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The University of Wisconsin Press is pleased to announce the launch of a new book series, Yorùbá Worlds, edited by Toyin Falola. Publishing innovative book-length works and privileging Yorùbá voices, this multidisciplinary series is intended to answer urgent calls to decentralize colonial narratives of Africa and its diaspora and elevate Indigenous knowledge systems, oral histories, and community-centered approaches. “The long and diverse history of the Yorùbá people, from precolonial times to today, included notable achievements in political systems, economic ties, cultural innovations, multireligious interactions, and global continuities,” says series editor Toyin Falola. “This series highlights Yorùbá voices and knowledge systems, focusing on agency and communities in both Africa and the diaspora, to deepen understanding of ongoing developments and potential related to identity, spirituality, decolonization, and transnationalism. I am excited about the opportunity to showcase and curate a wide range of innovative, cutting-edge, and multidisciplinary scholarship that offers new insights into the history, cultures, and intellectual contributions of what is perhaps Africa’s most significant and most widely dispersed group, the Yorùbá.” The Yorùbá people have a long history of producing remarkable cultural forms, intellectual traditions, and influential historical narratives. The history of Yorùbá civilization is exemplified by precolonial urbanized city-states such as Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Ọ̀yọ́, and Ibadan, each of which had administrative structures in place. As Yorùbá people dispersed globally, their religious beliefs, languages, and cultures were foundational to forming Afro-diasporic identity in Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, Haiti, and the United States. Yorùbá legacy, both within the African continent and among members of the global diaspora, has intensified in the contemporary period, as seen in the vibrancy of the religious expressions of Santeria and Candomblé, the explosion of Afrobeats, Yorùbá films, and transnational repatriation projects, among others. Yorùbá Worlds is a multidisciplinary series that aims to showcase this vibrant legacy by compiling various perspectives. In addition to rigorous analyses of Yorùbá contributions to global intellectual, political, and cultural histories, the series will collapse some distance between academic inquiry and the wider world. The series will also be essential for understanding how African epistemologies continue to shape contemporary conversations about identity, spirituality, decolonization, and transnationalism. Editor in chief Dan Crissman notes, “The University of Wisconsin Press is a recognized leader in publishing groundbreaking and essential work in African studies. We are very pleased to partner with Dr. Falola to shine a spotlight on Yorùbá history and culture.” Series editor Toyin Falola is Distinguished Teaching Professor and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin. Falola is the author or editor of more than 150 books on African history, politics, and society. He is the recipient of twenty-eight honorary doctorates from around the world as well as more than forty lifetime achievement awards. The series advisory board includes Olufunke Adeboye (University of Lagos), Akintunde Akinyemi (University of Florida at Gainesville), Andrew Apter (University of California, Los Angeles), Matt D. Childs (University of South Carolina),Henry Lovejoy (University of Colorado Boulder), Akin Ogundiran (Northwestern University), Bola Sotunsa (Babcock University), Aribidesi Usman (Arizona State University), Olufemi Vaughan (Amherst College), and John Thabiti Willis(Grinnell College). The first book in the series, Joseph Odùmósù’s Book of Healing, edited and translated by Michael Ọládẹ̀jọ Afọláyan and Helen Tilley, will be published in January 2026. For more information about submissions, please contact Dan Crissman, editor in chief, at dcrissman@wisc.edu. For other inquiries, please contact the series editor, Toyin Falola, at toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu. About the University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press is a not-for-profit publisher of books and journals. With more than 1,500 titles and 8,000 peer-reviewed articles in print, its mission embodies the Wisconsin Idea by publishing work of distinction that serves the people of Wisconsin and the world. Contact Information Dan Crissman, Editor in Chief, University of Wisconsin Press Contact Email dcrissman@wisc.edu