"The past few decades have seen a new Africa rise, and a new Europe. Their mutual relations call for more knowledge of their respective pasts, empathy and respect for the other's identity. Both continents are and will remain neighbours forever. They also share the global climate issues."
-Herman Count Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council
"The emergence of a mutually beneficial transformative partnership between Europe and Africa requires that the past be acknowledged and made peace with, in order to free the present and enable the future to emerge for the benefit of generations yet to be born. Both are critical to the successful emergence of a new human civilisation where global equity for a healthy planet would be realised. This book is a must read for both European and African citizens to get to know how we have come to where we are and to be able to dream of a liberated future where equity and wellbeing for all would be core values."
-Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, former Managing Director of the World Bank.
This book, through a politico-historical analysis, aims to provide a more balanced perspective regarding the nature of Africa's relations with other global regions. It emphasizes the sophisticated nature of pre-colonial African politico-historical commentaries often overlooked or simplified. As such, the narrative avoids the usual misrepresentations which impress that African-European interactions are a history of European actions in an Africa generally devoid of anything similar to the cultures, institutions and abilities of Europe. Further, it contests the historical narrative that indigenous Africans have had no real active role vis-à-vis an assertive, dominating Europe in historical times. Within this book, the contestation of such narratives with evidence-based counter perspectives is of particular benefit for our current educational, social and political contexts.
Adeyinka Adewale is Associate Professor, Leadership, Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK.
Stefan A.V.J.G. Schepers is Visiting Professor European Studies at Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK, and director of AECIT in Johannesburg
(SA).
