Atlas’s Bones
The African Foundations of Europe
Book •
D.
Vance Smith's Atlas’s Bones reexamines European intellectual history by foregrounding Africa’s central role in shaping classical and medieval thought.
The book traces influences from Egypt, Carthage, and other African centers through figures such as Augustine and literary moments like Virgil’s Aeneid.
It also analyzes how medievalist ideas were deployed during colonization to remake Africa and justify imperial rule.
Combining literary history, intellectual history, and postcolonial critique, Smith shows how Africa was both foundational to Europe and later systematically written out.
The work aims to recover suppressed connections and to challenge narratives that present European culture as autochthonous.
Vance Smith's Atlas’s Bones reexamines European intellectual history by foregrounding Africa’s central role in shaping classical and medieval thought.
The book traces influences from Egypt, Carthage, and other African centers through figures such as Augustine and literary moments like Virgil’s Aeneid.
It also analyzes how medievalist ideas were deployed during colonization to remake Africa and justify imperial rule.
Combining literary history, intellectual history, and postcolonial critique, Smith shows how Africa was both foundational to Europe and later systematically written out.
The work aims to recover suppressed connections and to challenge narratives that present European culture as autochthonous.
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Morteza Hajizadeh
D. Vance Smith
D. Vance Smith, "Atlas’s Bones: The African Foundations of Europe" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
Mentioned by
D. Vance Smith
D. Vance Smith, "Atlas’s Bones: The African Foundations of Europe" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
