• ​Dawson-Andoh, Araba. “Googling African History: Connecting Students to Africa’s Past with Digital Primary Sources.” African Research and Documentation, no. 136 (2019): 72-82. https://scolma.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SCOLMA-African-Research-No.136-Web.pdf

 

Araba Dawson-Andoh addresses the potential that digital primary sources have in engaging students of African history. She argues that twenty-first century teachers have an advantage in that they can access many primary sources online as opposed to having to gain access to tangible, physical sources from Africa. Dawson-Andoh provides examples of various online archives that can help teachers and students find sources online. Her experience as the librarian for African Studies and Social Sciences at Ohio University is on display in this article as her examination of each online archive is thorough and insightful. Dawson-Andoh is also the Chair of the CRL Cooperative Africana Materials Project and her research focuses on African history and primary source collection.[1]

​

She argues that using primary sources from Africa’s history will make “possible the representation of Africa to audiences outside of Africa.”[2] While her paper centers the experiences of undergraduate students, she agrees with many other scholars who argue that using primary sources at all levels of education will aid “in the development of analytical and critical thinking skills in students.”[3] On top of improving critical thinking and literacy skills, she concludes her paper by reminding teachers of one of the most important effects of using primary sources in the classroom: cultivating empathy. She argues that “students will be able to interact with unique documents and objects that provide insights into events and people from the past, helping them relate in personal ways and promoting a deeper understanding of Africa’s past.”[4] Dawson-Andoh’s article will help teachers find primary sources and build lessons that foster critical thinking skills and cultivate empathy.

 

• Derricourt Robin. Inventing Africa: History, Archaeology and Ideas. London: Pluto Press, 2011.

 

In Inventing Africa, Robin Derricourt explores how narratives of Africa “have been created, used, and misused” by Western historians and authors who have oversimplified the history of Africa.[5] Derricourt likens his research to that of Edward Said and his book about Western perceptions of the Middle East, Orientalism. Derricourt explores the impact that the stereotypes of Africa as primitive, poor, exotic, and ancient have had on the people of Africa as well as how those stereotypes have come to be. He examines the work of past historians and archaeologists such as Raymond Dart and Basil Davidson and how they portrayed the history and people of Africa. Derricourt aims to “defend the peoples whose lives are on the continent called Africa from the threats that broad sweep generalisations may bring.”[6] This is a lofty ambition, and one of the drawbacks of this book is that, at times, his book attempts to tell the story for the people of Africa, instead of allowing them the space to do so themselves.

​

Derricourt is a honorary professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia. His academic focus is the “history or archaeology” and several of his published books are about rethinking the way we study history and archaeology.[7] Inventing Africa is no different. Derricourt challenges his readers to broaden their understanding of the continent of Africa and appreciate the diverse regions, histories, geographies, and societies. He utilizes several types of sources, from “oral history, written records, and the archaeologist’s study of environment, economy, and material culture.”[8] While he focuses a lot on archaeology, Derricourt’s book would be essential reading for educators looking to teach about African history. Inventing Africa reminds educators to critically examine their lessons and sources, both primary and secondary, and approach the teaching of African history from a place of curiosity, openness, and humility.

 

• Gomez, Michael. African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. 

​

In his comprehensive survey of early and medieval African history, Michael Gomez argues that traditional history narratives, “whether world or imperial or big history, [are not] invested in on-going research in Africa.”[9] The goal of this book is to reinsert West Africa into ancient and medieval, world and imperial history to combat the traditional “silence on early and medieval Africa…with the exception of Egypt, Nubia, and North Africa.”[10] Gomez is a professor at NYU where he founded the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora and his academic interests include West Africa, the African Diaspora, the Middle East, and Islam.[11] African Dominion traces the history of West Africa from pre-antiquity Niger and the kingdom of Gao to the three great empires of West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay.[12]

