bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Periplus of Hanno in the History and Historiography of Black Africa
Authors: Hair P.E.H. 
Published: May 2006

The Periplus of Hanno describes a purported Carthaginian voyage down the coast of western Africa—a voyage to as far as Guinea in the opinion of some scholars. The brief text is of doubtful and at best partial historical authenticity; and in any case its account of the later part of the voyage concentrates on a few episodes of high drama and exotic observation, at the expense of those other detailed particulars which might have made the Periplus, if historical, an informative as well as unique documentary source on black Africa in the first millennium B.C.. At least as far as black Africa is concerned, it must be questioned whether the Periplus is worth a fraction of the intensive scholarly effort that has been spent on it during the past four hundred years.Current debate among ancient historians and classical philologists turns on the nature of the Periplus: is it wholly fiction? or, if fact, is it fact fictitiously extended and embellished? or, a third possibility, is it fact dramatically and perhaps intentionally summarized and slanted? But from the point of view of the historian seeking to obtain information about early sub-Saharan Africa in general and west Africa in particular, this debate can be by-passed (hence the present paper does not need or attempt to comprehend, pursue, or augment the detailed scholarly arguments and evidence available in the literature). For whether based on fact or not, the Periplus is patently a piece of literature of a kind which does not afford precise historical information.
Ideology and Oral Traditions: Listening to the Voices ‘From Below’
Authors: Hamilton C.A. 
Published: May 2006

From the time of the translation into English of Jan Vansina's Oral Tradition in 1965, the use of oral traditions as historical sources has become an increasingly technical exercise. Historians of the non-literate societies of Africa in particular have been alterted to, among others, such things as “floating gaps” and “hour-glass effects” in traditions, elongated and collapsed genealogies, the peculiarities and fallibility of human memory, the overlaying of oral traditions with successive ruling group histories, and the functioning of oral traditions as cultural charters.Some scholars consider this ‘reification of method’ to have wrought a tool increasingly honed for historical analysis, able to lay bare within oral tradition historical facts, consistent within themselves and with other oral traditions. Others argue that the elaborateness of the methodology reflects the inherently unreliable nature of oral traditions as historical sources. They suggest that, at best, oral traditions are able to provide reliable data only about the interests of a particular group at the particular moment when they were recorded.This paper addresses the debate over the status of oral traditions as historical sources, with particular reference to the use of traditions in the illumination of the precolonial past. Drawing on some of the insights of the new social historians concerning ideology and first-hand oral testimony, it examines the relationship between ideology and oral traditions in non-literate societies. The argument developed here is that, far from simply representing the interests of a particular group, oral traditions often reflect ideological struggles between the rulers and ruled in a society.
A Spurious Correlation of r=.70: or Historiodémographe, modere tes transports!
Authors: Fetter Bruce 
Published: May 2006

Despite the slender evidentiary base of surviving sources, historians would dearly like to know more about colonial vital rates. In the absence of hard data, speculation has run rampant about changes in fertility and mortality. Were African birth rates always as high as they are today? Did the early years of colonial rule bring about rises in the deathrates in all areas and to the same degree? Researchers are now combing the available evidence for materials to answer questions such as these.Unfortunately, the records of a single year's births and deaths are not a reliable indicator of long-term demographic trends. In a small population in particular, the events of a given year must be seen in the context of the years surrounding it. Inadequate reporting might lead to underestimates of either fertility or mortality rates, while uncommon events such as epidemics might be wrongly taken as typical.These discontinuities have led researchers to concentrate on series of demographic rates rather than isolated estimates. Mathematically, this has promoted the use of techniques which convert the haphazard incidences of births and deaths into continuous functions which, although not as close to the raw data as year-by-year statistics, nonetheless give the reader a notion of trends over time.
Not Quite Venus from the Waves: The Almoravid Conquest of Ghana in the Modern Historiography of Western Africa
Authors: Masonen Pekka , Fisher Humphrey J. 
Published: May 2006

The Almoravid conquest of ancient Ghana in 1076 AD is certainly among the most dramatic and controversial single events in the historiography of West Africa. It has been regarded as a crucial turning point, as the battle of Hastings was for England, not only for the existence of Ghana, but also for the destiny of the entire area, opening the gates to a triumphant Islam in sub-Saharan Africa.Yet the conquest and destruction of Ghana by Almoravid invaders constitute one of the myths which still populate African historiography, like the wonderful voyage of Hanno to the Bight of Biafra, which was carried over from classical Greco-Roman texts into modern European literature as early as 1533. Since then the story of Hanno has been used for various purposes by western Africanists, for instance, to explain the diffusion of iron technology into sub-Saharan Africa. Just the same, no definite evidence has yet been found for any Carthaginian sailings along the West African coast, except the Periplus of Hanno itself, which seems to be a literary composition drawn from earlier classical sources. A reason for the popularity of Hanno, and other such stories in African historiography, has been that many modern writers have been content with using the previous secondary literature, instead of examining carefully all the available primary sources. Consequently, many subjective and hypothetical assumptions created by previous scholars, working on the basis of even less evidence, have been transferred bodily from one corpus of research to the next. Finally, their origin forgotten, stories like the voyage of Hanno have become established historical facts through constant repetition in the authorized literature.
Reflections on the Genesis of Anglophone African History After World War II
Authors: Fage J. D. 
Published: May 2006

