Book Review: African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa

Abstract

The disciplines of politics and history tend to be Eurocentric. Even at the best universities, World or Global history tends to be limited to the study of certain societies. Large, sophisticated and in some cases transcontinental historical empires are ignored by the social sciences. The tools used to study the few non-Western cases (China, Japan or Iran) are also artifacts of Western civilization. Outside the small and specialized discipline of African Studies, nearly no attempt is made to understand these societies on their own terms, let alone appreciate and grapple with their achievements and practices. This is especially the case with Africa. Michael Gomez’ African Dominion: A New History of Empire in East and Medieval West Africa is a book in the classical tradition of African studies as exemplified by Patrick Chabal, Stephen Ellis, John Fage, and Ann Hugon among others. In addition to oral histories, the book is built upon previously unpublished and unexplored archival data. Organized in 4 parts and 14 chapters, it uses a classical historical methodology. Inspired by his mentor, John C. Wood, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, the author learned Arabic to be able to read the manuscripts from the Islamic era onward in Western Africa. The book is a close look at the cycle of West African empires, focusing especially on Mali and Songhay using the chronicles of medieval West Africa, Ta’rı̄kh as-Sūdān and Ta’rı̄kh al-Fattāsh. These works focus on the rise and fall of imperial Songhay (20). Gomez argues that West Africa has had a significant impact on world history and must not be ignored. Critiquing World History, he argues that while the study of civilization often starts with the Near East and Egypt, the discipline disdains West African empires like Mali and Songhay – if they are mentioned at all (12). The author connects West Africa to the World system through the Middle East and North Africa. As the 2012– 2013 warfare in Mali showed, the region is deeply connected to the Middle East and North Africa, and in many ways, the conflict there was an extension of the Arab Spring which had devastated Libya and opened its vast arsenals to whoever can loot them. Immediately, after Muammar al-Qadhafi’s death in October 2011, over two thousand of his loyalists crossed the border with Mali, joining forces with local opponents of the Malian government (369). Book Review