People in Motion

Sandra T. Barnes is a professor emeritus of anthropology and the founding director of the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos and Ogun: An Old God for a New Age and the editor of Africa's Ogun: Old World and New.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Performing the Past 2 Politics, Environment, and the Making of a Region 3 Trade as a Social Field 4 Living with Violence 5 Regional Politics and Blurred Boundaries 6 The Locus of Survival Conclusion Appendix A: Coastal Settlements Linked to the Kingdom of Benin Appendix B: Wars, Raids, Rebellions, Attacks, 1760-1860 Appendix C: Women and Political Exile References Index

"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