It is forty-five years ago since Roland Oliver was appointed to a lectureship in the “Tribal History of East Africa” at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). This was certainly the first appointment in African history in a university in the United Kingdom, and very likely the first such in a university anywhere in the world. In 1986 he retired from the Chair of African History, to which the University had advanced him in 1963 (an event which may very well have been another first), and he spent the first years of his retirement writing his book The African Experience: Major Themes in African History From Earliest Times to the Present.It was entirely appropriate that the International Journal of African Historical Studies should have asked Jan Vansina to review this book, for his activities in the field of African history go back almost as far as Oliver's; forty-one years have now passed since Vansina began his academic career as a researcher at the Institut pour la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Centrale (sc. the then Belgian territories in Africa). The review article which Vansina has written begins by paying generous tribute to Oliver's pioneer achievements as a leading actor in virtually every activity needed for the understanding and the furtherance of African history—researcher, teacher, author, editor, and organizer. His first general conclusion (393) on The African Experience is that Oliver's book “lives up to its promise” as “‘a work of reflection’ on the substance of African history, the distillation of his experience of forty (sic) years.”
The Minor Works of T. O. Avoseh
Authors: Falola Toyin 
Published: May 2006

I do not profess to have produced the best or [an] exhaustive history … but I hope that these feeble efforts of mine shall be a stepping stone for others to follow.This is the first part of a study of the works of Chief Theophilus Olabode Avoseh, theGbesiewuof Badagry, a man of culture and self–education who represents two related but distinct peoples, the Egun and the Yoruba–Awori, and who, above all, is a prolific researcher and distinguished local historian. In this first part, I will provide the biodata on Avoseh, and then introduce his minor works with translations and comments designed to bring out their significance. My primary aims are to draw attention to these obscure works and make them accessible to other researchers.In the second part, I will examine Avoseh's major works, that is, his two studies of Badagry and Epe:A Short History of Badagrypublished in 1938, recently revised and awaiting publication, andA Short History of Epepublished in 1960. This second part will emphasize the special aspects of Avoseh's works and their contribution to Yoruba and Aja historiography. These two major works have been of considerable value to other historians in their reconstruction of the history of the coastal cities whereas the minor works presented here are comparatively little known.
Travel Writing, Experiences, and Silences: What is Left Out of European Travelers' Accounts—the Case of Richard D. Mohun
Authors: Barrett-Gaines Kathryn 
Published: May 2006

Recent contributions to this journal have taken various approaches to travelers's accounts as sources of African history. Elizabeth de Veer and Ann O'Hear use the travel accounts of Gerhard Rohlfs to reconstruct nineteenth-century political and economic history of West African groups who have escaped scholarly attention. But essentially they use Rohlfs' work as he intended it to be used. Gary W. Clendennen examines David Livingstone's work to find the history under the propaganda. He argues that, overlooking its obvious problems, the work reveals a wealth of information on nineteenth-century cultures in the Zambezi and Tchiri valleys. Unfortunately, Clendennen does not use this source for these reasons. He uses it instead to shed light on the relationship between Livingstone and his brother.John Hanson registers a basic distrust of European mediated oral histories recorded and written in the African past. He draws attention to the fact that what were thought to be “generally agreed upon accounts” may actually reflect partisan interests. Hanson dramatically demonstrates how chunks of history, often the history of the losers, are lost, as the history of the winners is made to appear universal. Richard Mohun can be seen to represent the winners in turn-of-the-century Central Africa. His account is certainly about himself. I attempt, though, to use his account to recover some of the history of the losers, the Africans, which Mohun may have inadvertently recorded.My question is double; its two parts—one historical, one methodological—are inextricably interdependent. The first concerns the experience of the people from Zanzibar who accompanied, carried, and worked for Richard Dorsey Mohun on a three-year (1898-1901) expedition into Central Africa to lay telegraph wire. The second wonders how and how well the first question can be answered using, primarily, the only sources available to me right now: those written by Mohun himself.
Yoruba Writers and the Construction of Heroes
Authors: Falola Toyin 
Published: May 2006

