John Edward Philips 
Writing African History 

A comprehensive evaluation of how to read African history.


Writing African History is an essential work for anyone who wants to write, or even seriously read, African history. It will replace Daniel Mc Call’s classic
Africa in Time Perspective as the introduction to African history for the next generation and as a reference for professional historians, interested readers, and anyone who wants to understand how African history is written.


Africa in Time Perspective was written in the 1960s, when African history was a new field of research. This new book reflects the development of African history since then. It opens with a comprehensive introduction by Daniel Mc Call, followed by a chapter by the editor explainingwhat African history is [and is not] in the context of historical theory and the development of historical narrative, the humanities, and social sciences. The first half of the book focuses on sources of historical data while thesecond half examines different perspectives on history. The editor’s final chapter explains how to combine various sorts of evidence into a coherent account of African history.
Writing African History will become the most important guide to African history for the 21st century.


Contributors: Bala Achi, Isaac Olawale Albert, Diedre L. Badéjo, Dorothea Bedigian, Barbara M. Cooper, Henry John Drewal, Christopher Ehret, Toyin Falola, David Henige, Joseph E. Holloway, John Hunwick, S. O. Y. Keita, William G. Martin, Daniel Mc Call, Susan Keech Mc Intosh, Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu, Kathleen Sheldon, John Thornton, and Masao Yoshida.


John Edwards Philips is Professor of International Society, Hirosaki University, and author of
Spurious Arabic: Hausa and Colonial Nigeria [Madison, University of Wisconsin African Studies Center, 2000].

Tabla de materias

What is African History? – John Edward Philips

Archaeology and the Reconstruction of the African Past – Susan Keech Mc Intosh

Writing African History from Linguistic Evidence – Christopher Ehret

Physical Anthropology and African History – Shomarka Keita MD

The Importance of Botanical Data to Historical Research on Africa – Dorothea Bedigian

Oral Tradition as a Means of Reconstructing the Past – David Henige

Oral Sources and the Challenge of African History – Barbara Cooper

Arabic Sources for African History – John O. Hunwick

European Documents and African History – John K. Thornton

Mission and Colonial Documents – Toyin Falola

Data Collection and Interpretation in the Social History of Africa – Isaac Olawale Albert

African Economic History: Approaches to Research – Masao Yoshida

Signs of Time, Shapes of Thought: The Contributions of Art History and Visual Culture to Historical Methods in Africa – Henry John Drewal

Methodologies in Yoruba Oral Historiography and Aesthetics – Deidre L. Badejo Ph.D.

Local History in Post-Independent Africa – Bala Achi

Africa and World-Systems Analysis: A Post Nationalist Project? – William G. Martin

What Africa Has Given America: African Continuities in the North American Diaspora – Joseph E. Holloway

History and Memory – Donatien DIBWE dia Mwembu

Writing About Women: Approaches to a Gendered Perspective in African History – Kathleen Sheldon

Writing African History – John Edward Philips

Sobre el autor

TOYIN FALOLA is Professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the Jacob and Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.