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African History

Karoo Boy: A Book Review
A book review of the recent novel by South African novelist Troy Blacklaws, Karoo Boy. Karoo Boy is a coming of age novel set in apartheid South Africa during one of its most volatile periods, 1976-1977.
Education in Apartheid South Africa: Propaganda with a Purpose
This article explores the ways education is used to create "model" citizens, whether those model citizens are to be found in apartheid South Africa or post-apartheid South Africa.
Introducing Africa to High School and College Students
Books and films appropriate for introducing high school and college students to the continent of Africa.
Sometimes in April Movie Review
This is a review of the film "Sometimes in April," written and directed by Raoul Peck and exploring the story of Rwanda's genocide.
Happy Birthday, Bob Marley
Bob Marley was not only a great musician but a prophet and freedom fighter. His songs demonstrate his connection to Africa--to unity and freedom for all peoples of the African Diaspora.
The Importance of African Prophets
Prophets were important figures in African History. Women were able to access power as and through prophets; Africans gathered around prophetic figures in their attempts to resist colonial rule; and prophets were important sources of social, political, and personal identity in societies throughout East Africa.
The Cattle Killings
The cattle killings of South Africa, inspired by a teenage prophetess in the 19th century, led to mass starvation of the Xhosa peoples. But do these cattle killings require a gendered explanation? And how does that change our interpretation?
Modern Nigeria Through the Eyes of a Wicked Woman
Modern Nigeria and modern Nigerian politics seen through the eyes of a fictional "wicked woman"--a post-Independence Lagos woman who works variously as a "kept" woman and a streetwalker.
Male Daughters, Female Husbands
This article explores the concepts of "male daughters" and "female husbands" found in southeastern Nigeria among the Igbo ethnic group.
Liberation Theology And The Church in Africa
Liberation theology--and Feminist Theology--developed in Africa during the 1970s, a time when the continent was gripped with questions of economic and political liberation. This article delves into the question of whether using violence to achieve liberation results in unintended consequences, as well as looking at the question of liberation from a theological and personal standpoint.
Rwanda and The Question of Violence
This article explores the history of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, asking questions about the nature of violence in humans along the way.
An Obsession with Lumumba
Film-maker Raoul Peck has created two films about Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese Prime Minister assassinated on January 18, 1961. In this article, I explore not only the history of Lumumba but also why, as artists and historians, we find ourselves obsessing over certain historical figures and events.
African Street Children
A short recounting of my experiences with street kids in Kenya one summer, plus the possible history of why it has become such a problem today.
Earliest Africa: The Cradle of Humankind
Africa is the birthplace of humankind and the birthplace of the earliest technology, which formed the basis for our lives today. This article recounts the fossil discoveries and the ideas of major archeologists and scientists about the development of humankind.
The Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference, it has been argued, set the stage for 20th century African history.
Women Writing Africa
Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region, a new book out from Feminist Press, is a great new resource for primary source materials and women's history in Africa.
The Colonization of African Marriages
Colonialism brought many changes to Africa, not least in the area of marriage. Both positive and negative, moral and immoral, inroads were made into the African customs of sex education, preparing women to be wives and mothers, prostitution, polygyny, female circumcision, and female economic independence.
African Marriage: An Alliance Between Kin Groups
Pre-colonial marriage in Africa was an alliance between two kin groups, rather than two individuals. This ensured the proper treatment of wives as well as the continuation of family lines through childbirth and child rearing.
Children's Books Lead to Interest in African History
Personal connections--sometimes through literary protagonists we care about--may be the best way to introduce children to Africa.
Nervous Conditions: Subverting Western Expectations
Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of Nervous Conditions, withholds very important things from the reader. She uses feminist and postcolonial theory to create a postmodern novel that deconstructs our expectations and cherished beliefs about the root of problems in Africa, the western construction of the novel, and thus, western intellectual education.
Space and Non-Space: What it Means to be a Woman
Lily Patience Moya suffered an emotional breakdown after a year in school because she could not find the emotional support she needed as she asked questions that many women in that time and place must have asked: What does it mean to be a woman? How can I avoid being trapped by the rules for women in my own culture? What do I do when the other culture offered to me doesn’t work, either?
“The Last American”: A Diplomat in Zaire
Bob Proctor, a Foreign Service Officer for the United States, spent several years in Mobutu's Zaire in the late 1970s. His experiences as the last American diplomat in Kisangani are related here in an interview.
An Interview with Nancy Farmer
An interview with critically acclaimed children's author Nancy Farmer, who wrote the Newberry Award-winning A Girl Named Disaster, which was set in Zimbabwe.
Insanity, Difference, and Cross-Cultural Psychiatry
Did colonialism or genetics cause madness in Africa? Or, was insanity simply a label that colonial officials slapped on certain Africans because they were "different"? This article argues that it was probably all three.
