bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Dating of the Aro Chiefdom: A Synthesis of Correlated Genealogies
Authors: Nwauwa A. O.
Published: May 2006

Precolonial African historiography has been plagued by historical reconstructions which remain in the realm of legend because events are suspended in almost timeless relativity.

Igbo history has not been adequately researched. Worse still, the little known about the people has not been dated. It might be suggested that the major reason which makes the study of the Igbo people unattractive to researchers has been the lack of a proper chronological structure. Igbo genealogies have not been collected. The often adduced reason has been that the Igbo did not evolve a centralized political system whereby authority revolved round an individual—king or chief—which would permit the collection of regnal lists. Regrettably, Nigerian historians appear to have ignored the methodology of dating kingless or chiefless societies developed and applied elsewhere such as in east Africa. In west African history generally, there has been an overdependence for dating on external sources in European languages or in Arabic, and combining these with the main regnal list of a kingdom. Even within kingdoms, genealogies of commoners and officials have rarely been collected or correlated with the regnal lists. Among the Igbo, the external sources are rare and the regnal lists few. Even the chiefdoms—Onitsha and Aboh, Oguta and Nri—were ignored for a long time after modern historiography had achieved major advances elsewhere. Arochukwu has been another neglected Igbo chiefdom. Most of these states with hereditary leadership were peripheral to the Igbo heartland. Nevertheless, they were important because of their interactions with the heartland and the possibility of dating interactive events from their genealogies.
Arabic Sources on Somalia
Authors: Mukhtar Mohamed Haji
Published: May 2006

In recent years scholars of different nationalities (including Somalis) have devoted much time and effort to acquiring information about the Somali past using different means and through the available sources on the region. However, the Arabic written sources of information on Somalia have long been neglected and remain so. The purpose of this paper is to call attention to the need for a more comprehensive reading of Arabic sources, and to show that Arabic sources have much to contribute to knowledge about Somalia. I will try to trace these sources and list them in a chronological manner, starting with the early Arab sources, especially from the period which followed the emergence of Islam on the Arabian peninsula when Islam made its way into the Horn of Africa.

Secondly, I will look at sources from medieval Islam in Somalia, when Islam spread from the coastal centers on the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean into the hinterlands of the Horn, the period which marked the struggle between Islam and Christianity. Thirdly, I will look at the period after the collapse of Muslim power in the late sixteenth century, almost two centuries when the Muslims of the Horn (the Somalis) were surrounded by Ethio-Portuguese alliances both to the north and in the Indian Ocean to the south. This period marked a time when the condition of the Somali Muslims became similar to that formerly endured by the Ethiopians, who had been surrounded by Muslims on all sides.
Ideological Confrontation and the Manipulation of Oral History: a Zambesian Case
Authors: Schoffeleers Matthew
Published: May 2006

Ever since Malinowski formulated his concept of myths as charters, there has been a tendency among anthropologists to regard origin myths more or less aspost factumconstructs designed to legitimize existing privileges and positions. A classic example of this pragmatist view is Leach's study of political systems in highland Burma, in which he attempts to demonstrate that origin myths change with clocklike regularity in response to shifts in the political constellation. More recently, however, voices have been raised, particularly among historians, which insist that a society's past cannot always be manipulated at will, but that under certain conditions it has to be treated circumspectly in the way one deals with any scarce resource.

My own interpretation of this view is that accounts of the past, when they concern important aspects of a society, are often (or perhaps always) constructed in such a way that the original event is somehow preserved and recoverable. The qualification “somehow” is added on purpose to make clear that the phrase ‘oral history’ refers to such a wide range of genres and mnemonic techniques, and that the methods at our disposal to extract the original event are still so rudimentary--despite the progress made over the past dozen years or so--that for the moment one cannot do more than express belief in our ultimate capability to discover what happened in actual fact.
A Research Agenda on the Yoruba in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Falola Toyin
Published: May 2006

The history of the Yoruba-speaking people in the nineteenth century has attracted considerable attention. The attempt to write on the era did not have to await the emergence of academic historians: some of the elites produced by the century took it upon themselves to be worthy chroniclers of their age. The most notable among these writers were Samuel Johnson, John Olawunmi George, E.M. Lijadu, Otunba Payne, and Mojola Agbebi all of whom wrote either in the English Language or in their mother tongue. A few others also wrote in Arabic, thus contributing to the Islamic historiography of the century. The contributions of all these authors are immense. Whereas the preceding centuries had virtually no chroniclers, the nineteenth century could boast of a handful whose writings have remained part of the sources for the era.