​

Gomez clearly put a lot of effort into researching this tome. He examines the secondary literature in great detail as he weaves in previously overlooked primary sources. He uses a variety of oral and written primary sources as well as archeological evidence and, as he writes, puts them in “mutual conversation” with each other.[13] While many written accounts about medieval West Africa come from the perspective of Muslim traveler and traders, Gomez argues that flourishing city-states and international commerce predate the arrival of Islam in West Africa. He asserts that oral tradition is a valuable source of history and that “the historicity of ‘events’ is of less significance than their instrumentality, through which mores and principles of social engagement are conveyed.”[14] He also claims that many sources have been used to “decenter women in the scholarship” but a closer look at sources such as the “Epic of Sundiata/Sunjata” demonstrates the “Mande society’s high regard for women.”[15] Overall, African Dominion is an excellent source for teachers to use to gain familiarity with the history of early and medieval Africa. It is a source that portrays medieval Africa’s contributions to the world “as a full participant in its cultural, technological, and political innovations.”[16]

 

• Hangen, Tona. “Historical Digital Literacy, One Classroom at a Time.” The Journal of American History 101, no. 4. (March 2015): 1192-1203. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jav062

 

As teachers and students start accessing digital primary sources, it is important that they have the tools to properly analyze what they are reading and seeing. Tona Hangen calls this “historical digital literacy” and defines it as a “facility with using artifactual or digital sources (or both) by applying appropriate questions and investigative methods to construct history in ways that take advantage of the capabilities (and avoid the pitfalls) of our digital age.”[17] Just like using primary sources, and specifically diverse primary sources, can cultivate empathy and foster critical thinking, Hangen argues that digital literacy has “positive implications for student engagement and learning. Building historical digital literacy with our students helps us teach out craft authentically to our own time by drawing on the resources available.”[18]

 

Hangen is a professor of history at Worcester University in Massachusetts and her academic interests include cultural and social history, media, and historical pedagogy.[19] Her experience in the classroom is evident in this article as she provides several examples of how to incorporate digital tools into the classroom. She highlights some tools to promote collaboration and others for researching archives. She stresses the importance of “making history” and helping students understand how the historical narrative is constructed.[20] This is especially important when it comes to teaching medieval African history, where there is debate about what sources are reliable and contention surrounding the use of oral tradition to teach history. Using primary sources from Africa and accessing digital sources will help students understand the diverse ways in which history is recorded and how they can also produce materials that contribute to historical discipline.

​

• King, LaGarrett J. and Crystal Simmons. “Narratives of Black History in Textbooks: Canada and the United States.” In The Wiley International Handbook of History Teaching and Learning, edited by Scott Alan Metzger and Lauren McArthur Harris, 93–116. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119100812.ch4

 

Using diverse primary sources in your classroom is crucial at the middle school level because for a long time, mainstream textbooks have reduced Black and African histories to Ancient Egypt, colonization, and enslavement. In their article about Black history in textbooks, LaGarrett King and Crystal Simmons argue that in national and world history textbooks in the United States and Canada, the treatment of Black history and Black people reinforces racist ideologies and these textbooks are in dire need of change.[21] King and Simmons also argue that teaching Black history “is instrumental to Black students’ psychological, cultural, and academic wellbeing.”[22] The need for a more robust approach to teaching Black history is very clear.

​

Both King and Simmons have long history of working for racial justice in schools. King is a professor of teacher education at the University of Missouri and is the founding Director of the CARTER Center for K12 Black History Education.[23] Simmons has spent her professional life in the classroom, teaching middle school history and now as a professor of social studies education at SUNY Geneseo in New York.[24] These two authors bring their expertise to the table as they highlight the importance of Black history in social studies classrooms. Their article goes on to evaluate several Black history textbooks, however since their focus becomes Black history in North America, I will not explore their discussion of these classroom materials. The important takeaways from King and Simmons are that teachers must work to counteract the damaging marginalization of Black people in history classrooms and mainstream social textbooks will not aid in that effort. Teachers must seek out alternative sources, such as diverse primary sources to accomplish this.

​

• Lundy, Brandon D. and Solomon Negash. Teaching Africa: A Guide for the 21st Century Classroom. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. 

