Overview

Over the last several decades, historians have conducted extensive research into contact between the United States and West Africa during the era of the transatlantic trade. Yet we still understand relatively little about more recent relations between the two areas. This multidisciplinary volume presents the most comprehensive analysis of the U.S.-West African relationship to date, filling a significant gap in the literature by examining the social, cultural, political, and economic bonds that have, in recent years, drawn these two world regions into increasingly closer contact. Beginning with examinations of factors that linked the nations during European colonial rule of Africa, and spanning to discussions of U.S. foreign policy with regard to West Africa from the Cold War through the end of the twentieth century and beyond, these essays constitute the first volume devoted to interrogating the complex relationship -- both historic and contemporary -- between the United States and West Africa. Contributors: Abdul Karim Bangura, Karen B. Bell, Peter A. Dumbuya, Kwame Essien, Andrew I. E. Ewoh, Toyin Falola, Osman Gbla, John Wess Grant, Stephen A. Harmon, Harold R. Harris, Olawale Ismail, Alusine Jalloh, Fred L. Johnson III, Stephen Kandeh, Ibrahim Kargbo, Bayo Lawal, Ayodeji Olukoju, Adebayo Oyebade, Christopher Ruane, Anita Spring, Ibrahim Sundiata, Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani, Ken Vincent, and Amanda Warnock. Alusine Jalloh is Associate Professor of History and founding director of The Africa Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

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9781580462778

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Reviews

A virtual treasure trove of scholarship on one of Africa's most critical sub-regions, The United States and West Africa is long overdue. The authors of these twenty-two essays examine various aspects of U.S.-West African interactions in exquisite detail, offering analyses that are both empirically rich and theoretically informed. Perhaps most importantly, the volume provides the opportunity to hear both African and non-African voices on the relationship in one well-integrated collection. Scholars from a range of disciplines, foreign policy practitioners and students alike, will find the book an essential -- and thought-provoking -- read. --Scott Taylor, director, African Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University The United States and West Africa is a tour de force! In this sophisticated collection, Jalloh, Falola, and contributors break new ground, providing fresh, meticulously researched analyses of the myriad factors that have influenced foreign policy and relationships between the United States and West Africa. A must-read for anyone seriously interested in understanding these complex relations in the changing contours of the global economy. -- Bessie House-Soremekun, professor of political science and African American and African Diaspora studies, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Jalloh and Falola have provided a major push forward for this scholarship. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES As with any good collection, this one makes a strong contribution on its own merits, but also should serve to push forward the literature by inspiring future research. CHOICE A virtual treasure trove of scholarship on one of Africa's most critical sub-regions, The United States and West Africa is long overdue. The authors of these twenty-two essays examine various aspects of U.S.-West African interactions in exquisite detail, offering analyses that are both empirically rich and theoretically informed. Perhaps most importantly, the volume provides the opportunity to hear both African and non-African voices on the relationship in one well-integrated collection. Scholars from a range of disciplines, foreign policy practitioners and students alike, will find the book an essential -- and thought-provoking -- read. --Scott Taylor, Director, African Studies Program, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University The United States and West Africa is a tour de force! In this sophisticated collection, Jalloh, Falola, and contributors break new ground, providing fresh, meticulously researched analyses of the myriad factors that have influenced foreign policy and relationships between the United States and West Africa. A must-read for anyone seriously interested in understanding these complex relations in the changing contours of the global economy. --Bessie House-Soremekun, Professor of Political Science and African American and African Diaspora studies, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis A welcome addition to the literature. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol. 96, no. 1, Winter 2011 [A] volume of well researched and accessible essays on the myriad ties that bind the United States and West Africa. The authors in the volume collectively make a convincing case that US-West African relations are historic and far from insignificant. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORICAL STUDIES, vol. 42, no. 3

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TOYIN FALOLA is Professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the Jacob and Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. TOYIN FALOLA is Professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the Jacob and Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.

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