Western Primitivism: African Ethnicity, A Study in Cultural Relations

Challenging the way in which the West views African ethnicity and tribalism, this study links African primitivism with a new "primitivism" in the West, manifested in the actions of groups such as road protestors and environmental campaigners. Primitivism has always had a place in framing the West's conception of Africa, whether in the form of the "noble savage" or crazed cults such as the Mau Mau. The book argues that the popularity of modern primitivism in the West is highly relevant to revised attitudes towards African ethnicity. The notion that ethnicity can be a moral code is growing, and the author locates its derivation in our changing perceptions of Western society.