It was also a century of major activities by foreign explorers, missionaries, and officials of the British government. These were men with varying degrees of educational background, but with skill adequate enough to write letters, make entries in diaries, and report on their activities and experiences in Africa. The most talented among them wrote books and copious reports. A great deal of these writings have survived and have been widely used as primary sources to reconstruct the history of the period.
Ghana National Archives: A Supplementary Note
Authors: Jones Adam
Published: May 2006

Two synopses of the holdings of the National Archives of Ghana were published fifteen years ago, one by David Henige, the other by R. E. Dumett. Henige's article offers a more detailed breakdown of some series (notably ADM 1–21 and SCT 1–44), while Dumett provides a more descriptive account and gives more details on ADM 22–262. In the meantime several of the inventories on which Henige and Dumett based their reports have disappeared or disintegrated, and others are rapidly heading in the same direction. The need for a full printed catalog is urgent; unless work on this is begun soon, the whole archive will have to be re-inventoried. In February/March 1987 I was able to check a few of the references given by Henige and Dumett or in the surviving inventories, and perhaps my notes may be of some use to future researchers.
Sudan Notes and Records and Sudanese Nationalism, 1918–1956
Authors: Hamad Bushra
Published: May 2006

Sudan Notes and Records (hereafter SNR or simply “the journal”) was a leading African scholarly journal on Sudanese studies established by the British administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1918. Perhaps because of the high scientific standards it upheld throughout its life span, the political underpinnings that accompanied its foundation might not be so apparent. This study argues that, from its founding until the late 1940s, when the British administration was paving the way for a transfer of power to the Sudanese, SNR had ostensibly political orientations as reflected, among other things, in the editorial policy of the journal. The political leanings of SNR had two dimensions: internal and external.

On the internal level, editorial policy in the 1920s favored notables and tribal chiefs, rather than the intelligentsia, by allotting space in this periodical to articles “written” by Sudanese sheikhs, a phenomenon occurring at a time when the policy of Indirect Rule figured most prominently in the calculation of the administration. In the late 1930s the administration courted the intelligentsia, offering them greater opportunities in the civil service and higher education abroad. The editorial policy of SNR favored these educated elements by publishing articles and correspondences written by the intelligentsia, including Sayyed Abd el-Rahman el-Mahdi, the patron of a prominent Sudanese political party—the Umma. Until independence in 1956, the Sudanization of contribution to the journal became one of the focal points of editorial notes.

On the external level, the political bias of SNR was directly linked to the British policy vis-à-vis Egyptian claims of sovereignty over the Sudan. The study contends that one of the tactics the British used to separate the Sudan from Egypt was to foster the concept of nationalism among the Sudanese through archeological research. One of the prime vehicles for the spread of this concept was in fact SNR, whose very nature was questioned in the late 1940s by its own subscribers.
La Chute De La Dynastie Des Sisse: Considerations Sur La Dislocation De L'Empire Du Ghana A Partir De L'Histoire De Gao
Authors: Lange Dierk
Published: May 2006

Les Sissé étaient un clan royal établi au Ghana dont le règne s'étendait au moins jusqu'à l'époque almoravide. La plupart des historiens partagent en effet la conviction que l'empire du Ghana des auteurs arabes correspond au Wagadou de la tradition soninké et de ce fait ils estiment que les Sissé connus par la tradition furent les rois du Ghana. Mais, malgré ces identifications plausibles il est évident que la reconstruction de l'histoire du plus ancien empire ds l'Afrique occidentale qui en ressort est fondée sur des bases fragiles. La fragilité de cette reconstruction devient éclatante quand on se tourne vers la question de la dislocation du Ghana.

Jusqu'à une date récente l'opinion prévalait que le Ghana fut l'objet d'une conquête par les Almoravides à la suite de laquelle sa vitalité fut brisée. D. Conrad et H. Fisher ont pris le contre-pied de cette opinion en soutenant que ni les textes écrits, ni les traditions orales ne portaient trace d'une telle conquête. Ils contestent l'existence d'une rupture dynastique correspondante et ils nient que le Ghana fut affaibli par l'intermède almoravide. D'autres voix se sont levées qui mettent en évidence les dangers d'une approche trop littéraliste. Mais malgré les efforts déployés une quasi-certitude ne fut jamais mise en question: l'emplacement de l'empire du Ghana. Pour les auteurs concernés l'identité entre le Ghana et le Wagadou constituait un problème, mais la solution de ce problème fut toujours cherchée dans la convergence des différentes indications sur Koumbi Saleh en tant que capitale de l'empire des Sissé et donc des Soninké.
Heruy's Ya-Heywat Tarik and Mahtama-Sellase's Che Balaw: Two Perceptions of a Biographical Dictionary
Authors: Zewde Bahru
Published: May 2006

Explicitly or implicitly, biographies have dominated Ethiopian historiography. Until very recently, Ethiopian history has been almost exclusively the history of the elite. As such, the reconstruction of historical events has revolved around the careers of prominent individuals. The chronicles, which go back to the fourteenth century, illustrate this to a very high degree. They were conceived to document the reigns of kings and most of them adhered strictly to this rule, giving the reader a detailed and faithfully chronological account—often day by day—of the deeds of the protagonist.

