MSSU Themed Semesters Research Guide

African Modernism investigates the close relationship between architecture and nation-building in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Zambia. It features one hundred buildings with brief descriptive texts, images, site plans, and selected floor plans and sections.

Aya is loosely based upon Marguerite Abouet's youth in Yop City. It is the story of the studious and clear-sighted nineteen-year-old Aya, her easygoing friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling relatives and neighbors. It's a wryly funny, breezy account of the simple pleasures and private troubles of everyday life in Yop City.

With 190 illustrations, this volume presents masterpieces from Bámigbóyè's workshop now housed in collections in America, Europe, and Nigeria. Essays situate Bámigbóyè's work as part of Africa's oldest and most dynamic art traditions and consider his sculpture in relation to contemporary Yorùbá art, culture, politics, and religion.

In Bitter Roots, Abena Dove Osseo-Asare draws on publicly available records and extensive interviews with scientists and healers in Ghana, Madagascar, and South Africa to interpret how African scientists and healers, rural communities, and drug companies (including Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Unilever) have sought since the 1880s to develop drugs from Africa's medicinal plants.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time draws on the latest archaeological discoveries and art historical research to construct a compelling look at medieval trans-Saharan exchange and its legacy. Contributors from diverse disciplines present case studies that form a rich portrayal of a distant time.

In this anthology, contemporary thinkers commemorate the anniversary of Amilcar Cabral's assassination. They reflect on the legacy of this extraordinary individual and his relevance to contemporary struggles for self-determination and emancipation.

In this tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative--a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human.

Education in West Africa is a comprehensive critical reference guide to education in the region. Written by regional experts, the book explores the education systems of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

In Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, Farmer offers the first substantive account of this frightening, fast-moving episode and its implications. In vibrant prose, he tells the harrowing stories of Ebola victims while showing why the medical response was slow and insufficient.

In this striking novel about an unforgettable childhood, four Nigerian brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family. Told by nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of a childhood in Nigeria, in the small town of Akure.

With A Fistful of Shells, Toby Green transforms our view of West and West-Central Africa by reconstructing the world of these kingdoms, which revolved around trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, and the production of art. He shows how the slave trade led to economic disparities that caused African kingdoms to lose relative political and economic power.

Chef Eric Adjepong practices sankofa by showcasing the beauty and depth of West African food through the lens of his own culinary journey. With 100 soul-satisfying recipes and narrative essays, Ghana to the World reflects Eric's journey to understand his identity and unique culinary perspective as a first-generation Ghanaian American.

Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race--and the ways in which love can complicate them all.

Here is a cast of characters, in their Nigerian homeland and abroad, whose world is marked by lush landscapes, historical legend and lively folktales, and the search for identity at all costs. You'll meet mothers who will go to the ends of the earth for their children and daughters who will love whomever they want--even if that means risking everything, even their own lives.

A History of the Yoruba People is a comprehensive exploration of the founding and growth of one of the most influential groups in Africa. With a population of nearly 40 million spread across Western Africa - and diaspora communities in Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America - Yoruba are one of the most researched groups emanating from Africa.

This book introduces readers to the rich and fascinating history of West Africa, stretching all the way back to the stone age, and right up to the modern day. Over the course of twenty-seven short and engaging chapters, the book delves into the social, cultural, economic and political history of West Africa.

The story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with great sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indelibly drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

Imaging Culture is a sociohistorical study of the meaning, function, and aesthetic significance of photography in Mali, West Africa, from the 1930s to the present. Spanning the dynamic periods of colonialism, national independence, socialism, and democracy, its analysis focuses on the studio and documentary work of professional urban photographers, particularly in the capital city of Bamako.

This manuscript sheds light on internationally driven state building in war-torn West African nations, the problematic nature of the postcolonial state, and the difficulties of securing its people's wellbeing. 

This prizewinning 1954 tale describes the narrator’s journey from childhood in Kouroussa, in northwestern Guinea, to France, and the conflict of sacred traditions with the ways of the modern world.

Love Offers No Safety: Nigeria's Queer Men Speak is a raw and powerful collection of 25 first-person narratives that explore the diverse experience of queer Nigerian men. These stirring stories cut across age, class, religion, ethnicity, family and relationships, offering a glimpse into what it means to survive as a queer man in Nigeria.

