African Studies Review

Wright, Donald R.
A Political History of The Gambia, 1816–1994, and: Migrants, Credit and Climate: The Gambian Groundnut Trade, 1834–1934 (review)
African Studies Review - Volume 50, Number 3, December 2007, pp. 160-162

African Studies Association

160  African Studies Review vocated in this book—as a practice that is not rooted in European colonial expansion and one that makes heavy use of oral traditions? How far back in time can archaeologists validly apply oral traditions? This book explores these questions. However, Historical Archaeology in Africa is not necessarily easy reading. For example, what is the meaning of the following: “The consequences of constructing a ‘lived past’—if we are to use the concept—must be examined reflexively. It is a powerful trope, a metonymy that animates and has the potential to transform and homogenize pasts by renaming them” (47)? Lawrence H. Robbins Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan Arnold Hughes and David Perfect. A Political History of The Gambia, 1816– 1994. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2006. xviii + 530 pp. Map. Tables. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $90.00. Cloth. Kenneth Swindell and Alieu Jeng. Migrants, Credit and Climate: The Gambian Groundnut Trade, 1834–1934. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006. xxxv + 261 pp. Maps. Figures. Notes. Index. $91.00. Paper. Serious studies of Gambian history rarely appear. Yet here, in the same year, are two histories, each written by a long-time authority (Arnold Hughes and Kenneth Swindell,...