A comprehensive evaluation of how to read African history.
Writing African History is an essential work for anyone who wants to
write, or even seriously read, African history. It will replace Daniel
McCall's 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.
Africa in Time Perspective was written in the 1960s, when African
history was a new field of research. This new book reflects the
development of African history since then. It opens with a comprehensive
introduction by Daniel McCall, followed by a chapter by the editor
explainingwhat African history is [and is not] in the context of
historical theory and the development of historical narrative, the
humanities, and social sciences. The first half of the book focuses on
sources of historical data while thesecond half examines different
perspectives on history. The editor's final chapter explains how to
combine various sorts of evidence into a coherent account of African
history. Writing African History will become the most important guide to
African history for the 21st century.
Contributors: Bala Achi, Isaac Olawale Albert, Diedre L. Badéjo,
Dorothea Bedigian, Barbara M. Cooper, Henry John Drewal, Christopher
Ehret, Toyin Falola, David Henige, Joseph E. Holloway, John Hunwick, S.
O. Y. Keita, William G. Martin, Daniel McCall, Susan Keech McIntosh,
Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu, Kathleen Sheldon, John Thornton, and Masao
Yoshida.
John Edwards Philips is professor of international society, Hirosaki
University, and author of Spurious Arabic: Hausa and Colonial Nigeria
[Madison, University of Wisconsin African Studies Center, 2000].
