African diasporas: toward a global history

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	African diasporas: toward a global history
Author:	Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe
Year:	2010
Periodical:	African Studies Review (ISSN 1555-2462)
Volume:	53
Issue:	1
Pages:	1-19
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	diasporas African studies
External link:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/african_studies_review/v053/53.1.zeleza.pdf
Abstract:	This article interrogates the development of African diaspora studies. It is based on the author's research over the past five years, which aimed to map out the dispersals of African peoples in all the major regions of the world, compare the processes of diasporization within and among these regions, and examine the patterns of diaspora engagements - demographic, cultural, economic, political, ideological and iconographic - with Africa. It offers a vigorous critique of the hegemonous Afro-Atlantic, US model in African diaspora studies which is problematic when applied to other world regions and periods. It focuses on two critical challenges that students of African diasporas must confront: the terms of analysis that are adopted, and the problems of historical mapping. For a more pluralistic and productive global history of African diasporas, one that is suited to the pan-Africanism and internationalism of the 21st century, more complex diasporas need to be conceptualized. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]