This is not of course to say that other, non-biographical, information is not to be found in these documents. On the contrary, inasmuch as the chronicler takes it as his sacred duty to record whatever had taken place during the reign of a king, he is bound to give us a lot of useful information on such, strictly speaking, non-political issues as famine, pestilence, earthquakes, trade, and—invariably—religious affairs. But such information remains essentially incidental to the main objective, which is to document the life and career of the king. Interestingly such digressions from the main story are often prefaced by the phrase, “bazihem zaman” (“During this reign”, i.e., incidentally).
Translating the Emperor's Words: Volume II of Haile Sellassie's My Life and Ethiopia's Progress
Authors: Marcus Harold G.
Published: May 2006

The second volume of Haile Sellassie's autobiography had scarcely been out a few months when it fell into oblivion with the emperor's deposition in September 1974. For Ethiopia Haile Sellassie's removal was a defining event, and the accompanying tattoo sought to characterize the emperor's reign, indeed all prior history, as a failure. As Haile Sellassie became an unperson in the Ethiopia of the 1970s and 1980s, his policies remained unstudied as the background to the unfolding political events. There was much that confused me: it was obvious that life had been more satisfactory in Ethiopia during his regime than later, and that educated Ethiopians during the last fifteen years of the emperor's reign had talked optimistically about the future, a quality lost in the mayhem of the period from 1974 to 1978. As Mengistu Haile Mariam lurched from crisis to crisis without solving the country's many problems, I concluded that thoughtful people would want to know why and how Haile Sellassie had been able to keep the country relatively peaceful, while providing a statesmanlike leadership that had been creative and reassuring. This certainty led me to undertake a biography of the emperor.
The European Introduction of Crops into West Africa in Precolonial Times
Authors: Alpern Stanley B.
Published: May 2006

Historians of West Africa seem generally to agree that the main benefit conferred on the region by early European visitors, particularly the Portuguese, was the introduction of new crops. These crops are said to have improved diets and accelerated population growth, to the point, some would argue, that human losses through the slave trade were more than offset by the enhanced ability to feed people. Usually a few crops are cited, and the subject is not pursued very far, even in economic history texts, though the societies under study were overwhelmingly agricultural. Usually, too, American crops are singled out—especially maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, but also tobacco, pineapples, guavas, and papayas. Sometimes these are the only crops credited to Europeans. That list occasionally includes tomatoes and avocados even though no evidence has been advanced that either plant was grown in West Africa before the nineteenth century. Some historians confuse origin with source, stating, for example, that the Portuguese brought citrus fruit and sugar cane from Asia when those Asian crops had long been established in the Mediterranean region. No one, it appears, has taken the trouble to examine all the printed sources for precolonial West Africa, plus relevant linguistic evidence, to try to determine which crops were introduced by Europeans, whence, where, and when.
Of Man and Cattle: A Reconsideration of the Traditions of Origin of Pastoral Fulani of Nigeria
Authors: Adebayo A. G.
Published: May 2006

The fair-skinned people who inhabit the Sudan fringes of west Africa stretching from the Senegal valley to the shores of Lake Chad and who speak the language known as Fulfulde, are known by many names.1 They call themselves Fulbe (singular, Pullo). They are called Fulani by the Hausa of southern Nigeria, and this name has been used for them throughout Nigeria. The British call them Ful, Fulani, or Fula, while the French refer to them as Peul, Peulh, or Poulah. In Senegal the French also inadvertently call them Toucouleur or Tukulor. The Kanuri of northern Nigeria call them Fulata or Felata. In this paper we will adopt the Hausa (or Nigerian) name for the people—Fulani.

Accurate censuses are not available on the Fulani in west Africa. A mid-twentieth century estimate puts the total number of Fulani at “over 4 million,” more than half of whom are said to inhabit Nigeria. Another estimate towards the end of 1989 puts the total number of Nigeria's Fulani (nomads only) at over ten million. If both estimates were correct, then the Fulani population in Nigeria alone must have grown 500 per cent in forty years. The dominant factor in this population growth is increased immigration of pastoralists into Nigeria in the wake of the 1968-73 Sahelian drought.
Editing and Publishing the John Philip Papers: Practical Considerations
Authors: Beck Roger B.
Published: May 2006

There is a long tradition in South Africa of publishing private and public documents, beginning with Donald Moodie's The Record, which first appeared in 1838. At the turn of the century the seemingly indefatigable Geroge McCall Theal published a number of collections that have become standard references for South African historians: Belangrijke Historische Dokumenten verzameld in de Kaap Kolonie en Elders (3 vols.); Basutoland Records (3 vols.); Records of South Eastern Africa (9 vols.); and the massive thirty-six-volume edition of the Records of the Cape Colony. The Van Riebeeck Society has just published the seventieth volume in its series of edited diaries, journals, and letters.3 And every student of contemporary South Africa has referred to the four-volume collection of African political documents edited by Gwendolen Carter and Thomas Karis.

