The book “African History: A Very Short Introduction” by John Parker and Richard Rathbone is
actually a very brief introduction to a very big topic. The history of Africa
has been considered as insignificant by some historians and ideological weapon
by other historians. In the early days, Africa was considered to be a land of
Barbaric and illiteracy. However, this kind of categorization of the history of
Africa has been intentionally done for providing the legal ground for the
colonialism of the 19th century.
The
authors of this book John Parker and Richard Rathbone have broadly narrated
that the country Africa had their own respective culture and history. This
book, on one hand, is a short history of the place and its people while on the
other hand, this book narrates the past history of the place (African History:
A Very Short Introduction pg. 1).
The authors state
“To begin with Africans speak a dizzying
variety of languages. Due to the subtle differences between the languages and
dialect the exact number is debatable, but the figure in the region of 1500, is
generally agreed upon by linguists” (26).
The
authors have indicated that there are enough problems or issues perceived
within the context of early Africa which are very much critical not for
understanding the entire civilisation but for gaining knowledge about the
overall discipline of their history. They had their own perceptions of viewing
and analysing their surroundings. As it is stated that perhaps the best known
uprising against the colonial rule was the Maji-Maji
rebellion in German East Africa (pg. 99). This shows that the study of the history of
Africa depicted the autonomous and independent focus on the recent development
of the continent. It has been widely believed by the Western historians that
the country Africa had no civilisation and thus had no history.
Main approaches to intellectual history of Africa
There are
various approaches to intellectual history of Africa that are mentioned as
follows:
ü One approach is to treat the country as an
extension of social history. By means of this approach, the ideas about the
country become an effective medium to understand the culture of the country. Due to the immigrants of Islam, Spanish, Portuguese, Romans and
others in Africa, the continent showed the cultural differences much
prominently (African History: A Very
Short Introduction pg 36).
ü Another significant approach to intellectual
African history is the approach of collective cultural values. According to John Parker and Richard Rathbone, the differences in the language,
signs, traditions, symbols, etc. are the key indicators that determine the
diverse history of Africa. The authors propose “ there are signs of the time
and shape of thoughts” (p. 64).
As observed by the past historians, the intellectual
history of the country is very much influenced by the emerging cultural
anthropology during the year 1970s and also in the early 1980s.
In the concerned
book, the authors have clearly depicted the role of colonialism which has
helped to transform the societies and economies of Africa to a great extent. Colonialism
was considered as the “ephemeral episode” in the African history (p. 92). The
African history has always been a controversial topic and thus is immensely
contested. The history of the country has been dismissed by ‘unimportant’ by
some historians as mentioned in the book. The question of racial discrimination
also evolves while discussing about the history of the country (93).
Furthermore,
according to the authors “Slavery brings us back to where we began, to the
invention of Africa” (p. 146). This also
depicts the fact that Africans, being dark skinned, are being rejected or
refused by the Western countries comprising of the white skinned people.
Main
themes
In the book the
authors have artistically produced the historical knowledge of the entire
country and also brought about the currents in the political thoughts in the
twentieth century. The societies of
Africa are being treated as primitive and completely unchangeable as there is
no literacy which prevents their way to achieve collective historical
consciousness. John Parker and Richard Rathbone have been greatly attracted by
the nature, development and transformation of the entire African civilisation. Poverty was also an important factor in
the continent for which the whole civilisation has suffered from slavery and bondage from the rich
European people (p. 10). As discussed in chapter 4 of the book African citizens
have long struggled to gain independence
which had been isolated from the main currents of the human progress (p. 70).
Also the parts of the third world war laid serious impact on the African
empires conquered by Europe.
In addition to this the
aftermath of the Second World War leading to the fall of the pseudo-scientific
hierarchies of racism (p. 3), there have been several doubts regarding the fact
whether the past history of Africa is valid or not. This theme of doubting the
history of the continent has also paved the way to the idea of African history.
Some scholars have also argued that because of the involvement of diaspora
(p.89), it cannot be said that the African history has remained at the age of a
neat continent. Rather it has reached out to the extent which is called ‘black
Atlantic’ (p. 9).
Methods
developed by historians to study the African past
As mentioned in the
book, John Parker and Richard Rathbone have narrated that the historians have
developed or followed various significant methods and techniques that helped
them to investigate or study the past history of the continent. They have
carefully examined the age archaeology to review the past condition of Africa.
From the 19th century, the study of the archaeological excavations
in Africa has helped the historians to navigate the past history of the
continent. The culture and the data of the people along with the chronology of
the continent have also led the historians to analyse and assess the social and
cultural perspectives of the people of the country. Moreover, the historians
have also gained knowledge about the European knowledge of Africa from the
Portuguese voyages of the ‘age of discovery’. Also these voyages have
introduced a strategy through which the thoughts and perceptions of the
Europeans towards the Africans can be transformed (pg 5).
The overall study
narrated that the book “African
History: A Very Short Introduction” written by John Parker and Richard Rathbone generally
highlighted the past history of the continent Africa. This book describes the
past history of Africa and about the physical place and the people of the
country. The authors have clearly portrayed the fact that the country is
encompassed with diverse and site of early mankind.
