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African historiography

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African historiography
historiography
Facet giveAfrica Edit
Main subjecthistory of Africa Edit

African historiography be one branch of history work wey study how people dey write den interpret African history. Since chaw African societies no dey write things down early, dem use oral tradition (wey be storytelling, songs, proverbs, den memory) to keep record. Secof dat, African historians today dey use different modern methods, wey dey include oral stories, den things from oda areas like archaeology den linguistics, to build African history. Dis be why African historiography no dey exactly like oda continents dema own — e dey more multidisciplinary.

For de past, African oral history use different people for de community — like elders, chiefs, griots — to form one kind of community-agreed history. But de first people wey write about Africa be foreigners, wey na dem cam plus dema own bias. During colonial times, de kind history wey white people write be Eurocentric, wey na dem even bring racist theories like de Hamitic hypothesis, wey talk say only outsiders bring civilisation cam Africa.

Na dem start dey organize proper African historiography around de mid-20th century. At dat time, na African historians begin dey fight back those colonial lies, wey na dem write history wey go make Africans proud den support new nation states after independence. Dem begin take oral stories serious, den combine am plus things like archaeology den language studies. Later, as people begin feel more worried about Africa’s future, Marxist ideas enter de conversation. Dis one help historians study colonialism insyd a deeper den more critical way.

From 1981, UNESCO start publish de General History of Africa, plus African experts from different countries as editors.

De Concept of Africa

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Der be vast amounts of ecological, cultural, linguistical, den religious diversity insyd Africa. Valentin Mudimbe dey note say na de idea of Africa dem first make wey be used by non-Africans, particularly Europeans. Na de concept be appropriated by diasporic Africans during abolitionist movements insyd de 19th century as intellectuals sought an "African homeland", plus dema removal from de continent wey dey enable dem to view am as a whole. Na dis plant de roots of pan-Africanist thought, however for chaw na e be de shared experience of colonial rule den resistance to am wey foster a unified African identity.[1]

History

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Traditional oral historiography den early written history

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Insyd Africa, na dem undertake historiography traditionally by oral historians, either specialists such as de griots of West Africa, "men of memory", anaa elders.[2] In accordance plus African cosmology, na African historical consciousness view historical change den continuity, order den purpose within de framework of human den dema environment, de gods, den dema ancestors.[3] Insyd African societies, de historical process be largely a communal one, plus eyewitness accounts, hearsay, reminiscences, den occasionally visions, dreams, den hallucinations dem craft into narrative oral traditions wich dem perform, sometimes e be accompanied by music, den transmitted thru generations.[4] Insyd oral tradition, time be sometimes mythical den social, wey ancestors be considered historical actors. Origin myths serve multiple purposes, wey dey help to define a group ein identity den forge sociocultural alliances, den provide de fulcrum on wich a group ein religious ideology dey rest.[5] Na traditions offer a socially consolidated version of de past, den often include de origins of institutions, wey dey embed political authority. Insyd stateless societies, clan histories be predominated.[6]

Na dem develop sam African writing systems anaa dem adapt insyd ancient den recent history. One of de most notable ancient languages be de hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt, wich na dem attest dem be used for historical records from c. 1580 BCE.[7] Following de discovery of de Rosetta Stone insyd 1799, na historians be able to decipher hieroglyphs den access a new field of Ancient Egyptian history,[8] however na dem untake dis field predominantly by European historians. Sam ancient external sources dey include Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 230 CE) den Ptolemy ein Geography (c. 140 CE).[9] Insyd Abyssinia, na dem inscribe during de Aksumite period (c. 100 – c. 960 CE) histories insyd Geʽez on stelae, thrones, den obelisks, and recounted a ruler ein reign, recording various historical events such as military campaigns, diplomatic missions, den acts of philanthropy.[10] From de 13th century, na written imperial chronicles predominate, such as de Chronicles of the Wars of Amda Sion (14th c.).[11][12] Following de spread of Islam, der sanso be chaw of written records insyd Arabic from Islamic scholars such as al-Masudi, al-Idrisi, Leo Africanus, al-Bakri, Ibn Battuta, den Ibn Furtu. Na dem include observations of local societies, den sometimes utilised oral sources, wey dey embody bias towards Muslim rulers while dem dey denigrate non-believers. Insyd West Africa den de Swahili coast na Africans use Arabic anaa dem adapt de Arabic script into Ajami for dema languages, den works wey na dem wrep insyd Akan, Fula, Yoruba, Hausa, den Swahili. Na sam be chronicles wich literarily record oral tradition, such as de Kilwa Chronicle (16th c.), Timbuktu Chronicles (17th c.), Kitab Gonja (18th c.), Funj Chronicle (early 19th c.), den Kano Chronicle (c. 1880s).

