An Unformed Map

“In this important and sophisticated book, Philip Janzen subverts the French and British imperial bureaucratic machinery to suture back together the lives of colonial subjects who were fragmented by the archive. By building a network of extrabureaucratic sources, Janzen demonstrates that the illusion of archival plenitude renders imperially irrelevant lives irrecoverable by conventional historical methods. An Unformed Map will find an enthusiastic readership among not only Caribbeanist and Africanist historians, historians of empire, and anthropologists but all those historians interested in methodological and conceptual innovation.” - Stephan Palmié, author of Thinking with Ngangas: What Afro-Cuban Ritual Can Tell Us about Scientific Practice and Vice Versa

“Original in its methodology and content, An Unformed Map draws on archives from three continents to present the history and experiences of both better- and lesser-known figures from the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean as they navigated their understandings of Africa and empire. By examining how these teachers, missionaries, and officials engaged with Africa and Africans, Philip Janzen details the various influences on their shifting views of Africa.” - Nemata Amelia Ibitayo Blyden, author of African Americans and Africa: A New History