Well-crafted and fast paced, Oliver's book is enhanced by a liberal sprinkling of enjoyable drawings, clear and helpful maps, and interesting photos. Not only are Mansa Musa's triumphs and dilemmas clearly portrayed, but so are the lives of the people of medieval Mali.

A short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends.

In 1995, Nigeria's dictatorial government executed nine Ogoni leaders fighting for civil rights and against Shell Oil's depredations of Ogoni land. Domale Dube draws on interviews and participant observation to tell the long-ignored story of how women carved out a role in the Ogoni pursuit of justice.

An illustrated history of photography in one of the epicenters of African modernity. Giulia Paoletti takes readers on a visual journey from the 1840s, when the oldest-surviving daguerreotype from West Africa was made, to the 1960s, when photography became the most popular medium as Senegal achieved its independence.

Comprehensive exploration, spanning 1,300 years, of the art and culture of the Sahel region of Africa. This groundbreaking volume examines the extraordinary artistic and cultural traditions of the African region known as the Sahel, a vast area on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert that includes present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad.

Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. In her 40s, she has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother--the only parent who raised her--is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew.

Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola's and Eniola’s lives become intertwined.

This lively collection comes from West Africa, a place 'where stories grow on trees'. Here are the famous tricksters: Hare, Tortoise, and the greatest of them all - Ananse the spider. The stories are full of larger-than-life characters and situations; and include the tale of how Ananse got his thin waist, how Crocodile learnt his lesson, and how Monkey managed not to get eaten by Shark.

The book begins by exploring West Africa’s past through archaeology, ecology, linguistics, and oral traditions. It then examines historical and contemporary issues, such as the slave trade, inequality, religion, and urbanization, highlighting how economic and political shifts have influenced modern religious identity.

For more than forty years, Chinua Achebe maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Decades in the making, There Was a Country is a towering account of one of modern Africa's most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage left an enduring stamp on world literature.

The most widely read book in modern African literature tells two intertwining stories, both of which center around a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria in the late 1800s, before and after the European colonization of the continent. 

A heart-rending debut novel about a Nigerian immigrant as she tries to find her place at home and in America-a powerful epic about love, grief, family, and belonging. The Tiny Things Are Heavier follows Sommy, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for graduate school two weeks after her brother, Mezie, attempts suicide.

A study of remote villages in West African countries and a celebration the artisanship of tribal people who use building methods that are both practical and ingenious. With over 500 photographs and insightful commentary, the remarkable beauty of the people, land, villages, textiles, and architecture across seven countries of West Africa, situated between the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean, is revealed.

Most accounts of Nigeria's colonization were written by British officials, presenting it as a noble civilizing mission to rid Africans of barbaric superstition and corrupt tribal leadership. Max Siollun offers a bold rethink: an unromanticized history, arguing compellingly that colonialism had few benevolent intentions, but many unjust outcomes.

Discover the reigns of twelve African queens and warriors from across the continent in this captivating history. Their impact can still be felt today, and yet, beyond the lands they called home, so few of us have ever heard their names. In When We Ruled, we are taken into the worlds of these powerful figures, following their stories and how they came to rule and influence the futures of their people.

The 2014 Chibok kidnapping of 276 girls sparked the global #BringBackOurGirls movement, but Boko Haram’s violence against women and girls extends far beyond that event. Through extensive fieldwork, Hilary Matfess offers a compelling account of the group’s impact on Nigerian women and the broader social and political factors driving its violence.

"There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women," explains the leader of the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso. Workers and peasants in that West African country established a popular revolutionary government and began to combat the hunger, illiteracy, and economic backwardness imposed by imperialist domination.

So often, Africa has been depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife, stripped of all nuance. In this bold and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, weaving a vibrant tapestry of stories that bring to life Africa’s rich diversity, communities, and histories.

So often, Africa has been depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife, stripped of all nuance. In this bold and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, weaving a vibrant tapestry of stories that bring to life Africa’s rich diversity, communities, and histories.

Sunny Nwazue lives in Nigeria, but she was born in New York City. Her features are West African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a "free agent" with latent magical power. And she has a lot of catching up to do.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be Black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post–9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be Black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post–9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: preserve this crucial part of the world’s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door.

