Dr. K. O=Mara

Office Hours: M 2-3;W 2-4;Th11-12

Fitzelle 335 or by appointment

Office Phone 436-2593 -- email: omarakk@oneonta.edu

dept:www.oneonta.edu/academics/africlat

 

                                                          ALS/History 104 – Fall 2005

                                                       Introduction to African History

                                                                IRC 8, 12-1:15 TuTh

                                                         SYLLABUS AND READINGS

 

 

 

Catalog Description:  An introduction to African history from antiquity to the present.  Ancient and medieval trading empires, the impact of the slave trade and colonialism are all treated along with some attention to current issues in Africa.  Offered every semester (LA, S, HO2).

 

Texts:   Shillington, Kevin. History of Africa, (London: MacMillan, 1989).

Niane, D.T. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, (Essex: Longman, 1988).

Farah, Nuruddin, Gifts. (London: Penguin, 1993)

(P) ALS/HIST 104 Packet of reprinted documents, folktales & news stories.

(V) video   (BB) Blackboard postings

 

Introduction:  Africa is usually in the news when there is a large scale crisis involving war, refugees, famine or disease. Internal conflicts are mostly explained in the media with stereotypes about “old tribal conflicts” which rarely affect the actual situation. And many Americans think of Africa as a country not a continent with 53 countries containing100s of different languages & ethnic groups. Non-tragic events in Africa do not make the daily news because it concerns people going about their daily lives, and making small gains. As a result, we have little awareness of our interconnections with Africa & its peoples, past or present, beyond a fleeting recognition of enslaved Africans’ legacy in ‘Africa America.’ This course aims to begin to reverse this knowledge gap.

 

Scope & Purpose:  This course will explore the rich and full narratives of Africa’s past through readings, lectures, discussions, and audiovisual material. Because there is so much to learn about Africa we cannot strive for exhaustive coverage. Rather, we will explore several themes in Africa's past. These include: Africa’s role in world history; environmental influences on African History; characteristic institutions in various regions; intellectual & political achievements of major African states/empires; key features of pre-colonial, colonial, & post colonial eras in Africa; the partial & contested nature of colonial control; and the roots of current problems in the upheavals of the 20th century. Attention will be directed throughout the course to Africa’s diverse artistic expressions.  Readings include primary documents written by Africans or visitors to Africa, novels, oral traditions, folktales, memoirs, & news accounts.

 

“Hanà wani, hanà kâi.” (If one refuses another, one refuses oneself, i.e., what goes around comes around) [Hausa proverb-Nigeria]

“If you have never drunk somebody else’s mother’s soup, you think only your mother’s soup is good.” [Ga proverb-Ivory Coast]

“God has given us mules, but no roads to ride on.” [Amhara proverb-Ethiopia]

 

Approaches to the topics & readings: To learn about Africa’s past by memorizing only the ‘facts’ of many different peoples’ experiences over millennia would prove exhausting. Instead, this course seeks to understand Africa’s peoples as not that different from ourselves. We shall aim to make sense by emphasizing themes, re-occurring responses by diverse peoples to similar politico-economic circumstances, and cultural techniques for interpreting reality. The themes go beyond local & regional events and acts of leaders (excellent or inadequate) to reveal recurrent patterns of historical change that have affected the whole continent. Hence, students should focus on selected factual examples primarily as they illustrate significant trends. This thematic approach requires each student to pay close attention to the first weeks’ lectures & readings to identify ‘key’ themes developed throughout the course. The assignments will test students’ efforts to draw these themes together in a coherent understanding of how and why people in Africa behaved as they did, both in culturally unique ways and in ways evident in history elsewhere.

     Students are responsible for following the course along three (3) reinforcing paths which are intended to balance a specific knowledge about ‘what happened’ and a general understanding of ‘how & why African peoples developed their lives’ as they did. This structure of “doing African History” involves:

 

 

 

* (1) Lectures which focus on general concepts, themes, & patterns; these illustrate general points with examples or case studies. The lectures are not intended to comprehensively cover ‘what happened.’ The lectures contain the conceptual language of the course. The videos & maps supplement the lectures as the visual language of the course.

 

* (2) Readings, especially Shillington, which present factual material, are to be completed before we discuss each topic in class. Each student is responsible to grasp the historical narrative in the readings & relate them to the themes discussed in previous lectures. Sometimes the text’s interpretations—meaning, significance of events—agrees with that of the lectures, sometimes not. The factual data in the texts is the course’s vocabulary.

 

* (3) The handout packet of readings & other texts provide a chance for students to grapple with some ‘technical’ problems historians face in reconstructing African history, i.e., using “oral traditions,” archaeology, genetic data, folktales, proverbs, and material arts as well as written sources. The rules of history (the disciplinary methods of history) comprise the grammar of African History.

 

* Students who integrate these 3 aspects of the course should develop an intelligent understanding of   what people in Africa have made of their lives & improve their analytic skills to understand other kinds of history.

 

Expectations of Students:

• (1) Geography is key to understanding Africa, so study the maps in Shillington. Three map exercises will be given. Your best 2 grades on maps comprise 5% of your grade.
• (2) As it is important for students to be familiar with basic facts and evaluate source materials and interpretations, students must stay current with the assigned readings. To prepare, students should answer the questions accompanying the syllabus topics.
• (3) Participation in discussion is integral to the learning process & will be graded (10%) as: (a) active & frequent; (b) consistent contributions; (c) present with occasional comments; (d) irregular presence/irrelevant participation; & (f) repeated absence or inattention.
• (4) Grades rest on evidence of learning in assignments and class discussion.

 

Week/Topic: Most topics will be covered in 3 classes-except #1, 14 & 15.  

 

1.   Africa and the World: past and present.  A snapshot of Africa's complex present as a prelude to an            examination of its past.  Images of Africa's present, myths of Africa=s past.  History as knowledge                production. Be prepared to discuss your assumptions about Africa and history in general.

Shillington, ch. 1          (P) 104 Packet, #1-2                                            (V) Afrika T.V. (excerpt)

 

2.   Mapping Africa -- ecology past and present: water resources; deserts, vegetation; climate and disease. Human origins and the beginning of community (25,000-5,000 BCE), settled society (5000-1000 BCE). African families & other collectivities. Continuous institutions and common social patterns. Be prepared to discuss environmental influences on African history.

Shillington, ch. 1;                 (P) 104 Packet, #3-6;                      (V) Manmade Famine (excerpt)

 

3.   Ancient Africa in World History. The challenge of agriculture. Ancient Egypt (3500-500BCE): culture, economy & technology.  Africa & the debate about the origins of western civilization. Be prepared to discuss sources of ancient history.

Shillington, ch. 2-4                                      (V) Different but Equal, Black Athena (clips)

(P) 104 Packet # 7 (pyramid text)

 

4.   Classical North East Africa:

      Early trans-Saharan trade.  The Upper Nile: Kush and Axum. Origins of African Christianity. Be prepared to   discuss the contributions of Nile Valley civilizations & current debates about them.

             Shillington, ch. 5

             (P) 104 Packet # 8-10 (Solomon & Sheba)                             (V) Mysteries of Kush, The Holy Land

      

 

5.   Medieval Trading Empires: Commerce, cities & statecraft-- 1) State formation and long distance trade; 2) Militarization –the adoption of horses and Islam; 3) Sudanic states--Ghana, Mali, Songhay, 700-1600 CE); 4) Swahili city-states of E. Africa 1000-1500 CE;    5) Great Zimbabwe (800-1500 CE)

       Be prepared to discuss oral traditions as history and to discuss Islam’s role in economic history.