Movements Borders and Identities in Africa

Migration whether forced or voluntary continues to be an issue vital to Africa arguably the continent most affected by internal displacement. Over centuries in groups or as individuals Africans have been forced to leave their homes to escape unfavorable natural social or political circumstances or simply to seek better lives elsewhere. This essential volume establishes the centrality of human migration and movement to the evolution of African societies.Using oral archaeological and written sources and focusing on various geographical areas the contributors show that migration is a multifaceted phenomenon historically varied in nature and character. Movements Borders and Identities in Africa incorporates carefully selected case studies drawn from across the continent and provides a broad but insightful overview of migration and its complex relationships to slavery commerce religion architecture material culture poverty diaspora life and identity formation and the development of states and societies on the continent. Taken as a whole this collection offers a groundbreaking interrogation of the myriad causes and effects of African migration from the precolonial to the modern era.