West African history is usually seen as mainly influenced by English or French colonialism. There is a new interest in German colonialism, but most research is done in European archives and with a European point-of-view. This book explores German colonial exploits and their consequences in Ghana, Togo, and Cameroon, mostly from an African point-of-view. By means of research on sites of the colonial hinterland and the agency of entangled people, the book reveals the simmering impact of the past encounters on indigenous religious, cultural, political, and socio-economic developments in West...

This volume addresses the marked influence that African borders and boundaries, whether real or imaginary, have on the lives of those inhabiting the borderland. How do political and symbolic borders take concrete shape, and how do they bear on daily life? Conversely, how does life in the borderland shape the borders that characterize it? The book recognizes borderlands as shifting places, times, or domains where competing discourses and regimes of power overlap. Characterized by overt contradiction and paradox, they are often imagined at the outside. Yet, they pertain to and define the...

In contrast to many other regions of the world, in West Africa traditional oral narratives are still thriving. While verbal art is posited in between activities of preservation and a gradual adaption to the exigencies of modern life, local and regional researchers are actively engaged in studying the related processes. In this book West-African scholars from different disciplines present their research, discuss current research topics and reflect new perspectives on narratives in and about West Africa. Their challenging studies provide new perspectives on the state of narrative culture and...

Ethiopia is best understood as a country with multiple internal divides, but also endless interconnections which are constantly renegotiated. Contributing to the growing literature on the country's cultural diversity, this book offers special emphasis on the contemporary dynamics of intra- and intergroup boundary formation and alteration. It also adds to the more general literature on identity change, boundary transgression of individuals and groups, and cultural contact and change. With contributions from experienced Ethiopian and international scholars, the book offers perspectives on...

Knowledge Production In and On Africa presents a broad and multi-dimensional perspective on the topic of knowledge production in and of Africa, and it seeks to change post-imperial patterns. This endeavour reflects the concern that in our globalised world, Africa is misrepresented twice: by the ways knowledge about it is selected by gatekeepers of knowledge, and by deliberate suppression of knowledge on Africa. The contributions to this volume address diverse aspects of knowledge production: they examine the existing knowledge-producing frontiers in Africa; they challenge methodological and...

This book illuminates key aspects of how, historically, the dynamics of power and identity interact in the African context, generating the kind of political structures and collective actions that have often appeared characteristic of the continent. It examines some salient dimensions of the broader frameworks of hegemony and power imposed upon African societies in the context of larger geopolitical and historical processes. Power and identity are two key concepts which can be applied in describing African realities. The interaction and connections between the two concepts are, moreover, of...