On Art History in Africa

African art history continues to be dominated by Western scholars who set the tone for the field. Their cultural frames of reference, which they cast as universal, exert influence on the interpretation of African art, social conditions, and cultural milieu. The knowledge produced in most institutions and academic or independent publishers outside of Africa communicates the extant system in place within those localities. In other words, the audience for such forms of knowledge production is not (necessarily) in Africa. A contradiction is born of this state of affairs; most contemporary Africans do not necessarily recognize themselves in what they are reading, yet they tend to hold this material as truth. To what extent do Africans have a say in the way this knowledge is produced and consumed? What strategies and methodologies exist that counter and rebel against the dominance of a Western academic status quo? These are some of the questions this book examines.

Editors: Koyo Kouoh, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Eva Barois De Caevel, Mika Hayashi Ebbesen

Authors: Eva Barois De Caevel, Yaëlle Biro, Hamady Bocoum, Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi, Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Paul Goodwin, Emi Koide, Koyo Kouoh, Peju Layiwola, Dominique Malaquais, Massamba Mbaye, Malick Ndiaye, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Nana Oforiatta Ayim, Iheanyi Onwuegbucha, Marie Helene Pereira, Sean O’Toole, Ruth Simbao, Suzana Sousa, and Cédric Vincent.

Languages: English & French.

Published by Raw Material/Motto Books, 2020.

Softcover, 338 pages.

Size: 6.5” x 9.5”