Insanity and Resistance to Colonialism
This article describes colonial perceptions of Africans' madness and resistance to colonial rule, which was frequently seen as pathological by colonial psychiatrists and officials.
Africa Par Adventure: Africa Indiana Jones style Africa
A new book out about Africa approaches the subject for everybody--not just academics. Here, I talk with the editor, Peter Ward, and find out his philosophy behind producing a book about Africa viewed through the eyes of Westerners who visit or live there for an extended period of time.
Southern Africa and a Girl from El Paso
People often ask me why I, a white girl with a Midwestern American cultural background, write about southern Africa. Last week, I realized that I love southern Africa because I grew up on the U.S.-Mexico Border. If this makes no sense, you haven’t lived on the U.S.-Mexico border or you haven’t lived here for very long....
F.W. De Klerk: Perfect 20th Century Villain/Hero
F.W. de Klerk, leader of South Africa who worked with Nelson Mandela to end apartheid rule and begin democratic majority rule, is a mixture of good and bad; imperfect motives leading to a few good decisions; bravery and cowardice. In no way can he be unequivocally described as a "hero," but neither can he be demonized as a "villain." In this respect, he would make a perfect character in a 20th century novel.
Cry, a Prophetic Book
"Cry, the Beloved Country" is the sort of novel that becomes a classic because of the way it effects a generation's conscience.
Mercenaries, the Comoros Islands, and a Critique of the Modern U.S. Military
This article briefly explores the history of mercenaries in Africa and asks the question, "Are soldiers in the U.S. military any different than mercenaries?"
Helen Suzman: Beating Apartheid from Within
This article is a tribute to Helen Suzman, the most vocal and consistent opposition to apartheid from within the South African Parliamentary system.
Mau-Mau: Nationalist Movement or Kikuyu Grievances?
This article describes Kenyan grievances that led to Mau-Mau, a struggle for independence led by the Kikuyu. It also discusses historical arguments about whether Mau-Mau was a nationalist movement for all Kenyans, or a purely ethnic movement by and for the Kikuyus.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs -- Book Review
This article explores Alexandra Fuller's new autobiography, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, which explores Fuller's childhood growing up in war-torn Zimbabwe as the child of white farmers.
The Bang Bang Club and Journalism Ethics
This article examines the ethics of writing history and news, presenting the story of South African photojournalists, known as the Bang Bang Club, as an example.
Converting a Savage Mind: Failure and Conclusion
This article concludes the series on "Converting a Savage Mind," by describing the failure of 19th century missions in Africa. (It should be noted that Christianity was wildly successful in Africa during the 20th Century.)
Converting a Savage Mind: Abstract Faith and Literal Savage
This article continues a description of Great Britain's 19th Century attempt to convert Africa to Christianity by exploring the European perception that Christianity was an "abstract faith" and their belief that Africans, with their "literal mind," could never comprehend it.
Converting a Savage Mind: Commerce and Christianity
This article describes how commerce and capitalism played a pivotol role in missionaries' understanding about how to convert the "savage" Africans
Converting a Savage Mind: Conversion and Civilization
This article continues "Converting a Savage Mind," explaining the role that "civilizing the native" played in "converting" Africans to Christianity.
Converting a Savage Mind: The Introduction
Introduction to a series of articles, to appear over the next several weeks, that describe the British attempt to convert the African "savage" during the 19th century.
The Seed is Mine, Part II
"The Seed is Mine," a biography of a black South African sharecropper, demonstrates the similarity between patriarchy and the apartheid government.
"The Seed is Mine"
"The Seed is Mine," a detailed book about the life of a black South African sharecropper, demonstrates the self-determination of Africans under apartheid rule.
Marriage in Colonial and Post-colonial Senegal
The African novel, "So Long A Letter," by Mariama Ba describes the triumphs and heartache facing two African women who rejected a "traditional" Islamic marriage because they embrace European values.
Defining Terrorism
During the 1970's, the Rhodesian government used the word "terrorist" effectively in its propaganda to sway the world to its side, while thousands of Africans suffered.
Kaffir Boy: An Analysis
An analysis/book review of Mark Mathabane's autobiography, "Kaffir Boy," which tells the story of a young African boy growing up in South Africa's townships.
"Cut the strings short": IUDs and abortion in South Africa
During the 1960's, South African doctors used black females as guinea pigs in their experiments with intra-uterine devices (IUDs). These played a role not only in the history of birth control, but in the history of eugenics and population control during the apartheid era.
White Africans
What does it mean to be a white African today?
Kids and Communists in South Africa
The children of anti-apartheid activists suffered because of their parents' commitment to Communism and equality for Africans. Though most are proud of their parents, the wounds remain.
