Theorizing African Studies /History & Societies
Changing Horizons of African History by Location: DT19 .C53 2017ISBN: 9781569024980Publication Date: 2016-12-01
Patrimoine et Sources Historiques En Afrique by Location: DT19 .P38 2007ISBN: 9789299002070Publication Date: 2007
Invention of Women : making an African sense of Western gender discourses by
The "woman question," this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western construction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures. Author Oyeronke Oyewumi reveals an ideology of biological determinism at the heart of Western social categories-the idea that biology provides the rationale for organizing the social world. And yet, she writes, the concept of "woman," central to this ideology and to Western gender discourses, simply did not exist in Yorubaland, where the body was not the basis of social roles. Oyewumi traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed and that the subordination of women is universal. The Invention of Women demonstrates, to the contrary, that gender was not constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age. A meticulous historical and epistemological account of an African culture on its own terms, this book makes a persuasive argument for a cultural, context-dependent interpretation of social reality. It calls for a reconception of gender discourse and the categories on which such study relies. More than that, the book lays bare the hidden assumptions in the ways these different cultures think. A truly comparative sociology of an African culture and the Western tradition, it will change the way African studies and gender studies proceed.
Location: Mugar Stacks DT515.45.Y67 O94 1997ISBN: 0816624410Publication Date: 1997-10-01
The Practice of History in Africa by
"The Practice of History in Africa offers a history of African historiography from an African perspective. It attempts to answer some of the questions concerning the practice of history from the civilizations of ancient Egypt, through the varied cultures and regions of the continent to contemporary times." "The book presents the philosophy of the oral tradition as it co-existed and co-exists with the written traditions of ancient Egypt, the Islamic tradition, and the western European tradition of historiography."--BOOK JACKET.
Location: D13.5.A37 A43 2006ISBN: 9783731475Publication Date: 2003-03-01
Sources and Methods in African History by
Spurred in part by the ongoing re-evaluation 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. The rate of incorporation of new sources and methods into African historical research shows no signs of slowing. This book is both a snapshot of current academic practice and an attempt to sort through some of the problems scholars face within this unfolding web of sources and methods. The book is divided into five sections, each of which begins with a short introduction by a distinguished Africanist scholar. The first section deals with archaeological contributions to historical research. The second section examines the methodologies involved in deciphering historically accurate African ethnic identities from the records of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The third section mines old documentary sources for new historical perspectives. The fourth section deals with the method most often associated with African historians, that of drawing historical data from oral tradition. The fifth section is devoted to essays that present innovative sources and methods for African historical research. Together, the essays in this cutting-edge volume represent the current state of the art in African historical research.BR>Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Christian Jennings is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Texas at Austin.
Location: DT19 .S68 2003ISBN: 1580461344Publication Date: 2003
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Oral History & Tradition
African Words, African Voices by
Until the advent of African independence, Africans were not considered fitting subjects for historical research and their words, voices, and experiences were largely absent from the continent's history. In 13 lively and provocative essays focusing on all areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, oral sources are seen as a way to restore African expression to African history. African Words, African Voices evokes the richness and relevance of oral sources for understanding a complex past for readers at all levels. Contributors include E. J. Alagoa, David William Cohen, Laura Fair, Babacar Fall, Tamara Giles-Vernick, Isabel Hofmeyr, Abdullahi A. Ibrahim, Corinne A. Kratz, Stephan F. Miescher, Bethwell Allan Ogot, Megan Vaughan, Luise White, and Kwesi Yankah.
Location: Mugar Stacks DT19 .A348 2001ISBN: 9780253339485Publication Date: 2001-12-05- Patrimoine et Sources Historiques En Afrique by Location: DT19 .P38 2007ISBN: 9789299002070Publication Date: 2007
- The Practice of History in Africa by
"The Practice of History in Africa offers a history of African historiography from an African perspective. It attempts to answer some of the questions concerning the practice of history from the civilizations of ancient Egypt, through the varied cultures and regions of the continent to contemporary times." "The book presents the philosophy of the oral tradition as it co-existed and co-exists with the written traditions of ancient Egypt, the Islamic tradition, and the western European tradition of historiography."--BOOK JACKET.
Location: D13.5.A37 A43 2006ISBN: 9783731475Publication Date: 2003-03-01
- Sources and Methods in African History by
Spurred in part by the ongoing re-evaluation 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. The rate of incorporation of new sources and methods into African historical research shows no signs of slowing. This book is both a snapshot of current academic practice and an attempt to sort through some of the problems scholars face within this unfolding web of sources and methods. The book is divided into five sections, each of which begins with a short introduction by a distinguished Africanist scholar. The first section deals with archaeological contributions to historical research. The second section examines the methodologies involved in deciphering historically accurate African ethnic identities from the records of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The third section mines old documentary sources for new historical perspectives. The fourth section deals with the method most often associated with African historians, that of drawing historical data from oral tradition. The fifth section is devoted to essays that present innovative sources and methods for African historical research. Together, the essays in this cutting-edge volume represent the current state of the art in African historical research.BR>Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Christian Jennings is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Texas at Austin.
Location: DT19 .S68 2003ISBN: 1580461344Publication Date: 2003
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Pre-Modern History of Africa
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