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.

In the spring of 2014, millions of Twitter users, unwittingly helped turn a group of 276 schoolgirls abducted by a little-known Islamist sect into a central prize in the global War on Terror by retweeting a call for their release: #BringBackOurGirls. With just four words, their tweets launched an army of would-be liberators. Soldiers and drones, spies, mercenaries, and glory hunters descended into an obscure conflict that few understood, in a remote part of Nigeria that had barely begun to use the internet.

The narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child, who in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria exists between life and death. The life he foresees for himself and the tale he tells is full of sadness and tragedy, but inexplicably he is born with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. But in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute.

In Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, Farmer offers the first substantive account of this frightening, fast-moving episode and its implications. In vibrant prose, he tells the harrowing stories of Ebola victims while showing why the medical response was slow and insufficient. Rebutting misleading claims about the origins of Ebola and why it spread so rapidly, he traces West Africa’s chronic health failures back to centuries of exploitation and injustice.

In this striking novel about an unforgettable childhood, four Nigerian brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family. Told by nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of a childhood in Nigeria, in the small town of Akure.

In this striking novel about an unforgettable childhood, four Nigerian brothers encounter a madman whose mystic prophecy of violence threatens the core of their close-knit family. Told by nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of a childhood in Nigeria, in the small town of Akure.

Afi Tekple is a young seamstress in Ghana. Smart and pretty, she has also been convinced by her mother to marry a man she doesn’t know: a wealthy businessman named Elikem. A witty, moving, and smart debut novel, His Only Wife takes place in a world of men who want their wives to be beautiful, to be good cooks and mothers, to grant their husbands forbearance. And in Afi, we meet a delightful, brave, and relatable heroine who just may break all the rules.

Ebo is alone. His brother, Kwame, has disappeared, and Ebo knows it can only be to attempt the hazardous journey to Europe, and a better life—the same journey their sister set out on months ago. But Ebo refuses to be left behind in Ghana. He sets out after Kwame and joins him on the quest to reach Europe. Ebo's epic journey takes him across the Sahara Desert to the dangerous streets of Tripoli, and finally out to the merciless sea. But with every step he holds on to his hope for a new life, and a reunion with his family.

Two boys venture from their village to hunt in a nearby forest, where they shoot down bats with glee, and cook their prey over an open fire. Within a month, they are dead, bodies ravaged by an insidious disease that neither the local healer’s potions nor the medical team’s treatments could cure. Compounding the family’s grief, experts warn against touching the sick. But this caution comes too late: the virus spreads rapidly, and the boys’ father is barely able to send his eldest daughter away for a chance at survival.

Maddie’s life in London is anything but fulfilling—she juggles a nightmare boss, is always the only Black person in the room, and cares for her father while her overbearing mother lives mostly in Ghana. When her mum returns, Maddie seizes the chance to move out, explore dating, chase career recognition, and finally put herself first. But just as things begin to shift, tragedy forces her to confront hard family truths and the risks of truly showing up for her own life.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland, and life for the women in her blacksmith guild, already shunned as pariahs, grows worse. Then Òdòdó is abducted and whisked across the Sahara—by the vagrant who visited her guild days before. Only now, he’s swathed in riches, not rags, and she realizes he’s no vagrant at all. He is the warrior king—and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In A Moonless, Starless Sky, Okeowo weaves together four narratives that form a powerful tapestry of modern Africa: a young couple, kidnap victims of Joseph Kony's LRA; a Mauritanian waging a lonely campaign against modern-day slavery; a women's basketball team flourishing amid war-torn Somalia; and a vigilante who takes up arms against the extremist group Boko Haram. This book illuminates the inner lives of ordinary people doing the extraordinary--lives that are too often hidden, underreported, or ignored by the rest of the world.

Okey Ndibe’s memoir tells of his move from Nigeria to America. It recounts stories of Ndibe’s relationships with Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and other literary figures; discusses differences between Nigerian and American etiquette and politics; recalls an incident of racial profiling just days after he arrived in the US; considers American stereotypes about Africa (and vice-versa); and mixes African folk tales with Wall Street trickery. All these stories come together for a novel about the making of a writer and a new American.

