A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global history Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez ...
Read More
A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global history Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces how Islam's growth in West Africa, along with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A radically new account of the importance of early Africa in global history, African Dominion will be the standard work on the subject for years to come.
Read Less
Add this copy of African Dominion to cart. $27.57, new condition, Sold by Books2anywhere rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of African Dominion to cart. $30.51, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $26.97, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 520 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $31.25, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 520 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of African Dominion: a New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $32.12, new condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $34.86, new condition, Sold by Booksplease rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southport, MERSEYSIDE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of African Dominion to cart. $29.29, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop International rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fairford, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
Add this copy of African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $19.50, fair condition, Sold by VeryWord rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bethesda, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and to cart. $36.90, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2019 by Princeton University Press.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, in fact, I would almost say I really needed to, as there are so few contemporary resources on the subject of early West African history and I was greatly looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the region's history. Unfortunately, I made it only about 80 pages into Gomez's work, which turned out to be quite a grueling endeavor.
This book should really be characterized as "Historiography" not a History, as Gomez primary agenda is not educated the reader but furnishing critiques of some sort of previously-established record of the region that Gomez is setting out to correct. This makes the text all but impenetrable for the reader that does not possess any particular pre-conceived notions about ancient West Africa, and is relying on Gomez's volume to gain an original understanding.
In hand with this, and much more problematically, Gomez gives no context to many of the names, people, scholars and events that suddenly pop up as references. I presume many of these names are authors of medieval texts that Gomez has come across in his research at libraries and archives, but why he assumes he can just name drop ancient Islamic scholars out of nowhere and the reader will already be familiar is totally baffling. This is made more unnecessarily difficult in that Gomez and his editors insist on referencing Gregorian and Islamic calendar dates for each time referenced. So a paragraph will start "Al-Bakri (d. 487/1094) possibly refers..." and the reader is quite naturally like, "Sorry, who? who is Al-Bakri? Where did he come from?" and then his happens at least every few pages.
On the other hand, Gomez and his editors will over-supply unnecessary data such as writing "Egypt (Misr)" --so they decide to help the reader with the Arabic name for Egypt, which is not needed, but then assume we already know by heart every scholar of the archives of the Saharan libraries.
The exact moment when I lost the will to continue was only on page 65, at the sentence "Saman would initiate the tradition of reroofing the Kama-Bolon (Kamabolon, Amambolon) every seven years..." and Gomez never even says where or what exactly the Kama-Bolon is! Presumably an important building somewhere, but how about a description? I was so out of sorts and so frustrated that I just gave up, sadly.
Really a shame as this subject matter desperately needs wider awareness in the public.
