African History

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was common for British Army regiments to recruit black males to serve as enlisted military musicians. The Irish regiments of the British Army similarly engaged in the practice, and this study will focus on the sources recording the presence of black bandsmen in the 88th (Connaught Rangers) Regiment of Foot during and immediately after the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815).For a more detailed exploration of black military musicians in Ireland and Irish regiments see JD.Ellis, “The Black, the Red and the Green: Black Red-Coats and Ireland during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Irish Sword 23, no.323 (2003): pp. 409-25. See www.academia.edu/

In Princess Town, on the coast of south-western Ghana, stand the ruins of an old fortress: Grossfriedrichsburg (also spelled Gross Friedrichsburg or Great Fredricksburg). Prof. Roberto Zaugg retraces the history of this Brandenburg-Prussian trading post, highlighting its role as hub of transnational entanglements and as infrastructure of the slave trade.

More information on Grossfriedrichsburg, on the relations between the Nzema and the Brandenburgers, and on the role of this fortress in German memorial culture, is available in the essay of Roberto Zaugg: «Grossfriedrichsburg, the first German colony in Africa? Brandenburg-Prussia, Atlantic entanglements and national memory», published in the book «Shadows of Empire in West Africa» (New York 2018, pp. 33-73).

O presente trabalho se propõe a analisar seis livros didáticos de História aprovados pelo PNLD (Plano Nacional do Livro e do Material Didático) do triênio de 2017 a 2019, destinados ao sexto ano escolar do Ensino Fundamental, no que se refere à Educação para as Relações Étnico-Raciais no tema da História Antiga, particularmente no caso do ensino sobre a denominada História da Grécia Antiga, a partir de uma perspectiva afro-asiática de análise: isto é, interpretar como os livros estão contemplando as relações entre a Grécia Antiga com a Ásia e a África. Sugere-se, a partir da análise feita, que os livros didáticos ainda mantém certo grau de ocultamento da importância das contribuições afro-asiáticas no processo da História da Grécia Antiga. Igualmente levanta-se a hipótese de que, a partir de leituras feitas, tal abordagem negligencia aspectos afro-asiáticos na História da Grécia Antiga e mantém explicações próximas ou mesmo genéticas com influências colonialistas na construção da historiografia, em que o eurocentrismo e o racismo pesam em sua construção. Nesse sentido, esse trabalho também sugere existir um caráter subalterno dado às contribuições afro-asiáticas na Grécia Antiga nos livros didáticos, em que seriam ignorados inúmeros pontos nos quais povos e culturas não-europeias tenham contribuído para a formação da Antiguidade grega sem ser de forma subalterna e negativa. Por outro lado, percebeu-se também uma construção “orientalizante” das influências não-europeias à Grécia Antiga, em que se utilizaria com frequência ideias genéricas de Ocidente e Oriente nos livros didáticos, de forma acrítica. Dessa forma, esse trabalho se aproxima tanto da crítica de Edward Said ao que denomina de Orientalismo, quanto da de Gayatri Spivak a respeito do silenciamento dos subalternos. Em relação a bibliografias que pensam sobre contribuições afro-asiáticas, cita-se aqui tanto Martin Bernal quanto Walter Bukert, dentre outros autores elencados ao longo da pesquisa.

Link to Review: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/40763
Sandra Halperin's book is a Janus-faced creature. On the one hand, Halperin attempts to retrieve dependency theory, an approach to socio-economic analysis that many have relegated to the dustbin of history. On the other, Halperin attempts to retrieve dependency theory by universalizing it. In doing so, however, she attempts to sever dependency theory from its historical association with the national liberation struggles of the Global South. That Halperin's book takes dependency theory so seriously may perhaps explain why it has been ignored, for it has not been reviewed in any English academic journal as far as I can tell. Yet for those of us who do not believe that dependency theory is dead, this book raises important questions: what are the costs that one incurs when one attempts to retrieve dependency theory by disconnecting it from the Global South struggles to which it has been tethered?  This question animates this review. While I argue that Halperin's attempt to revive dependency theory by universalizing it ultimately leads to an erasure of imperialism, the value of this book is precisely that it brings such issues to the forefront. Thus, what is at stake in this book is the relevance of theories of imperialism for the study of the Global South

This essay explores the interface between specific features in the archaeological record pertaining to African iron smelting and various symbolic meanings that are linked to those remains by ritual
performances and their associated beliefs. Employing a critical direct historical approach that uses ethnographic observations and historical evidence, cross-cultural regularities can be isolated in the
types of symbolic meanings that are attributed to ritual offerings placed in the bases of African smelting furnaces. Such meanings range from interdiction of ancestral spirits and witchcraft to the infusion of the furnace with attributes of a fertility—one of the primary symbolic armatures that confers meaning on iron smelting. Comparison of the ethnographic models to archaeological evidence
then reveals that ritual treatments of iron smelting show significant continuity through time—particularly in the domain of fertility symbolism—reaching as far back through time as the midfirst
millennium B.C.