 

In an attempt to challenge “Western preconceptions of Africa in order to equalize the knowledge base, increase accuracy of information, and motivate students,” Brandon Lundy and Solomon Negash have edited a book containing best practices in teaching the histories of Africa.[25] Contributors to this book include historians, anthropologists, professors, medical doctors, and ethnomusologists, and they are all considered experts in the study of Africa. Lundy and Negash are both professors at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Lundy teaches anthropology, specializing in West African history, and is their Associate Director of the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development.[26] Negash teaches information systems and his research focuses on business and education in African countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda.[27]

​

Teaching Africa is divided into three sections: Situating Africa, African Arts, and Application of Approaches. The chapters within these sections are written by various renowned historians and cover topics such as the rationale for teaching African history, the value of oral traditions, social justice, and music. Importantly, this book goes beyond theory and also provides educators with practical tools and ideas for their own classrooms. For example, in section one, Jennifer Coffman offers several practical ideas to help educators introduce Africa to their students, such as a mini-quiz to test students’ prior knowledge.[28] While this book is intended for professors of undergraduate students, the content is applicable for educators who teach about African history at any level. Lundy and Negash hope to help students become “better global citizens” and help teachers nurture “alternate worldviews and [give] students the resources to educate themselves.”[29] Overall, Teaching Africa makes a clear case for the incorporation of African history into the classroom and provides educators with the tools to do so.

 

• Malone, Bobbie and Nikki Mandell. Thinking Like A Historian: Rethinking History Instruction. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2007.

​

Bobbie Malone and Nikki Mandell offer educators a practical guide to history instruction. Building on the ideas of educators and historians who have come before, such as Sam Wineburg and James Loewen, Malone and Mandell argue that we must rethink history instruction because “thinking like a historian” is crucial to “doing history.”[30] Their book argues that “history is a discipline: a way of thinking that encourages students to analyze historical evidence, evaluate it, and then demonstrate their understanding of that evidence.”[31] Throughout their book, Malone and Mandell argue that analyzing primary sources is essential. Using primary sources and “building an interpretation based on evidence is the defining characteristic of history.”[32] Teaching students to think like historians, they argue, is an important skill and one that will help students understand that history is not static, and textbooks do not hold all the answers.

​

Malone is a “musician, author, and historian.”[33] She has a wide variety of interests ranging from country music to social studies instruction. Mandell is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and her academic interests include labor history, women’s rights, and education.[34] Together, these two authors created a very practical guide for teachers looking to rethink their history instruction. Thinking Like A Historian guides teachers through the unit and lesson planning process while maintaining their focus on driving questions and incorporating primary sources in their lessons. Malone and Mandell offer five “historical categories of inquiry” to promote “inquiry, analysis, and synthesis” in history instruction.[35] These categories are: Cause and Effect, Change and Continuity, Turning Points, Using the Past, and Through Their Eyes. These categories help to shift students’ view of history from memorizing details to recognizing patterns and making connections. When teaching about medieval Africa, teachers can utilize each of these categories to foster critical thinking and cultivate empathy, especially when examining primary sources.

​​

• Stahl, Ann. “Africa in the World: (Re)centering African History Through Archaeology.” Journal of Anthropological Research 70, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 5–33. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24393744. 

 

Ann Stahl earned her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and is currently a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in Canada. She is currently working on a project, in conjunction with the University of Ghana called “Improving African Futures Using Lessons from the Past,” which provides digital access to heritage resources in Ghana.[36] Her interests of archaeology, Africa, and history come together in this article in which she shifts “the terrain of inquiry away from imagining Africa as a continent apart to one intimately bound up in the making of modern and ancient worlds.”[37] Stahl successfully shows her readers that Africa played an integral part in the formation of commerce and trade during the Roman and Islamic eras of history.

​

As Stahl argues, African history is incomplete without looking at the archaeology of ancient and medieval Africa. She makes a concerted effort to incorporate archaeology into the history of Africa in her article about “recentering African history through archaeology.”[38] Stahl calls out past historians and politicians, such as Georg Hegel, Hugh Trevor-Roper, and Nicolas Sarkozy, who dismiss Africa as ahistorical, “barbarous”, and “not fully entered into history.”[39] Instead, Stahl argues that Africa was commercially connected to Europe and Asia before the arrival of Islam in West Africa. In fact, she proves that “evidence suggests that Arab traders probably tapped into extant exchange networks.”[40] The “antiquity of the continent’s interconnections” meant that not only was Africa influenced by various regions of the world, it, too, took part in “world-making” and influenced places like Europe and Asia through trade and commerce.[41] This article provides examples of primary sources, such as glass beads and copper bracelets, that prove West Africa’s interconnectedness to places like Rome, Tunisia, and Palestine and is a great sources for teachers looking to make their lessons about ancient and medieval trade more robust. 

