The Pygmies Were Our Compass - (Social History of Africa) by Kairn A Klieman (Hardcover)

About the Book

Covering more than 2,000 years this important region's history, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to the knowledge of pre-colonial Africa.

Covering more than 2,000 years this important region's history, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to the knowledge of pre-colonial Africa. It is the first historical work to reconstruct a Batwa or Pygmy past, thereby questioning Western epistemologies that have long portrayed the Batwa as a quintessential people without history.

Book Synopsis

Covering more than 2,000 years this important region's history, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to the knowledge of pre-colonial Africa.

Covering more than 2,000 years this important region's history, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to the knowledge of pre-colonial Africa. It is the first historical work to reconstruct a Batwa or Pygmy past, thereby questioning Western epistemologies that have long portrayed the Batwa as a quintessential people without history.

Review Quotes

"In this unusual and important study, the author brings the so-called 'pygmies' or hunters-gatherers out of the margins of precolonial African history and centers them as critical actors. She terms them 'forest-specialists, ' thus highlighting the skills that allowed them over centuries to sustain dynamic relations with expanding agriculturalists until, she argues, the Atlantic trade undermined the basis of the relationship. This is a significant study not only for regional specialists but for all who seek to integrate early African societies into their teaching."-Phyllis M. Martin Ruth N. Halls Professor of History, Indiana University

"This book is profoundly original and marks a significant advance beyond even Vansina's Paths in the Rainforest in both substance and in its epistemology of thinking historically about one of the last (formerly) 'dark' corners of the continent's past. Klieman's book, beyond its careful and methodologically very clear integration of wide-ranging archaeological, linguistic, ethnographic evidence, is yet another strong confirmation of the maturation of history in Africa, and the still-unplumbed potential of its earlier eras."-Joseph C. Miller University of Virginia

About the Author

Kairn A. Klieman is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of Houston.