Part I: Prehistory to 1400

The first part of this volume focuses on the period from antiquity to 1400. Most of the entries in this section are written from perspectives that are similar to Martin Bernal's Ancient Model. The articles serve as correctives to representations of ancient Africa as a place of backwardness, superstition, and irrationality. This section aims to capture the vibrancy of economic and political institutions of Africa before the age of Europe, as well as the diverse cultural practices and rituals.

Some entries in this section engage the debate on the African origins of Egyptian civilization, examining the complex cross-fertilization between ancient Egypt and African societies to the south. A number of entries examine centers of tool-making and technology in ancient Africa. Along with analyses of rock paintings and other archeological artifacts, these articles offer insights into patterns of population movements, settlement centers, and agricultural practices during the period of African antiquity. Population movements from east Africa to other regions on the continent led to the formation of some notable empires during this period, such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. Attention is also paid to trading centers and networks across the African continent. For example, domestication of the camel revolutionized trans-Saharan trade, and products from sub-Saharan Africa were able to reach the Mediterranean as a consequence. West African gold was an important commodity in Africa's early history. The artistic and cultural achievements of Africa are also examined in this section, as well as the close relationship between art, architecture, and religion.

Part II: 1400 to 1900

The second section of this volume explores the period from 1400 to 1900, an era of tremendous flux and transition in the social, cultural, and economic relations of Africa. The continent's interactions with the rest of the world intensified and expanded during this period. The two most decisive impacts upon Africa during this period were the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonialism. Like most societies of antiquity, Africans practiced forms of slavery. However, the scale of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the racism associated it had a devastating effect on the continent. Together, slavery and colonialism resulted in the depopulation of large parts of West Africa and distorted the development of the entire continent.

In the 1400s, Portuguese sailors tried to find a sea route to the east by circumnavigating Africa. In addition to finding an alternative route to lucrative trading centers in Asia, the Portuguese also wanted to bypass Muslim north Africa and gain direct access to gold-producing areas in west Africa. They reached the Akan gold fields of west Africa around 1470 and built a fort (Elmina) in 1482 to protect their trading interests in the region from other European competitors.

The Portuguese established sugar plantations on the islands of Príncipe and São Tomé, off the coast of west Africa, where they began to use African slave labor. As the plantations thrived, slave labor on the Portuguese islands became the prototype for the subsequent expansion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, especially as Portugal and Spain began to colonize the Americas. African slaves were used by the Portuguese and Spanish for agricultural commodity production in the Americas and the Caribbean. As other European nations became involved in the slave trade by the 1600s, the number of Africans captured and transported to the Americas increased phenomenally, becoming the greatest forced migration in history.

The role of Africans themselves in the trans-Atlantic slave trade has ignited a passionate debate in many circles. This issue was highlighted in Henry Louis Gates's PBS television series Wonders of the African World, in the episode on slavery. Gates tries to demonstrate that Africans participated in, facilitated, and were culpable in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. On the other hand, Ali Mazrui, the Kenyan political scientist, claims that while Africans did indeed participate in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, they were neither the primary beneficiaries of the trade nor the primary actors in it.

The problem with Gates's contention of African involvement, according to Mazrui, is that it allows Europeans to absolve themselves of blame for the brutality and tragedy of slavery. A number of entries in this volume deal with the controversial issue of African complicity in the slave trade. The enormous benefits reaped by the Europeans as a consequence of the triangular trade in human beings, raw materials, and finished products between Africa, Europe, and the Americas are also discussed in this section. Some entries show that European slave traders usually did not venture beyond the coastal regions. Drawing on the examples of Asante, Benin, and Dahomey, among others, the entries show that internal African conflicts and rivalries resulted in the selling of captives to European slave traders.

The political, sociocultural, and economic impacts of the slave trade on the African coastline from Senegal to southern Angola, and the interconnected interior regions, are explored in great depth. Furthermore, entries on the lives of particular individuals, such as Olaudah Equiano, give the reader insight into the lived experience of slavery. Other entries examine the disrupting effect of the trans-Atlantic slave trade on the cultural and political institutions of Africa.

The second major theme that informs this section is European colonialism. From the onset of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, European merchants and traders became interested in gaining access to Africa's natural resources and trading systems in the interior of the continent. However, until the mid-1800s, with the exception of the French in Algeria, and the Dutch and English settlers in southern Africa, European conquest of African territory was limited to coastal enclaves. Europeans gradually formed alliances with local African leaders in order to gain a foothold in African society.