 

• Wa Mukuna, Kazadi. “Oral Tradition and the Teaching of African Culture: New Challenges and Perspectives.” África[s] 5, no. 9 (2018): 13—23. https://www.revistas.uneb.br/index.php/africas/article/view/5425

​

Kazadi wa Mukuna argues that in order to gain a fuller understanding of African history, researchers and historians cannot ignore African art and culture, especially oral tradition. Wa Mukuna advocates for a “multidisciplinary approach” to studying African history.[42] As an ethnomusologist, most of his research is focused on art and identity and he brings those academic interests to this article where he discusses the merits and the importance of oral tradition. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wa Mukuna is currently a professor at Kent State University’s School of Music.[43] In this article, Wa Mukuna uses historian Amadou Hampaté Bâ’s definition of oral tradition which is “Oral tradition is the great school of life, all aspects of which are covered and affected by it—it is at once religion, knowledge, natural science, apprenticeship in a craft, history, entertainment, and recreation.”[44] Using this definition, it is clear that the study of African history is incomplete without studying oral tradition and the arts.

 

In his article, wa Mukuna explores the importance of music, instruments, language, literature, and dance. He demonstrates that these elements are all crucial to the documentation of Africa’s history and cannot be separated from each other.[45] Wa Mukuna concludes by arguing that although there are few written texts from ancient and medieval Africa, oral tradition, including music and dance, provides “a valid documented source of ethnographic information about African communities” and should not be ignored. As teachers, it is important to include oral traditions in our units on medieval West Africa and use them as valid sources. 

 

• Wineburg, Sam. “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts.” The Phi Delta Kappan 80, no. 7 (1999): 488–99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20439490.

​

One of the most famous names in history education is Sam Wineburg. Wineburg is a professor of education at Stanford University, and he established the Stanford History Education Group, which challenges teachers to rethink history instruction and offers lesson plans and primary source guides for classroom use. In his article, “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts,” Wineburg addresses the question: Why do we study history? He establishes the importance of using primary sources in the classroom and having students engage with them. Written during the great history standards debate of the 1990s, he argues in this article that “history holds the potential, only partially realized, of humanizing us in ways offered by few other areas in the school curriculum.”[46] This argument can clearly be transferred to the teaching of African history.

 

All too often, the history of the continent of Africa is reduced to mummies, enslavement, and colonization. In order for students to connect with the lesson, teachers must humanize those about whom they are teaching. Wineburg also argues that this humanization is met with “a tension between the familiar and the strange.”[47] This tension is important because, as Wineburg argues, it shows that the study of history simultaneously holds up a mirror to our own humanity and opens a window into the lives of people in ages and locations different from our own. By studying history, we are able to experience, “the virtue of humility in the face of limits to our knowledge and the virtue of awe in the face of the expanse of human history.”[48] Applying this idea to the teaching of medieval African history, it is clear that teachers must use primary sources that humanize the people of medieval Africa and avoid falling into the trap of telling a “Single Story” about the land, people, and history of the African continent.

 

[1] Araba Dawson-Andoh, “Araba Dawson-Andoh,” accessed February 5, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/araba-dawson-andoh-5398429

[2] Araba Dawson-Andoh, “Googling African History: Connecting Students to Africa’s Past with Digital Primary Sources,” African Research & Documentation, no. 136 (2019), 74.

[3] Dawson-Andoh, “Googling African History,” 73.

[4] Dawson-Andoh, “Googling African History,” 80.

[5] Robin Derricourt, Inventing Africa: History, Archaeology and Ideas (London: Pluto Press, 2011), vi.

[6] Derricourt, Inventing Africa, x.

[7] “Dr. Robin Derricourt,” University of New South Wales, accessed March 13, 2022, https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-robin-derricourt

[8] Derricourt, Inventing Africa, x.

