Sources in African History (465-0-20)

Topic

History Without Documents

Instructors

Akin Ogundiran
Akin Ogundiran is the Cardiss Collins Professor of Arts and Sciences, Professor of History, and Courtesy Professor of Anthropology and of Black Studies at Northwestern University. His research interests focus on the political, cultural, economic, and social histories of West Africa from 400 BC to the mid-nineteenth century. Ogundiran’s publications include The Yoruba: A New History (Indiana University Press, 2020), recipient of the Vinson Sutlive Book Prize. He directs the Material History Lab at Northwestern University. He is a Senior Fellow of Gardens and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC), a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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.