Birders of Africa History of a Network Nancy J. Jacobs

“Like the African honeyguide, Nancy Jacobs has led us to great riches. She beautifully describes the fascination of humans for birds, and thereby greatly illuminates (post-)colonial relations between humans.”—Robert Ross, Leiden University

“The author provides a thoughtful, timely and, in many respects, exhaustive study of the accumulation and exchange of bird lore in Africa. This work fills a notable gap in the (English, at least) literature with respect to African perceptions of what has traditionally been understood from a specifically North American/European perspective.”—Jill Payne, University of Cambridge

“In this adventurous narrative that explores how relationships between humans and birds determined the course of African ornithological knowledge, Jacobs challenges accepted stereotypes and charts a new direction in African history.”—Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa

“A masterful achievement, advancing our understanding of human knowledge about birds in Africa and the ways gender, culture, and empire shaped science, recreation, and individual lives.”—Thomas R. Dunlap, author of In the Field, Among the Feathered

“Jacobs takes readers on a sweeping history of birding in Africa and the relationships among ornithologists, guides, and recreational bird watchers that ensued. Its intimate and touching portraits of the lives of African collectors and guides reveals much about the power relations and changing dynamics of scientific work in colonial and post-colonial Africa.”—Gregg Mitman, author of Reel Nature: America’s Romance with Wildlife on Film

“In the territory in which she is working, Jacobs has no equal. The book covers a topic—relations of race and class within the African continent’s birdwatching community—that no one has addressed so synthetically and comprehensively until now.”—Daniel Lewis, author of The Feathery Tribe