Africa ed. by Maria Grosz-Ngaté, John H. Hanson, Patrick O’Meara (review)

The fourth edition of Africa, superbly coedited by Maria Grosz-Ngaté, John H. Hanson, and Patrick O’Meara, replaces the edition revised for publication in 1995 by the two original coeditors, Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O’Meara. Though this edition has fifteen substantive chapters, compared to the twenty-one of the previous edition, it has substantially revised and newer chapters to match the elegance of its design, which includes a beautifully glossy cover sporting a map of Africa, a variety of useful pictorial illustrations, and a new preface (following a new introduction) by the three coeditors, dated January 2013. Instead of the four subheadings into which the subject areas of the third edition were divided or sectionalized, this edition is a unified enterprise, whereby the fifteen chapters are listed straight through. The coeditors explain: “The chapters are not grouped into related clusters because ideas and themes cross the chapters” (p. 5).

The coeditors offer a rationale for the sequence of thematic events: for example, “Geography is first because an appreciation of Africa’s physical diversity is important; history and social relations follow to offer perspectives about Africa’s past dynamism and contemporary complexity, essential for understanding subsequent chapters” (pp. 5–6). Furthermore, with students and researchers in mind, the coeditors provide “suggested readings at the end of each chapter to allow students to explore specialized approaches and detailed arguments” (p. 5).

The coeditors obtained contributions by notable specialists and practitioners, as in the third edition. For example, the opening essay, “Africa: A Geographic Frame,” was contributed by James Delehanty; Africa’s legacies of the past, as well as social relations and making a living, constitute chapters two through four, authored by John Akare Aden and John H. Hanson, Grosz-Ngate herself, and Gracia Clark and Catherine Wiley, respectively. Hanson’s entirely new study on African religions (chapter five, “Religions of Africa”) replaces the old chapter five, on Islam and African societies.

Entirely new is chapter twelve, “African Politics and the Future of Democracy,” contributed by Amos Sawyer, Lauren M. MacLean, and Carolyn E. Holmes. A modified title is the previous “African Art,” an essay for chapter twelve in the third edition, which is replaced here by the same authors, Patrick R. McNaughton and Diane Pelrine, as “Visual Arts in Africa” (chapter eight). “African Music Flows,” chapter nine, is an entirely new contribution by Daniel B. Reed and Ruth M. Stone. Eileen Julien has thoroughly revised her “African Literature” (chapter fifteen in the third edition) to provide a fresher title, “Literature in Africa” (chapter ten). Akin Adesokan contributed the essay “African Film” (chapter eleven).

Urban Africa, health/illness and healing, development, and human rights are discussed in separate chapters by Karen Tranberg Hansen (chapter six), Tracy J. Luedke (chapter seven), Raymond Muhula and Stephen N. Ndewa (chapter thirteen), and Takyiwaa Manuh (chapter fourteen); Manuh’s chapter replaces her previous contribution, on law and society in contemporary Africa (chapter seventeen in the third edition). In the third edition, Nancy J. Smith provided the African resources section for undergraduates In her absence here, Marion Frank-Wilson usefully discusses “Print and Electronic Resources” (chapter fifteen, pp. 315–47). Another useful addition is a list of contributors and their affiliations. From all indications, the fourth edition of Africa should not only endure the test of time, but also be found exceptionally useful by a wide spectrum of scholars, including college professors and their students in general.