Department of History and Diplomatic Studies,
Federal University of Kashere, Nigeria
HDS 3307: Issues and Problems in African Historiography
Course Outline and Lecture Notes
1. Introduction
This course is taught at the third year of the undergraduate program in the department of
History and Diplomatic studies, Federal University of Kashere, Nigeria. It is being
executed through the lecturer-student face-to-face lecture method (this involves the
lecturer choosing a topic, explaining it to the students and demonstrating with relevant
examples, asking them relevant questions and allowing them to ask questions as well
make their contributions in the course of the lecture).The intended outcomes of the course
broadly are that the student is expected to know the following: - a. the meaning of
historiography in general and African historiography in particular and its scope; b. Nature
and practice of African historiography; c. The challenges of African Historiography; and
d. The prospects of African Historiography. Accordingly, these outcomes would be
achieved by treating the following topics: I. Definition of Historiography and African
Historiography; II. Nature of African Historiography: its forms and practices, III.
Colonial historiography and African historiography, V. Arabic/Islamic historiography
and African historiography, VI. Interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary method and African
historiography, VII. Digitalization of knowledge/eLearning and African historiography
and, VIII. Prospects of African historiography.
2. Meaning of African Historiography and its scope
Historiography means the art of reconstructing history. This means the art of purposely
investigating into the past events of man to preserve and transmit it in the present and
future for the benefits of humanity. African historiography is therefore a branch
of historiography concerning the African continent; its peoples, nations and variety of
written and non-written histories. African historiography is also referred to as oral
history, and is different from other continental historiographies due to its
multidisciplinary nature, unique and varied methods of recording and transmitting
history. The practice of African historiography is depicted through many mediums
including art, traditional African written methods such as the Igbo Nsibidi; Egyptian
hieroglyphs and Ge’ez script, Liberian Vai and through word of mouth. It lacks an
established set of historical works documenting events before European contact and
colonialism and so has lent itself to contemporary methods of study which involves the
incorporation of anthropological, sociological, economic, etc analysis.
Prior to the 1800s when Europeans colonialisms began in Africa, Arabian and Islamic
merchants/scholars cum clerics have had contacts with some African societies and
documented some events that took place in such societies. The emergence of European
colonization in Africa in the 19th century impinged the cultural identity and socio-political
structures of the societies of the continent, thus African historiography drastically
shifted and embraced the written documentation of Africa and its people by Europeans in
European languages and their forms of writing. The implication is that African
historiography is not static but one that has maintained a changing trend from the pre-
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colonial era to date. Historiographical practices in other continents and the ideological
leanings in same have affected African historiography in one way or the other during
these periods.
Aside examining the nature of African historiography, the scope of African
historiography includes varied themes of the past events of African peoples, covering the
pre-colonial, colonial and post- colonial periods as expressed and presented by
historiographies from other continents.
3. The nature, forms and practice of African historiography
African historiography involves interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary approach and has lent
itself to contemporary methods of historiographical enterprise which
incorporates anthropological, sociological, economic, etc analysis. African historiography
is depicted through many mediums including art, traditional African written methods
such as the Igbo Nsibidi; Egyptian hieroglyphs and Ge’ez script, Liberian Vai and word
of mouth.
Since many African societies had not developed an indigenous form of writing in the pre-
colonial era, they engaged the wholesome historiographical enterprise of generating
historical knowledge, preserving and transmitting it through oral tradition. People have
most often mistaken oral tradition to mean oral sources; however, the two are different
from each other. Oral tradition is history stored in the memory and transmitted by word
of mouth from one generation to another. In general sense, “oral tradition “refers to the
recall and transmission of a specific, preserved textual and culture knowledge through
vocal utterance. Oral traditions is also called oral lore and include the following:- a.
Poetry; b. formulae; c. list; d. folktales; e. commentaries; f. myths; g. legends; and h.
Song; i. Ballads; j. Chants; k. Prose. It should be however, noted that some oral
traditions have been documented down and so are not always oral, for example Kilwa,
Kano and Gonja chronicles.
Oral sources on the other hand are data/facts/evidence which people hold in memory and
told verbally to those who need such data/facts/evidence in the course of reconstructing
history. Oral sources is also called testimony. Oral sources of history include all the
forms of oral traditions and the below underscored:-
Folk speech includes regional accents, local terms, specialized language, and other
elements that make up the distinctive speech patterns of a region or occupation. Ethnic
and occupational groups of course have their own specialized language.
Jokes and riddles They are learned from other people, and change form slightly with
each retelling. While a joke about a recent event may not have the depth in time usually
associated with folk traditions, the fact that it has spread so rapidly indicates that it is
widely shared and that it addresses something important in the culture.
