Sundiata (and Colonizing Eastern & Southern Africa)

There is no class on Thursday, 1/31, so please take this opportunity to catch up on the readings from the last blog post. We will focus on Sundiata on Tuesday and move on to Eastern and Southern Africa on Thursday.

All students must submit written answers to the reading questions for Sundiata through Moodle before Tuesday's class.

For Thursday's class, we will tackle the first part of Africans, Chapter 6 (pp. 100-126 in the 2nd edition and Kindle; pp. 103-130 in the 3rd edition).

Reading Questions (add ~3 pages if using the 3rd edition):

• What four central themes does the history of southern and eastern Africa share with western Africa?
• How does their history differ and why? (record, values, environment, interactions)
• What role does pastoralism play in the east and south? How does it affect settlement, society, and culture?
• fissiparation? (p. 103)
• What complex changes took place in what is now Zimbabwe? (p. 103f)
• Describe Great Zimbabwe. (pp. 104f. and 121f.)
• How did the kingdom of Munhumutapa interact with the Portuguese? (p. 105)
• Why were cattle less important in Central Africa?
• Describe Luba and the two major political systems it shaped.
• What could people do to keep their rulers in line?
• In the East African savanna, what were the Bantu up to, and where did the Maasai come from?
• What evidence is there for the region being stateless? (p. 109)
• How did cattle give their owners a demographic advantage? (pp. 109 and 118)
• In the Great Lakes region of East Africa states like Bunyoro and Buganda developed later. How did those states operate, and how did they reduce succession problems?
• How does the author say the distinction between Tutsi and Hutu may have evolved? (p. 111)
• What new crops were adopted in eastern and southern Africa, and where did they come from?
• "Human mobility was the essence of this empty world" -- list reasons people might move. (p. 114)
• What precautions were taken against the risk of famine, and what increased mortality in famine years? Who rarely suffered famine? (p. 116)
• What does the Zulu proverb, "the feud is in the testicle," mean? (p. 118)
• Did southern African women have a lower or higher status than western African women? Why? What about the women of Central Africa? (p. 119)
• Why did patriarchal, cattle-owning societies have severe generational tension, and how did they handle it? (p. 120)
• Was slavery more or less common in eastern and southern Africa than in West Africa? (p. 120)
• Why was trade more limited in southern and eastern African than in West Africa? (p. 122)
• How did San and Khoikhoi religion differ from Bantu religion? (pp. 124f.)

Colonizing Western Africa

There will be no class on Thursday, 1/31, so we will have to be efficient on Tuesday! That being said, I recommend breaking up the reading to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Reading Questions for AFRICANS, Chapter 5, pp. 63-82:

• What populations drifted/migrated southward into western Africa, and what led them to do it?
• What pattern did population clusters take?
• What were obstacles to population growth? (pp. 67-69)
• What strategies were used to overcome these obstacles?
• Define kafu and describe the constraints on political consolidation. (pp. 71ff)
• How were slaves and horses important to the Hausa? (pp. 75-78)
• "Microstates" seem to have been the rule in the western forest, except in the northwest--why? (p. 81)
• What was unusual about the Kongo kingdom in the equatorial forest? (p. 82)

Reading Questions for AFRICANS, Chapter 5, pp. 83-99:

• How did trade move through western Africa?
• What was the most important product transported by long-distance trade and who traded it?
• What did Hausa traders use as currency? What were its advantages and limitations?
• What craft specialization was most advanced? Who introduced it? Why couldn't it compete in the Atlantic economy (after 1450)?
• How and why was a distinction made between the cultivated and the wild in western African culture and religion?
• What are the main features of indigenous religions in western Africa?
• How did Islam and indigenous religions interact?
• What distinctive family structures existed in western Africa? Why?
• How was generational conflict created and what were the consequences of it?
• What is "mankala" and were you familiar with it before reading this chapter?

