The first quarter of the twenty-first century witnessed an explosion of interest in the emergent, interdisciplinary field of colour studies which, until now, has excluded Africa south of the Sahara. 

African Red - African Blue provides an essential corrective. 

Written by a social anthropologist, the book draws upon African archaeology, aesthetics and art history, economic history, ethnography and linguistics. Numerous in-depth studies of colour - in words and in things - are drawn from across the African continent. Together, this inter-disciplinary range and comparative scope result in a work of originality that will contribute a foundational African perspective to the burgeoning field of colour studies.

African Red - African Blue is both a stimulus for further research and will serve as the yardstick by which it is judged.

Richard Fardon is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at SOAS University of London