Philip L. DE BARROS

Western theories of political economy vs. those applicable to Sub-Saharan Africa.  I have already published on this topic (2012) and interested in doing cross-cultural comparisons of African political systems ranging from low to high levels of complexity, from heterarchical to hierarchical systems.  It is my experience that many western theories/models of political economies are not well-suited to a majority of African political systems. I have spent 14 years living in Togo as a Peace Corps Volunteer and administrator (7.5 years), as well as a researcher for over 40 years, largely in the Bassar region of northern Togo, as well as an archaeological survey in the Oti River Valley looking for evidence of the Kintampo civilization, and the excavation of a Later Stone Age rockshelter trying to examine the transition between the LSA and ironworking.

I am interested in the societal transition from stone-working to ironworking technology in Africa, where the Stone Age was succeeded by the Metal Age (copper, bronze, brass, iron) without a long period of working copper and bronze prior to iron, except in the NE Africa (especially Egypt & Nubia).