Writing the History of the African Diaspora

Redefining Boundaries: This Element presents and challenges how we historically study and perceive the African Diaspora.

Toyin Falola (Author)

9781009475686, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 June 2024

76 pages
23.5 x 16 x 0.8 cm, 0.26 kg

This Element is an analysis of the African Diaspora. It will define the African Diaspora and how the concepts behind the term came to be socially and historically engineered. The African diaspora is then placed into a broader historical context where the diverse, global, and overlapping histories of Africa's ancient-ongoing diasporas will be explored. In particular, themes of injustice, agency, resistance, and diversity (regarding people, diasporas, and experiences) will feature heavily. Through this exploration, this Element will interrogate dominating narratives regarding African diaspora-related discourse, seeking to address prevailing ideas that inadequately capture the true complexity and nuance of the subject. It does so to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter while lining out a more holistic approach to thinking about the very nature of 'diaspora.' Finally, this Element will analyze the present circumstances of the African diaspora, bringing into conversation a progressively global and connected world.

1. Introduction
2. What is the history of the African diaspora?
3. Interrogating the conception and construction of African diaspora history
4. African dispersals and the concept of overlapping diaspora
5. Rethinking the African diaspora
6. The emergence of a new global African diaspora
7. Conclusion
Further reading.

Subject Areas: History: theory & methods [HBA]