In this essay I want to discuss the evolution of my own work with the papers of the South African missionary John Philip. I do not intend to delve into the intricacies of transcribing these papers but rather to discuss them in the broader context of documentary editing and the publication of multi-volume editions. The recently organized Association for the Publication of African Historical Sources has rightly identified the need for a coordinated effort to make African historical documents and source materials more readily available to the scholarly community. If the first of these sources to be published is an indication of what may be expected from this series, then all Africanists should join together to give the association their full support.5 But documentary editing is not a simple or inexpensive undertaking, as I hope to show in this paper.
The Nigerian National Archives, Ibadan: An Introduction for Users and a Summary of Holdings
Authors: Heap Simon
Published: May 2006

The National Archives of Nigeria is located at three sites: Ibadan, Enugu, and Kaduna. Each site houses the archives for its geographical area: Ibadan for the Western Region (the present-day states of Bendel, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo); Enugu for the Eastern Region; and Kaduna for the Northern Region. This paper will concentrate on the largest archives, that at Ibadan, which is housed in a large three-story pastel-colored building set in three acres of grounds within the campus area of the University of Ibadan.

The Nigerian National Archives branch at Ibadan is very rich in official papers of all Federal, Regional, and State Governments; papers of native and local authorities; papers of semi-public bodies and institutions; papers of private individuals and families, as well as those of ecclesiastical bodies and missions.

The founding and development of the Nigerian Archival Service was due very largely to the initiative of Kenneth Dike, who was awarded a Colonial Social Science Research Fellowship in 1949 to carry out research on Nigerian history. In the course of his studies Dike came across valuable historical records in government offices, the greater number of which were exposed to decay and destruction and some of which were damaged by insects and water. He reported this to the government and offered his services without salary in the task of recovering valuable historical materials.
Fragile Legacy: Photographs as Documents in Recovering Political and Cultural History at the Royal Court of Benin
Authors: Kaplan Flora S.
Published: May 2006

Photographs create a tantalizing sense of “being there” while history was being made. They offer a means of entry into cultures that are historically non-literate, stimulating informants' memories and linking their oral traditions to specific events and persons in the culture. Their research potential in West Africa and in Nigeria, in particular, is only now being recognized (Edwards 1990; Kaplan 1990: 317-319; Scherer 1990: 131, 135, 139, 141, 145; Sprague 1978; Viditz-Ward 1985; 1991). The focus here is on photographs connected with the royal court of Benin, and with ongoing ethnographic field work initiated in 1982.1 Special attention is given to photographs taken between 1926 and 1989 by S. O. Alonge, the first indigenous and Benin royal photographer. His work illuminates political and cultural history, and contributes to the beginnings of a history of photography in Nigeria.

Evocative images have been used to illustrate books and articles about West Africa.since the early days of nineteenth-century photography. Studies of visuals, however, taken in Nigeria by indigenous photographers and reported systematic uses of photographs in research designs are still rare (Borgatti 1982; Kaplan 1980, 1991a, 1991b; Karpinski 1984; Sprague 1978). Most research extant on early uses of visuals has been on cinema (Rouch 1975a, 1975b). There has been serious interest in the condition and circumstances of Nigeria cinema and filmmakers, and a desire to create a history of African film (Mathias 1986). The impetus to codify and to create methods for the study of film and stills in anthropology points to a growing awareness of their potential as much more than entertainment and illustration. Photographs are best been as behavior and ideas captured and expressed in imagery, and studied much as we do material culture.
Precolonial History of the Owan People: A Research Agenda
Authors: Ogbomo O. W.
Published: May 2006

The trend in precolonial Nigerian historiography has been the attempt to concentrate studies on prominent kingdoms, major ethnic nationalities, and coastal communities. Consequently, the histories of acephalous societies have been neglected by historians. A. E. Afigbo once warned Nigerian historians against the danger inherent in the overconcentration of research on the history of megastates to the neglect of ministates, arguing that the history of the smaller polities should not be presented as footnotes to the history of major states.

The raison d'être of this paper is to draw attention of historians to one of these neglected communities, the Owan peoples of Nigeria. They inhabit Owan Local Government Area of Bendel State, and consist of eleven clans: Emai, Ighue, Ihievbe, Ikao, Iuleha, Ivbiadaobi, Evbiomoin, Ora, Otuo, Ozalla, and Uokha. Linguistically, they belong to the Edo-speaking people centered in Benin. While it is true that Owan history has been neglected, that of their women suffers doubly because of their gender and as members of the society. Clearly such questions as what Owan society has been like in the past; how it has come to be what it is; what factors operate within it; what currents and forces move the people; and what general and personal factors have shaped events in the area should be the concern of historians interested in Owan history. In answering these questions the origins of the people and the evolution of precolonial sociopolitical institutions should be investigated. The economic arrangements which have sustained the society over the years will no doubt be of interest to would-be researchers. In addition, the links between the various groups and clans in term of trade, politics, and social relations should be studied. An examination of precolonial judicial arrangements and how they coped with crime and punishment will lead to an understanding of the currents within Owan society. Since all societies are dynamic, changes which occurred in the precolonial setting may reveal the resilience of indigenous institutions. Any reconstruction of Owan history must of necessity examine published, archival, and oral evidence. It is hoped that this research agenda will spur historians to focus attention on major aspects of Owan history—origins, economic, political, and social relations—with equal attention to the roles of men and of women.
There Is a House on Castle Drive: The Story of Wulff Joseph Wulff
Authors: Winsnes Selena Axelrod
Published: May 2006

You are in Osu, Accra. As you walk along Castle Drive toward Christiansborg Castle, there is row of four houses on your left and a large open field on your right. The field, with the grass carefully tended, is the locus of the old Danish cemetery, where the gravestones that remained have been mounted into a low wall built on the sea side of the field. Across the street, one of the houses, the second one from your starting point, has a stone name plate over the main door bearing the inscription: FREDERICHS MINDE 1840 W.I.WULFF. Scandinavians who have visited Ghana know about this house. They know that it was built by a Danish civil servant who had worked for the Danish Board of Trade, that he had established a family there, and they may know that he died of illness there at the age of thirty-three. They also know that by simply going to the door and knocking they will be welcomed and permitted to look around.

The residents of the house—and indeed it is a residence—who so graciously receive unexpected and unannounced visitors, are at present members of the Wulff-Cochrane family. When I was last there it was Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Wulff-Cochrane who opened the doors to me and my three friends. We were shown around the house, treated to the fine view of the ocean from the living room, and then taken down into the basement to see the singular element of the house, the grave of Wulff J. Wulff.
“To Make Them Serve”: The 1871 Transvaal Commission on African Labour as a Source for Agrarian History
Authors: Bergh Johan S.
Published: May 2006

In the past twenty to twenty-five years valuable contributions have been made to southern African agrarian history. Stanley Trapido's publications, for example, opened up stimulating perspectives on the processes and forces inherent to nineteenth-century Transvaal agrarian history. Although he was modest in his 1980 chapter, “Reflections on Land, Office, and Wealth in the South African Republic, 1850-1900,” and referred to it as “a tentative and preliminary attempt to outline some important aspects of these social relationships,” it has provided historians and others with an important instrument of analysis.

However, there are still themes, regions, and periods that need attention, one of these being the central districts of the Transvaal before the industrial revolution. In this regard a little-known source which may contribute to our knowledge of the pre-industrial history of the Transvaal, and which will be published this year as an annotated source publication, should be taken note of. This is the 1871 Commission on African labor in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). Despite the valuable information contained in its documents on agrarian history and various aspects of race relations, especially with regard to the central districts of the Transvaal, it has been neglected by historians in the past. Of the few historians who refer to the 1871 Commission, most have merely utilised the report of the commission and have probably missed the important testimonies, correspondence, and minutes. Very few have managed to locate these documents, which are concealed among the supplementary documents of the State Secretary for 1871 in the Transvaal Archives.
“Wondering with an Unending Wonder”: Remarks on Ham Mukasa's Journey to England in 1902
Authors: Behrend Heike
Published: May 2006

Stephen Greenblatt has shown that wonder was the central characteristic of the first European encounters with the New World and the decisive emotional and intellectual experience in the face of radical difference (Greenblatt 1994:27). Wonder, says Greenblatt, appears to be a category immune to all denial and ideological co-optation, and it exerts an irresistible force. It occurs in a moment when meanings are lacking and is accompanied by the fragmentation of contextual understanding (Greenblatt 1994:33).

Wonder was already an essential topic of discourses in philosophy and art even before the voyages of discovery (Matuschek 1991); thus, for Socrates, philosophy begins with astonishment and wonder, and the art of poetry intends the creation of the wondrous (Greenblatt 1994:33). Greenblatt argues that the frequency and intensity with which European discoverers of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries referred to the experience of the wondrous provoked its conceptual elucidation (Greenlbatt 1994:34). The colonization of the wondrous began; and astonishment became a means of appropriation and subjugation (Greenblatt 1994:42).

By the nineteenth century, the century of European journeys of discovery in Africa, wonder had been used up. English, French, and German travelers no longer wondered about anything. Their glance had achieved a confidence that allowed them to objectify and take possession of what was foreign to them. It was now the various Others, the objects of their glance, to whom they imputed the wonder they themselves were no longer capable of.
“This Will (Not) Be Handled by the Press:” Problems—and Their Solution—in Preparing Camera-Ready Copy for The Collected Works of Nana Asma'u, 1793–1864
Authors: Mack Beverly
Published: May 2006

In 1990 Jean Boyd and I began work on an edition of the works of Nana Asma'u. If not a trail of tears, finishing this proved at least to be an odyssey, taking two or three times as long as we had optimistically anticipated. In hopes of making it easier for others to be more realistic, we provide a brief account of this sojourn.

