Tejumola Olaniyan and James H. Sweet’s The African Diaspora and the Disciplines is an anthology of essays that consider the status, contributions, and barriers to scholarship on the African diaspora within a variety of academic arenas. As most of the essays are clearly grounded in their authors’ own disciplines, it is predominantly a multidisciplinary (rather than an interdisciplinary) project. The disciplinary range in the volume is broad, including history, anthropology, genetics, geography, archaeology, sociology, political science, philosophy, theater studies, ethnomusicology, art history, and cultural studies. In addition, the collection includes three pieces that examine African Diaspora Studies in specific cultural/geographic contexts: Jamaica, South Africa, and Europe.
In their introduction, Olaniyan and Sweet discuss the boundaries and constituents of African Diaspora Studies. Based on their reading of the collected articles, the editors make several suggestions: 1) “Africa must be the intellectual starting point”; 2) “The African diaspora is mutually constitutive of other political formations such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and environment”; 3) “There must be renewed emphasis on an African diaspora intellectual genealogy” that focuses on pioneering scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, and others; and 4) “Scholars must be open to the multitude of nondiscursive expressions that constitute ‘sources’ for the study of the African diaspora” (3-4).
The editors were wise to place first Kim D. Butler’s “Clio and the Griot: The African Diaspora in the Discipline of History.” Butler’s essay grounds the collection by outlining the history of the term “African diaspora” and its study. Butler notes that “the very act of writing diaspora history has helped formulate diaspora consciousness and, by extension, a popular understanding of what diaspora is” (26). Current scholarship on the African diaspora is increasingly cognizant of “the multiplicity of diasporas in African experience”; indeed, Butler explains, “diaspora offers an opportunity to place the multiple communities of African transnational experience alongside race,” enriching understandings of the complexities of race in a globalized world (32).
One essay that stood out to me was Richard Price’s “African Diaspora and Anthropology.” In this crisply written piece, Price summarizes the rich history of anthropological study of the African diaspora, emphasizing “a deeply humanistic strain, running from Boas through Herskovitz to more recent anthropologists” (55). He notes the many concepts (such as acculturation and syncretism) that began within anthropological studies of the African diaspora and are now used (and abused) within many other disciplines. He then surveys debates and recent research surrounding “creolization,” concluding that although “creolization continues to be an analytically powerful tool for the study of change” (58), too often “the concept has lost much of its vigor and analytical specificity, coming to stand for almost any kind of cultural blending or hybridity” (66).
Many a folklorist will be disappointed to discover that large portions of the book are devoted to abstract discussions of methodology and disciplinary shortcomings and politics, rather than to the content of scholarship on the African diaspora. However, often such discussions reveal essential information about the field. For example, structures within many disciplines serve to marginalize studies of the African diaspora. Many historians are pushed “to choose a geographic concentration informed by geopolitics and Euro-American cultural constructs” (K. Butler, 21), providing barriers to research on the African diaspora. In contrast, “Ethnomusicologists have long realized the intellectual senselessness of trying to explore single, geographically bounded locales as though they were sterile Petri dishes of uncontaminated ‘data’” (M. Butler, 226).
Throughout the compilation readers may find many gems about specific scholarly contributions in the field. Fatimah L. C. Jackson and Latifa F. J. Borgelin discuss the advantages and limitations of genetics to the study of the African diaspora. Judith A. Carney briefly outlines the status of African Diaspora Studies in geography, though she focuses almost exclusively on food crops and their migration. Theresa A. Singleton reviews the “major themes of archaeological research undertaken in Africa and in the field” (123), as well as research methodologies and relationships between archaeology and other disciplines. Paget Henry provides a grounded analysis of scholarship within Caribbean sociology, asserting that a focus on the Caribbean intellectual tradition will revitalize the field. Robert Fatton, Jr., discusses the changing debates and theoretical trends among political scientists in their studies of the African diaspora, arguing for a view beyond the narrow American political scene. Philosopher Olufemi Taiwo emphasizes the complications to African Diaspora Studies and African diasporic identities in the last few decades, created by “a new wave of continental African immigrants” (175) and by “the attainment of independence by African countries” (180). Sandra L. Richards examines the intersection of Theater Studies and African Diaspora Studies, though at present, there is little visibility of the latter within the former. Melvin L. Butler surveys important themes in ethnomusicology related to the African diaspora, highlighting the importance of “intradiasporic connections between various musical communities and styles” (226). Moyo Okediji views the “Semioptics of Africana Art History,” pointing out, among other things, gender issues within his field. Carolyn Cooper surveys the status of African Diaspora Studies in Jamaica, analyzing themes of African diasporic identification within popular music. Xolela Mangcu’s “South Africa’s Elusive Quest for an African Identity: The Ironies of a South Africa-Led African Resistance” delineates the emergence of “diasporic” identity among exiled South African intellectuals. Finally, Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe turns the spotlight on oft-neglected members of the African diaspora, those residing in Europe, and especially those located outside of Britain.
Because most of the essays are written from specific disciplinary perspectives, readers of this meta-analytic project will gain an understanding of the organization and approaches as well as the promises and problems of African Diaspora Studies within a wide range of scholarly disciplines. As with any anthology, readers will find in some essays an easy hike over familiar terrain, in others a challenging climb with great views at the top, and in a few, a disorienting journey where one gets lost without proper landmarks. When the authors fall short, the disciplinary boundaries among scholars are brought to light. When the authors excel, we are given an education into the ins and outs of disciplinary approaches about which we have little knowledge as well as a wide-ranging appraisal of the status of scholarship on African diasporas.
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[Review length: 1034 words • Review posted on March 23, 2011]