The Igbo Intellectual Tradition

Creative Conflict in African and African Diasporic Thought

Palgrave Macmillan, August 2013
ISBN: 978-1-137-31128-3, ISBN10: 1-137-31128-2,
6.000 x 9.250 inches, 360 pages, 3 maps,

In this groundbreaking collection, leading historians, Africanists, and other scholars document the life and work of eleven Igbo intellectuals who, educated within European traditions, came to terms with the dominance of European thought while making significant contributions to African intellectual history. Mediated through a variety of interpersonal relationships, debates, and changing ideas over the course of three centuries, the figures covered here - including Oluadah Equiano, Chinua Achebe, Nnamdi Azikewe, Mbonu Ojike, Kenneth Dike, and many others - struggled to balance the defense of Africa against Western imperial discourse with the development of an authentic African intellectual heritage, even as their identities were shaped by both forces.