The Idea of Africa

..". this is a remarkable book. It will occupy a significant place in the critical literature of African Studies." International Journal of African Historical Studies

"To read Mudimbe is to walk through a museum of many exhibits in the company of an erudite companion who explains, with much learned commentary, what you are seeing." American Anthropologist

"Mudimbe s sympathetic yet rigorous accounts of such diverse Africanist discourses as Herskovits s cultural relativism and contemporary Afrocentricity bring to the surface the underlying goals and contexts in which these were produced." Ivan Karp

A sequel to his highly acclaimed The Invention of Africa, this is V. Y. Mudimbe s exploration of how the "idea" of Africa was constructed by the Western world."