Overview

"Using diverse and new sources (archaeological, biomedical, climatological, linguistic, ethno-musical, oral and documentary sources in various languages), this groundbreaking study tells the story of a West African people, the origins and character of their cultural forms and ideas, and how these Akan, or ""pioneering peoples,"" shaped the politics and societies of their homeland as well as the European colonies that received their enslaved members. The book demonstrates how these peoples organized themselves into clans connected by shared sociocultural features, formed polities, fought wars yet engaged in extensive diplomacy, traded with yet competed against one another, and ultimately their members became a force in the Americas, despite their relatively small numbers. As enslaved, marooned, or legally emancipated peoples, they foregrounded and yet went beyond the diasporic themes of maroonage, resistance, and freedom. Locating the Akan variable in the African diasporic equation allows scholars and students of Africa and the Americas to better understand how African histories and diasporic experiences cohere and how both are still evolving."

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9781937306663

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[A] path-breaking contribution to the study of African diasporas in the Americas... [with] interdisciplinary breadth, methodological rigor, bold and imaginative concepts, and historical depth. -- New West Indian Guide [The book] demonstrates that an Atlantic history that does not give equal weight to both sides of the ocean cannot have much credibility. -- Slavery & Abolition There is much to appreciate in this impressively researched text. -- Journal of African History [A] significant contribution to studies of the African diaspora in the New World.... This is an engaging and illuminating study. -- James Miller, George Washington University [A] meaningful contribution to the dialogue about the nature of African culture and its transfer and transformation in the Americas. -- John Thornton, Boston University

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