References

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  1. ↑ Reid, Richard; Parker, John (2013-10-01), Parker, John; Reid, Richard (eds.), "Introduction African Histories: Past, Present, and Future", The Oxford Handbook of Modern African History, Oxford University Press, p. 0, ISBN 978-0-19-957247-2, retrieved 2025-01-26
  2. ↑ Zewde, Bahru (2000). African Historiography: Past, Present and Future (Report). Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa & Association of African Historians 2000.
  3. ↑ Ajaegbo, D.I. (1990). "African Historiographical Traditions from the Earliest Times to the Second World War: An Analytical Survey". Transafrican Journal of History. 19: 139–151. ISSN 0251-0391. JSTOR 24328680.
  4. ↑ Vansina, Jan (1985). Oral tradition as history. Internet Archive. Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-10214-2.
  5. ↑ Aderinto, Saheed (2017). African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations.
  6. ↑ Odhiambo, E. S. Atieno (2004). "The Usages of the past: African historiographies since independence". African Research and Documentation (in English). 96: 3–61. doi:10.1017/S0305862X00014369. ISSN 0305-862X.
  7. ↑ Allen, James P. Middle Egyptian : an introduction to the language and culture of hieroglyphs. ISBN 9781107283930. OCLC 884615820.
  8. ↑ Powell, Barry B. (2009). Writing : theory and history of the technology of civilization. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405162562. OCLC 269455610.
  9. ↑ Anyake, Joseph B. C. (2005). "History, African: Sources of". In Shillington, Kevin (ed.). Encyclopedia of African History. Fitzroy Dearborn. pp. 636–650. ISBN 1-57958-245-1.
  10. ↑ Lorenzi, James De (2015). Guardians of the Tradition: Historians and Historical Writing in Ethiopia and Eritrea (in English). Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-58046-519-9.
  11. ↑ Iggers, George (2015). "The role of Marxism in Sub-Saharan and South African historiography". In Wang, Q. Edward; Iggers, Georg G. (eds.). Marxist Historiographies: A Global Perspective. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315686004. ISBN 978-1-315-68600-4.
  12. ↑ Fage, John (1981). "The development of African historiography". General History of Africa: Volume 1. UNESCO Publishing.

