People in Motion

Sandra T. Barnes is a professor emeritus of anthropology and the founding director of the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos and Ogun: An Old God for a New Age and the editor of Africa’s Ogun: Old World and New.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 Performing the Past2 Politics, Environment, and the Making of a Region3 Trade as a Social Field4 Living with Violence5 Regional Politics and Blurred Boundaries6 The Locus of SurvivalConclusionAppendix A: Coastal Settlements Linked to the Kingdom of BeninAppendix B: Wars, Raids, Rebellions, Attacks, 1760–1860Appendix C: Women and Political ExileReferencesIndex

“By emphasizing inland kingdoms where those enslaved were grounded rather than the broader implications of the transatlantic slave trade writ large, Barnes offers a uniquely refreshing perspective that changes how we think about the history of West Africa.” - Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin“Well-conceived and brilliantly executed, this volume advances scholarship on Africa in significant ways, underscoring the importance of local history and processes in the making of regional experiences. With its fresh take on histories of coastal cities, indigenous framing of power, and global processes, People in Motion clearly represents a new chapter in the long history of academic writing about Africa.” - Saheed Aderinto, author of Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa