Early African History through the Era of the Slave Trade
Fall 2008
From the mists of the once-dark continent’s unwritten past Early African History draws out Africans’ distinctive strategies and achievements in culture, politics, and economics. Starting broadly at the dawn of history and continuing in detail from the millennium before the Present Era, HIAF 201 follows the sometimes-surprising ways in which village elders, women, merchants, kings, cattle lords, and ordinary farmers pursued meaningful lives without the technologies that modern Americans take for granted. The last third of the course examines the ironic interplay of tragedy and ambition in a continent increasingly trapped in exiling its own people in slavery to Europeans, until the Atlantic slave trade began to wind down after about 1800. (A second semester of modern African history, HIAF 202, taught in spring semester, follows subsequent events down through twentieth-century colonialism and the post-1960 era of independence and impoverishment.)
HIAF 201 is an introductory lower-division survey. The instructor presents the major themes of the early history of the continent in lectures twice each week. Students meet additionally in discussion sections for reviews of readings, map quizzes, and preparation for written assignments. Requirements include weekly short map quizzes, short written responses to each class, a short paper reacting to assigned readings, and a take-home final exercise. The course belongs to the Afro-American and African Studies curriculum, qualifies for the new minor in African Studies, meets the “non-western/non-modern” requirement for the major in History, counts as an adjunct course for Studies in Women and Gender, and qualifies for the College “non-western perspectives” area requirement.
After an opening consideration of Mistaking Africa (Keim) in modern American culture, readings revolve around weekly assignments in texts of varying perspectives (Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, and Newman, Peopling of Africa – subject to revision upon availability of a superior alternative). Other chapters and professional articles introduce the distinctive methodologies of doing history without written sources (including the famous Mande oral epic Sundiata), highlight interpretive (“historiographical”) issues, and consider concepts relevant to understanding early Africa.
No formula determines final marks for HIAF 201. Students are graded according to their “highest consistent performance” in all aspects of the course, including attendance at lectures and participation in discussions, with ample allowance made for the unfamiliarity of the subject matter early in the term; options allow students to devise personal combinations of graded work that allow each one to take advantage of specialized abilities and accommodate other academic commitments.
HIAF 201 presumes no prior knowledge of Africa or experience with the study of history. However, consistent application and preparation are expected, particularly early in the term, since the subject is new to nearly everyone in the course. Students in all four years of their undergraduate careers and in all colleges of the University complete HIAF 201 with success. Most find it a challenging and rewarding opportunity to discover a once-neglected story of Africa and its place in world history and to examine assumptions that modern Americans – themselves included – make that they did not know they held.