The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins.
In a recent paper for the Journal of African History, A.G. Hopkins writes that economists have spent the last decade writing a “new” economic history of Africa that has escaped the notice of historians. He labels the “ethnolinguistic fractionalization” and “reversal of fortune” theses as this litera...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Routledge
2010
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| _version_ | 1826300571742633984 |
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| author | Fenske, J |
| author_facet | Fenske, J |
| author_sort | Fenske, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | In a recent paper for the Journal of African History, A.G. Hopkins writes that economists have spent the last decade writing a “new” economic history of Africa that has escaped the notice of historians. He labels the “ethnolinguistic fractionalization” and “reversal of fortune” theses as this literature's key insights. In this paper, I shall argue that the most valuable contributions to the new economic history of Africa are not distinguished by their broad theories, but by their careful focus on causal inference. I shall survey recent contributions to this literature, compare them with the “old” economic history of Africa, and revise Hopkins's advice to historians accordingly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:19:12Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:de4a2357-7213-4fcf-9764-ddd93895cece |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:19:12Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:de4a2357-7213-4fcf-9764-ddd93895cece2022-03-27T09:31:09ZThe causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:de4a2357-7213-4fcf-9764-ddd93895ceceEnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsRoutledge2010Fenske, JIn a recent paper for the Journal of African History, A.G. Hopkins writes that economists have spent the last decade writing a “new” economic history of Africa that has escaped the notice of historians. He labels the “ethnolinguistic fractionalization” and “reversal of fortune” theses as this literature's key insights. In this paper, I shall argue that the most valuable contributions to the new economic history of Africa are not distinguished by their broad theories, but by their careful focus on causal inference. I shall survey recent contributions to this literature, compare them with the “old” economic history of Africa, and revise Hopkins's advice to historians accordingly. |
| spellingShingle | Fenske, J The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title | The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title_full | The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title_fullStr | The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title_short | The causal history of Africa: A response to Hopkins. |
| title_sort | causal history of africa a response to hopkins |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fenskej thecausalhistoryofafricaaresponsetohopkins AT fenskej causalhistoryofafricaaresponsetohopkins |