Proverbs are a short, usually fixed, phrase that encapsulates some bit of wisdom to be
passed on at appropriate moments.
4. The challenges of African Historiography
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African historiography which is oral history or oral tradition has its peculiar challenges
which are associated with the problems of verbal communication. These challenges have
caused European and western and other historiographers from other continents to
question the credibility and objectivity of African historiography. Some of the challenges
include the following: -a. The brain and mind of man is prone to forgetfulness as such
oral traditions can be distorted if part of a past event is forgotten by the preserver and
transmitter; b. Facts can also be distorted by the transmitter intentionally to suit his
political, cultural, ideological, religious etc sympathy; c. Oral tradition lack chronology
and dating; therefore, it becomes impossible for it to establish what happened first and
what followed; d. Oral tradition in some circumstances are full of variants. A particular
oral history could be told in so many versions and therefore cause the problem of
authenticity; e. In some instances, they are vague and incomprehensible.
5. Colonial historiography and African historiography
Colonial historiography is the history of Africa written by people with a Eurocentric
view. Such historians include many of the apostles of colonization. Colonial
historiography emerged with the discovery and colonization of Africa and involved the
study of Africa and its history by European academics and historians. They wrote history
from an entirely European perspective under the pretense of western superiority. They
argued that Africa had no history prior to the coming of colonialism in the continent.
Eurocentric scholars including David Hume, George Hegel, Hugh Trevor-Roper, A.P
Newton and Lord Raglan among many others put up this idea. They were influenced and
guided by racism and the colour of the skin of Africans. Hume for instance declared that
“he was apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the whites”. Hagel similarly
argued that “Africa is no historical part of the world; it has no movement or development
to exhibit”. Also, Hugh one posited that “…there is only the history of the Europeans in
Africa. The rest is darkness…and darkness is not a subject of history…”
Such views depict Africa and her natives as a people without history. This propaganda
painted the image of Africa as a 'dark continent', meaning that there was no interaction
among African people that would cause events to take place. Any historical process or
movement in the continent was explained as the work of outsiders, especially the
Europeans. Consequently, African history was for the most part seen as the history of
Europeans in Africa. Africa was depicted as a part of the historical progress and
development of Western Europe and an appendix of the national history of the
Europeans.
Eurocentric scholars equated history with the art of European culture and concluded that
Africa had no history because history begins with writing and thus with the arrival of the
Europeans. Europeans justified their presence in Africa and the colonization of Africa by
their ability to place Africa in the 'path of history', meaning that it is them (Europeans)
that brought development (civilization) to Africa. They celebrated colonialism as a
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'civilising mission' carried out by European traders, missionaries and administrators.
They wrote histories concerning Africa with prejudices acquired and disseminated as
historical knowledge, and with Eurocentric assumptions and arrogant certainty to justify
colonialism.
From the above arguments it can be summed that the challenges of colonial
historiography on African history include the following:-a. prejudice; b. extortion of facts
concerning Africa’s past; c. Ignorance of Africa’s reality. All of these culminated to a
bias, subjective and irrational presentation of Africa’s past.
6. Arabic/Islamic historiography and African historiography
Islamic Historiography means written material concerning the events of the early period
of Islam written by Muslim historians which for a very long time as late as in the 19thc,
was documented in Arabic language and writing. Meanwhile Islam and the Arabic
language had been in Africa earlier that Christianity and any of the European languages
and writings, be it English, French, or Spanish etc. The Arabs for centuries before the
coming of Europeans to Africa and their later colonization of the African continent had
had contacts with Africans through trading activities and proselytization of Islam from
the North to West and East sub-African regions. Some of the Arab merchants that
traversed Africa for the purpose of trade were of African origin and were led by a drive
of curiosity to collect records and reports about Islamic personalities and their actions in
Africa. These had interest in historical narratives concerning Africa especially on issues
of Islam, politics and trade, therefore, documented their narratives in Arabic language.
Some of the prominent scholars among this category include: - Mas cudi (c.950 A.D); al-
Bakri (1029-1094; al-Idris(1154A.D); al- Yaqut(c.1200);Abdul Fida(1273-1331); al-
c
Umari(1301-1349); Ibn Battutah(1325-1354); and Ibn Khaldun(1332-1404)among
others. The Islamic or the Arabic sources have contributed to the understanding of
Africa’s past, even as many of their documents were written for Islamic propagation on
themes such as Islamic sciences, law, and politics.
Although Arabic or Islamic historiography has contributed to the development of African
historiography, it as well posses the following challenges to African historiography: - a.
