You've probably already thought of this, but Mudimbe's *The
Surreptitious Speech* has some excellent essays, particularly in
part two, "The Question of an African History". The account of
*Presence Africaine*'s continuing efforts at representing Africa is
interestingly chronicled. The person who I bought the book from at
a shop in Ann Arbor basically said that the book changed his life.
I'm not sure its *that* good, but its worth looking at.