The Black Panther film earned accolades for numerous reasons. Before now, most films that have attempted to portray life on the African continent have dwelled excessively on the bitter effects of colonialism ultimately projecting Africans as extremely backward at best or as slaves at worst. However, Black Panther does the exact opposite as the film celebrates the richness of the African culture, and depicts Wakanda, the fictional African country, as a technologically advanced nation. The film’s positive portrayal of the indigenous Africans culture is highly commendable. Despite the technological advancement apparent in Wakanda, Wakandans do not let go of their identities as traditional African people with a unique history, culture and cosmology.  Characters in Black Panther display fully what it means to be African and in order to do so, the film and the producers of the film predominantly rely on African history, particularly Yoruba history, for its content. Therefore, with the intent of setting the movie within a specific context, this paper will analyze the Black Panther film by revisiting and reflecting upon Yoruba history. As such, I argue that not only does Black Panther gain inspiration from the precolonial Yoruba kingdom, but that Yoruba history offers the key to the future that Afrofuturists seek. In other words, the Black Panther draws inspiration from Africa’s precolonial past in an attempt to imagine its future.

Angola's staggering oil wealth and histories of conflict and inequality make for tempting binary narratives of power and exploitation, which, however, suffice neither for accuracy nor action. This article uses a relational geographical perspective to go beyond simple binaries by jointly analysing the central 4 February Plaza in the heart of Malanje City, and the proposed new rural memorial for the Baixa de Kassanje revolt located east of the city in Kela Municipality. Drawing on news, ethnography and historical records, I situate the 4 February Plaza in the city's broader history of settler colonialism and point to its current tensions, ironies and practical and political uses in the city's daily geography. The Kassanje memorial is relatively unknown and has languished since a first pilot model village was announced by President Agostinho Neto during a 1979 visit. I discuss plans and media coverage about building a Kassanje village project and a new memorial and monument, as well as constructing new housing and social infrastructure in the area. I also examine claims to re-establish 4 January as a national holiday for martyrs of colonial repression (includ-ing in Kassanje) and to provide military pensions to people affected by the Kassanje revolt. Analysis shows how such plans and discussion of the revolt reveal both diverse voices in conversation as well as significant changes in dominant narratives about the revolt. More generally, the Kassanje discussions points to rural geographies of nationalism (and their accompanying monuments), which entail their own specificity as well as connections with urban areas. Similarly, understanding both monuments in their provincial contexts-and likewise their connections with Luanda-can provide new perspectives to work that has focused on Luanda and larger cities.

In 1977, I inventoried and photographed the collection of the Bamum Palace Museum in Foumban. Cameroon. The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored this cultural aid project, which enjoyed the support of His Majesty Sultan Seidou Njimoluh Njoya, members of the royal family, and other Bamum officials. This essay on Bamum thrones and stools followed after additional archival research and an extensive survey of literature on Bamum available at the time, and explores the complex history and iconography of the works based on accounts by guardians of cultural and historical knowledge in the Bamum kingdom, missionary writings, and German, French, and English publications. It should be noted that information was contradictory concerning the sequence of the thrones, especially about the famous throne Mandu Yenu in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin. Over the years, I revisited and corrected my assumption that it was a work commissioned by King Ibrahim Njoya and sent to the German emperor; see “Bamum Two-Figure Thrones: Additional Evidence” in African Arts, 1983; Things of the Palace. A Catalogue of the Bamum Palace Museum, Foumban (Cameroon) and Les Choses du Palais. Catalogue du Musée du Palais Bamum à Foumban (Cameroun), 1983; Art, Politics, and the Transformation of Meaning: Bamum Art in the Twentieth Century, 1996. New findings and revisions regarding the throne’s fraught history continue to this day, especially in reference to debates about looted art and restitution surrounding this throne, which is scheduled to be on display in the Humboldt Forum Berlin, when it opens in 2020.