Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa

Download or read book Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa written by J. Cameron Monroe and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-02-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the archaeology of precolonial West African societies in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Using historical and archaeological perspectives on landscape, this collection of essays sheds light on how involvement in the commercial revolutions of the early modern period dramatically reshaped the regional contours of political organization across West Africa. The essays examine how social and political transformations occurred at the regional level by exploring regional economic networks, population shifts, cultural values and ideologies. The book demonstrates the importance of anthropological insights not only to the broad political history of West Africa, but also to an understanding of political culture as a form of meaningful social practice.