Table Of ContentRecent Themes in
THE HISTORY OF
AFRICA AND THE
ATLANTIC WORLD
Historians in Conversation
Edited by Donald A. Yerxa
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Historians in Conversation:
Recent Themes in Understanding the Past
Series editor, Louis A. Ferleger
© 2008 University of South Carolina
Published by the University of South Carolina Press
Columbia, Souch Carolina 29208
www.sc.edu/uscpress
Manufactured in the United States of America
17 16 15 14131211 100908 10987654321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Daca
Recent themes in the history of Africa and the Aclancic world : historians in conversation /
edited by Donald A. Yerxa.
p. cm, — (Historians in conversation)
A collection of essays, forums, and interviews originally appearing in Historically speaking.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57003-757-3 (cloch : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-57003-758-0 (pbk : alk.
paper)
1. Africa—Historiography. 2. Aclancic Ocean Region-——Historiography. 3. Equiano,
Olaudah, b. 1745~ —Historiography. 1. Yerxa, Donald A., 1950- II. Historically speaking.
DT19.R38 2008 |
960.072—dc22
2008008026
This book was printed on Glacfelter Natures, a recycled paper with 30 percent postconsumer
waste content.
Contents
Series Editor's Preface viz
Acknowledgments x
Introduction: Coherence, Complexity, and the Place of Africa and
the Atlantic World in World History 1
Donald A. Yerxa
Part 1. AFRICA AND Woritp History
Beyond Blacks, Bondage, and Blame: Why a Multicentric World
History Needs Africa 7
Joseph C. Miller
The Way of Africa, “The Way I Am,” and the Hermeneutic Circle 19
Ricardo Duchesne
Africa in World History and Historiography 25
Patrick Manning
Comment on Miller 29
William H. McNeill
Finding Africa in World History 33
David Northrup
The Borders of African and World History 38
Jonathan T. Reynolds
What Are World Histories? 43
Michael Salman
Another World 48
Ajay Skaria
Africa in a Multicentric World History: Beyond Witches
and Warlords 53
John K. Thornton
Multicentrism in History: How and Why Perspectives Matter 58
Joseph C. Miller
African Encounters 66
David Northrup
vi Contents
Part 2. THE ATLANTIC WORLD
Only Connect: The Rise and Rise (and Fall?) of Atlantic History 75
Trevor Burnard
Does Equiano Still Matter? 81
Vincent Carretta
Construction of Identity: Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? 93
Paul E. Lovejoy
Good-bye, Equiano, the African 101
Trevor Burnard
Beyond Equiano 106
Jon Sensbach
Response to Lovejoy, Burnard, and Sensbach JJ1
Vincent Carretta
Further Readings 119
Contributors 123
Index 125
Series Editor's Preface
The Historical Society was founded in 1997 to create more venues for com-
mon conversations about the past. Consequently, in the autumn of 2001, the
Historical Society launched a new type of publication. The society's presi-
dent, George Huppert, and I believed that there was an important niche for
a publication that would make the work of the most prominent historians
more accessible to nonspecialists and general readers. We recruited two histo-
tians who shared this vision, Joseph S. Lucas and Donald A. Yerxa, and asked
them to transform Historically Speaking into a journal of historical ideas. Up
to that point, Historically Speaking had served as an in-house publication
reporting on the society's activities and its members’ professional accomplish-
ments. Yerxa and Lucas quickly changed the layout and content of Héstort-
cally Speaking, and within a short period of time many of the most prominent
historians in the world began appearing in its pages—people such as Danielle
Allen, Niall Ferguson, Daniel Walker Howe, Mary Lefkowitz, Pauline Maier,
William McNeill, Geoffrey Parker, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Historically
Speakings essays, forums, and interviews have drawn widespread attention.
The Chronicle of Higher Education's “Magazine and Journal Reader” section,
for example, repeatedly has highlighted pieces appearing in Historically
Speaking. And leading historians are loyal readers, praising Historicatly Speak-
ing as a “must-read” journal, a “ew York Review of Books for history,” and
“the most intellectually exciting publication in history that is currently avail-
able.”
The Historical Society is pleased to partner with the University of South
Carolina Press to publish a multivolume series, Historians in Conversation:
Recent Themes in Understanding the Past. Each thematic volume pulls key
essays, forums, and interviews from Historically Speaking and makes them
accessible for classroom use and for the general reader. The original selections
from Historically Speaking are supplemented with an introductory essay by
Donald A. Yerxa along with suggestions for further reading.
vill Series Editor's Preface
We welcome your interest in the Historical Society. You may find us on
the Internet at www.bu.edu/historic. You may also contact us at the Histori-
cal Society, 656 Beacon St., Mezzanine, Boston, Mass., 02215-2010, tele-
phone 617-358-0260.
Louis A. FERLEGER
Acknowledgments
The volumes in this series are utterly dependent on the willingness of superb
scholars to share their insights with others, especially nonspecialists. The con-
tributors to this volume on Africa and the Atlantic world eased the several
editorial tasks considerably, and I am keenly grateful to all of them. I am espe-
cially appreciative of Joseph Miller’s support and encouragement of this and
other projects.
Recent Themes in the History of Africa and the Atlantic World—as well as
every issue of Historically Speaking—treflects the many talents of Joseph Lucas
and Randall Stephens, two extremely gifted historian-editors who help make
my job both a pleasure and an intellectual adventure. And J am indebted to
Bill Adams and the fine editorial staff of the University of South Carolina
Press for their valuable assistance at every turn.
