Introduction: Pragmatic literacy in Africa

Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for analyses of societies and their history. The state of research and reflection in this field is rich and diverse, especially for historiography in the West. But what about studies of the practices and uses of writing on the African continent during ancient and modern times, apart from the colonial period? Since new studies in historiography can now be used to reconsider the tools and topics of history...