In 1986 the University of Ife (later renamed Obafemi Awolowo University) unveiled a wood statue of Oduduwa, the mythical founder of the Yoruba nation. Present at the occasion was Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the most famous Yoruba politician of the twentieth century. Either for political gain, or to celebrate or praise him, an Ife intellectual told Chief Awolowo that the statue looked exactly like him and that, in trying to represent the image of Oduduwa, the carver, the highly distinguished Chief Lamidi Fakeye, had simply used Awolowo as a model.Chief Awolowo was very happy with this comparison, and gladly affirmed it. The story spread like wildfire. As the statue came to be interpreted, Awolowo and Oduduwa had the same physical build, elegance, and cap which they wore in the same style! Here indeed was the modern Oduduwa. To those in search of heroes, the Yoruba now had two “national” ones—Oduduwa, the progenitor and Awolowo, the modernizer—and a host of other aspiring and local ones. If Oduduwa founded the nation, Awolowo would unite it, after a period of internal division.Both in Yoruba popular and intellectual discourse, the hero commands prominent attention. The Yoruba appear to be seeking the equivalent of a Mahdi, the reformer in Islam, a cultural, folk, and political hero. The ambition of many Yoruba elite, especially the politician, is to become a hero of the nation. Many have tried in vain—men such as Chief Adisa Akinloye, a longtime veteran politician, and the Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria during the Second Republic, and, until recently, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the business magnate and politician who was denied the presidency of the country by the military regime in collaboration with powerful civilians.
Chronological Problems in C.G. Okojie's Esan Narrative Traditions
Authors: Webster James B. , Ogbomo Onaiwu W. 
Published: May 2006

The Esan who presently inhabit four local government areas of Edo State, Nigeria, share an exclusive feeling of being one people. In language and custom they are akin to the Edo people of Benin. The name “Esan” is an Edo word meaning “jump” or “flee,” which explains the manner in which they departed the Benin kingdom. The Esan region is divided roughly into the plateau—about one-third the total area but containing three-fifths of the people—and the lowlands. The plateau chiefdoms, originally seven of them, have been classed as Esan ‘A’ and include Irrua, Ekpoma, Uromi, Ewu, Ubiaja, Udo, and Ugboha. The lowland chief doms, originally eight, are known as Esan ‘B’ and consist of Ewohimi (Orikhimi), Ohordua, Emu, Ebelle, Okalo, Amahor, Ezen, and Okaigun.According to Esan traditions all the ancestors of the people, royal and commoner alike, came from Benin, the first groups being escapees and pioneers, the royal groups coming into the region later, during the reign of Ewuare, ca. 1455-82. Closer interviewing of clans, neither royal nor holding titles, demonstrates that many do not hold to this popular tradition, claiming either to be indigenous or to have migrated from elsewhere. Even in the intelligence report on the Esan, a significant number of clans reported origins other than in Benin. It seems that Esan ‘A’ chiefdoms on the plateau were the earliest established, and paid tribute to Benin through the Onojie (chief) of Irrua, who was therefore roughly the paramount of the Esan province of Benin. As the chiefdoms grew in numbers and spread on to the lowlands, he remained their overlord or governor. However, by the early nineteenth century the Oba of Benin installed the chief of Ewohimi as paramount over the lowland or Esan ‘B’ chiefdoms. By the advent of the British in the 1890s the earliest fifteen chiefdoms had grown to thirty.
Descent from Privilege: A Researcher's Memoir of the National Archives of Zimbabwe, 1984–1993
Authors: Bessant Leslie 
Published: May 2006

When I first arrived at the National Archives of Zimbabwe in July of 1984, I was flattered and even a little embarrassed by the cosseting I got just for being a visiting researcher. The Archives' staff took a personal interest in me that extended beyond research and into the realm of creature comfort. The daily routine had more in common with a spa than a work place: tea was put on for researchers every morning and afternoon in the Archives' back garden, and the reading room closed early enough in the afternoon to make the first round of gin and tonics at the sun-downer. In other words, doing research at the National Archives was living a privileged existence.That sort of privilege was replaced by a growing sense of professionalism and mainstreaming between 1985 and 1993. Morning and afternoon tea no longer played such an important role in the daily routine, and everything seemed busier. This was a change in tone, not a change in the physical or professional excellence of the institution: the grounds were still beautiful, the facilities were still clean and comfortable, and the staff were still friendly and helpful. But in 1989, and even more so in 1993, a feeling of intensity had replaced the sense of luxury and ease I had felt in 1984 and 1985. The National Archives had been transformed from a spa to a work place. And, in the process, researchers had also been transformed from guests to workers.
The White Father Archives at Mwanza, Tanzania
Authors: Smythe Kathleen R. 
Published: May 2006

