The attendant weaknesses in this approach are that Africa's population of 735 million may be reduced to exotic images and stereotypes of one or another African society or they may remain frozen in the context of the particular historical period or geog raphic locale being studied. In the introdution to his book, The Shona and their Neighbours (Beach 1994), historian David Beach (University of Zimbabwe) clearly delineates the traps that can ensnare the unwary in a study of the peoples of Africa. H e takes, as just one example, the rock paintings and stone buildings for which inhabitants of the Zimbabwean plateau are reknowned. "From the standpoint of Shona studies," Beach points out, "[the paintings and buildings] have been both a blessing and a cu rse. On the one hand, the sheer beauty of the former attracted many of the minority of educated whites into the discipline of archaeology, but it also ensured that they devoted their attention to a period and people fairly remote from the [modern-day] Sho na and their recent neighbours." Clearly, as Beach suggests, the particularlities and generalities must be kept in proper balance at all times.
One final caution that is germane to the study of Africa's peoples is that the word "tribe" is an inaccurate and inappropriate way to describe African societies. The term carries negative connotations in the Western mind— primitive peoples, for instanc e—and is not a designation that Westerners would use to describe distinct ethnic groups in other societies.
The resource materials in this chapter look at the peoples of Africa on three levels. The first level includes general guides to African societies. The second level covers resources that express a focused concern on the state of the world's indigenous peoples, with the peoples of Africa included among them. Finally, we narrow our focus to reference books and other resources that bring individual Africans to life for students and other readers.
The Peoples of Africa series published in February 1997 by Facts on File aims to help middle and high school students appreciate the diversity of the African continent through the study of the history, language, way of life, social structure, culture a nd religion, and the political and natural environment of Africa's major ethnic groups. The first five volumes in the series are organized by regions: North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. The final volume, entitled Nations of Africa, includes profiles of 52 African nations and biographies of 300 African politicians, sports personalities, artists, and ancient kings and queens.
Blackwell's Peoples of Africa series draws on archeological, historical, and anthropological evidence to paint a picture of the culture, society, and history of distinct African peoples from their origins to the present day. "Approaches will vary accor ding to the subject and the nature of the evidence," the publishers explain. "Volumes concerned mainly with culturally discrete peoples will be complemented by accounts which focus primarily on the historical period, on African nations, and contemporary p eoples. The overall aim of the series is to offer a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the African peoples, in books which are at once scholarly and accessible."
Published so far in the Blackwell series is David Beach's study of the Shona peoples and other inhabitants of the Zimbabwean plateau in Southeastern Africa, The Shona and their Neighbours (Beach 1994). The following volumes are in preparation: < i>The Berbers, by Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress; The Maasai, the Dinka and the East African Pastoralists, by Peter Robertshaw and Neil Sobania; The Ethiopians, by Richard Pankhurst; The Peoples of the Middle Niger, by R. J. McIntosh and S. J. McIntosh; and The Swahili, by Mark Horton.
Waveland Press, a publisher that specializes in anthropological studies, carries two volumes that are relevant: A History of the African People (July 1992) and Peoples of Africa: Cultures of Africa South of the Sahara (Gibbs 1965). Robert July's text, which is now in its fourth edition, surveys Africa's diverse peoples from their earliest beginnings through their post-independence struggles to establish politically and economically viable nations. The Peoples of Africa, by anthropo logist James L. Gibbs Jr., provides profiles of 15 societies of peoples who live in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Gibbs organizes his presentations around five elements: major forms of subsistence; population sizes and patterns of social and politica l organization; "cultural areas and ecological zones"; racial stocks; and language families.
Peoples of the World: Africans South of the Sahara (Moss and Wilson 1991) profiles 34 contemporary African societies and five "old cultures" (Nok, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Bantu). Each of the alphabetically arranged contemporary studies covers the historical background, geographical setting, and present-day culture of the society being examined. A short list of further reading suggestions brings each profile to a close.
The Rosen Publishing Group (New York) is publishing a multi-volume reference set that aims to introduce middle- and high-school students to the culture and history of 56 distinct African societies. Volumes in the Heritage Library of African Peoples ser ies are written by scholars of Africa, under the overall editorial supervision of Professor George Bond, Director of African Studies at Columbia University and professor of anthropology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Each 64-page clothbound vol ume is illustrated with color photographs and includes links "to important aspects of African and African-American curriculum studies." The Heritage Library of African Peoples is being published in four regional sets: East Africa (available now), and West , Central, and South Africa (forthcoming in late 1997).
Though the aims of this publishing effort are laudable and the credentials of the authors are beyond reproach, it must be noted that the Heritage Library has been criticized by some African studies educators for the disproportionate emphasis it places— through pictures and words —on "exotic" images of relatively small African societies.
Critics ask: What impression would middle-school children in Italy or high-school students in Japan derive of North American societies if their primary sources of information were scholarly studies of the Inuit, Lakota, Cherokee, or other atypical peop les of the Americas?
A similar cautionary note extends to textbooks in the Threatened Cultures series from Wayland Publishers (East Sussex), particularly Kalahari Bushmen, produced in 1993 by Dr. Alan Barnard, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
A highly recommended source for critical appraisals of educational materials such as the aforementioned is Africa Access Review of K-12 Materials, published by Africa Access, 2204 Quinton Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA.
Studies of invididual African societies include
For information on individual African personalities, see An African Biographical Dictionary (Brockman 1994). This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference directory available on more than 550 African men and women from all walks of lif e (along with sketches of some "influential" non-Africans). Emphasis is given to the postcolonial contemporary period, with about two-thirds of the alphabetically arranged entries dating from 1950 on. Other reference volumes of this nature include
Noteworthy descriptions and analyses of the lives, times, and thought of various historical and contemporary African individuals include
An introduction to African historical and modern-day personalities that is geared to an upper primary-school audience is African Portraits, a volume in the Images across the Ages series of textbooks from Raintree Steck-Vaughn publishers (Hoobler and Hoobler 1993).
See also the biographies and autobiographies of African writers, musicians, filmmakers, and others listed elsewhere in this guide.