Africana studies : theoretical futures /

This collection, edited by Farred (English; Africana studies, Cornell Univ.), may be more relevant to comparative literature and European theorists than to Africana studies. Farred's introduction hails Friedrich Nietzsche via French theorists to imagine the future task of Africana studies as the creation of theoretical concepts, but without reference to the major theorists in Africana studies (except for a couple of musicians) or critique of the European writers privileged. Many of the contributors similarly draw heavily from the works of European theorists. Drabinski borrows from Edmund Husserl and Louis Althusser to discuss literature from the Caribbean and the African diaspora, suggesting that Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, and W. E. B. Du Bois were all pessimists (their revolutionary intellectual activism suggests otherwise). Saad defers to Michel Foucault. Regarding Francophone African insurgencies, Kavwahirehi is topical in recognizing the need for scholar-activism by theorists, but he uncritically invokes Foucault and ignores the demand for a unity government across Africa. Less Eurocentric is Pardlo's chapter "Tampered Witnessing" about Harlem Renaissance poets who faced racist reviews. Bergh takes a decolonial approach to thinkers who have identified as contributing to decolonization, while Adesokan applies foreign religious morality to musician Fela Kuti. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Graduate students and faculty. --Onwubiko Agozino, Virginia Tech