This book shows the many facets of African engagements with the world. It starts from the premise that current global asymmetries ascribing Africa to a marginalized position are the effects of colonial and imperial pasts still lingering on. The decolonization process of the post-war structure which privileges the West in both political and economic terms. While new dependencies emerged, several old bonds were maintained and continue to influence African affairs quite strikingly. It is appropriate, then, to call these continued unequal relations between Africa and the West frankly 'neo-colonial'. This designation applies all the more as the post-colonial states of Africa inherited a complex legacy of foreign rule - colonial frontiers, colonial languages, colonial infrastructure, and authoritarian institutions as well as the social intricacies and imbalances so characteristic of the 'colonial situation'.
The contributions to this volume look at various aspects of these complex processes from intellectual history perspectives. The topics dealt with are manifold. Contributions deliberately attack key themes, ideas, and discourses of an intellectual history of Africa ('state', 'modernity', 'development', 'dependency', 'art', etc.), and introduce important engaged public intellectuals from Africa and the African diaspora.
What is Africa, and how is she related to the rest of the world? How can she overcome her internal problems and her external dependencies? - These are perennial questions critically tackled by Africans throughout the 20th century. Dealing with various cases looked at from a variety of perspectives, the contributions to this book offer original insights into the intellectual history of Africa.
About the Author: Arno Sonderegger has been Senior Lecturer of African History and Societies at the Institute for African Studies of the University of Vienna since 2010. From 2012 to 2013, he served as Chair of African History at the Seminar for African Studies of the Humboldt University of Berlin. His research and teaching focus primarily on African history since 1500 and its global interrelations, historical racism research, and the history of science.
He is the author of two monographs (Jenseits der rassistischen Grenze. Die Wahrnehmung Afrikas bei Johann Gottfried Herder [Beyond the Racist Border. Johann Gottfried Herder's Perception of Africa], Lang 2002; Die Dämonisierung Afrikas. Zum Despotiebegriff und zur Geschichte der Afrikanischen Despotie [The Demonization of Africa. On the Idea of Despotism and the History of African Despotism], Müller 2008) and (co)editor of numerous anthologies (i.a. Rassismus. Ein vielgesichtiges Phänomen [Racism. A Multi-Faceted Phenomenon], Mandelbaum 2008; Afrika 1500-1900. Geschichte und Gesellschaft [Africa 1500-1900. History and Society], Promedia 2010; Afrika im 20. Jahrhundert. Geschichte und Gesellschaft [Africa in the 20th Century. History and Society], Promedia 2011; Nord-Süd-Ost-West-Beziehungen. Eine Einführung in die Globalgeschichte [North-South-East-West-Relations. An Introduction to Global History], Mandelbaum 2015).