Slide 4: Sources and Problems Of History Of Africa Flashcards
What are written sources ?
- Anything left behind by the past people
- Those written by third person using other sources
- Written courses are unevenly distributed in time and space for pre colonial Africa
- Interpretations of it is ambiguous, incomplete and full of prejudice ( use of “uncivilized” “savage”
- also tend to focus on political events and achievement of important individuals in society
What is oral histories ?
“A real living museum”
Often edited, amplified, and so on by narrator
Memory decays
Conserve and transmitter of visual and cultural narratives stored by people with no written records
Does not use chronological order and mostly focus on political events and individuals
What is linguistic evidence?
Language provides important info about African pop distribution
Language informs us about individuals sense of identity and membership of group
dating is difficult b/c what’s observe today may not be the same in the past
what is archeological evidence?
Reps a major source of info about Africa’s past
Not biased cuz it’s based on what’s left
Provides more opportunities to explore
What is ethnographic evidence ?
Ethnography is a systematic study of people and cultures
Studies the socio-cultural contexts, processes and meanings within cultural systems
Detailed documentation of change and continuity in the socio-cultural life of society
What is ethnographic methods?
Qualitative- observational
Participant observation includes participating in targeted societal activities of host community but may not occur b/c may not be allowed and can be dangerous —
What is structured interviews?
- Require adherence to very particular set of rules
- Goes into field
- Personal
- Cheap and saves times but cannot answer wide range of questions you want to cover
What is semi structured interviews ?
Doesn’t restrict you
Covers wide range by exploring participant responses by asking for clarification or additional info
Opens opportunities
More time and money but more info
What is unstructured interviews ?
Participants expresses the self freely
Used to find out as much info as possible
Time consuming because not organized
Describe features of Pre-colonial independence era before 1884
Features include African prehistory
Period of ancient African civilizations such as ancient Egypt, great Zimbabwe, Swahili states
Period of rise and fall African kingdoms such as ancient Ghana, Mali, Congo, Hausa city states
Development of indigenous political systems
Trans Atlantic slave trade
Describe colonial era 1884-1951
Period of direct European colonial rule
Suppression of African kingdoms and socio political systems
Replacement of African systems by colonial systems
Exploitation of Africans in Africa
Post colonial era 1951- Present
The period began with the independence of Libya in 1951 and continues to the present time
Began with the end of colonialism
Political independence
Emergence of 53 sovereign states
Neocolonialism: use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control / influence other countries
