Hi /r/AskHistorians!
I recently started working in a job that focuses on a few countries in West Africa, and while I know the general context of much of the region, have been before, and read news from the region daily, I'm thinking that it would serve me well to develop a deeper understanding of the colonial and post-colonial histories of the region/ countries involved. I browsed the book list associated with the subreddit and found a couple of good things to start with, but I'm also realizing in my research that I'm getting mostly western sources. While there have been western academics and scholars present throughout the entire continent of Africa for a long time, I'm concerned that developing an understanding for the region solely through these experts, and not through voices coming from within these societies, will give me a one-sided, incomplete perspective.
So, I wanted to ask if anyone knew of a couple of good West African scholars I could look up to read more about the region? If, so, please let me know!
There are many, many, many excellent scholars from West Africa for you to choose from.
You might start with J.F. Ade-Ajayi, or you could look into the Ibadan History Series. Ade-Ajayi was a prominent voice in the Ibadan School, a movement of African scholars trying to put forward African analysis of African history in the 1970s.
More recently, Toyin Falola is an extremely well-known and respected scholar of Nigerian history at University of Texas Austin. He has at least 2 festschriften in his honor, The Transformation of Nigeria edited by Adebayo Oyebade, and_The Transformation of Central Nigeria_ edited by Sati Fwatshak. I mention them by name, because they each contain contributions from Nigerian scholars, and so can be a handy starting point to collect names of scholars to read further.
Outside of Nigerian history, there is also Sundiata Djata who has written The Bamana Empire by the Niger about southern/central Mali from 1700-1900.
Additionally, Toyin Falola has served as Series Editor for a lot of book series about African Studies for various publishers. I know he has been involved in the Rochester Series in African Studies and the Diaspora; as well as African Histories and Modernities series by Palgrave Macmillan. As series editor, he has made sure to publish many African scholars.