Three New Press Partners!
Featuring SUNY Press, UGA Press, U of South Carolina Press, and an interview with Professor Ana Lucia Araujo.
New Press Partners
The critically important work of university presses is at the very center of New Books Network. Every single book published by a university press takes years to research, write, review, and edit. Right now, we work directly with 15 UPs. As we prepare for the launch of our new website, we are happy to announce that we have three new press partners as of last week. Check out their press feeds to find books solely published by SUNY Press, the University of Georgia Press, and the University of South Carolina Press.
Beyond Pages: A SUNY Press Podcast
The University of Georgia Press Podcast
The University of South Carolina Press Podcast
Scholarly Sources
Ana Lucia Araujo is Professor of History at Howard University. She is a social and cultural historian writing transnational and comparative history.
Listen to Ana discuss her book, The Gift: How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism.
Q: What is your favorite part of being an historian?
A: My favorite part of being a historian is having the privilege of exploring archives and museums in various languages and in different countries. Archives and museum collections always offer us interesting surprises. That said, I also love to write. The work in the archive only acquires meaning when I am back at my desk reading and transcribing documents and examining images I collected, putting them in dialogue with the existing literature, and recomposing the puzzle in my own words.
Q: What are you reading right now?
A: I am reading several books as I am working on several book projects. None of them are newly published books. The first is Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy by art historian Robert Farris Thompson who passed away nearly two years ago. The other book is La Compagnie du Sénégal by Senegalese historian Abdoulaye Ly, who passed away in 2013.
Q: What is your favorite book or essay to assign to give to people and why?
A: I am polygamous in my book tastes; it is impossible to choose just one. There are two books that I have been assigning to my students as they are in dialogue with my research interests of the past five years. The first is The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo by art historian Cécile Fromont and the second is A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution by historian Toby Green.
Q: Is there a book you read as a student that had a particularly profound impact on your trajectory as a scholar?
A: The book Flux et reflux de la traite des nègres entre le Golfe de Bénin et Bahia de Todos os Santos du XVIIe au XIXe siècle (1968) translated and published in English as Trade relations between the Bight of Benin and Bahia from the 17th to 19th century in 1976. This book shows the long-lasting economic and cultural connections between Brazil and the Bight of Benin, where the Kingdom of Dahomey was situated, and where the today’s Republic of Benin is located.
Q: Which deceased writer would you most like to meet and why?
A: Historian Jean Mettas. He didn’t leave many books, but he compiled two extensive volumes covering French slave-trading voyages. I would ask him many questions about these voyages and the sources that allowed him to compile these two volumes titled Répertoire des expéditions négrières françaises au XVIIIe siècle, which are both available online for free.
Q: What's the best book you've read in the past year?
A: Ancient Africa: A Global History to 300 CE by Christopher Ehret.
Q: Have you seen any films, documentaries, or museum exhibitions that left an impression on you recently?
A: The exhibition, I Miss You, gathering 96 artworks from the Benin court at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany.
Q: What do you plan on reading next?
A: I need to read the exhibition catalogue Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina and am looking forward to reading Suzanne Preston Blier’s new book The History of African Art published last year.
Q: Do you have any advice for students or prospective authors looking to study the past?
A: Choose topics that are really close to your heart, read the work of your colleagues, and generously cite them because our work as historians lies on the shoulders of those who conducted research before us. I also advise my students to make the archive their happy place, and to write on a daily basis!
