Summary of the course “History of Modern Africa” . This contains the powerpoints, class notes and additional personal research. The documents is structured in the same way thag the classes were.
Noémie Meggane Van Geersom
SCHAKELPROGRAMMA GENDER EN DIVERSITEIT
2022 - 2023
,Intro
What is “Africa”?
• Africa = metonym for Sub-Saharan, “Black”
• Distinction between Africa as a continent / idea
Mudimbe: idea of Africa
Africa = opposite of Europe
Embodiment of otherness + savagery
Literary production since 19th C. = colonial library which was the medium between
outsiders (EU) – Africans
• “Africa” proceeds knowledge of Africa
Greek-Roman civilization “Libya” = southern shore of Mediterranean
“Africa” = Roman province after the conquest of Carthage → conquered in 7th C by Arabs
→ Ifriqiya
contacts between North & Sub-Saharan communities through spread of Islam → also
slavery bcs non-believers of Islam → Bilad-Al-Sudan = West-African Jews
15th C: Portuguese mariners circumnavigation SO “Africa” becomes land mass
Why “Modern” Africa?
• Modernity = polysemic / complex & Eurocentric (French Revolution, Enlightenment)
• Classic periodization
o Pre-colonial (… - 1885)
o Colonial (1885 – 1960)
o Post-colonial (1960 - …)
BUT this completely ties African History to colonization SO overlooks historical Agency of
Africans + continuities in African History
• Modern Africa in this course = Sub-Saharan- Africa from 19th – 20th C
o Difficult bcs only academic field from 1950s bcs of decolonization
↓
1970s: more Marxist / socio-economic views
↓
1990s: more bottom-up research on colonization so bigger focus on colonized
instead of colonizer
Sources of African History
• Written documents
o 5th C A.D.: Ethiopian Coptic Church in Ge’ez bibles / royal chronicles / landholding
documents
o 8th C: travelogues of Arab merchants + travellers
o 15th C: European seamen / residents of coastal outposts
o 16th C:
▪ Kongo Christianization SO more documents
▪ Histories from converted muslim Africans in Arabic
e.g.: Kilwa & Timbuktu chronicles
1
, o 19th C:
▪ EXPLOSION of written sources due to colonization (= colonial library) →
mostly for & by Europeans But “fragments” of African voices (petitions,
testimonies)
▪ Literacy also increases by missionaries (religious literature, grammars,
dictionaries) + African converts (e.g.: Samuel Johnson (1897): History of the
Yoruba)
ALSO increase in written production by African middle class
e.g.: diairies, journals, pamphlets
BUT literacy not the same everywhere
e.g. high literacy in Senegal & Nigeria but low in Congo
• Oral tradition
o Interviews = historical data
▪ Oral traditions = tales, distant history of generations
▪ Oral history = first-hand memories within life-span of interviewee
e.g.: Luba epic history by Bambudye secret society through narration
Lukasa (= memory board)
➔ historians question accuracy / historical relevance SO oral tradition = insights
in culture’s taste / vision of historical change BUT not facts
PRO CONTRA
➔ Collect / study past of marginalized ppl ➔ Distortion of past by confusion /
➔ Information from source without reinterpretation / mediation through
mediation of archive translation
➔ Trust necessary
➔ Nostalgia → rose-colored past as
critique of present
SO oral history gives info on values / cultures / everyday issues of past societies / past-
present relations
e.g.: play by Likasi’s theatre group Mufwankolo about greedy husband that hides his income
from wife and ends up dropping months income in toilet → a way to discuss gender roles
• Material culture
o Artefacts inform on cosmogonies + social structures
o Tools & instruments inform on everyday practice
e.g.: Pende carved chief seat (1930s)
→ Pende ppl enslaved for palm oil labour + heavily taxed
Chief was chosen by Belgian administration → enforced colonial domination SO carvings
on chair show forced labour, associate chiefs with symbols of theft / corruption
• Immaterial heritage
o Music → songs = snapshot of space + time bcs styles/themes/popularity inform
about specific culture
e.g.: Indépendance Cha-Cha (OK Jazz, 1960)
→ Rumba (= Afro-Cuban music), first pan-African hit
→ reflection of African modernity shaped by cosmopolitan cities + outside
influences
2
, PART ONE: POWER
1.1: “Houses to Empires”
Gold Trade in the Sahel
• Cross-Saharan exchanges = economic + cultural BUT not cultural overhaul of Sahelian
societies
• From 1st C: trade West-African gold – Saharan salt
• From 8th C: ↗ Sahelian gold bcs golden dinar = currency of Islamic Caliphate
• Before 8th C: Sahel = divided in kingdoms & chiefdoms (Sahara-area)
→ later: empires
➔ States in empire stayed autonomous BUT paid tribute & recognized emperor
➔ Might of Sahelian empires = military + control of trade routes (gold)
➔ Never directly controlled gold mines :/
The Empire of Mali
• Early 14th C: Mali founded by hunter-king Sunjata & Mande speakers
➔ Mali rulers ↗ power by controlling key nodes of Sahelian & Saharan trade routes
(eg: Timbuktu)
• Golden Age: reign of Mansa Musa (1313-1337)
➔ Religious co-existence
o Muslim: court + elites, culture / administrative forms
o Non-Muslim: commoners, military organization
• th
Early 15 C: ↘ Mali bcs no control trade routes
↓ Competition with Songhai Empire + overproduction of gold
Economic crisis with inflation in Mali
Kingdoms of the Gold Coast
1443: exchanges with Portugal in West-Africa
1471: agreement between Portugal – “Gold Kings”
15th C: globalization
Mid 17th C: trade focused on gold, NOT slaves
• benefitted local rulers & had to be peaceful bcs
o they had army forces
o gold mines were inaccessible for European traders
SO had to work with local rulers
Gold Coast
• divided in small Kingdoms till mid 17th C
• gold exchanged for copper / cloth / cassava / …
• autonomy of political organizations
↔ South American colonies
3
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