Dark Webs: Perspectives on Colonialism in Africa, The

Toyin Falola, ed. The Dark Webs: Perspectives on Colonialism in Africa. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2005. ix + 486 pp. Photographs. Notes. References. Index. $45.00. Paper.

Toyin Falola has been examining European colonialism in Africa since the 1970s. Editor of the recently published five-volume Africa series from Carolina Academic Press, two volumes of which directly consider colonialism, Falola has produced a separate work here using new scholarship that takes this difficult topic in challenging directions. Whereas the former series was created for the general public and undergraduates, The Dark Webs is an intellectual history more appropriate for professors, advanced undergraduates, and graduate students.

The book is divided into three parts: the context for colonialism in Africa, literary texts on colonialism, and the ideas of African intellectuals and political leaders. The editor provides readers with an introductory chapter that sets the stage for those that follow. Falola considers racism, violence, cultural hegemony, and economic issues-all of which color the tense, unequal relationship between colonial powers and Africa. He concludes with a paragraph that calls for reparations from the West, but does not include references on this topic, such as AIi Mazrui's 1994 African Studies Association Abiola Lecture or Falola's own work; in view of its focus on colonialism, the collection would have benefited from a section in the bibliography on reparations or even a chapter on the historiography of reparations and remedies proposed for the festering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.

The first part of the book (almost half) focuses on case studies as well as broader themes, including a historical survey of the rise of African nationalism, British plans for decolonization in 1947, the diaspora and pan-Africanism, precolonial society and colonial responses of the Igala in Nigeria, the relationship between African Christianity and Ethiopianism, rents in colonial Africa, and the Niger Delta. A much briefer second part explores literary issues and African identity: fiction and colonialism, colonialism's impact on Africa's new intellectuals, South African literature, and individual figures such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Valentin-Yves Mudimbé, and Micere Mugo. Africaniste who draw on literature in their teaching will find this a rich source. The third part considers African intellectuals and is particularly useful for Africanist historians like myself. Common themes in this last section are historiographies of African history and African studies, which are often considered in courses in which Africaniste dispel Western myths about Africa and discuss issues related to sources. Especially helpful are chapters on the African historians Kenneth Dike, Bethwell Allan Ogot, A. Adu Boahen, J. F. Ade Ajayi, and Cheikh Anta Diop. For southern African history the book offers two chapters: one on Ruth First and Olive Schreiner, the other on Robert Mugabe.

A minor quibble: I would take issue with Kwabena O. Akurang-Parry's assertion in chapter 18 that Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher characterized Africans as having passively endured colonial rule. Robinson attempted to explain how his small island with horrible weather created a worldwide empire. He argued that the imperial process was best carried out between Whitehall and British colonial immigrants and that local colonial circumstances often drove policies. In the case of Africa, Robinson fully appreciated the implications of African resistance, heroically expressed, for example, at Isandhlwana, the Langberg, and in the chimurenga.

Ann Cooper's treatment of Cheikh Anta Diop provides Africanists with a very useful chapter. Although honored by having the University of Dakar named after him, Diop's work has been highly controversial. Indeed, G. Mokhtar, editor of volume 2 of UNESCO's General History of Africa, felt compelled to add a caveat to Diop's chapter, "Origins of the Ancient Egyptians." Many readers, admirers and critics alike, will welcome Cooper's restatement of Diop's definition of black-"any person being from Africa." In that sense, Cooper alleges, Diop argued that Africans created the foundation of both ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations.

Readers who want to pursue further reading will be disappointed with the collection's uneven bibliographies. Some chapters have no bibliographic references of any kind. Some contain footnotes only or a bibliography only. Falola should have been even more "nagging and rude," as he describes himself, on behalf of his readers by requiring consistent bibliographies from his contributors. Omissions are inevitable: Achille Mbembe, AIi Mazrui, and Frantz Fanon are missing, as is any discussion of the important contributions of European-born Africanists such as Jan Vansina, John Page, Roland Oliver, Basil Davidson, Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, and Terence Ranger.

While Toyin Falola could not give us everything in a single volume, he and his contributors have provided a valuable resource that illuminates the heart and mind of Africa.