Reading Questions for Sundiata:

• What is the role and status of a griot?
• What if any significant role do women play in the story of Sundiata?
• Where and when do the events of the story take place?
• What roles do religion and magic play in the story?
• How connected or aware of a larger world is the storyteller?
• What is the family structure of the king of Mali?
• How does one kingdom interact with another? 
• What are external and internal threats to peace?
• Overview of social structure can be found in note 37.
• Can you outline the basic story?

Identity plus Christianity & Islam

Reading Questions for Diversity, Unity, and most importantly, Identity (SHORT, chapter 2)

• What is it that makes a "makes a nonsense of pseudo-scientific theories of racial difference"? (Are you familiar with some of the theories?) 
• In what ways are African people diverse? (pull from 4 paragraphs that follow the above quoted text)
• The variations are a consequence of what historical processes? (last paragraph p. 28)
• Define "Maghrib." What might being North African mean? (p. 29ff)
• What is meant by "A historian's definition of 'Africa' is necessarily broad and unracialized"?
• With all this diversity, where can we find unity or "interconnectedness"?
• Who wrote the first serious continent-wide history of Africa?
• What is Afrocentrism and what are the book's arguments against it?
• How did Zulu and Yoruba identities develop?
• What are problems with the concept/term "tribe"?
• Who are the Tutsi and Hutu?
• How did the Mukogodo become Maasai?

Reading Questions for Christianity & Islam (AFRICANS, chapter 4)

• How did Christianity come to Egypt and how popular was it (% of population)? 
• Define "Coptic" (language and religion).
• What is Aksum (or Axum)? Ga'ez?
• Why did Nubian Christianity not last the way Ethiopian Christianity has? (See image below for clue.)
• What helped the Muslims conquer Egypt?
• How may Egyptians were still Christians by the 14th century? Why?
• What role did Berbers play in the spread and practice of Islam (p. 43f) and in trans-Saharan trade (p. 52)?
• Why did trans-Saharan trade grow so fast in the early Islamic period?
• Describe Old Jenne (Jenne-jeno).
• What is the relationship between religion and trade in West and East Africa?
• What "created the basic pattern of the modern northern Sudan"?
• What effects did partial isolation have on Ethiopian religion?

You might want to get started with Sundiata this week!

History and Archaeology

Reading Questions AFRICANS, Chapters 1-3:

(1) The frontiersmen of mankind

According to Iliffe, what are the central themes of African history?
Why was Africa underpopulated until the later 20th century?
What effects did the African environment have on ideologies and social organization?
How did European innovations lead to the late 20th century crisis in Africa?
What is "the thread that ties African history together"?
Besides archaeological evidence, what can we use to uncover the pre-literate past?

(2) The emergence of food-producing communities

What are the important developments of the Microlithic period?
List the four ancient language families of Africa and who spoke them.
What led some Africans to begin producing food? What food? When?
Describe the expansion/dispersal of Bantu speakers.

(3) The impact of metals

Don't look for very much about metals until page 33.
Why did so little Egyptian culture spread to the rest of the continent?
What's so important about Iron for Sub-Saharan Africa?

The True Size of Africa

Welcome to Africa!

Please create a blog for this class, using blogger preferably, and send me the URL (address) of the blog by Wednesday. Your first post of about 150 words is due by 11:59pm on Wednesday.

The first reading assignment is Chapter 1 of African History: A Very Short Introduction (aka Short). One copy of the book is now on two-hour reserve in the library.

Please read the chapter, "The idea of Africa," and be able to answer the following questions:

• What are some of the main issues, problems, and debates in studying African history?
• Why is the academic field of African history so new?
• When did inhabitants of African start thinking of themselves as Africans and why?
• What regions are sometimes included and sometimes left out of African history textbooks and why? (define "diaspora")
• Roughly describe "how Africa looks" (topology and ecology, map 1)
• What has contributed to "Africa's historically low population levels"?
• What is "the most persistent popular myth about the African landscape"? Can you think of examples not listed in the chapter?
• How long has the Sahara been a desert and what has been the effect?
• BIG IMPORTANT QUESTION: What is the history and significance of Jenne-jeno?