Sapphire anniversary reflections on the study of United States foreign policy towards Africa

Abstract

The creation in 1958 of a separate Bureau of African Affairs within the United States State Department served as a turning point in US foreign policy towards Africa, in that it signalled Africa's growing significance within the US policymaking establishment. This historical event has served as a point of reference for Africanists, as demonstrated by Crawford Young's (1984) ‘silver’ (25-year) anniversary reflections on the state of US Africa policies as president of the African Studies Association. The primary purpose of this essay is to provide ‘sapphire’ (45-year) anniversary reflections on US foreign policy towards Africa, by offering a select review of forty books that have been published on this topic during the last decade (1993–2002). It is important to note, however, that this essay does not provide a comprehensive review of all the books published since 1993, nor does it offer a comprehensive review of the literature published prior to that date. The intention is rather to illuminate trends in scholarship.