A Modern Economic History of Africa. Vol. 1

Reviews

"an ambitious, skilfully written, and exhaustively researched synthesis of African economic history in the 19th century." The citation goes on to say that "the book is an exercise in convincing challenge to hitherto accepted orthodoxies, terminologies, and interpretations, outstanding, pioneering work, destined to become highly influential, and providing such a wealth of information and details as to elevate the study of African economic history to a new pedestal."

Noma Award Jury Citation

"This extensive and well-written survey of nineteenth century African Economic life sets an impressive standard...Zeleza's mastery of the literature in impressive, as are his skills of synthesis and argument. For an audience of Africanists, this is an excellent general statement of the issues and evidence in African economic history."

Journal of African History

"...in a class of its own. ...it has become a major event in the contemporary historiography of Africa"

Egerton Journal

About the Author

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza is widely recognized as one the leading authorities on African economic history. His book, A Modern Economic History of Africa, won the 1994 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, the continent's most prestigious book award. In 1998 he recieved Special Commendation of the Noma Award for Manufacturing African Studies

and Crises. He is also the recipient of Choice Outstanding Academic Title.

 

Over the years, Zeleza

has also established himself as a leading intellectual historian of Africa, with influential publications on the development of ideas and higher education institutions. His scholarly output and reputation also extends to gender studies, human rights studies, and diaspora studies. In 2003 he was appointed by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) to a nine-member advisory board to oversea the publication of "Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World", a research study issued to mark the 10th Anniversary of, and assess progress since, the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995.

He is currently working on a project, "Africa and Its Diasporas: Dispersals and Linkages" that seeks to trace the dispersal of African peoples globally (Asia, Europe, and the Americas), the formation of African diasporas in different world regions, and the linkages established between these diasporas and Africa over the centuries. The project is funded by a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation.

 

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza

is currently Professor and Head, Department of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Visit Paul Tiyambe Zeleza's blog here..