Great African Reads discussion

We'll start off 2021 with a big nonfiction read on pre-colonial African empires, A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution!

Who's reading? Please share your questions, criticisms, and other feedback with us as you read. This is a big one, so we'll keep this thread open to those of us who take longer than 3 months to go through it. :)

If you'd like to start with a shorter, more introductory book on the topic, please join the side read of The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa thread here! Lots more ideas in the book selection thread)!

I ordered my copy. I'm also in a year-long book club read of Marx's Capital, so I'm kind of excited we chose the economics-heavy history. I'm excited to see another economic system(s?) explained.

I'll join this one, but will only get to it in February. Looking forward to it.

You can count me in! I ordered my copy as well and hope to start reading soon.

I will join in as well. Am very excited about finally reading it.

I'm not certain I will manage to join in this one - I will first read The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa and report back in the other thread and I also have The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages sitting on my shelf :)))
But the title is definitely on my TBR!

Tinea wrote: "I ordered my copy. I'm also in a year-long book club read of Marx's Capital, so I'm kind of excited we chose the economics-heavy history. I'm excited to see another economic system(s?) explained."

This is indeed an exciting mix!

I'm not sure I can participate in this one - possible in February, but not before. I'll at least check out the discussion

Orgeluse wrote: "I'm not certain I will manage to join in this one - I will first read The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa and report back in the other thread and I..."

I'd like to get to the Golden Rhinoceros at some point. If you don't mind waiting until March I'd be up for a buddy read on that one.

Carolien wrote: "Orgeluse wrote: "I'm not certain I will manage to join in this one - I will first read The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa and report back in the o..."

Great! I still have other stuff to read so March fits perfectly well for the Golden Rhinoceros - I'm looking forward to our buddy read :))!

That would be lovely.

I started reading A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution and sofar I really love it. Toby Green really tries to shed more light on the rich history of precolonial Africa and how it evolved over the centuries.

I'll start this one towards the end of the month. Really looking forward to it.

I've started this one. It's fascinating, but will be a very slow read. There are so many details to keep track of. It has a much bigger focus on economics than I had expected, but that's fine.

It indeed is fascinating! I only read by bits, progressing slowly. Not that it is difficult to read, but somethings it seems to be lacking a straightforward line or clear narrative, meandering through anecdotes and stories.

I may join in. I just need to find a copy.

OK, you got me order a copy and given that this group read is running till the end of March I will also join in :))))

I have this back-ordered from the store and I'm simultaneously waiting for a library hold to arrive so I can get going! Glad so many people are reading along.

Wim wrote: "It indeed is fascinating! I only read by bits, progressing slowly. Not that it is difficult to read, but somethings it seems to be lacking a straightforward line or clear narrative, meandering thro..."

I'm finding that it is a similar experience. I read a little bit at a time. There are tons of information, but it meanders a lot.

I've been meaning to read this ever since I heard Toby Green present his book for the New Books Network, it's quite an interesting interview if you fancy a change from the chapters themselves: https://newbooksnetwork.com/toby-gree....

The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages was available free access for a short while last year when the pandemic first hit, but if anyone has university logins they might still be able to access it through Project Muse https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64787. I've only read a few chapters so far so I'll wait until March to read the rest. It's an easy engaging read you can dip in and out of, but so much information to try to retain!

Cam wrote: "I've been meaning to read this ever since I heard Toby Green present his book for the New Books Network, it's quite an interesting interview if you fancy a change from the chapters themselves: http..."

Thanks for the link to the podcast, Cam. Really interesting.

My book just arrived. This looks pretty good. Will definitely check out the podcast.

I just finished the first part of the book and learned so many things. Though I knew of its great empires, my view on precolonial Africa has radically shifted. This really is a great book.
I am only progressing slowly though, taking more time than foreseen.

My copy arrived yesterday. Having read all your comments so far I will take my time with this book.
I will also read The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages as this fits The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa I have just finished.

Cam wrote: "I've been meaning to read this ever since I heard Toby Green present his book for the New Books Network, it's quite an interesting interview if you fancy a change from the chapters themselves: http..."

Thank you so much for the link to the podcast!!!!

