Writing African History

548 Pages·2005·2.13 MB·English

by  John Edward Philips

John Edward Philips is Professor of International “African history has taken wing and spread into different questions Writing African History is an essential work for
Society, Hirosaki University, and author of and newer ways to answer those questions since Daniel McCall’s Philips anyone who wants to write, or even seriously
Africa in Time Perspective came out in 1964. To bring us up-to-
Spurious Arabic: Hausa and Colonial Nigeria read, African history. It will replace Daniel
date, John Philips has brought together an outstanding group of
(Madison, University of Wisconsin African scholars to introduce the questions that attract Africanists and McCall's classic Africa in Time Perspective as
Studies Center, 2000). the methods used to answer those questions. The result will the introduction to African history for the next
stimulate students and teachers and should be the standard work generation and as a reference for professional
on African history methodologies for years to come.” historians, interested readers, and anyone who
—Martin Klein, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto wants to understand how African history is
written. 
“Philips presents the first comprehensive update to foundational
    Africa in Time Perspective was written in the
methodological works from the 1960s on writing African history.
Writing African History looks great.  I'm sorry it's taken me a few days to get back to you.  The His scope is imaginative and wide, covering source methodologies 1960s, when African history was a new field of
author has since updated the blurb.  Please use the updated text listed below.  Also, please add and issues of perspective and interpretation. Contributors include research. This new book reflects the development
"Edited by" on the front cover in front of John Edward Philips name.  My color printout made it look recognized masters and thoughtful newcomers, with important of African history since then. It opens with a
like there is black in the background on the front cover, if so, can you make that a darker version statements from Africa-based scholars. The result is a serious, comprehensive introduction by Daniel McCall,
of the brown you are using in the main graphic so that it looks more like a sepia tone? balanced, and useful work.” followed by a chapter by the editor explaining
—Joseph C. Miller, T. Cary Johnson, Jr. Professor of History,
what African history is (and is not) in the context
University of Virginia
of historical theory and the development of
“African history has clearly come of age with this monumental, historical narrative, the humanities, and social
comprehensive guide. The volume demonstrates the wealth of sciences. The first half of the book includes
sources available for African historians, from the archaeological chapters on sources of historical data, including
and botanical to newly appreciated Arabic documents and
oral tradition (David Henige) and oral history
extensive African oral traditions. Philips is to be congratulated
on his eminently readable epilogue and background chapters that (Barbara Cooper), indigenous written documents
provide a unity all too often lacking in similar anthologies.” (John Hunwick), precolonial European
—Merrick Posnansky, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA documents (John Thornton), and colonial and
mission documents (Toyin Falola), as well as
“This is essential reading for anyone interested in African history. chapters on archaeology (Susan Keech
The essays, written by many of the leading experts in the field,
McIntosh), biology (Dorothea Bedigian), physical
brilliantly assess the current state of knowledge of the African
past and discuss how we have come to know what we think we anthropology (S.O.Y. Keita), and historical
know.” linguistics (Christopher Ehret). The second half
—Paul E. Lovejoy FRSC, Distinguished Research Professor, of the book includes chapters about different
Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History perspectives on history. Covered in this section
are social science (Isaac Olawale Albert), art
history (Henry John Drewal), Africanizing history
(Diedre L. Badejo), economic history (Masao
Yoshida), local history (Bala Achi), memory and
history (Donatien DIBWE dia Mwembu), world
systems theory (William G. Martin), African
links to the African diaspora (Joseph E.
Holloway), and gender perspectives (Kathleen
Sheldon). The editor's final chapter explains how
ISBN 1-58046-164-6 to combine various sorts of evidence into a
University of Rochester Press coherent account of African history. Writing
668 Mt. Hope Avenue African History will become the most important
Rochester, NY 14620, USA Edited BY guide to African history for the 21st century.
P.O. Box 9, Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK J o h n E d wa r d P h i l i p s
Jacket design: Lisa Mauro
www.urpress.com 9 781580 461641
WRITING AFRICAN HISTORY
Toyin Falola, Senior Editor
The Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History
University of Texas at Austin
(ISSN: 1092-5228)
Power Relations in Nigeria: Ilorin Black Business and Economic Power
Slaves and their Successors Edited by Alusine Jalloh
Ann O’Hear and Toyin Falola
Dilemmas of Democracy in Nigeria Voices of the Poor in Africa
Edited by Paul Beckett and Elizabeth Isichei
Crawford Young Colonial Rule and Crisis in Equatorial Africa:
Science and Power in Southern Gabon ca. 1850–1940
Colonial Mauritius Christopher J. Gray
William Kelleher Storey The Politics of Frenchness in
Colonial Algeria, 1930–1954
Namibia’s Post-Apartheid Regional
Jonathan K. Gosnell
Institutions: The Founding Year
Joshua B. Forrest Sources and Methods in African History:
Spoken, Written, Unearthed
A Saro Community in the Niger Delta,
Edited by Toyin Falola and
1912–1984: The Potts-Johnsons of
Christian Jennings
Port Harcourt and Their Heirs
Mac Dixon-Fyle Sudan’s Blood Memory: The Legacy of War,
Ethnicity, and Slavery in Early South Sudan
Contested Power in Angola:
Stephanie Beswick
1840s to the Present
Linda Heywood Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa:
Nation and African Modernity
Nigerian Chiefs: Traditional Power
Kwaku Larbi Korang
in Modern Politics, 1890s–1990s
Olufemi Vaughan Labour, Land, and Capital in Ghana:
From Slavery to Free Labour in Asante,
West Indians in West Africa, 1808–1880: 1807–1956
The African Diaspora in Reverse Gareth Austin
Nemata Blyden
Not So Plain as Black and White: Afro-
The United States and Decolonization German Culture and History, 1890–2000
in West Africa, 1950–1960 Edited by Patricia Mazón and
Ebere Nwaubani Reinhild Steingröver
Health, State, and Society in Kenya Writing African History
George Oduor Ndege Edited by John Edward Philips
WRITING AFRICAN HISTORY
Edited by
John Edward Philips
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS
Copyright © 2005 John Edward Philips
All Rights Reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this
work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in
public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by
any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2005
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN 1–58046–164–6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Writing African history / edited by John Edward Philips.
p. cm. – (Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora,
ISSN 1092-5228 v. 20)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58046-164-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Africa–Historiography. 2. Africa–History. I. Philips, John Edward,
1952- II. Series.
DT19.W75 2005
960(cid:1).072–dc22
2005000377
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
IN MEMORIAM
John Lavers
Boniface Obichere
Gloria Waite
And in special rememberance of Bala Achi

