Conceptualizations of Africa.
| dc.contributor.author | Hadizat Audu Salihu | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-04-07T13:07:05Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-04-07T13:07:05Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-02-28 | |
| dc.description.abstract | In this chapter, I discuss the conceptualizations of Africa in the field of History, an academic discipline which many scholars have defined as the study of past events, people, and societies. It is the exploration of the past through the examination of written and non-written sources, artifacts, and other forms of evidence (Carr, 1961). The goal of history is to understand the past and to explain how and why things happened the way they did. The concept of History has evolved, with different approaches and perspectives. Traditional approaches to History focused on political and military events, while more recent approaches have expanded to include social, cultural, and economic aspects (Burke, 2008). Historians use a variety of sources to reconstruct the past, including primary sources such as letters, diaries, pictures, drawings, songs, chants, and official documents, as well as secondary sources such as textbooks and scholarly articles. They also use a range of methods, including qualitative and sometimes quantitative approaches, to interpret the evidence and draw conclusions to narratives (Gaddis, 2004). History has important practical applications in all fields of life, such as informing policy decisions, preserving cultural heritage, and promoting social cohesion. It also has intrinsic value as a way to understand and appreciate the diversity of human experience and the complexity of human societies (Bauer, 1948). Africa has been studied by many Western historians since the 1900s with misconceptions about Africa, such scholars are Hugh Trevor-Roper, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, David Hume, Hegel, E. D. Morel, and many other European scholars and colonial powers viewed African societies as primitive and uncivilized, with a culture and history that were inferior to their own. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Salihu, H.A. (2024). History. In: Bangura, A.K., Ifedi, J.A. (eds) Conceptualizations of Africa. African Studies and Research Forum Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74535-5_17 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74535-5_17 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://kwasuspace.kwasu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/4981 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | African Studies and Research Forum Series. Springer, Cham. | |
| dc.title | Conceptualizations of Africa. | |
| dc.title.alternative | History | |
| dc.type | Book chapter |