[9] Michael Gomez, African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018), 13.

[10] Gomez, African Dominion, 12.

[11] “Michael Gomez,” New York University, https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/michael-gomez.html

[12] Some sources use the spelling “Songhai” and others use “Songhay.” Gomez uses “Songhay” and so that is what I will use when discussing his book.

[13] Gomez, African Dominion, 6.

[14] Gomez, African Dominion, 63.

[15] Gomez, African Dominion, 90 & 74.

[16] Gomez, African Dominion, 370.

[17] Hangen, “Historical Digital Literacy, Once Classroom at a Time,” The Journal of American History 101, no. 4 (March 2015): 1192-1193.

[18] Hangen, “Historical Digital Literacy,” 1202.

[19] “Pedagogy,” Tona Hangen, accessed March 6, 2022, http://www.tonahangen.com/teaching/

[20] Hangen, “Historical Digital Literacy,” 1194.

[21] LaGarret J. King and Crystal Simmons, “Narratives of Black History in Textbooks: Canada and the United States,” in The Wiley International Handbook of History Teaching and Learning, ed. Scott­­­ Alan Metzger and Lauren McArthur Harris (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018), 95.

[22] King and Simmons, “Narratives of Black History,” 99.

[23] “Lagarrett King,” Research Gate, accessed March 5, 2022, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lagarrett-King

[24] “Crystal Simmons ‘15PHD,” NC State University, accessed March 5, 2022, https://ced.ncsu.edu/alumni-and-friends/success-stories/crystal-simmons-15phd/#:~:text=Simmons%20attended%20UNC%2DChapel%20Hill,studies%20teacher%20in%20her%20hometown.

[25] Brandon Lundy & Solomon Negash, Teaching Africa: A Guide for the 21st Century Classroom, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 1.

[26] “Brandon D. Lundy,” Kennesaw State University, accessed March 13, 2022, https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/blundy/.

[27] “Solomon Negash,” Research Gate, accessed March 13, 2022, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Solomon-Negash/publications

[28] Jennifer Coffman, “Introducing ‘Africa,’” in Teaching Africa: A Guide for the 21st Century Classroom, ed. Brandon Lundy & Solomon Negash (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013), 22.

[29] Lundy & Negash, Teaching Africa, 7.

[30] Bobbie Malone & Nikki Mandell, Thinking Like a Historian: Rethinking History Instruction (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2007), 3.

[31] Malone & Mandell, Thinking Like A Historian, 1.

[32] Malone & Mandell, Thinking Like A Historian, 6.

[33] “Bobbie and Bill Malone,” Literary Hub, accessed March 8, 2022, https://lithub.com/author/bobbieandbillmalone/

[34] “Nikki Mandell,” Labor and Working-Class History Association, accessed March 13, 2022, https://www.lawcha.org/author/nikkimandell/

[35] Malone & Mandell, Thinking Like A Historian, 16.

[36] “Ann B. Stahl,” University of Victoria, accessed March 9, 2022, https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/anthropology/people/faculty/stahlann.php

[37] Stahl, “Africa in the World,” 5.

[38] Ann Stahl, “Africa in the World: (Re)centering African History Through Archaeology,” Journal of Anthropological Research 70, no. 1 (Spring 2014), 5.

[39] Stahl, “Africa in the World,” 5-6.

[40] Stahl, “Africa in the World,” 14.

[41] Stahl, “Africa in the World,” 23.

[42] Kazadi wa Mukuna, “Oral Tradition and the Teaching of African Culture: New Challenges and Perspectives,” África[s] 5, no. 9 (2018): 13.

[43] “Kazadi wa Mukuna,” Kent State University, accessed March 5, 2022, https://www.kent.edu/music/profile/kazadi-wa-mukuna

[44] Wa Mukuna, “Oral Tradition,” 14.

[45] Wa Mukuna, “Oral Tradition,” 20.

[46] Sam Wineburg, “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts,” Phi Delta Kappan 80, no. 7 (1999), 490. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20439490

[47] Wineburg, “Historical Thinking,” 490.

[48] Wineburg, “Historical Thinking,” 498.