The concept of "global Africa", which serves as the basis for the chapters written by the 75 contemporary historians who contributed to this volume, encourages the reader to reconsider the dynamics and focus of world history and geography.  
Above all, it gives shape to the history of the African diasporas. It gives a voice, a biography, to its protagonists, especially the victims of the slave trade, retelling the story of their vast heritage - from pan-Africanism to the Harlem Renaissance, and from Negritude in the French Caribbean to Negrismo in Cuba. The volume's editor, Vanicléia Silva Santos, takes a fascinating look at the subject in the work's introductory chapter.  
The history of the diasporas has also been marked by the role played by Afrodescendants, past and present, from Latin American countries, India and the Islamic Republic of Iran, among others, in defining and disseminating an active Africanness. This sense of identity has left an indelible mark on cultural history. Eloquent examples range from the reflections of sixteenthcentury Songhai Empire scholar Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti to the writings of nineteenth-century African-American intellectuals W. E. B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, among many others. It has also fuelled struggles for emancipation and independence.  
Written within these pages is a global history of Africa that enriches our knowledge of the relationship of Africa and Africans with the rest of the world. The volume thus offers to both Africans and Afrodescendants, especially the younger generations, a source of pride and identity.  
This volume is not just a history book; it also conveys a humanist message. At a time when our societies are facing a surge in hate speech and inequality and exclusion persist, Africa and Its Diasporas provides valuable intellectual resources to combat stigmatization, injustice and misrepresentation.