Ebron associate professor of anthropology, stanford university national humanities center fellow national humanities center culture, this acted document. Documentary sources and methods for precolonial african history. Black africa made a later appearance both in written history and as a field of modern research. To reach them often requires a considerable expenditure of time and money, quite apart from the necessary linguistic knowledge. This has a tremendously distorting effect on our perception of the past. Pdf written sources about africa and their study researchgate. Academic writing sources are the materials used by the writer to gather information about their subject. What are the disadvantages of written sources of history. Unesco eolss sample chapters world civilizations and history of human development african civilizations. It will replace daniel mccalls classic africa in time perspective as the introduction to african history for the next generation and as a reference for professional historians, interested readers, and anyone who wants to understand how african history is written. Historians analyze multiple sources using evidence from primary sources. The general history of africa gha is a pioneering corpus, unparalleled in its ambition to cover the history of the entire african continent, since the appearance of human beings to contemporary challenges faced by africans and their diasporas in the world.
Carr, cannot be written unless the historian can achieve some kind of contact with those about whom he is writing. This interactive animation explains the various types of historical sources and its importance in the construction of history. The decisions made in this regard can be vital and can bring about a balanced and well written history as opposed to a biased and perhaps self serving piece of work which could be constructed through the selective use. From the precolonial to the modern day toyin falola and tyler fleming encyclopedia of life support systems eolss and along the swahili coastline of east africa, vast trade networks developed.
The written sources for african history are scattered throughout the world, often in archives to which access is difficult. World civilizations and history of human development african civilizations. The written sources of history are the documents that have recorded through the written word the events that have happened in a certain period of time written sources are composed of chronicles, journals, books, novels, blogs, periodicals, letters, maps, telegrams, censuses and other documents with statistics, yearbooks, dissertations, laws, documents issued by the government, or handwritten. Apr 07, 2017 this interactive animation explains the various types of historical sources and its importance in the construction of history. Developed by the history project sites at csu dominguez hills and long beach what are secondary sources and other informational sources. What are the advantages of a written source in history answers. Why must we leave the best thing like a book sources of the africanamerican past. Historiography and methods of african history african. Basil davidsons book old africa rediscovered i 959 was the first major survey of african history before the arrival of the europeans. Using an array of sources, these scholars were successful in showing that africa not. The paucity of written records has been grounds for dismissal of the notion of african historymost notoriously in the case of hegel, who in ignorance wrote off the home of the human speciesand more recently a cause of pride among african intellectuals who have asserted the value of the oral tradition in the face of skepticism rooted in. Sources of african history essay sample sample essays. Aht 100 sources of african history kenyatta university.
The deficiencies of the written, contemporary sources have made historians of traditional societies to seek data from alternative sources, particularly oral tradition mainly in the form of myth, legend, song, and popular history. A discussion of historical reconstruction from unwritten sources, john edward phillips and a team of experts in different fields have produced. Lafkioui paris, was dedicated to the study of written sources about africa, and a significant number of contributions dealt with manuscript studies. Yet how might one gain access to areas of the past.
African sources for african history intends to give african viewpoints a more central place in the writing of african history, by making african perspectives more easily available. Forty years after the publication of daniel mccalls. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and. What are the advantages of a written source in history. Apr 16, 2020 primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or participant in an event. The conference was organized into panels focusing on linguistics and philology, history, sources, and persons linked. Sources and methods in african history ut liberal arts. Link to one of the megasites which track web resources. The challenge is how to recover local ways of knowing and being in societies far different from the perspectives of both the contemporary scholar and the authors of many of the sources used to write history. Spurred in part by the ongoing reevaluation of sources and methods in research, african historiography in the past two decades has been characterized by the continued branching and increasing sophistication of methodologies and areas of specialization. Writing african history has been challenging and mostly difficult, due to a. This is a short history of africa excluding egypt, ethiopia and dutch and british south africa, which are the subjects of separate histories. To what extent is historical linguistics useful in the reconstruction of the bantu origin and expansion.
Through mining textual evidence, historians invoke cultural worlds and open windows onto history. Sources the problem of sources is a serious challenge to the historian in the task of reconstructing the past. In addition to direct links to documents, links are made to a number of other web resources. Use any of them in the reconstruction of west african medieval history. The era of decolonization and the immediate postindependence years witnessed a growing rank of africanists vigorously reject this eurocentric and antiafrican historical epistemology that privileged civilization and written sources as the only rational bases for historical scholarship and that denied the possibility of civilization and history to smallscale and nonliterate societies dominant in africa. The primary sources, remnants and written documents are counted as more reliable than the oral history. The aim of african sources for african history is to establish a series of critical editions of indigenous african narrative sources for the history of subsaharan africa, accessible to scholars and students in africa and elsewhere. One studies african history to be able to appreciate the use of other sources in the writing and reconstruction of african history apart from written sources. Arabic script is mainly used in north africa and geezethiopic script is dominant in the horn of africa. Spoken, written, unearthed toyin falola and christian jennings editors university of rochester press 2004 sources and methods have been an ongoing concern in african history since the early years of its development as a field of academic specialization. Origins of african history 1 concept of two africas 2 the relationship between african history and world history 2 sources of african history 4 oral traditions 5 written sources 11 historical linguistics 14 anthropology 17 archaelogy 24 origins and evolution of man 25 the aspects of human evolution influence of the environment on human life.
The first thing that leaps to mind is that the winners get to write history. Russell hamiltons chapter mentions the reasons that lusophone african literature was the first written, the last discovered. We intend to prepare you for the further topics which follow this lesson. Sources and methods in african history book description.
