Dictionary of African Biography

Complete printed edition in the Boston University African Studies Library

The Dictionary of African Biography (DAB) is a six-volume reference work of African biographies, it contains around 2,100 entries. Edited by Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. , the work was published by Oxford University Press in 2012 . A paid online version is also available.

scope

The work is considered to be one of the first and most comprehensive biographical reference works of personalities on the African continent, both in terms of time and geographic scope of the work. It is thus in the tradition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , American National Biography and African American National Biography previously published by Oxford University Press . In 2013 the work won an “Outstanding Reference Sources” award from the Reference and User Services Association of the US Library Association .

After several attempts to publish African biographical encyclopedias in the past failed, the aim of the editors is to collect 10,000 biographies of Africans who had and still have a significant influence on the history, development and present of the continent. Even after publication, the authors accept suggestions for biographies; these are regularly updated in the online version of the reference work.

According to their own information, around 20 percent of all entries describe women. Around 10 percent of all entries describe people from before 600 BC, 25 percent from before 1800. Around 25 percent of the entries describe living people. There is a geographical focus on West Africa (with 25 percent of all biographies) and North and East Africa (25 percent). Other regions are less covered: Southern Africa (16 percent), Central Africa (14 percent), Greater Maghreb (11 percent) and East Africa (10 percent).

Volumes

The reference work consists of a total of six volumes, into which the roughly 2,100 biographies are divided as follows

Volume 1: Abach – Brand
Volume 2: Brath – Haile
Volume 3: Hailu – Lyaut
Volume 4: Maal-Odhia
Volume 5: Oding – Teres
Volume 6: Tertu compulsion, as well as appendix and index

Authors

The two editors of the work, Akyeampong and Gates, Jr., were supported by 15 subject matter experts:

Stanley M. Burstein ( California State University ), Ancient Africa
Chouki El Hamed ( Arizona State University ), Maghreb from 1800
Allen Fromherz ( Georgia State University ), Maghreb before 1800
Israel Gershoni ( Tel Aviv University ), Modern Egypt
Lidwien Kapteijns ( Wellesley College ), Somalia and Djibouti
Ray Kea ( University of California, Riverside ), West Africa before 1800
Christopher J. Lee ( University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ), Southern Africa
Paul Lovejoy ( York University, Toronto ), Anglophones West Africa
Ghislaine Lydon ( University of California, Los Angeles ), Francophone West Africa
Jonathan Miran ( Western Washington University ), Ethiopia and Eritrea
Evan Mwangi ( Northwestern University ), African writer
Jeremy Rich ( Middle Tennessee State University ), Central Africa
Kathleen Sheldon ( University of California, Los Angeles ), women
Jay Spaulding ( Kean University ), Northern and Eastern Africa
Thomas Spear ( University of Wisconsin – Madison ), anglophone East Africa

Furthermore, an advisory board supported the creation and publication of the work.

bibliography

Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . 1st edition. Volumes 1 to 6. Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5

Web links

Online appearance and version of the reference work (English)

Individual evidence

^ Dictionary of African Biography. In: Oxford African American Studies Center. Retrieved December 18, 2017 .
^ Outstanding Reference Sources: Winners. Reference and User Services Association, 2017, accessed December 18, 2017 .
↑ ^a ^b Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr .: Preface . In: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . 1st edition. tape 1 . Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5 , pp. xxvii .
↑ ^a ^b Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr .: Editorial Board . In: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . 1st edition. tape 1 . Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5 , pp. ii .

[1] Dictionary of African Biography. In: Oxford African American Studies Center. Retrieved December 18, 2017 .

[2] Outstanding Reference Sources: Winners. Reference and User Services Association, 2017, accessed December 18, 2017 .

[Preface-3] Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr .: Preface . In: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . 1st edition. tape 1 . Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5 , pp. xxvii .

[EditorialBoard-4] Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr .: Editorial Board . In: Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography . 1st edition. tape 1 . Oxford University Press, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5 , pp. ii .