THE FIRST ETHIOPIANS, the image of Africa and Africans in the early Mediterranean world

328pp., b/w & colour illus., map, paperback, Johannesburg, 2009

Malvern van Wyk Smith on the images of Africa and Africans that evolved in the early Mediterranean world. He traces the roots of Western racism back to late New Kingdom Egypt, when its ruling elites sought to distance Egyptian civilisation from its African origins.

Malvern van Wyk Smith is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at Rhodes University.