Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history
This article considers the marginalization of precolonial history from mainstream Africanist scholarship in recent decades, and argues that this can be understood in the context of a scholarly culture that attributes an exaggerated significance to the history of the twentieth century. The article hi...
| מחבר ראשי: | |
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| פורמט: | Journal article |
| שפה: | English |
| יצא לאור: |
Cambridge University Press
2011
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| _version_ | 1826315180534923264 |
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| author | Reid, R |
| author_facet | Reid, R |
| author_sort | Reid, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article considers the marginalization of precolonial history from mainstream Africanist scholarship in recent decades, and argues that this can be understood in the context of a scholarly culture that attributes an exaggerated significance to the history of the twentieth century. The article highlights some of the work that continues to be done on Africa's deeper past, with a view to demonstrating the enormous value of such research in elucidating present-day issues. It also argues, however, that work on the modern period is preponderant, and that there is a clear tendency toward historical foreshortening, evidenced in recent scholarship on such topics as conflict and ethnicity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:21:27Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:e9daf8aa-ed22-484e-94d0-7f09a63d835f |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:21:27Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:e9daf8aa-ed22-484e-94d0-7f09a63d835f2024-11-12T10:12:04ZPast and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African historyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e9daf8aa-ed22-484e-94d0-7f09a63d835fEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2011Reid, RThis article considers the marginalization of precolonial history from mainstream Africanist scholarship in recent decades, and argues that this can be understood in the context of a scholarly culture that attributes an exaggerated significance to the history of the twentieth century. The article highlights some of the work that continues to be done on Africa's deeper past, with a view to demonstrating the enormous value of such research in elucidating present-day issues. It also argues, however, that work on the modern period is preponderant, and that there is a clear tendency toward historical foreshortening, evidenced in recent scholarship on such topics as conflict and ethnicity. |
| spellingShingle | Reid, R Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title | Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title_full | Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title_fullStr | Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title_full_unstemmed | Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title_short | Past and presentism: the 'precolonial' and the foreshortening of African history |
| title_sort | past and presentism the precolonial and the foreshortening of african history |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT reidr pastandpresentismtheprecolonialandtheforeshorteningofafricanhistory |