Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. List of Maps & Figures viii
4. Acknowledgements & Notes on Contributors ix
5. Introduction 1
6. PART I Paths to a West African Past
7. 1 The Holocene Prehistory of West Africa 10,000-1000 BP 9
8. 2 Ecology & Culture in West Africa 33
9. 3 Linguistics & History in West Africa 52
10. 4 Oral Tradition & Perceptions of History from the Manding Peoples of West Africa 73
11. PART II Perspectives on Environment, Society, Agency & Historical Change
12. 5 Slavery & Slave Trade in West Africa 1450-1930 97
13. 6 Class, Caste & Social Inequality in West African Histor 118
14. 7 Religious Interactions in Pre-Twentieth-Century West Africa 141
15. 8 Poverty in Pre-Colonial & Colonial West Africa Perception, Causes & Alleviation 163
16. 9 Disease in West African History 186
17. 10 Urbanization in Colonial & Post-Colonial West Africa 208
18. PART III Understanding Contemporary West Africa through Religion & Political Economy
19. 11 Commodities, Mercedes-Benz & Structural Adjustment An Episode in West African Economic Historyl 225
20. 12 Ethnicity, Conflict & the State in Contemporary West Africa 265
21. 13 Pentecostalism, Islam & Culture New Religious Movements in West Africa 286
22. Index 313