..". this is a remarkable book. It will occupy a significant placein the critical literature of African Studies." -- International Journal ofAfrican Historical Studies
"To read Mudimbe is to walkthrough a museum of many exhibits in the company of an erudite companion whoexplains, with much learned commentary, what you are seeing." -- AmericanAnthropologist
"Mudimbe's sympathetic yet rigorous accountsof such diverse Africanist discourses as Herskovits's cultural relativism andcontemporary Afrocentricity bring to the surface the underlying goals and contextsin which these were produced." -- Ivan Karp
A sequel to hishighly acclaimed The Invention of Africa, this is V. Y. Mudimbe's exploration of howthe "idea" of Africa was constructed by the Western world.