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Daniel McCall
Part I. Background
1 What is African History? 25
John Edward Philips
Part II. Sources of Data
2 Archaeology and the Reconstruction of the African Past 51
Susan Keech McIntosh
3 Writing African History from Linguistic Evidence 86
Christopher Ehret
4 Physical Anthropology and African History 112
S.O.Y. Keita
5 The Importance of Botanical Data to Historical Research
on Africa 152
Dorothea Bedigian
6 Oral Tradition as a Means of Reconstructing the Past 169
David Henige
7 Oral Sources and the Challenge of African History 191
Barbara M. Cooper
vii
viii Contents
8 Arabic Sources for African History 216
John Hunwick
9 European Documents and African History 254
John Thornton
10 Mission and Colonial Documents 266
Toyin Falola
Part III. Perspectives on History
11 Data Collection and Interpretation in the Social History
of Africa 287
Isaac Olawale Albert
12 African Economic History: Approaches to Research 308
Masao Yoshida
13 Signs of Time, Shapes of Thought: The Contributions
of Art History and Visual Culture to Historical Methods
in Africa 329
Henry John Drewal
14 Methodologies in Yorùbá Oral Historiography
and Aesthetics 348
Diedre L. Bádéjo
15 Local History in Post-Independent Africa 374
Bala Achi
16 Africa and World-Systems Analysis:
A Post-Nationalist Project? 381
William G. Martin
17 “What Africa Has Given America”: African Continuities
in the North American Diaspora 403
Joseph E. Holloway
18 History and Memory 439
Donatien Dibwe dia Mwembu
19 Writing About Women: Approaches to a Gendered
Perspective in African History 465
Kathleen Sheldon
Contents ix
Part IV. Conclusion
20 Writing African History 493
John Edward Philips
Contributors 511
Index 517