Women Writing Africa Volumes I and II

With the release of Women Writing Africa Volume II a vital survey of evolving oral tradition,
historico- linguistics, and political emergence continues. While Volume I focused on the Southern
region, Volume II focuses on the Western Region and Sahel.

The deep research that accompanies the works of some of the regions most important activistic
and political writings is this volume’s strength:

Between 1820 and 1861, some twelve thousand people were transported
the United States, under the protection of the American Colonization Society, to form what
became the West African country of Liberia. More than half of these émigrés
were freed slaves. While the American Colonization Society provided some amount
of housing, food, and other necessaries during the early months, for the most
part people had to find their own way. The 273 letters collected by Bell I.
Wiley in Slaves No More: Letters from Liberia 1833-1869 express the unhappiness
and pessimism of some as well as the contentment, relief, and optimism of
others. Many describe severe illnesses and the deaths of their loved ones. Some
of the writers change their views over the years, as their circumstances
improve or worsen. In many letters, the themes of religion and education remain
dominant, as do the continuing ties to former masters and the deep and abiding
interest in the fate of relatives left behind. We are very fortunate to have
these letters, many of them from literate slaves.

Additionally, the sheer volume of cultural traditions presented in the early sections
of the book would provide useful starting points for the student or scholar studying
individual tribes or regions. Editorial detail that accompanies and prefaces songs, letters,
testimonials, essays, stories, folklore, journalism, and memoirs place each work firmly in a
cultural context and tradition without trying too hard to draw ethnographic conclusions. This
allows for broad cross-cultural comparisons but not lazy grouping under regional umbrellas.
The end result, rightly, defies generalization. This sort of ethnographic restraint is laudable
when so many modern anthologies drip with ideology, even polemicism.