Mamadou Diouf unearths the intellectual and cultural traditions that have long defined Africa, proving that history was never just written about Africa, but also by it.

For too long, Africa has been framed as an afterthought in world history—a continent written into the margins of time. In Africa in the World’s Time, renowned historian Mamadou Diouf dismantles these colonial narratives and reclaims Africa’s rightful place at the center of global historical thought. Moving beyond Western frameworks, Diouf examines the continent’s intellectual traditions and demonstrates how African artists and historians have shaped and reshaped how we understand the past.

Tracing central debates from the independence era to today, Diouf examines figures like Cheikh Anta Diop and Samir Amin, as well as the vital role of literature and film in contesting predominant histories. He challenges the linear, Eurocentric timelines that have long governed historical discourse, and puts forward a vision of Africa as a force that has always been influencing and reimagining the world.
 

Mamadou Diouf is the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and director of Columbia University’s Institute for African Studies. A PhD graduate from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, he previously taught at the University of Michigan and Cheikh Anta Diop University. Diouf has authored and edited numerous works on African historiography, politics, and Islam. Jill Jarvis is a literary scholar and associate professor in the Department of French at Yale University and a member of the Councils on African and Middle East Studies. Jarvis is the author of Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony and cofounder of the Desert Futures research collective.