Adam Jones, and especially, Knut Vikør, have provided extensive guidelines for scholars working with Arabic manuscripts and preparing them for camera ready copy. Most of the technology they describe is suited to use with Macintosh PCs, and for a long time it has been Macintosh users who have been best able to deal with Arabic script and Arabic diacriticals in the transliterated form. The comments offered here reflect experience with a PC using WP 5.2 in DOS beginning in 1990. At the time, the massive size of our collection—and the need to reproduce Arabic, Hausa, and Fulfulde in WP 5.2—meant that we faced a different set of problems than those considered by others in the field using Macintoshes. Without an upgrade to WP 6.1 Windows very late in the process, this project could not have been completed satisfactorily.
The Regional Archive at Addi Qäyyeh, Eritrea
Authors: Taddia Irma
Published: May 2006

During the past few years of researching in Eritrea I had the chance to discover an important but little known source for the history of colonial Eritrea that the government that came to power in 1991 is evaluating: the regional archive of Addi Qäyyeh. This archive is in the main town of an area of the Eritrean highlands, Akkälä Guzay, and comprises a large number of documents on Italian colonialism. This documentation is exceptional; indeed, the great bulk of such documents remain in Italy, conserved in the unexploited Archivio Eritrea within the Ministerio degli Affari Esteri in Rome. To my knowledge the regional archive at Addi Qäyyeh is the only remaining colonial source in Eritrea, if we exclude some minor religious archives, and its interest is unquestionable.

As noted, the main sources for colonial Eritrea are in Italy. The documents in the Archivio Eritrea amply testify to the importance of this material. This deals with colonial papers, inquiries, historical and geographical documentation, anthropological materials, and adminstrative papers—altogether, a large amount of material as yet little utilized by scholars. The colonial history of Eritrea remains in many respects a very poor field of study, and recent work has considered only a few documents in this rich collection. However, the Archivio Eritrea is not exhaustive—a complementary source offers a different set of materials amenable to historical study.

Many documents preserved at Addi Qäyyeh have the same importance and share many subjects with those in Rome, while others are unique. Here I would just like to mention briefly some of the latter, and offer general information to intending historians of colonial Eritrea.
One-Eyed Men in the Kingdom of the Blind
Authors: Henige David
Published: May 2006

Like most kids of my age and time, I was a pack rat in my youth, collecting toy cars, trucks, and tanks; comic books; baseball cards; postage stamps, and … chronological tables. Unfortunately for my later financial well-being, I kept—and kept up with—only the last. I remember little specific about the primal urge to collect these lists, but I remember enough to recall that I was entirely naive at the beginning. I wanted exotic names, exotic places, and exotic dates. Most of all I wanted dates. It did not disturb me in the least when I found out that Arakan was founded in 2666 BC, and that a complete list of its rulers until 1784 A.D. had been preserved for my edification. A strictly successive treatment of the thirty dynasties of pharaonic Egypt was infinitely preferable to new-fangled efforts to reduce this chronology by over 2000 years by shortening reigns and insisting that more than one dynasty ruled at a time. It seemed only natural to me that scores of European bishoprics were able to trace their episcopal lines right back to immediately post-New Testament times. I must have seen historical time as an infinitely replicable vacuum that needed to be filled

This idyll did not last very long—a sea change was all too soon in arriving. It probably was not an epiphany, but a gradual realization that I was encountering other lists of the same offices that were replete with gaps, disagreements, and question marks rather than dates.
Dynamics of Glucose-Induced Localization of PKC Isoenzymes in Pancreatic β-Cells
Authors: Warwar Nasim , Efendic Suad , Östenson Claes-Göran , Haber Esther P. , Cerasi Erol , Nesher Rafael
Published: May 2006

Glucose metabolism affects most major signal pathways in pancreatic β-cells. Multiple protein kinases, including protein kinase C (PKC) isoenzymes, are involved in these effects; however, their role is poorly defined. Moreover, the dynamics of kinase isoenzyme activation in reference to the biphasic insulin secretion is unknown. In perfused pancreas of Wistar rats, PKCα staining was strongly associated with insulin staining, jointly accumulating in the vicinity of the plasma membrane during early first-phase insulin response. The signal declined before the onset of second phase and reappeared during second-phase insulin release as foci, only weekly associated with insulin staining; this signal persisted for at least 15 min after glucose stimulation. In the GK rat, glucose had minimal effect on β-cell PKCα. In control β-cells, PKCδ stained as granulated foci with partial association with insulin staining; however, no glucose-dependent translocation was observed. In the GK rat, only minimal staining for PKCδ was observed, increasing exclusively during early first-phase secretion. In Wistar β-cells, PKCε concentrated near the nucleus, strongly associated with insulin staining, with dynamics resembling that of biphasic insulin response, but persisting for 15 min after cessation of stimulation. In GK rats, PKCε staining lacked glucose-dependent changes or association with insulin. PKCζ exhibited bimodal dynamics in control β-cells: during early first phase, accumulation near the cell membrane was observed, dispersing thereafter. This was followed by a gradual accumulation near the nucleus; 15 min after glucose stimulus, clear PKCζ staining was observed within the nucleus. In the GK rat, a similar response was only occasionally observed. In control β-cells, glucose stimulation led to a transient recruitment of PKCθ, associated with first-phase insulin release, not seen in GK β-cell. Data from this and related studies support a role for PKCα in glucose-induced insulin granule recruitment for exocytosis; a role for PKCε in activation of insulin granules for exocytosis and/or in the glucose-generated time-dependent potentiation signal for insulin release; and a dual function for PKCζ in initiating insulin release and in a regulatory role in the transcriptional machinery. Furthermore, diminished levels and/or activation of PKCα, PKCε, PKCθ, and PKCζ could be part of the defective signals downstream to glucose metabolism responsible for the deranged insulin secretion in the GK rat.
Effect of Nutrient Ingestion on Total-Body and Splanchnic Cortisol Production in Humans
Authors: Basu Rita , Singh Ravinder , Basu Ananda , Johnson C.M. , Rizza Robert A.
Published: May 2006

