A History of African Societies to 1870

596 Pages·1997·99.031 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Isichei

A
History of
AFRICAN
SOCIETIES
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to 1870
Elizabeth Isichei
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This newly comprehensive and detailed exploration of the African past,
reaching from prehistory to approximately 1870, is intended to provide a
fully up-to-date textbook, themarically organized, for undergraduate stu-
dentsofAfricanhistory.
Reflecting several emphases in recent scholarship, Professor Isichei
focuses on the changing modes ofproduction, on gender relations and on
ecology, laying particular stress on viewinghistory 'from below'. A distinc-
tivethemeistobefoundinheranalysesofcognitivehistory.
The work falls into three sections. The first comprises a historiographic
analysis, covering the period from the dawn ofprehistory to the end ofthe
Early Iron Age. The second and third sections are, for the most part,
organised on regional lines; the second section ends in the sixteenth
century; the third carries the story on to 1870. Explaining each facet ofthe
continent's history with exceptional erudition, balance and sympathy,
Professor Isichei displays both an immense learning and a thorough
commandoftheliterature.
Asecondvolume, nowinpreparation, will coverthe periodfrom 1870 to
1995.
1
A
historyofAfricansocietiesto 1870

A
history ofAfrican societies
to 1870
ELIZABETH ISICHEI
UniversityofOtago
m
Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
PublishedbythePressSyndicateoftheUniversityofCambridge
ThePittBuilding,TrumpingtonStreet,CambridgeCB2 1RP
40West20thStreet,NewYork,NY 10011-4211,USA
10StamfordRoad,Oakleigh,Melbourne3166,Australia
©CambridgeUniversityPress 1997
Firstpublished 1997
PrintedinGreatBritainattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
ISBN 521 45444 1 hardback
ISBN 521 455995paperback
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