Bridging African Boundaries is an endeavour akin to raising a child in a communal African society,
\na duty that rightfully requires the participation of all. Thus, to successfully bridge African
\nboundaries, we must consult historical happenstances made available to us through historical
\nrecords, books, and archival materials, study the patterns, and map out a plan. This strategy is not
\nlost on Prof. Asiwaju, whose first book in his latest body of work begins with a period that has
\ntaken centre-stage in discourses about Africa\u2019s present predicament and seemingly
\nhard-to-foresee upward movement \u2014 the colonial era. A comparative study of French and English
\ncolonialism, with Yorubaland as the case study and first published in 1979, the first book in
\nAsiwaju\u2019s compendium was an immediate hit all over the world. And there is a reason for that: it
\nwas the first attempt at a comparative case study of Africa\u2019s two most common colonial
\nadministrative systems.<\/p>\n
Prof. Asiwaju\u2019s comparative case study of the Yoruba in France-colonized
\nDahomey and Britain-colonized Western Nigeria is a rich historical text of the cultural and
\neconomic significance of the partitioning of Yorubaland in 1889 and its effects on the Yoruba
\npeople till today. Before this period, did the Yoruba people see themselves as one nation? Due to
\nthe partitioning, has there been any shift in the identity of the Yoruba people on either side of the
\ndivide? The author walks us through the foundational origins of the Yoruba people on both divides
\nof the colonial partition \u2014 Oyo, Benin, Sabe, and Ketu \u2014 and how these foundational origins are all
\ntied to Ile-Ife, deemed the historical founding centre of the Yoruba culture and civilization.
\nAsiwaju\u2019s narrative is refreshing, exciting, and expository in a way that makes it easy for
\nnon-academics to enjoy and tap valuable lessons from it. Of truth, it is one of the most profound
\nbooks I have read on the pre-colonial history of the Yoruba people. Another commendable thing
\nabout this masterpiece is its reader-friendly structure.<\/p>\n
Prof. Asiwaju\u2019s 962-page compendium is
\ndivided into books, parts, chapters, and sub-topics under each chapter, which makes it easier to
\nconsult the book without necessarily reading all the pages \u2014 although I strongly recommend that
\nyou find time to read all the pages, as it is not every time we encounter such a historically rich text
\nas this. The second book in the compendium, West African Transformations: Comparative Impacts
\nof French and British Colonialism, is a more elaborate comparative historical study of West Africa
\nunder European rule, which uses not only the Yorubaland as a case study, but also adopts some
\nother parts of West Africa, such as Borgu, Mono, Zou, and Opara, to mention a few. Professor
\nAsiwaju\u2019s work highlights the disruption caused by colonization and its attendant partitioning of
\nthe African peoples. The colonizers, who did not conduct any preliminary research into the
\nrelationships or cultural and economic affiliations of the African people, divided the continent at
\nthe Berlin Conference of 1884 -1885 like a piece of cake shared among schoolchildren, a move
\nthat permanently affected the inter-geographical and inter-cultural relationships of the African
\npeople to date.<\/p>\n
Professor Asiwaju brilliantly walks us through the heightened periods of the Oyo and Benin
\nempires and how the fall or decline of both empires, coupled with Fulani Jihadist and intra-Yoruba
\nwars, led to a weakening of political strongholds across the region. These periods, which
\ncoincided with the spark of European interests in the western side of the continent, the
\ndehumanizing period of the slave trade and mass migration to and from West Africa, resulted in
\nan increase in cross-border relations and institutional adaptation among peoples who once prided
\nthemselves in the autonomy of their individual city-states. Boundaries and African Integration:
\nEssays in Comparative History and Policy Analysis, the compendium\u2019s third book, taps into
\nhistorical data and proofs to show the possibility of impactful cross-border relationships among
\nAfrican states. Looking back, cultural and ethnic differences abounded among autonomous
\ncity-states, even those with shared foundational affiliations. These differences led to
\ndisagreements, wars, and conquests; still, there were blossoming mutual economic arrangements
\nand agreements between these city-states. In the same vein, the Africa of today must catapult
\nitself out of a sad, lamentable, self-loathing position, not by forgetting its past or the injustices of
\nthe colonial era but by drawing strength from its sufferings and resolving to be the better for what
\nit has gone through.<\/p>\n
The world has witnessed bitter wars\u2014the World Wars being two\u2014yet, we see countries that were
\nerstwhile sworn enemies coming together to form pacts, making agreements that would be of
\nmutual benefit, advancing their causes, and helping them become better and stronger countries.
\nAfrica needs a cohesive, mutually beneficial unification that does not necessarily have to deprive
\neach nation-state of its autonomy but serves to strengthen each member of the unified body. For
\nthis, there is the need for forward-thinking progressivists at the helm of affairs who are also
\nstudents of history\u2014not by obtaining degrees in history but by reading about cross-border
\nrelations in pre-colonial, colonial, and early post-colonial Africa. For such leaders, Prof. Anthony
\nAsiwaju\u2019s three-part compendium, a product of his intellectual sweat and academic sojourn and
\npursuit, is the right blueprint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bridging African Boundaries is an endeavour akin to raising a child in a communal African society, a duty that rightfully requires the participation of all. Thus, to successfully bridge African boundaries, we must consult historical happenstances made available to us through historical records, books, and archival materials, study the patterns, and map out a plan. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[97,90,89,103,93,96],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13141","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-africa","7":"product_cat-business-economics","8":"product_cat-culture-and-ethnicity","9":"product_cat-education","10":"product_cat-philosophy","11":"product_cat-politics","13":"first","14":"instock","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/13141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/13141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13143,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/13141\/revisions\/13143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=13141"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=13141"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panafricanuniversitypress.com\/company\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=13141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}