Africana

See also: africana

English

Etymology

From Latin āfricāna, the neuter plural of āfricānus (“African”). By surface analysis, Africa +‎ -ana (“things (plural)”), analogous to Americana. First attested in 1908.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæfɹɪˈkænə/, /ˌæfɹɪˈkɑnə/, /ˌæfɹɪˈkeɪnə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Af‧ri‧ca‧na
• Rhymes: -ɑːnə

Noun

Africana pl (plural only)

1. Collectible objects, such as maps, documents and artifacts, peculiar to Africa, especially Southern Africa.

   Africana is a word of many different meanings; to one it means books and other printed or manuscript material, to another it means objects other than books. For Africana Notes and News it is used in its widest sense ... it is restricted only from a geographical point of view; it denotes not the whole of Africa but only Southern Africa. (Africana Notes & News, 1943)

2. The various cultures and peoples of Africa and the African diaspora, considered collectively.

Usage notes

"Africana studies" is a hypernym with subdisciplines including African studies, African American studies, etc.

References

• “Africana”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “Africana”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.