A panoramic view of a continent

My latest book is an analysis of Africa, from the perspective of 30 years of study, which offers an overview of the decades since the fall of apartheid in 1994

- Adekeye Adebajo

The 145 essays in my new book The Splendid Tapestry of African Life: Essays on A Resilient Continent, its Diaspora, and the World represent the ripest fruits of three decades of reflecting and writing on the history, regional integration, politics, foreign policy, international relations, culture, film, sports and travel of Africa and its diaspora in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean, as well as on the world beyond Global Africa.

This volume seeks to capture the zeitgeist of the post-apartheid era after the continent's five-century quest for liberation from the twin scourges of European-led transatlantic slavery and colonialism finally ended with South Africa's democratic transition in 1994.

Africa's independence battles from the late Fifties had been mirrored by similar battles in the Caribbean as well as America's civil rights struggle. Both involved citizens of the Black Atlantic: the heirs of slavery and colonialism.

I entered the field of international relations in 1990 as Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years of captivity to negotiate South Africa's democratic future at a time when the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union was ending.

The contemporary age threatens a looming battle between an America (under the erratic, nativist regime of Donald Trump), which is in relative decline and still has a large military presence in Africa, and a rising China, which remains Africa's largest trading partner at $295 billion and accounts for nearly half the continent's construction market.

Africa will have to contend with these powers, as well as others such as Russia, France, the EU and Gulf countries, which are all involved in security, trade and investment activities on the continent.

Over half of the UN's 58 peacekeeping missions in the post-Cold War era have taken place in Africa, while the world body currently has 80% of its peacekeepers deployed across the continent.