Anwuli Okwudili, who prefers AO—short for Artificial Organism—has never felt natural, her heavily augmented body setting her apart. After a violent market incident, she goes on the run with a mysterious Fulani herdsman named DNA. Their journey across Northern Nigeria is streamed to a world eager to brand them villains. In this fast-paced tale of tech, destiny, and defiance, AO embraces what others fear.

The story of a young Nigerian girl searching for freedom. Although her father is highly respected in their community, 15-year-old Kambili knows a frighteningly strict, abusive side to him. She and her family live a privileged life, but Kambili and her brother, Jaja, are often punished for failing to meet their father’s expectations. After visiting her aunt and cousins, Kambili dreams of being part of a loving family. But a military coup brings new tension to Nigeria and her home, leaving Kambili to wonder if her dreams will ever come true.

Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job and Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers, begging when he must, dreaming of a big future. Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of an ascendant politician. When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola's and Eniola’s lives become intertwined.

Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university, always agreeing that polygamy wasn’t for them. After four years of trying to conceive—through doctors, healers, and strange remedies—Yejide is still not pregnant. Then her family arrives with a young woman introduced as Akin’s second wife. Furious and desperate, Yejide finally gets pregnant—at a cost far greater than she could have imagined.

Things Fall Apart is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.

A weekend spent antiquing is shadowed by the colonial atrocities that occurred on that land. A walk at dusk is interrupted by casual racism. A loving marriage is riven by mysterious tensions. And a remarkable cascade of voices speaks out from a pulsing metropolis. We’re invited to experience these events and others through the eyes and ears of Tunde, a West African man working as a teacher of photography on a renowned New England campus. He is a reader, a listener, a traveler and much more.

In this personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from the much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

In this personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from the much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.

Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history. The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social values that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time.

Jarreth Merz, a Swiss-Nigerian actor living in Los Angeles, is summoned to Nigeria to bury his father. Nigerian tradition mandates the eldest child to take charge of a father’s burial. Although he accepts the responsibility, he struggles with why he feels morally responsible toward Nigerian tradition and a family whom he hardly knows. Jarreth starts a journey of self-discovery.

Drawing upon the rich mythology of Ghana, this magical short film combines semi-autobiographical elements with local folklore to tell the story of a young American woman who returns to West Africa for her father’s funeral, only to discover his hidden double identity.

Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal – when it comes to love and sex, these African countries are caught between tradition and modernity. Ivory Coast is a free society which promotes women’s rights, but taboos and persecution of minorities are also common. Until recently, men always took the lead in any seduction. Now young women in Ivory Coast are free to have casual relationships. It’s a sexual revolution, but in a country where 13-year-old girls are still taught to be submissive to their future husbands.

Return to Bamako is a deep dive into the land of Islam, trying to understand the causes and challenges of the threat of rising of radical Islamism to all societies. The Islamist wave did not come accidentally, it is the result of recent history, of which Westerners are the actors, because in the majority of cases, it is the failure of a political and economic system, copied or imposed by the West, along with unrestricted globalization, which opens a hole and allows the rise of extremism.

SHOUT GLADI GLADI chronicles the maternal health care crisis in Africa, and the heroic efforts to rescue African women from a medical condition during childbirth that can turn them into reviled outcasts -- if they survive. In the quest of Ann Gloag, a former nurse, she works to eradicate fistula by bringing proper maternal care and outreach programs to the poorest slums and most rural villages in Africa. More than simply repairing their health, Gloag’s efforts also empower these women to determine their own futures.

In UDJU AZUL DI YONTA, four characters face the disillusionment of Guinea-Bissau’s post-independence generation. Vicente, a weary hero of the revolution, struggles to reconcile his ideals with a corrupt new order. As “Comrade Boss” of a fish warehouse, he fights for progress amid decay. Power outages, corruption, and inequality expose the broken promises of independence. “Vicente no longer exists,” he laments, “I am a vulture,” feeding on the ruins of his own dreams.

In Women with Eyes Open by Anne-Laure Folly, a Togolese filmmaker, we are presented portraits of contemporary African women from four West African nations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin. The film shows how African women are speaking out and organizing around five key issues: marital rights, reproductive health, female genital mutilation, women's role in the economy and political rights.