Mary beard points out that our knowledge of which emperors of rome were depraved by m. Types of sources california historysocial science project. Materials used to study history can be classified into three types. In addition, books written by the person whom one is studying or books written by people who took part in the event that one is studying may also be primary sources. The era of decolonization and the immediate postindependence years witnessed a growing rank of africanists vigorously reject this eurocentric and anti african historical epistemology that privileged civilization and written sources as the only rational bases for historical scholarship and that denied the possibility of civilization and history. African sources for african history intends to give african viewpoints a more central place in the writing of african history, by making african perspectives more. There are several sources of african history, one of which is a griot.
It might well be a document, and we often think of history as a textual discipline, based on the interpretation of written texts, but it might also be a building, a piece of art or an ephemeral object a train ticket, say, or perhaps a pair of shoes. Reviewed for hafrica by esperanza brizuelagarcia, history department, montclair. The earliest known recorded history arose in ancient egypt, and later in nubia, the sahel, the maghreb and the horn of. This information can be cross referenced and can help you with your. Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. No comprehensive study study of the written sources of african history has so far been made because of chronological or regional specialization. As stated earlier, this book discusses salient points of intellectual controversy and provocation. A griot is an oral historian that recounts the history of africa in song, story, or poetic form. The middle ground was held by those who accepted the 1 henige, oral tradition as a means of constructing the past in philips ed, writing african history, p. Written sources lie at the intersection between different approaches of research in humanities. African historiography and the challenges of european.
The problems associated with the sources for african history. The present volume is dedicated to the study of written sources about africa and. An advantage of using a written source in history is that the record gives an indication of the time period if happened in. General history of africa unesco in 1964, the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization unesco launched an unprecedented task. Chapter one of this book presents a synopsis of the sources of the african history, followed by a selection of sixteen chapters. The era of decolonization and the immediate postindependence years witnessed a growing rank of africanists vigorously reject this eurocentric and antiafrican historical epistemology that privileged civilization and written sources as the only rational bases for historical scholarship and that denied the possibility of civilization and history. From the precolonial to the modern day toyin falola and tyler fleming encyclopedia of life support systems eolss people have lived in africa for more than three million years, and thus it possesses a rich and varied history. Prejudice against black africans in particular, which goes far back in history, has meant that african history has been dictated by eurocentric or even racist research.
They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created during the time period that you are studying. Historiography was more recently defined as the study of the way history has been and is written the history of historical writing, which means that, when you study historiography you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians. Any leftover of the past can be considered a source. They are used to support arguments and theories given by historians and students of history. The quality of a historical study is determined largely by the manner in which sources are collected and used. African history has been a challenge for researchers because of scarce written sources in many regions, especially sub saharan africa. Primary sources can come in many forms, from an official. Secondary sources are created by historians after the time if the event.
Sources of african history a source of history can be divided into two big groups, remnants and storytelling which usually are called primary and secondary sources. The deficiencies of the written, contemporary sources have made historians of traditional societies to seek data from alternative sources, particularly oral tradition. Why must we leave the best thing like a book sources of the african american past. Shortly before her death in 1962 karen blixen wrote in her. An introduction to african history university of nairobi. Historians and other scholars rely on primary sources to conduct research. Dec 10, 2007 no comprehensive study study of the written sources of african history has so far been made because of chronological or regional specialization. Spurred in part by the ongoing reevaluation of sources and methods in research, african historiography in the past two decades has been characterized by the. The written sources for african history are scattered through out the world, often in archives to which access is difficult. Discuss the view that archaeology is the backbone of african history. This book is a vivid, pictorial account of struggle and survival, resilience and achievement, discrimination and identity. And, as davidson states, for anyone who knows the beauty and value of mankind, there can be. Historiography and historical skills history textbook.
Writing african history is an essential work for anyone who wants to write, or even seriously read, african history. A history of twentiethcentury african literatures edited by oyekan owomoyela. Letters, diaries, speeches, interviews, periodical literature and newspapers from the time are all examples of primary sources. Primary sources may include diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays. Some of the history of these countries, however, is naturally mentioned in this history of the rest of africa but is kept to the minimum needed to make the rest comprehensible. Written sources about africa and their study universitat hamburg. Ebron associate professor of anthropology, stanford university. Each of these chapters begins with a short introduction unifying them by indicating connecting links. Documentary sources for precolonial african history.
A discussion of historical sources and the problems posed. Oral traditions as sources oxford research encyclopedia. The history of africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans andat least 200,000 years agoanatomically modern humans homo sapiens, in east africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. The timbuktu manuscripts rediscovering a written source of african law in the era of the african renaissance nmi goolam africa is the mother of civilisation itself. Use any text written by a european or an african author and. The goal of african history is not only to establish a chronology of events but also to recover the past from the local african perspective. The writing systems of africa refer to the current and historical practice of writing systems on the african continent, both indigenous and those introduced today, the latin script is commonly encountered across africa, especially subsaharan africa. Documentary sources and methods for precolonial african. Primary sources in american history 2nd edition can give more knowledge and information about everything you want. Prejudice against black africans in particular, which goes far back in history, has meant that african history has been dictated by. Pdf even though contemporary research on african languages and cultures is. An introduction to african history ogutu, matthias a. Its stress on indigenous african sources is also hoped to inspire individual researchers to search actively for african sources and to make these available to the. Oral traditions as sources oxford research encyclopedia of.
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