Murder, Mayhem, and Keeping Order in Uganda, 1905
In 1905, discontented agriculturalist murdered a colonial official in Uganda. Studying the murder and how the colonial powers dealt with it reveals the nature of Great Britain's most important colonial policy in Africa -- "keeping order."
Regulating Menstruation in West Africa
Women in West Africa regulate their periods with herbal and traditional medicines in order to ensure future fertility. Though people might view the use of these medicines as contraceptive or abortive in nature, scholars argue that most African women do not use them for either purpose.
De Klerk and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought healing and amnesty for a democratic South Africa; however, not all of its participants, including former president F. W. de Klerk, found it to be a reconciling experience.
Disease and the African Colonial Subject
This article explains how the British saw Africans and the poor and sick in a similar fashion: Both were inferior and both had caused their own inferiority/sickness/poverty.
20th Century Western Wars in Africa
A brief history of African involvement in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.
The Algerian War
This article describes the eight-year war between Algeria and France that led to Algeria's independence.
In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: A Book Review
A book review of Michela Wrong's 2001 book, "In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: On the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo."
400 Years of Trouble: The Tutsi and Hutu in 2000
This article briefly describes the history of ethnic tension in Rwanda and summarizes an Amnesty International report regarding human rights abuses in Rwanda since the end of the 1994 civil war.
An African Coup D'etat
This article considers how peace can be achieved in Africa.
Two African Novels
A short book review of The Joys of Motherhood and Nervous Conditions, two novels written by African women that describe the cultural and social trials women faced under colonialism.
Christina's Sibiya's Lament: A Prose Poem
This prose poem and short biographical note portrays the life of Christina Sibiya, wife of the Zulu king, Solomon kaDinuzulu, who left him after 16 years of marriage.
Early African Nationalism and Pan-Africanism
This is a general history describing Pan-Africanism, Pan-Africanism's influence on early nationalism, and the transformation of early nationalism after World War II into modern mass independence movements.
Zimbabwe's Liberation War
This article describes the reasons for Zimbabwe's liberation war and the major events of the war leading up to Zimbabwe's Independence and the election of Robert Mugabe in 1980.
The Rhodesians
A general history of white settler rule in Rhodesia from 1890 to its Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.
Ethnic Identity and Religion on the Upper Slave Coast
The Anlo-Ewe of modern-day Ghana exemplify the link between religion and ethnic identity.
Islam in Africa: A Brief Introduction
This article gives a brief overview of the spread of Islam in Northern Africa.
Part II Africa for Africans: Ethiopian Independent Churches
This article continues Part I, a discussion of African Independent Churches. The following two articles will explore African Traditional Religion and Islam in Africa.
Part I Apocalypse and Resistance
This article discusses the apostolic, millenarian African Independent Churches and the role they played resisting colonial rule. The next 3 articles will discuss the Ethiopian, or Pan-African, Churches; Islam in Africa; and African Traditional Religion. I would like to invite questions from readers on the topic of religion in Africa, and if possible, I will try to answer them in the next three articles.
Cattle, Power, and Gender in Sub-Saharan Africa
This article describes how cattle formed a crucial part in Africa's system of power and patriarchy.
"Being a Woman Means...": Pain and Sex Education in Kenya
This article explores how a Gikuyu ritual involving female circumcision and sex education affected rural Gikuyu women's definition of womanhood.
Sundiata: A Slightly Irreverent Version of Mali's Last Conqueror
This article re-tells the myth of Sundiata, last conqueror of Mali, child of the white buffalo. Rather than trying to re-capture the flavour and traditional language of myth, I allow my 20th century cynicism to emerge.
Spirit of a Resistance: the Ndebele/Shona Rising of 1896-1897
This article raises the possibility that the spirit medium Nehanda, hanged by the British for her role in the 1896-1897 "rebellion" against settler rule, was innocent.
"They Cut Themselves with Cruel Kimes"
This article describes a few British writers like Charles Dickens who mocked the missionary movement to Africa.
"Maji-Maji" -- A Narrative Poem
This poem describes how traditional religion influenced the methods of war that Tanzanians used to resist colonial rule in 1905-1907.
"One Dead Missionary is as Good as One Hundred Dead Terrorists"
In the late 1970's, the Catholic Church in Southern Rhodesia supported the guerrilla activities of the Zimbabwe Liberation Movement. Priests, nuns, and bishops were arrested and deported and some suffered torture and even death during the course of the war as a result of their activities.
Christianity vs. Islam in Africa: A 19th Century Debate
This article deals with a late 19th Century debate in London about whether Christianity had failed in Africa, whether Islam was more appropriate for Africa than Christianity, and how racism within Great Britain caused Christian missions to fail in converting and "civilizing" Africa in the 19th Century.
"Female Circumcision and Conflict in Kenya, 1929-1960"
This article tells the story of controversy over female genital mutilation in Kenya during the 20th Century.

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