The splanchnic bed produces cortisol at rates approximating extraadrenal tissues by converting cortisone to cortisol via the 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) type 1 pathway. It is not known whether splanchnic cortisol production is regulated by nutrient ingestion and/or by the accompanying changes in hormone secretion. To address this question, 18 healthy humans were randomized to ingest either a mixed meal or to receive an intravenous saline infusion while total-body, splanchnic, and d3 cortisol production (an index of 11β-HSD type 1 activity) were measured using the combined hepatic catheterization and d4 cortisol infusion methods. Fasting glucose and insulin concentrations did not differ on the meal and saline study days. Glucose and insulin concentrations increased after meal ingestion, peaking at 11.0 ± 1.0 mmol/l and 451 ± 64 pmol/l, respectively, at 45 min, then fell to baseline thereafter. In contrast, glucose and insulin concentrations slowly fell to 5.1 ± 0.1 mmol/l and 27 ± 6 pmol/l during the 6 h of observation on the saline study day. Fasting cortisol concentration did not differ on the meal and saline study days. Cortisol increased (P < 0.05) to a peak of 353 ± 55 nmol/l after meal ingestion but did not change after saline infusion. The increase in cortisol after meal ingestion was associated with an increase in both total body cortisol (from 748 ± 63 to 1,620 ± 235 nmol/min; P < 0.01) and total body d3 cortisol (from 99 ± 11 to 143 ± 11 nmol/min; P < 0.01) production, whereas there was no change in either on the saline study day. The increase in total-body cortisol and d3 cortisol production after meal ingestion originated in extrasplanchnic tissues since splanchnic cortisol production (mean 0–360 min: 254 ± 83 vs. 262 ± 36 nmol/min) and splanchnic d3 cortisol production (mean 0–360 min: 72 ± 22 vs. 77 ± 14 nmol/min) did not differ on the meal and saline study days. We conclude that ingestion of a mixed meal does not alter either splanchnic cortisol production or the conversion of d4 cortisol to d3 cortisol or, therefore by implication, flux via the splanchnic 11β-HSD type 1 pathway.
Increased Monocytic Activity and Biomarkers of Inflammation in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes
Authors: Devaraj Sridevi , Glaser Nicole , Griffen Steve , Wang-Polagruto Janice , Miguelino Eric , Jialal Ishwarlal
Published: May 2006

Type 1 diabetes is associated with increased vascular complications, and monocytes are pivotal cells in atherogenesis. However, there are few data on monocyte function and inflammation in type 1 diabetes. The aim of this study was to compare monocyte function and biomarkers of inflammation in type 1 diabetic subjects without macrovascular disease with that in matched control subjects (n = 52 per group). Fasting blood was obtained for biomarkers of inflammation (C-reactive protein [CRP], plasma-soluble cell adhesion molecules [CAMs], monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, nitrotyrosine, CD40 ligand [CD40L], and monocyte function). High-sensitive CRP, soluble intracellular adhesion molecule (sICAM), sCD40L, and nitrotyrosine levels were significantly elevated in type 1 diabetic subjects compared with in control subjects (P < 0.05). Monocyte superoxide anion release was significantly increased in the resting (37%; P < 0.05) and activated state (26%; P < 0.005) in type 1 diabetic compared with in control subjects. Monocyte interleukin (IL)-6 levels were significantly elevated in type 1 diabetic subjects compared with in control subjects in the resting state (51%; P < 0.05) and after lipopolysaccharide activation (31%; P < 0.01). Monocyte IL-1β levels were increased in the activated monocytes in type 1 diabetic compared with in control subjects. There were no significant differences in monocyte tumor necrosis factor levels or adhesion between the two groups. Thus type 1 diabetes is a proinflammatory state, as evidenced by increased levels of monocyte IL-6, superoxide anion, and plasma CRP, sICAM, sCD40L, and nitrotyrosine levels. These results have a major implication on our understanding of the role of inflammation in vasculopathies in type 1 diabetes.
Antecedent Hypercortisolemia Is Not Primarily Responsible for Generating Hypoglycemia-Associated Autonomic Failure
Authors: Goldberg Philip A. , Weiss Ram , McCrimmon Rory J. , Hintz Ellen V. , Dziura James D. , Sherwin Robert S.
Published: May 2006

Hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure (HAAF) occurs commonly in patients with longstanding diabetes, placing affected patients at increased risk for severe hypoglycemia. Previous studies have suggested that hypoglycemia-induced hypercortisolemia may be responsible for blunting subsequent sympathoadrenal responses to hypoglycemia; however, this view remains highly controversial. In this work, we sought to better define the role of antecedent hypercortisolemia in generating HAAF, using two complimentary experimental models in nondiabetic human subjects: 1) antecedent hydrocortisone infusions (simulating physiologic cortisol responses to hypoglycemia) and 2) antecedent hypoglycemia, with and without concurrent blockade of endogenous cortisol production using oral metyrapone. Our results showed no effect of antecedent hypercortisolemia on epinephrine responses to subsequent hypoglycemia (area under the curve/time 280 ± 53 vs. 337 ± 57 pg/ml, P = 0.16). Of particular importance, selective blockade of endogenous cortisol production during antecedent hypoglycemia had no effect on subsequent counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia. Compared with epinephrine responses following antecedent euglycemia (area under the curve/time 312 ± 38 pg/ml), epinephrine responses were comparably blunted following antecedent hypoglycemia, regardless of whether concurrent metyrapone blockade was employed (198 ± 28 vs. 192 ± 28 pg/ml, P = NS). Similar results were obtained for glucagon and ACTH levels. Considered together, these observations provide strong evidence that hypoglycemia-induced hypercortisolemia is not primarily responsible for the generation of HAAF.
Cognitive and Neural Hippocampal Effects of Long-Term Moderate Recurrent Hypoglycemia
Authors: McNay Ewan C. , Williamson Anne , McCrimmon Rory J. , Sherwin Robert S.
Published: May 2006

Recurrent hypoglycemia is the most feared complication of intensive insulin therapy for type 1 diabetes. Study of the cognitive impact of recurrent hypoglycemia in humans has been hampered by difficulty in controlling for prior glycemic history and diabetes status; there have been no prospective studies. We used a rat model of recurrent hypoglycemia with hypoglycemia for 3 h, once weekly, from 1 month of age. At 4, 8, and 12 months of age, cohorts were tested on a hippocampally dependent spatial memory task, during which hippocampal extracellular fluid (ECF) glucose and lactate were measured using microdialysis. At 4 months, recurrent hypoglycemia improved euglycemic task performance (76 ± 4 vs. 64 ± 3% for controls) and reversed the task-associated dip in ECF glucose seen in controls. However, recurrent hypoglycemia impaired performance in animals tested when hypoglycemic (45 ± 4 vs. 55 ± 2%). Recurrent hypoglycemia preserved euglycemic task performance across age: at 12 months, both task performance (62%) and ECF glucose changes in euglycemic recurrently hypoglycemic animals resembled those of 4-month-old control animals, whereas control animals’ performance deteriorated to chance (44%) by 8 months. At 12 months, hippocampal slice physiology was assessed, with results paralleling the cognitive findings: slices from recurrently hypoglycemic rats showed improved γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic inhibition at euglycemia but much greater loss of this tone at low bath glucose. Our data show that moderate weekly hypoglycemia prevented age-related decline in hippocampally cognitive function and cognitive metabolism, at least when euglycemic. The impact of recurrent hypoglycemia on cognition is multifaceted and includes both metabolic and electrophysiological components.
Medical students speak: A two‐voice comment on learning professionalism in medicine
Authors: Krych Esther H. , Vande Voort Jennifer L.
Published: May 2006

We are two medical students. For one of us, medical school is just beginning; for the other, it is coming to an end. Our experiences are different, but our message is the same. Professionalism is a vital component in the field of medicine. Characteristics such as trustworthiness, compassion, integrity, honesty, leadership, and social responsibility must be embraced by the next generation of doctors so the future healthcare system will be one that patients and physicians admire and respect. To reach this goal, it is important to understand how medical students today view professionalism and how such a construct is integrated into medical education. We hope to provide insight into this area by reflecting on the lessons we have learned regarding professionalism in medical school. Professionalism, like the medical field itself, is a life‐long learning process. By encouraging this process early in medical training, future doctors will be able to provide their patients with highest quality care. Clin. Anat. 19:415–418, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An aberrant anatomic variation along the course of the ulnar nerve above the elbow with coexistent cubital tunnel syndrome
Authors: Chow James C.Y. , Papachristos Athanasios A. , Ojeda Alvaro
Published: May 2006

We report on a patient with an unusual anatomic variation along the course of ulnar nerve above the elbow who had cubital tunnel syndrome. The variation consisted of a cutaneous neural branch that was originating at a distance of ∼40 mm proximal to the medial epicondyle, and from the radial aspect of the main trunk of ulnar nerve. The branch had a superficial course and it was passing distally, anterior to the medial epicondyle without penetrating the fascia of the flexor muscles origin. Anterior intramuscular transposition of the ulnar nerve was performed leaving the newly found branch over the fascia between the muscles and the adipose subcutaneous tissue. Clin. Anat. 19:661–664, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.