People in Motion

Name: People in Motion
Brand: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
Price: 243.75 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

Flexible States and Porous Boundaries in the History of Coastal West Africa

By: Sandra T. Barnes

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Hardcover | 7 September 2026

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2

Hardcover

$243.75

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Available: 7th September 2026

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Beginning in the late fifteenth century, more than two million people were taken from areas that lay behind the Bight of Benin, enslaved, and forced into the perilous Middle Passage bound for the New World. While a vast swath of scholarly work on this region has explored the relationships among the ruling elites and overseas traders that facilitated the transatlantic slave trade, the practices that shaped the region's political and cultural dynamics, especially those that dealt with other kinds of trade, have yet to be thoroughly examined. In People in Motion, Sandra T. Barnes offers a history focused on the Benin Region's patchwork of small states and ports that saw a constant movement of people and goods for centuries. As such, this book widens the lens of scholarship, formerly limited to kings and elite merchants, to include people of all social levels who provided the dynamism behind the political rivalries and changes that marked the period. Barnes concentrates on protective relationships and the violence people were forced to endure during a fast-moving, tumultuous period of history, examining how they organized their lives and why this mattered. The result is a refreshingly original work that challenges long-held assumptions about West Africa's past, explaining what life was like for people on the coast during the transatlantic slave trade.

Industry Reviews

"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

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