range of West African settings. The contributions clearly articulate the necessity of a perspective that looks beyond single sites and considers regional perspectives diachronically in order to derive appropriate (both culturally and politically) frameworks to explain the archaeological and historical trajectories of the various regions. The contributions shed light on new regions of study, as well as previously explored areas, and thus the volume will be useful to scholars of West Africa. By foregrounding the landscape perspective, the contributions in this book will also be of interest to a wider range of archaeologists and historians."
Journal of African Archaeology

From the Publisher