The Human Tradition in the Black Atlantic, 1500--2000

by Karen Racine (Series Editor), Beatriz G. Mamigonian (Editor)

Like snapshots of everyday life in the past, the compelling biographies in this book document the making of the Black Atlantic world since the sixteenth century from the point of view of those who were part of it. Centering on the diaspora caused by the forced migration of Africans to Europe and across the Atlantic to the Americas, the chapters explore the slave trade, enslavement, resistance, adaptation, cultural transformations, and the quest for citizenship rights. The variety of experiences, constraints and choices depicted in the book and their changes across time and space defy the idea of a unified "black experience." At the same time, it is clear that in the twentieth century, "black" identity unified people of African descent who, along with other "minority" groups, struggled against colonialism and racism and presented alternatives to a version of modernity that excluded and alienated them. Drawing on a rich array of little-known documents, the contributors reconstruct the lives and times of some well-known characters along with ordinary people who rarely left written records and would otherwise have remained anonymous and unknown.

Contributions Aaron P. Althouse, Alan Bloom, Marcus J. M. de Carvalho, Aisnara Perera Díaz, María de los Ángeles Meriño Fuentes, Flávio dos Santos Gomes, Hilary Jones, Beatriz G. Mamigonian, Charles Beatty Medina, Richard Price, Sally Price, Cassandra Pybus, Karen Racine, Ty M. Reese, João José Reis, Lorna Biddle Rinear, Meredith L. Roman, Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, and Jerome Teelucksingh.

236 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2009

Reviews

[Azure · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is decent at what it does, giving a broad overview of the transnational idea of the Black Atlantic, which is the experience of African peoples from 1500-2000 around the Atlantic. However, I wish the chapters had all been given the same amount of editorial care, some of the articles were very unvetted or polished with an obvious bias. I also would have liked to see foot/endnotes throughout, this would have made the read more academic and less leisure. As is the book stands, it reads more of non-fiction novel than short biographical sketches.

I would suggest this to an interested young adult, maybe an intro course to African studies, but much past that and there are better resources.