Read further

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  • Alagoa, Ebiegberi J., "The Practice of History in Africa: A History of African Historiography." Onyoma Research Publications (2006)
  • Bates, Robert H., Vumbi Yoka Mudimbe, and Jean F. O'Barr, eds. Africa and the disciplines: The contributions of research in Africa to the social sciences and humanities (U of Chicago Press, 1993).
  • Brown, Karen. "‘Trees, forests and communities’: some historiographical approaches to environmental history on Africa." Area 35.4 (2003): 343-356. online
  • Clarence-Smith, William G. "For Braudel: A Note on the 'École des Annales' and the Historiography of Africa." History in Africa 4 (1977): 275–281.
  • Cooper, Frederick. "Decolonizing Situations: The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Colonial Studies, 1951-2001," French Politics, Culture, and Society 20#2 (2002): 47–76.
  • Curtin, Philip, et al. African History: From Earliest Times to Independence (2nd ed. 1995), a standard history; 546 pages0
  • Curtin, Philip D. African history (1964) 80pp; online
  • Engelbrecht, C. "Marx’s Theory of Colonisation and Contemporary Eastern Cape (South Africa) Historiography." (2012) online
  • Etherington, Norman. "Recent trends in the historiography of Christianity in Southern Africa." Journal of Southern African Studies 22.2 (1996): 201–219.
  • Hetherington, Penelope. "Women in South Africa: the historiography in English." International Journal of African Historical Studies 26.2 (1993): 241–269.
  • Hopkins, A. G. "Fifty years of African economic history." Economic History of Developing Regions 34.1 (2019): 1–15.
  • Iliffe, John. Africans: The History of a Continent (1995; 3rd ed/ 2017) online, a standard history.
  • Ki-Zerbo, Joseph, ed. UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. I, Methodology and African Prehistory (1981), unabridged online 850pp; also abridged edition 368pp (U of California Press, 1981)
    • Fage, J. D. "The development of African historiography." pp 25–42
    • Curtin, P.D. "Recent trends in African historiography and their contribution to history in general" pp 54–71.
  • MacGaffey, Wyatt. "Concepts of race in the historiography of Northeast Africa." Journal of African History (1966): 1–17. online
  • Manning, Patrick. "African and world historiography." Journal of African History (2013): 319–330. online
  • Martin, William G., William Martin, and Michael Oliver West, eds. Out of one, many Africas: Reconstructing the study and meaning of Africa (U of Illinois Press, 1999).
  • Maylam, Paul. South Africa's racial past: The history and historiography of racism, segregation, and apartheid (Routledge, 2017).
  • Roberts, A. D. "The Earlier Historiography of Colonial Africa" History in Africa, Vol. 5 (1978), pp. 153–167. online
  • Robertshaw, Peter. "Rivals no more: Jan Vansina, precolonial African historiography, and archaeology." History in Africa 45, no. 1 (2018): 145–160.
  • Whitehead, Clive. "The historiography of British imperial education policy, Part II: Africa and the rest of the colonial empire." History of Education 34.4 (2005): 441–454. online
  • Zewde, Bahru. "African historiography: Past, present and future." Afrika Zamani: revue annuelle d'histoire africaine/Annual Journal of African History 7-8 (2000): 33–40.
  • Zimmerman, Andrew. "Africa in imperial and transnational history: Multi-sited historiography and the necessity of theory." Journal of African History (2013): 331–340. online

Regions

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  • Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku. Themes in West Africa's History (2006) 323pp.
  • Burton, Andrew, and Michael Jennings. "Introduction: The emperor's new clothes? Continuities in governance in late colonial and early postcolonial East Africa." International Journal of African Historical Studies 40.1 (2007): 1-25. online
  • Borutta, Manuel, and Sakis Gekas. "A colonial sea: The Mediterranean, 1798–1956." European Review of History 19.1 (2012): 1-13' North Africa online
  • Cobley, Alan. "Does social history have a future? The ending of apartheid and recent trends in South African historiography." Journal of Southern African Studies 27.3 (2001): 613–625.
  • Dueck, Jennifer M. "The Middle East and North Africa in the imperial and post-colonial historiography of France." Historical Journal (2007): 935–949. online
  • Dueppen, Stephen A. "The archaeology of West Africa, ca. 800 BCE to 1500 CE." History Compass 14.6 (2016): 247–263.
  • Fage, J. D. A Guide to Original Sources for Precolonial Western Africa Published in European Languages (2nd ed. 1994); updated in Stanley B. Alpern, ed. Guide to Original Sources for Precolonial Western Africa (2006).
  • Gjersø, Jonas Fossli. "The scramble for East Africa: British motives reconsidered, 1884–95." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 43.5 (2015): 831–860. online
  • Greene, S. E. Sacred Sites and the Colonial Encounter: A History of Meaning and Memory in Ghana (2002)
  • Hannaford, Matthew J. "Pre-Colonial South-East Africa: Sources and Prospects for Research in Economic and Social History." Journal of Southern African Studies 44.5 (2018): 771–792. online
  • Heckman, Alma Rachel. "Jewish Radicals of Morocco: Case Study for a New Historiography." Jewish Social Studies 23.3 (2018): 67–100. online
  • Lemarchand, René. "Reflections on the recent historiography of Eastern Congo." Journal of African History 54.3 (2013): 417–437. online
  • Mann, Gregory. "Locating colonial histories: between France and West Africa." American Historical Review 110.2 (2005): 409–434. focus on local memories and memorials online
  • Reid, Richard. "Time and distance: Reflections on local and global history from East Africa." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 29 (2019): 253–272. online
  • Reid, Andrew. "Constructing history in Uganda." Journal of African History 57.2 (2016): 195–207. online
  • Soares, Benjamin. "The historiography of Islam in West Africa: an anthropologist's view." Journal of African History 55.1 (2014): 27–36. online
  • Tonkin, Elizabeth. Narrating our pasts: The social construction of oral history (Cambridge university press, 1995), on West Africa
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