The White Fathers' (Missionary Society of Africa) Regional House outside Mwanza, Tanzania is the home of a small, but important archival collection for scholars researching those areas in Western Tanzania where the White Fathers lived and worked. The collection is relatively unknown, but for my research (social history with a focus on children) it was a gold mine of information. It also turned out to be the most pleasant archives to work in of all of the ones I consulted during my fieldwork experience.The archives in Mwanza contain some of the same information that can be found in Rome at the White Fathers' headquarters, but provide a cheaper and closer alternative for those already in Tanzania. In the Regional House library are the Rapports Annuels of the mission society from the 1880s to the late 1950s and a full set of Chronique Trimestrielle (which later became Petit Echo). The Reports Annuels contain compilations of statistics (including the number of missionaries, sisters, catechists, neophytes, catechumens, baptisms of various categories, marriages, confessions, confirmations, boys and girls attending school for each mission station), as well as general reports about the nature and progress of the missionaries' work. Having already read the particular mission diaries in Rome, these reports were particularly helpful as they conveniently summarized trends and problems that priests saw in their work. As its name implies, the Chronique Trimestrielle was published four times a year and contained a variety of information about the missions and their work, but a primary focus was education. In addition, the library contains works on the mission society, its founder, Charles Lavigerie, and some important works on the Sukuma people and language.
Treating an Interdisciplinary Allergy: Methodological Approaches to Pollen Studies for the Historian of Early Africa
Authors: Schoenbrun David 
Published: May 2006

The interdisciplinary task of reconstructing early African history demands more than a passing familiarity with many fields of knowledge. Not least among these is geography, in its broader conception as the pursuit of an understanding of physiographic processes and the role(s) played by people in shaping and responding to these processes. A standard beginning in many a history book takes the reader through annual rainfall figures, topographic generalities, and, perhaps a cursory pedological overview of the region in which the people(s) under study live. Rarely are these introductory remarks integrated into the historical narrative. We are too often left to ourselves in determining the relevance, for example, of a bi-modal rainfall to the local agriculture in a subregion of open grasslands and woody savanna ecotones on black clay valley bottoms. We trust these are data relevant to our understanding of the region's agriculturalists.Many readers may know that such an area will be subject to heavy soil waterlogging during the wetter months. They may also realize that mound and ridge construction are excellent responses to the risks of root-drowning such waterlogging poses to crops such as beans, and as well, that the indigenous African grain cropsSorghumspp. andPennisetumspp. can withstand waterlogged soils for brief periods without suffering significant loss of yield (Purseglove 1972:269-71). What is likely to be poorly understood are the forces of ecological and cultural change that have been at work in such an environment transforming the very nature of its vegetational cover and soil profile. In short, a historical perspective is necessary so that we do not run the risk of presenting Africa's ecological background in the same unchanging light as colonial ethnographers did Africa's past.
What Do We Do with Irregular Correspondences? The Case of the Khoe Languages
Authors: Vossen Rainer 
Published: May 2006

There is nothing that cannot be related directly or indirectly to anything else, and it is this nightmare that is horrifying. There seems to be no precedent for this sort of chaos in the languages of the world… (Traill 1974:251)Regularity of phonological change is considered a basic principle of historico-linguistic reconstruction. In 1876 A. Leskien of the Leipzig school of neogrammarians formulated the postulate of sound change occurring without exception, meaning “that if one assembled all the facts, and analyzed them accurately and thoroughly, one could state exceptionless principles or laws for the development of language” (Lehmann 1973:87). However, it has since been argued on the basis of empirical research that languages are never in complete balance and that, therefore, change is not necessarily constant, nor parallel among groups speaking different languages. Various reasons have been found to account for irregularities in language: the impact of one language on another, the effect of children acquiring their language, etc. Yet before we enter into any etiological discussion of irregular or unstructured phonological change, the area of investigation for the present case study must be introduced, and the characteristic of the problematic nature of the case sketched.
A. T. Bryant and ‘The Wars of Shaka’
Authors: Wright John 
Published: May 2006

Olden Times in Zululand and Natal …depends primarily on tribal lore garnered during four decades of exhaustive interviews with native elders.…[I]t is safe to say [Bryant's] work will never be exceeded. Almost everything published on the subject since depends on him.…This paper needs to be read against the background of the critique which has gradually been gathering force over the last half-dozen years or so of the concept of the mfecane. By the mfecane is meant the idea that in the 1820s much of the eastern half of southern Africa was thrown into turmoil by a series of wars and population migrations set in motion by the explosive expansion of the Zulu state under Shaka. Ever since Theal first popularized it in the late nineteenth century, this idea has remained one of the bedrock concepts around which the history of southern Africa in the later eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century has been written. The term mfecane itself did not become widely used until as recently as 1966, when, in his widely influential book, The Zulu Aftermath, Omer-Cooper repackaged what had previously been called “the wars of Shaka” for an emerging Africanist readership. Since then the concept of the mfecane has permeated the literature, both popular and academic, inside and outside southern Africa, to the point where it is regarded as a fixed fact of the sub-continent's history.