Summary
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East is a two-volume A-to-Z reference to the history and culture of the peoples of Africa and the Middle East. This fascinating resource includes about 900 entries on the major peoples that have maintained a cultural identity in the area—from ancient to modern times—summarizing their history, migration, culture, belief system, social organization, and relationship to other peoples. Students will find entries on the Assyrians and the Asante, as well as entries on "Iraqis: nationality" and "Ghanaians: nationality," describing who they are today with cross-references to the various ancestral peoples.
Entries on all large or well-known groups include up-to-date information on their geography, origins, languages, history, and culture, with subsections on topics such as subsistence, religion, social and political structures, economy, government, military practices, dwellings and architecture, clothing, transportation, technology, art, music, and literature. Invaluable reference features include a chronology, glossary, bibliography, and a comprehensive index, and a fact sheet, timeline, examples of further reading, maps, and pictures complete this authoritative reference. Appendixes offer helpful background information on topics such as the regions of Africa, kinship systems, religious systems, and subsistence systems.
Entries include:
- Angolans: nationality
- Arabs
- Armenians
- Asante
- Babylonians
- Bantu
- Berbers
- Canaanites
- Dinka
- Egyptians
- Fulani
- Greeks
- Hittites
- Hutu and Tutsi
- Iraqis: nationality
- Israelis: nationality
- Jews
- Khoikhoi
- Khoisan
- Kurds
- Malians
- Ottomans
- Persians
- Phoenicians
- San
- Songhay
- South Africans: nationality
- Tuareg
- Turkic Peoples
- Yoruba
- Zulu.
Specifications
Black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Maps. Index. Appendixes. Bibliography. Cross-references. Chronology. Timelines. Sidebars. Fact sheets. Further reading. In two volumes.
About the Author(s)
Editor Jamie Stokes has worked with the Diagram Group for more than 10 years, most recently as the editorial director on Facts On File’s The Field Guide to Geology.
Historical consultant Anthony Gorman is a lecturer in modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Edinburgh. He holds a Ph.D. from Macquarie University in Australia. Since graduating he has taught in the Department of Political Science at the American University in Cairo and in the Department of History at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. From 2003 to 2005 he was a research fellow working on the "Cultures of Confinement" project, an examination of the history of the prison in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He also held a Greek postdoctoral fellowship in Athens, Greece, where he conducted research on the Greeks of modern Egypt.
Historical consultant Andrew Newman is a reader in Islamic studies and Persian at the University of Edinburgh and director of the Graduate School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures. He holds a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of California in Los Angeles. Newman's interests include the history of Twelver Shiism, the history of Islamic law, the evolution of the legal bases of Islamic medical theory and practice, the history of Iran and Persian language and literature, and modern Arabic literature.