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If one takes seriously the central message about identity politics and Africa in this latest book by the author of Male Daughters, Female Husbands, it presents difficulties for people like myself to review this collection of essays by Ifi Amadiume. Professor Amadiume, who herself received a doctorate in anthropology from the University of London, argues throughout Reinventing Africa that it is necessary to trenchantly critique the eurocentric, middle class and patriarchal biases inherent in anthropology as a discipline in order to clear the way for carrying out what she calls a social history of Africa that is more faithful to the historical realities of the continent. Although I am partial to criticisms of patronizing and hegemonic tendencies in both anthropology and African studies more broadly that are informed by "anti- essentialist" theoretical imaginaries and political goals that typically fall under the "invention of" literature, my non- African origins, gender and politics that fall outside pan-Africanist concerns make my qualifications to review this book, let alone carry out research in Africa, suspect from Amadiume's perspective. Instead of bowing to this prohibition, I will indicate some of the locations of Amadiume's interesting arguments, suggesting that ultimately she is more of an anthropologist than she wishes to be.
Of the 10 essays in this book, two are original and eight come from earlier publications of, or more commonly, public lectures given in, the early 1990s. The essays deal with common themes such as racism, gender, feminism, matriarchy, classism, religion and how these are interwoven in both dominant academic studies of Africa that, for her, misrepresent the African identity and those...