Landmark Empires

Searching for Medieval Empires and Imperial Tradition in Historiographies of West Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID8980524
AuthorsHadrien Collet (0000-0001-5359-9895, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume61
Issue3
Pages341-357
Publication date2020-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853720000560
OpenAlexW3125371662
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited39

The history of medieval West Africa is defined by the age of three great empires that succeeded one another: Ghāna, Māli, and Songhay. How did these empires come to frame our view of the West African past? To answer the question, we have to understand first how the European and Eurocentric concept of an empire was imposed on a specific African context and why it thrived. In this respect, the case of Sudanic empires in particular illuminates the process of history writing and scholars’ relationship with their time and object of study. In the last few years, Sudanic empires have made a prominent return to the historical conversation. I propose here a critical reflection on ‘empire’ and ‘imperial tradition’ in the western Sahel based on europhone and non-europhone (Arabic) historiographies, from the first histories written in postmedieval West Africa to those produced by twenty-first-century scholarship

Ancient history · Arabic · Archaeology · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Conversation · Empire · Linguistics · Political science · Scholarship · African history and culture analysis · African Studies and Geopolitics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · Philosophy