Section 1, 'Global Africa Today', coordinated by Catherine CoqueryVidrovitch comprises 26 chapters. The assembled contributions are organized under seven topics with two to six chapters each. The four chapters under the first topic address the new paradigms that shape historical research of contemporary Africa and its diasporas. The second topic, comprising six contributions, deals with emerging new approaches on previously neglected issues. What is the intellectual and cultural impact of the transatlantic slave trade in West African collective memories? How did gender relations shape the structures of African and diasporic societies? What does it mean to be poor? Is the current meaning, crafted by international organizations, applicable to African contexts? This is a sample of the issues addressed by the contributors to this topic. Religious factors are explored under the third topic through two chapters addressing the Africanization of Christianism through black churches, on the one hand, and the recent emergence of new religions, on the other. Issues of political renewal are discussed under the fourth topic. The contributors explore the rift between long-lasting African 'territorial-political' organization and the current 'national-territorial' State inherited from the colonial period. Some of the key questions addressed can be spelled out as follows: What is the relationship between nationality and nationalism? What does nationalism mean in African