By the late 1800s, the nature and scope of European contact with Africa began to change dramatically, as European nations tried to bring African countries under direct political control. This process was formalized at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, convened in the Berlin residence of the Prussian Emperor Otto Von Bismarck. The intention of this conference was aptly captured by King Leopold of Belgium, who stated that he was present at the conference to get his share “of this magnificent African cake.” At the Berlin Conference, the different European powers carved up Africa and divided it among themselves.

The negative repercussions of colonialism on the African continent are taken up in this section, including the fragmentation and division of the continent, the marginalization of rural people (especially women), and the creation of top-down structures of governance. Peoples of similar cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds often found themselves on different sides of colonial boundaries as a consequence of the imposed geography of the Berlin Conference. The colonial borders also divided and disrupted dynamic precolonial trading and commercial systems. Colonialism marginalized rural peoples, especially as fast-produced cash crops replaced earlier farming systems. This new crop production system had a particularly adverse effect on rural women, who were central to precolonial crop production but who found themselves increasingly marginalized under colonial commercial agriculture.

Finally, colonies were run by colonial officers and bureaucrats who had dictatorial powers and were largely unresponsive to the needs and aspirations of the subject African population during colonial rule. A number of episodes of resistance against colonial incursion are discussed in this section, including the defeat of the Italians by the Abyssinians (Ethiopians) in 1896. However, superior military technology enabled the Europeans to quell and defeat these uprisings and—with the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia—Africa was under the firm control of European nations by the early 20th century.

Part III: 1900 to Present

The third and final section of the volume examines the period from 1900 to the present. During the early part of the 20th century, colonial rule continued to leave its imprint on the continent. The Herero of Namibia, a Bantu people who migrated to Namibia in the 17th and 18th centuries from the eastern part of the African continent, bore the brunt of German colonial expansion in South-West Africa (Namibia). More than 65,000 Herero perished between 1904 and 1907 as German colonial forces tried to suppress Herero resistance to German colonial intrusion. The war of colonial expansion in Namibia soon changed to a genocidal campaign against the Herero people. In fact, many German military figures who participated in the atrocities of World War II had first served as colonial military officers in Namibia during the Herero genocide. This section examines the Herero genocide as well as other instances of colonial oppression in the early 20th century Africa.

The rise of national liberation movements against colonial and white settler rule was one of the most significant cultural and political developments of the 20th century in Africa, a theme that is explored at great length in the final section. The rise of these movements, as well as the international Pan-African movement, were important developments in the struggles of marginalized populations to assert their identities and agency. Africans paid a heavy price to free themselves from colonial domination.

In Algeria alone, more than 1 million people died fighting to overthrow French colonial rule. In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC), Africa's oldest national liberation movement, waged a century-long struggle against white-supremacist rule in that country, which ended in 1994.

However, the exuberance of national liberation was short lived. National elites who came into power following the demise of colonial rule employed the same divisive techniques used by colonial rulers to guarantee their own privileges and maintain their power base. The project of building and consolidating national unity was undercut by a variety of ethnic, regional, and cultural interests. This issue is examined across various regions in Africa in this volume.

Contemporary Africa faces a number of challenges. These include autocratic leaders and governments, poor systems of governance, shortage of food, the AIDS crisis, cultural and ethnic conflict, gender oppression, lack of educational resources, and massive socioeconomic inequality. However, there is also increasing hope that Africa will develop its own way forward through the 21st century.

For example, there is a great deal of cultural vibrancy on the continent. Music, literature, film, and other forms of cultural production from various regions of Africa have become part and parcel of global culture. Africa has produced a number of award-winning novelists, film directors, musicians, and athletes.

Nelson Mandela's visionary leadership in fostering a sense national unity in South Africa, a country with a deeply fractured past, is a cause for celebration and optimism. In addition to analyzing the problems facing contemporary Africa, a number of entries in this section highlight the positive trends mentioned above, focusing on how Africans are harnessing their own intellectual, cultural, and economic capital to improve their living conditions and life chances.

In sum, the primary purpose of this volume is to serve as a reference guide on important themes pertaining to the intersection of sociology and culture in African society. The entries provide a general overview of major issues and themes, as well as offer an introduction to some contemporary debates. These reviewed entries, written by experts from around the world, serve as a comprehensive resource for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers interested in the sociology and culture of Africa beyond narrow disciplinary specializations. These cross-referenced, alphabetically arranged articles also provide insight into a range of topics such as empires, states, and elites. It is our hope that the volume will contribute toward a new vision of Africa.