Bøker av J. Vansina

To understand the genocide and other dramatic events of Rwanda's recent past, one must understand the history of the earlier realm. Jan Vansina provides a critique of the history recorded by early missionaries and court historians.

Sent to the Congo (Zaire) in the 50s, as fieldworker for a Belgian cultural agency, Vansina helped to found the field of African history as a scholarly speciality. This memoir describes Vansina's life and career on three continents, against the background of the collapse of colonialism in Africa.