Sources in African History (465-0-20)
Topic
History Without Documents
Instructors
Akinwumi O Ogundiran
Akin Ogundiran is a Professor of History and Cardiss Collins Professor. He teaches African, African Diaspora, and comparative civilization history courses. His research interests focus on the history and archaeology of Africa since 500 BC. Ogundiran's books include The Yoruba: A New History (Indiana University Press, 2020), winner of the 2022 Vinson Sutlive Book Prize and the 2022 Isaac Delano Book Prize. He is a Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Meeting Info
University Library 4722: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
What is the nature of non-documentary evidence for studying African and African Diaspora histories? What sources belong to non-documentary evidence? Why are they compelling, and what are the challenges involved in using them? What methodological and conceptual approaches are available for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting these sources and what are the other possibilities? What kinds of history can be and are being written with these sources? What new directions do they open for studying African and African Diaspora histories? How do they challenge, deviate from, and complement some of the conclusions reached by documentary sources? What roles do non-documentary sources play in the politics of historical knowledge and the meaning of the archive? We will answer these questions by reading and critiquing historical texts that derive their evidentiary base from archaeology, linguistics, rituals, landscape, material culture, orality, visual arts, biological sciences, and chemistry. Students will also carry out hands-on projects that curate any of these sources and use them to write historical narratives about African and African Diaspora experiences. Although the readings will focus only on African and African Diaspora case studies, students can write a final paper in their research area outside these two fields. However, they must use mostly non-documentary sources for the paper.
Registration Requirements
Graduate students only.
Learning Objectives
(1) Develop skills in historical source criticism. (2) Develop skills in curating, using, and interpreting non-documentary archives. (3) Develop skills in doing interdisciplinary historical research. (4) Develop skills in writing histories that are compatible with the epistemologies of historical subjects (past and present).
Evaluation Method
Papers, Precis, Presentation
Class Materials (Required)
Materials will be available on Canvas.