This anthology reflects the complex processes in the production of historical knowledge and memory about Sierra Leone and its diaspora since the 1960s. The processes, while emblematic of experiences in other parts of Africa, contain their own distinctive features. The fragments of these memories are etched in the psyche, bodies, and practices of Africans in Africa and other global landscapes; and, on the other hand, are embedded in the various discourses and historical narratives about the...

This book investigates the historical trajectory of postcolonial Sierra Leone, especially the persistence of a culture of political violence and autocratic tendencies.Regarded as a litmus test for the consolidation of democracy in postwar Sierra Leone, the 2023 national polls instead became a stark reminder of the persistence of élite bickering, electoral malfeasance, autocratic political machinations, and violence. This book investigates how a culture of corruption, political viol...

Sierra Leone’s unique history, especially in the development and consolidation of British colonialism in West Africa, has made it an important site of historical investigation since the 1950s. Much of the scholarship produced in subsequent decades has focused on the “Krio,” descendants of freed slaves from the West Indies, North America, England, and other areas of West Africa, who settled Freetown, beginning in the late eighteenth century. Two foundational and enduring assumptions have ch...