West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song - Tapa blanda

This bold, challenging and celebratory new book accompanies a major exhibition at the British Library - the first in the UK to explore in such detail the vibrant cultural history of this complex and compelling region.The authors explain how West Africans have profoundly shaped their own histories, focusing in particular on their profound and engaging literary culture, exploring the region's centuries-old written heritage alongside its even older oral traditions. The book ranges across a millennium of history, from the great empires of the middle ages through colonialism, resistance and independence to contemporary life and culture. Writers, scholars and artists have harnessed the power of words to build societies, to make political statements, to communicate faith, to fight injustice and enslavement, and to respond to the experience of diaspora. Today, West Africa is experiencing an outpouring of creativity in a variety of media.In this richly illustrated book, leading international scholars of music, literature, history and anthropology offer a unique insight into the stories of West African societies past and present.

Gus Casely-Hayford is a King's College Institute Associate (at King's College London) and a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His previous book is The Lost Kingdoms of Africa. Janet Topp Fargion is Lead Curator of World and Traditional Music at the British Library. Marion Wallace is Lead Curator of African Collections at the British Library.