Some of their documentation of Africa were mere propaganda aimed at promoting Islam
in the continent; b. In some of the documents, personalities especially Islamic rulers were
over glorified; c. the documents reveals themes that concerned Islam, for instance Islamic
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science, medicine, and rulers and therefore fail to give a wider scope of the understanding
of Africa’s past. The areas which they covered were grossly inadequate to cover the large
expanse of Africa’s past; d. It is faced with the problems of prejudice and authenticity,
therefore, in many instances distorted Africa’s actual experience.
7. Archaeology and African Historiography
Archaeology is the scientific study of artefacts. Artefacts are the cultural remnants of man
for example ancient site, relics, monuments, coins, inscriptions and other materials which
help in reconstructing history in a most plausible manner. Archaeology is a primary
source and forms one of the major sources for African historiography owing to the fact
that Africa’s past was not documented but rather preserved in the brain and transmitted
orally. Archaeology helps African historiography to glimpse into the pre-history of
African societies. The main contribution of archaeology to African historiography is that
it has assisted the historiographers in tracing the origin and developmental stages of man
especially in distinguishing man from other primates such as: Gorilla, Orang-utan etc. For
example it is from archaeological discoveries that the earliest form of man was traced to
Africa when excavations were executed in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The excavation
discovered the remains of earliest fossil of human form (hominid) known as
Dryopithecus which was believed to later develop to Ramapithecus then to
Australopithecus robustus and to Africanus then to Homo-Erectus, and modern man.
Another benefit of the interaction of African historiography and archaeology is the
provision of sound chronological framework to fit the evidence from artefacts so as to be
reliable in comparison. History generally tends to study economic, social and political
aspects of man, while Archaeology studies more of economic and social aspects. Unlike
African historiography which draws facts from oral tradition, archaeological analysis is
drawn from scientific observation and as such has been the most useful discipline in
interaction with oral history in determining the various stages of human civilization
(Stone Age, Iron Age and Neolithic age) in Africa. For instance archaeology has aided
the oral historian in reconstructing the past history of some African peoples and states,
for example the culture of Benin, Ife, Igbo-Ukwu, Nok, Taruga, Daima, (Nigeria), Bigo
in Uganda, Old Zimbabwe, Egypt and the Nile valley, etc. have deepened the African
historiographical knowledge of the peoples’ among whom the cultures developed .
The challenges of archaeological knowledge to African historiography, however, include:
- a. archaeological excavations tends to be very expensive in terms materials and
manpower (labour) needs; b. artefacts that are buried under the ground may have
corroded due to weather effects and so cannot give the true picture of what it really was
thereby impinge their true meaning; c. excavations require expert and professional
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knowledge which the historian may lack grossly; and d. excavated artefacts may be
difficult to interpret for various reason including obscurity and a lack of knowledge of
what they really are .
As archaeology is very useful to African historiography so is oral history useful to
archaeology; both disciplines complement each other in the following manner: - a. Oral
history informs the archaeologist of probable sites where artefacts are buried, b. the pre
exaction information provided by the Oral history aid the archaeologist in getting and
moving to the site the right tools and equipment for the excavation, c. Oral history aid the
archaeologist in interpreting artefacts.
As important as oral history is useful to the archaeologist, it may in some circumstances
pose the following challenges to the archaeologist:-a. It may direct the archaeologist to a
wrong site leading to the discovery of nothing after excavation is execute; b. It can also
give the archaeologist wrong information concerning the nature of anticipated artefacts;
c. It may give a wrong interpretation of the artefacts that may be discovered.
8. Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary method and African Historiography
The end of colonialism caused the acknowledgement and acceptance of African nations
and peoples as individuals free from European domination. This therefore allowed for the
emergence of a new historiography known as contemporary historiography. The new
historiography has caused African historiography to be approached from new
perspectives and with new methods to fill the challenge which African historiography
hitherto faced. The challenge was that Africa was confined to the development and
activity of a singular people or nation instead of capturing the comprehensive history of
entire nations (peoples) owing to the fact she had no generally accepted means of
communication or academic body arising from Africa’s cultural plurality. This therefore,
also denied Africa of having a vast quantity of historical works. In other to tackle this
challenge modern historiography spurred African historiography to embrace the winds of
contemporary historiographical movements which incorporate other disciplines and their
methodologies of inquiry into human phenomenon. This approach is described as the
interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary method.
In the process of knowledge generation and acquisition in modern education, science, art,
social science, humanities, and applied science are considered the prologue to
interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity.
Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary method in knowledge generation provides the
opportunity to bridge disciplines and forge new connections to arrive at knowledge. It
allows for a combination of multiple disciplines and pursues different ways of thinking
about the same problem or subject. The cross-disciplinary collaboration, paves way for
the knowledge seeker to develop critical thinking skills, and presents many “real world”
opportunities for growth. The cross-disciplinary collaboration with African
historiography involving such disciplines as sociology, economics, archaeology,
anthropology etc. has taken the understanding of Africa’s past to higher heights by
creating the emergence of quantity historical works that has covered wide range of
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Africa’s experiences. See for instances the few examples of the interaction of history with
other disciplines are discussed below: - African historiography’s collaboration with
economics offers history theories to substantiate its facts, and the collaboration with
statistics and mathematics or cliometrics ensures the historian to quantitatively support
the facts.
Also, history’s collaboration with Archaeology has resulted to the pre-historic knowledge
of African societies. For instance it has led to knowledge of the origin and development
of man in Africa as found in Olduvai Gorge, Lae tooli, Koobifora etc. Too, the cross-
disciplinary collaboration of archaeology and history has paved way for the provision of
sound chronological framework to fit the evidence from artefacts. The interaction of
archaeology with history has also helped in determining the various stages of human
civilization (Stone Age, Iron Age and Neolithic age).It has helped in reconstructing the
prehistory of some African peoples and states, for instance the culture of Benin, Ife, Igbo-
Ukwu, Nok, Taruga, Daima, (Nigeria), Bigo in Uganda, Old Zimbabwe, Egypt and the
Nile valley, etc. have deepened the historian’s knowledge of the peoples’ among whom
the cultures developed.
While the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary method has the potentials of promoting
African historiography to evolve quantitative history, some of the disadvantages the
method posses include the following: - a. Interdisciplinarity and multidiscipliarity creates
a risk for African historiography to become weaker and pushed down under a more
established and powerful discipline in the hierarchy; b. It has the potential or actual threat
of narrowing rather than widening of perspectives; c. it can have the effect of dissolving
African historiography for any serious scholarship or science; d. Researchers from
different disciplines also have different methodologies and integrating research can be
challenging; e. the interdisciplinary approach can get too meta-theoretical and not address
real-life problems like the research was supposed to.
9. The Digital Knowledge and African historiography
The world has massively evolved the digitalization of knowledge including historical
knowledge since the 19th Century. This implies that historiographical practice involves
sourcing information through digital platforms including computer, preserving historical
knowledge and transmitting it through same platforms. Digitalization is termed eLearning
and ensures quick, fast and wide spread transmissions of knowledge as compared with
written and oral methods. While digitalization has the potentials of aiding the quick, fast
and wide spread of quantity African historiography, it still has the following
shortcomings: - a. Digital platforms at times extort facts of events; b. they at times lack
authenticity; c. Lack of internet access/connectivity in Africa has impinged the generation
and dissemination of quantity African historiography; also is the d. Lack of locally
developed African historiography content and curriculum online.
Academic institutions in Africa have not made the level of investment needed in
developing local content that is aligned with national curriculums and that can be utilized
for eLearning as the majority of educational institutions still use textbooks from outside
Africa; e .A large proportion of the educational softwares produced in the world market is
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in English instead of the indigenous languages, this impinge generating knowledge of
Africa’s past through eLearning hence affect quantitative African historiography.
10. The way forward for African Historiography
In spite of the issues and challenges faced by African historiography to evolve objective
and quantity history that would reflect her numerous past experiences, it still has
tremendous prospects. Such prospects are achievable if the following are adhered to:-
a. governments across Africa should strive to achieve sustainable internet access and
availability including improving power; b. governments reforms should strive to develop
local content model that will be pro African historiography; c. African historiographical
practitioners should carefully evaluate other historiographies as they concern to African
reality and counter any prejudice views that may be inherent in them; d. Practitioners of
African historiography should handle their sources with the highest level of criticality
to be able to interpret the past in a most rational and objective manner.
Study-aid questions
1. Define African historiography and explain its scope
2. Examine the nature of African historiography
3. Discuss the weaknesses inherent in African historiography
4. “Colonial historiography debased African historiography”. Assert this claim
5. In what ways did Islamic historiography impinge the achievement of objective and
quantitative knowledge of Africa’s past?
6. How has archaeology failed in aiding African historiography to achieve objective and
quantitative history?
7. “Archaeology failed in aiding African historiography to achieve objective and
quantitative history, even as it has helped African historiography to achieve same”.
Analyze this claim.
8. Assert the complimentary roles that history and archaeology play to each other in the
quest to generate knowledge
9. Analyze the prospects and constraints of the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
method of inquiry in the development of African historiography.
10. Explain the problems of African historiography in the era of digitalization of knowledge
11. Oral history is a source for historiography but not every oral source is oral history. Argue
this with relevant examples.
12. Suggest ways to reposition African historiography for it to achieve objective and quantity
knowledge of Africa’s past.
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