Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T22:06:53.611Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African Social History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Martin A. Klein
Martin A. Klein*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The term “social history” has not generally been used by historians of Africa. We all read anthropology, but until recently most anthropologists working in Africa have eschewed the time dimension, while historians have often avoided social questions. If we believe with Benedetto Croce that all history is contemporary history (Theory and History of Historiography), that it is concerned with explaining the world we live in, then the social questions are too important to be consigned to another discipline. In discussing African social history, I am not trying to create a new subfield, nor do I expect to review all of the disparate work that can be labelled social history. Instead, I hope simply to comment on certain questions which have been studied or can be studied more fruitfully.

Social history can be defined as the study of changes in the ways people relate to each other and perceive those relations. It is frequently closely related to economic history because social groups can often be best defined in economic terms. The social historian differs from most sociologists in that he approaches social phenomena by studying how they evolved and in that he starts with the study of the particular event or community. He is usually more concerned with general statements than are his fellow historians--he might well talk about comparative history, and he is usually more conscious of the uniqueness of every historical event than the sociologist.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , April 1972 , pp. 97 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Ajayi, J. K. Ade. Christian Missions in Western Nigeria 1841-1891. London, 1965.Google Scholar
Akinjogbin, A. I. Dahomey and Its Neighbours 1708-1818. Cambridge, 1970.Google Scholar
Amin, Samir. Le monde des affaires sénégalais. Paris, 1969.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ananaba, Wogu. The Trade Union Movement in Nigeria. London, 1969.Google Scholar
Austen, Ralph. Northwest Tanzania Under German and British Rule. New Haven, 1968.Google Scholar
Barbe, Raymond. Les class sociales en Afrique noire. Paris, 1964.Google Scholar
Barber, James. Imperial Frontier. Nairobi, 1968.Google Scholar
Beattie, John. “Bunyoro: An African Feudality?” Journal of African History, V (1964), 25–35.Google Scholar
Behrman, Lucy. Muslim Brotherhoods and Politics in Senegal. Cambridge, Mass., 1970.Google Scholar
Berg, Elliott. “French West Africa.” In Galenson, Walter, ed. Labor and Economic Development. New York, 1959.Google Scholar
Betts, Raymond. “The Establishment of the Medina in Dakar, Senegal, 1914.” Africa, XLI (1971), 143–152.Google Scholar
Biebuyck, Daniel, ed. African Agrarian Systems. London, 1963.Google Scholar
Bouche, Denise. Les villages de liberté en Afrique noire française 1887-1910. Paris and The Hague, 1968.Google Scholar
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Marxistes. Recherches internationales à la lumière du marxisme, No. 57-59. Paris, 1967.Google Scholar
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Marxistes. Sur le “mode de production asiatique.” Preface de Roger Garaudy. Paris, 1969.Google Scholar
Cohen, Abner. Custom and Politics in Urban Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Ronald. “The Dynamics of Feudalism in Bornu.” In Boston University Papers on Africa, Vol. II (1966).Google Scholar
Cohen, Ronald. “From Empire to Colony: Bornu in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” In Turner, Victor, ed. Profiles of Change: African Society and Colonial Rule. Cambridge, 1971.Google Scholar
Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. “Recherches sur un mode de production africain.” La Pensee, No. 144 (1969).Google Scholar
Crowder, Michael and Ikime, Obaro, eds. West African Chiefs. Ife, 1970.Google Scholar
Curtin, Philip. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census. Madison, Wis., 1969.Google Scholar
Daaku, K. Y. Trade and Politics on the Gold Coast 1600 to 1720. Oxford, 1970.Google Scholar
Davies, Ioan. African Trade Unions. Harmondsworth, 1966.Google Scholar
Diop, Majhemout. Histoire des classes sociales dans l'Afrique de l'ouest. l. Le Mali. Paris, 1971.Google Scholar
Drake, St. Clair and Lacy, Leslie. “The Sekondi-Takoradi Strike of 1961.” In Carter, Gwendolen, ed. Politics in Tropical Africa. New York, 1966.Google Scholar
Dupire, Marguerite. “Planteurs autochtones et étrangers en Basse-Cote d'Ivoire orientale.” Etudes Ehurneennes, Vol. VIII (1960).Google Scholar
Eisenstadt, S. N. Political Systems of Empires. Glencoe, Ill., 1963.Google Scholar
Epstein, A. L. Politics in an African Urban Community. Manchester, 1958.Google Scholar
