Introduction

Atlantic African Diaspora

The African Diaspora is a transnational, interdisciplinary field whose purpose is to explore and elucidate the processes of dispersal and connection in the history of African peoples globally, from the ancient world to the present. The more specialized field of the Atlantic African Diaspora is characterized by the study of the forced migration of millions of Africans from the African continent to the new societies around the Atlantic littoral; the nature of the new communities of African and African-descended peoples created in the Americas; the lateral relationships amongst and between those communities with others on the African continent; and the relationships amongst and between African-born, people of African descent, Europeans, and Amerindian populations in the Americas and in Europe. It is temporally bounded by the processes of enslavement, emancipation and post-emancipation that spanned over five centuries--from the middle of the fifteenth century to the dawn of the twentieth.

This research guide will provide students an introduction to the primary, secondary and reference material available on the study of the Atlantic African Diaspora. It will also provide an introduction to the principal scholars, texts, schools, methodologies, and subjects of the field. It will finish with several considerations on the trajectory of the field of Atlantic African diaspora study.

Contents of this Guide
Reference Sources
Periodicals
Primary Sources
Methodology
Other African Diaspora Research Guides on the Web
Bibliography

Developed 6.25.07

Modified 8.29.07

Jessica Marie Johnson

History Department

University of Maryland-College Park