Wim wrote: "I just finished the first part of the book and learned so many things. Though I knew of its great empires, my view on precolonial Africa has radically shifted. This really is a great book.
I am onl..."

I think we're all going to come out of this read with a very different view of precolonial Africa. There is a lot of information and I'm constantly learning something new.

The first book listed in this article may actually be interesting as a follow up to A Fistful of Shells, specifically focusing on Nigeria.
https://www.news24.com/arts/literatur...

(Of course the rest of the article resulted in me adding more to my TBR...)

I'm in! Through the prologue and introduction, and so happy to have found this (thank you, Wim!). Been looking for this without knowing it.

I wandered off to look at the Benin Bronzes described in chapter 3. They are part of the British Museum collection here:https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-u...

There is quite a long discussion on the current status of the items and progress to return some to Benin on the page.

The chapter refers to the Kingdom of Dahomey. If anybody is interested in historical fiction, I enjoyed Thread of Gold Beads which is set towards the end of kingdom (late 1890's).

Carolien wrote: "I wandered off to look at the Benin Bronzes described in chapter 3. They are part of the British Museum collection here:https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-u......"

Thanks a lot for sharing the link to the BM! The discussion on returning stolen items to the countries of origin in Africa is also led here in Germany. It is high time to have this dialogue given the fact that the items were displaced over 100 years ago...

Tinea wrote: "I'm in! Through the prologue and introduction, and so happy to have found this (thank you, Wim!). Been looking for this without knowing it."

I agree that it is a book that that I didn't know I need, but it fills in such a huge gap in my knowledge.

I suspect quite a few of us will become consumed with the precolonial theme for a while. I now want something that deals with the eastern side of Africa in the same way.

Orgeluse wrote: "Carolien wrote: "I wandered off to look at the Benin Bronzes described in chapter 3. They are part of the British Museum collection here:https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-u......"

I just wonder what setting they were taken out off, because they must have lost context in the removal process.

I thought it interesting that the article states that they used to not only show the genealogy of the royal families but also social developments in the Kingdom of Benin and I imagine some griot to narrate (hi)stories alongside these "pictures" :))

Orgeluse wrote: "I thought it interesting that the article states that they used to not only show the genealogy of the royal families but also social developments in the Kingdom of Benin and I imagine some griot to..."

That is a lovely picture of the griot narrating the oral history. Love the idea.

I have to admit that I haven't really thought of the link between Africa and South America in terms of slavery. I have kind of known it is there, but missed the extend thereof. This is forcing a rethink on my part of that connection (I have to also admit that I have read very few books set in South America, it's a bit of a blank other than news articles in my experience. I'll have to try and figure this out more).

There was a huge traffic between the territories colonized by the Portuguese alone (different places along the African westcoast and Brazil).
And I know that there is an Afro-Peruvian community in Peru that derives from colonial times and which is ca 4% of the entire population.

And as we speak about African art in overseas museums, here is a blogpost on the subject (with a picture of a beautiful terracotta head) by Stanley Trollip (the one half of Michael Stanley) on his artifact: https://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.c...

This book keeps challenging my understanding of Africa. Here's this sentence in chapter 4 "the Kalahari regions to the south were connected to the Indian Ocean trade by by perhaps the ninth or tenth century, and cowries may have been been involved.." Every history book in South Africa dates the first voyages around the Cape to 1497 when Vasco da Gama sailed into the St Helena Bay harbour on the west coast. It then mentions that they traded with the local Khoisan before continuing their journey.

Based on the previous sentence, there are two options. The Khoisan was linked to the Indian Ocean trade via the interior of the country (linking to the Great Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe) or the first journeys around the Cape were actually undertaken by traders from the east who is bein ignored by western history. I have a suspicion I need to try and find books written from an eastern perspective to try and understand this from an Indian Ocean perspective.

Carolien wrote: "This book keeps challenging my understanding of Africa. Here's this sentence in chapter 4 "the Kalahari regions to the south were connected to the Indian Ocean trade by by perhaps the ninth or tent..."