Epstein, A. L. “Urbanization and Social Change in Africa.” Current Anthropology, VIII (1967), 275–296.Google Scholar
Fallers, Lloyd A., ed. The Kingsmen. London, 1964a.Google Scholar
Fallers, Lloyd A., “Social Stratification and Economic Processes.” In Herskovits, Melville and Harwitz, Mitchell, eds. Economic Transition in Africa. Evanston, 1964b.Google Scholar
Feldman, David. “The Economics of Ideology: Some Problems of Achieving Rural Socialism in Tanzania.” In Leys, Colin, ed. Politics and Change in Developing Countries. Cambridge, 1969. Pp. 85–111.Google Scholar
Friedland, William. “The Institutionalization of Labor Protest in Tanganyika and Some Resultant Problems.” Sociologus, XI (1962), 132–147.Google Scholar
Friedland, William. Unions, Labor and Industrial Relations in Africa: An Annotated Bibliography. Ithaca, N. Y., 1965.Google Scholar
Friedland, William. Vuta Kamba. Stanford, 1969.Google Scholar
Fox, Renee, de Craemer, Willy, and Ribeaucourt, Jean-Marie. “The Second Independence.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, VIII (1965), 78–109.Google Scholar
Gallentti, R., Baldwin, K. D. S., and Dina, I. O.. Nigerian Cocoa Farmers. London, 1956.Google Scholar
Gluckman, Max, ed. Ideas and Procedures in African Customary Law. International African Seminar. London, 1969.Google Scholar
Goody, Jack. “Feudalism in Africa.” Journal of African History, IV (1963), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, R. H. and Hymer, S. H.. “Cocoa in the Gold Coast: A Study in the Relations Between African Farmers and Agricultural Experts.” Journal of Economic History, Vol. XXVI (1966).Google Scholar
Hill, Polly. Migrant Cocoa Farmers of Southern Ghana. Cambridge, 1962.Google Scholar
Hill, Polly. “Landlords and Brokers: A West African Trading System.” Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, VI (1966), 349–360.Google Scholar
Hill, Polly. “A Plea for Indigenous Economics: The West African Example.” In Hill, Polly, ed. Studies in Rural Capitalism in West Africa. Cambridge, 1970.Google Scholar
Holleman, J. F. Chief, Council and Commissioner. London, 1969.Google Scholar
Holy, L. and Stuchlik, M.. Social Stratification in Tribal Africa. Prague, 1968.Google Scholar
Hopkins, A. G. “The Lagos General Strike of 1897.” Past and Present, No. 35 (1966), 133–155.Google Scholar
Horrell, Muriel. South African Trade Union Unionism. Johannesburg, 1960.Google Scholar
Horton, Robin. “A Hundred Years of Change in Kalibari Religion.” In Middleton, John, ed. Black Africa. London, 1970.Google Scholar
Hrbek, Ivan. “Towards a Periodisation of African History.” In Ranger, Terence, ed. Emerging Themes of African History. Dar es Salaam, 1968.Google Scholar
Ikime, Obaro. “Chief Dogho: The Lugardian System in Warri 1917-1932.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, III (1965), 313–333.Google Scholar
Ikime, Obaro. “Reconsidering Indirect Rule: The Nigerian Example.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, IV (1968), 421–438.Google Scholar
Iliffe, John. “The Organization of the Maji-Maji Rebellion.” Journal of African History, VIII (1967), 495–512.Google Scholar
Jones, G. I. Trading States of the Oil Rivers. London, 1963.Google Scholar
Jones, W. O. “Economic Man in Africa.” Food Research Institute Studies, I (1960), 107–134.Google Scholar
Jones, W. O. “Economic Man in Africa.” Food Research Institute Studies, Vol. XXVI (1966).Google Scholar
Kimble, David. A Political History of Ghana 1850-1928. Oxford, 1963.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin A. Islam and Imperialism in Senegal. Stanford, 1968.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin A. “Slavery, the Slave Trade and Legitimate Commerce in Late Nineteenth Century Africa.” Etudes d'Histoire Africaine, II (1971), 5–28.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin A. Review article on West African Chiefs by Crowder, Michael and Ikime, Obaro, eds. Forthcoming in African Historical Studies.Google Scholar
Köbben, A. J. F. “Le planteur noir.” Etudes Eburneennes, V (1956), 8–190.Google Scholar
Kuper, Hilda, ed. Urbanization and Migration in West Africa. Berkeley, 1965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuper, Hilda and Kuper, Leo. African Law. Berkeley, 1965.Google Scholar
Lloyd, Peter C., ed. The Hew Elites of Tropical Africa. London, 1966.Google Scholar
Lloyd, P. C., Mabogunje, A. L., and Awe, B., eds. The City of Ibadan. Cambridge, 1967.Google Scholar
Lombard, Jacques. Structures de type féodal en Afrique noire: étude des dynamismes internes et des relations sociales chez les Bariba do Dahomey. The Hague, 1965.Google Scholar
Lombard, Jacques. Autorités traditionelles et pouvoirs européens en Afrique noirie Paris, 1967.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, John. “Some Origins of Nationalism in East Africa.” Journal of African History, IX (1968), 119–146.Google Scholar
Maquet, J. J. “Une hypothese pour l'étude des féodalités africaines.” Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, II (1961a), 292–314.Google Scholar
