Beginning with the premise that race is a global phenomenon configured in the political context of European empire, this book presents studies of historical and contemporary race making on--and about--the African continent. It argues that Africa remains a key cite for understanding the development and consolidation of race thinking and the contemporary articulations of racial meanings throughout the world. Its analysis centers race in the continent's history of alterity while at the same time responding to the ironic and paradoxical exclusion of the continent from the contemporary discussions of racial formation.