In 1995 I listened to talk by Dr. Cyril A. Hromnik in a small village called Suurbraak in the Southern Cape region of the Western Cape. At this meeting he made a similar point, that Khoi traders ventured far afield into the Eastern regions. This struck me at the time because here was a suggestion that indigenous people, far from being the scavenging "Strandlopers", or nomadic pastoralists, in need of "civilizing" as taught in schools until then, did have other agency. It certainly raise a lot of questions too, including how people with trading experience, and familiar with "exchanges" allowed themselves to be verneuked (cheated) by those early European voyagers.

Also I must admit I never read any of Dr. Hromnik's work, so maybe it is time to delve a little deeper into his research.

I agree with you Carolien that a similar book on Eastern and Southern Africa and the links to the Indian Ocean (and rest of the Middle East and Asia) would be extremely interesting.
The book Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power opened my eyes on the centrality of the Indian Ocean in human history.

So Monsoon goes on the list. Thanks, Wim!

I can find one book by Dr Hromnik but will see if some of my academic friends can help to find some of his stuff. Thanks, Wayne!

I'm also going to reread Africa: A Biography of the Continent. We had it as a group read a few years ago, but I will now have a different perspective, so I think that will be interesting.

Looking at the blurb again, it also makes me more excited to read The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages after this one as that seems to be focused more on Africa itself during the same era.

Carolien wrote: "I have to admit that I haven't really thought of the link between Africa and South America in terms of slavery. I have kind of known it is there, but missed the extend thereof. This is forcing a re..."

Try:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

https://www.amazon.com/Ama-Story-Atla...

https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Music-Di...

https://www.loot.co.za/search?cat=qb&...

www.ama.africatoday.com

Manu, thank you! This falls exactly into that area that I want to explore.

Some excellent book recommendations. I’m slowly working my way through Africa: A Biography of the Continent and my February TBR book as well.

I’m enjoying A Fistful of Shells. It’s long but he provides some great cultural detail on his topics. I took a brief African Art History class last August which ties in nicely to this book.

Carolien wrote: "So Monsoon goes on the list. Thanks, Wim!

I can find one book by Dr Hromnik but will see if some of my academic friends can help to find some of his stuff. Thanks, Wayne!

I'm also going to reread..."

Carolien wrote: "So Monsoon goes on the list. Thanks, Wim!

I can find one book by Dr Hromnik but will see if some of my academic friends can help to find some of his stuff. Thanks, Wayne!

I'm also going to reread..."

As far as I can say from just thumbing through the copy, The Golden Rhinoceros: Histories of the African Middle Ages contains "snippets" of written historical documents being analyzed but never fully explained as this is in most cases not possible due to our lack of knowledge.
The snippets are from different regions in the world (the first is a Chinese source) and refer to various places on the African continent pointing out links between regions that never crossed my mind existed but then again I never thought about these things in the first place until now...
I am quite pleased that we chose this topic (thanks to the one who suggested it!!) and as it is such a huge field I guess there is a chance that we will have more group reads some time in the future based on this topic.

Carolien wrote: "So Monsoon goes on the list. Thanks, Wim!

I can find one book by Dr Hromnik but will see if some of my academic friends can help to find some of his stuff. Thanks, Wayne!

I'm also going to reread..."

Looking forward to our buddy read, Carolien!

I finished this wonderful A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution and am so happy to have read it. Here is my short review. I'm almost sad I arrived to the end of the book, would have loved to continue reading on this fascinating topic.

I may end up reading this afterwards as it seems to be a good idea to read the end of Portuguese influence as well. Amílcar Cabral: A Nationalist and Pan-Africanist Revolutionary

Definitely. Reading about Amilcar Cabral is on my to do list sometime.

I realised last night what an outlier southern Africa is in terms of the slavery issue in Africa. It may be partly geographical in that it has very few habours and, other than Cape Town, those were only developed from 1800 onwards. The places with harbours (today Mozambique and Tanzania) were involved in the trade of enslaved persons.

It was also quite sparsely populated as it is drier and therefore I suspect it would have been more of an effort the find and transport captives. I will have to take a look at some of the research as to what happened to captives in local wars.

The Cape was settled to provide food and water to the ships sailing around it and needed whatever local labour they could get and therefore did not export it, but enslaved locally. This area then imported slaves and slaves outnumbered the local population significantly.
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/...
https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/...