Maquet, J. J. The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda. London, 1961b.Google Scholar
Mazrui, Ali and Rothberg, Robert, eds. Protest and Power in Black Africa. New York, 1970.Google Scholar
Meillassoux, Claude. Antrhopologie économique des Gouro de Côte d'Ivoire. Paris, 1964.Google Scholar
Meynaud, J. and Annisse-Bey, . Le syndicalisme africain. Paris, 1963.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, Ruth Schachter. Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa. Oxford, 1964.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura, ed. The Ethnography of Law. Special publication of the American Anthropologist. Menasha, Wis., 1965.Google Scholar
Nicholson, I. F. The Administration of Nigeria 1900 to 1960. Oxford, 1969.Google Scholar
November, Andras. L'évolution du mouvement syndical en Afrique. Paris and The Hague, 1965.Google Scholar
Nyerere, Julius K. “Socialism and Rural Development.” In Freedom and Socialism. Dar es Salaam, 1968.Google Scholar
Olusanya, G. O. “The Freed Slaves' Homes: An Unknown, Aspect of Northern Nigerian Social History.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, III (1966), 523–538.Google Scholar
Ousmane, Sembene. God's Bits of Wood. Price, Francis, trans. New York, 1962.Google Scholar
Panofsky, Hans. Bibliography in Journal of Modern African Studies, I (1963), 521–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelissier, Paul. Les paysans de Sénégal. Saint-Yreix, 1966.Google Scholar
Polanyi, Karl. Dahomey and the Slave Trade. Seattle, 1966.Google Scholar
Porter, Arthur T. Creoledorn. London, 1963.Google Scholar
Priestly, Margaret. West African Trade and Coast Society. London, 1969.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. Revolt in Southern Rhodesia 1896-7. London, 1967.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. “African Reactions to the Imposition of Colonial Rule in East and Central Africa.” In Gann, Lewis H. and Duignan, Peter, eds. The History and Politics of Colonialism. Vol. 1 of Colonialism in Africa. Cambridge, 1969.Google Scholar
Rodney, Walter. “African Slavery and Other Forms of Social Oppression on the Upper Guinea Coast in the Context of the Atlantic Slave Trade.” Journal of African History, VII (1966), 431–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodney, Walter. A History of the Upper Guinea Coast 1545-1800. Oxford, 1970.Google Scholar
Ryder, Alan. Benin and the Europeans 1485-1897. London, 1969.Google Scholar
Scott, Roger. The Development of Trade Unions in Uganda. Nairobi, 1966.Google Scholar
Singh, Makhan. The History of Kenya's Trade Union Movement to 1952. Nairobi, 1969.Google Scholar
Skalnick, Peter and Pokora, Timoteus. “Beginning of the Discussion About the Asiatic Mode of Production in the USSR and the People's Republic of China.” Eirene (Prague), V (1966), 179–187.Google Scholar
Smith, M. G. “Slavery and Emancipation in Two Societies.” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. I (1953). Reprinted in M. G. Smith. Plural Society in the British West Indies. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1965. Pp. 116-161.Google Scholar
Smith, M. G. Government in Zassau. London, 1960.Google Scholar
Smith, M. G. “Pre-Industrial Stratification Systems.” In Smelser, Neil and Lipset, S. M., eds. Social Structure and Mobility in Economic Development. Chicago, 1966.Google Scholar
Southall, Aiden, ed. Social Change in Modern Africa. London, 1961.Google Scholar
Southall, Aiden, “The Impact of Imperialism upon Urban Development in Africa.” In Turner, Victor, ed. Profiles of Change: African Society and Colonial Rule. Cambridge, 1971.Google Scholar
Steinhart, Edward. “Vassal and Fief in Three Lacustrine Kingdoms.” Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, VII (1967), 606–623.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Robert. Population and Political Systems in Tropical Africa. New York, 1968.Google Scholar
Suret-Canale, Jean. Afrique noire. Paris, 1958.Google Scholar
Tuden, Arthur and Potnicov, Leonard, eds. Social Stratification in Africa. New York, 1970.Google Scholar
Vansina, Jan. “The Use of Oral Tradition in African Culture History.” In Gabel, Creighton and Bennett, Norman, eds. Re constructing African Culture History. Boston, 1967. Pp. 67–68.Google Scholar
Verhaegen, Benoit. Rebellions au Congo. Vol. II. Brussells and Kinshasa, 1971.Google Scholar
Warmington, W. A. A West African Trade Union. London, 1960.Google Scholar
Watson, William. Tribal Cohesion in a Money Economy. Manchester, 1958.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. “Ashanti Government.” In Forde, Daryll and Kaberry, P. M., eds. West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century. London, 1967.Google Scholar
Young, Crawford. “Rebellion and the Congo.” In Mazrui, Ali and Rotberg, Robert, eds. Protest and Power in Black Africa. New York, 1970.Google Scholar