Featuring republished texts by seminal theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries and newly commissioned essays by some of today’s leading artists and writers, Living with Ghosts: A Reader explores the ways that Africa’s unresolved colonial traumas and its unfulfilled project of decolonization haunt the present global order. This reader expands on these complex ideas through philosophical, historical and literary approaches. Reprinted texts by thinkers such as Achille Mbembe, C.L.R. James and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni explore the historical experiences of the African postcolony and the problematics of decolonization. Meditations on artists including John Akomfrah and Abraham Oghobase provide engaging entry points to their work. Also featured is a conversation between Bouchra Khalili and KJ Abudu.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Living With Ghosts, Pace Gallery, London, 2022

Edited with text and interview by KJ Abudu. Interview by Bouchra Khalili

Contributors include: Achille Mbembe, Jacques Derrida, C.L.R. James, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Emmanuel Iduma, Walter D. Mignolo, Avery F. Gordon, Adjoa Armah and Joshua Segun-Lean