From the Editor

FROM THE EDITOR Salah Hassan Lusive as i t may be, Africa is a c o m p l e x i n t e l l e c t u a l c o n s t r u c t t h a t means d i f f e r e n t t h i n g s t o d i f f e r e n t people. But, for sure, Africa is also a diverse and h i g h l y c o m p l e x h i s t o r i c a l e n t i t y . I n t h a t c o n t e x t , w h a t e v e r i t is t h a t we mean by " A f r i c a n , " i n c l u d i n g of course African m o d e r n i s m , is t h e p r o d u c t of t h i s historically c o m p l e x e n t i t y and g l o b a l presence. African as a c o n c e p t may signal c o m m o n a l i t y , i n t h e sense of a shared h i s t o r i c a l experience, b u t i t is by no means a p r o d u c t of c u l t u r a l similarities. Still, w h a t is African m o d e r n i s m ? From t h e o u t s e t , t w o p o i n t s should be e m p h a s i z e d : t h e p l u r a l i t y of m o d e r n i t y , even i n its European c o n t e x t , and t h e realization t h a t t h e r e are o t h e r modernisms beyond t h e European c o n t e x t . A t t h e core of t h e history of art f r o m t h e period referred t o as modern in Europe t h e r e are disagreements over its boundaries, its v a l i d i t y and its m e a n i n g s . As Paul Wood has argued i n The Challenge of the Avante Garde ( 1 9 9 9 ) , we c a n n o t define m o d e r n i s m i n a f e w words. W h a t we can do, he suggests, is t o " l o o k a t some ways in w h i c h t h e c o n c e p t has been used and t r y t o draw o u t some of t h e c e n t r a l p r e o c c u p a t i o n s of t h e 'modernists'." I n Europe, m o d e r n i s m signaled a particular a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s t h e present and a conscious departure f r o m t h e past. Modernity, as d e f i n e d by many scholars today, engages t h o s e social changes i m p l i e d i n b e c o m i n g m o d e r n , i.e., u r b a n i z a t i o n , i n d u s t r i a l i z a t i o n , wage labor and factory systems, etc., w h...