> Date: Thursday, October 14, 2004
> From: Jeremy Rich
> <[log in to unmask]>
>>
> I often wish African historians would follow the paths set by historians
> working in other areas by putting out more primary source readers,
especially
> on specific thematic topics in African history rather than readers for use
in
> African survey classes or courses focusing on regions within
Africa(especially
> southern Africa). I teach US history surveys as well as Africa, and I
could
> build myself a house with all the primary source readers that publishers
ship
> out to me - perhaps not a very sturdy house, but a house nevertheless.
>
> This is not meant as a criticism of the primary source readers on Africa
> already out in the marketplace, but rather a call for more of them. Take
the
> issue of resistance in colonial Africa, for example. The richness of the
> texts and other materials that have been used by historians looking at
> colonial Africa in monographs and scholarly work lend themselves to
teaching
> as well, but one rarely sees examples of these documents and images
included
> on their own. There are exceptions, of course - the edited volume "Women
in
> African Colonial Histories" does a wonderful job providing primary sources
> related to each essay in the collection. I only hope others follow suit,
and
> bring in materials written in Arabic, Hausa, Swahili, and other languages
from
> a wide range of cases.
>
> Best, Jeremy Rich
> Cabrini College
>
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