Sub-Saharan Africa to 1800
HIST 05.394, section 1
Dr. Kelly Duke Bryant
Rowan University
Office: Robinson 216K
Hours: W 6:15-7:15 pm, Th 10-noon, and by appointment
Course Meets: Wednesdays and Fridays, 1:45-3:00 pm
Fall 2010
Department of History
Phone: 856-256-4500, ext. 3972
Email: duke-bryant@rowan.edu
Room: Robinson 323
Course Description
This course offers a survey of African history from the distant past to around 1800 C.E. The class does
not attempt a complete, chronological account of Africa’s vast and varied past. Such an approach would
merely overwhelm learners with unfamiliar names of people and places. Instead, each week’s class
addresses a general theme such as agriculture, urbanism, trade, Islam, or slavery. Lectures and some of
our readings will highlight case studies and will demonstrate their significance within broader processes
of historical change.
Throughout the course, our primary focus will be the inventiveness and accomplishments of Africans as
they interacted with their changing environments, with other African groups, and with people from
other parts of the world. We will situate Africa within its longstanding global connections, and you may
be surprised to learn about the variety of ways in which Africans have exchanged with, borrowed from,
and contributed to the wider world.
Course Objectives
 You will come to appreciate the geographical, cultural, linguistic, environmental, and historical
diversity of the continent of Africa.
 You will be able to explain some of the historical processes leading to the “invention” of Africa.
 You will learn about early Africa’s interactions with the wider world and its place in global
history.
 You will think, write, and speak critically about scholarly articles and books.
 You will become familiar with a wide variety of primary sources and innovative methods used in
African history.
Course format
Wednesday class meetings will focus on class discussion, often of documents or objects from the past
(primary sources). In order to benefit from and contribute to these class meetings, you must complete
the required reading before each Wednesday’s class. Fridays will involve interactive lectures and a
variety of in-class learning activities.
Required Texts: The books listed below are required for the course and are available for purchase in the
campus bookstore. Other course readings will be made available electronically through Blackboard.
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Robert O. Collins, ed., Problems in African History: The Precolonial Centuries (Princeton, NJ:
Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005).
Bamba Suso and Banna Kanute, Sunjata (London: Penguin Books, 1999).
David Northrup, Africa’s Discovery of Europe, 1450-1850, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009).
Learning Opportunities:
1. Two Map Quizzes, September 10 and September 22, in class. Knowledge of Africa’s geography is
crucial to understanding its history. Map quizzes come very early in the semester, so I recommend
beginning to study for them right away. On 9/10, I will ask you to label the modern countries of Africa
on a blank political map (which will include borders). You may want to use the following website to help
prepare: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/African_Geography.htm . On 9/24, you will need to label
Africa’s most significant geographic features (rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, etc). I will give you a list
of features to study. The map you must label in the quiz will have the relevant geographic features
drawn in; you will only need to identify them.
2. Weekly posts to our Blackboard discussion thread. Each Wednesday before 9:00 a.m., you must
submit a comment/question regarding the reading assignment before noon. These should be
approximately 100-200 words. Before writing your weekly posting, you should think about the following
questions: what was the author’s main purpose? How does he/she construct his/her argument? What
evidence does he/she use? Do you find it convincing? Why/why not? Does the author’s perspective
differ from other authors whose work we have read for other weeks? What did you find most
interesting or surprising in the reading? These assignments will be graded on a 2-point scale, and those
demonstrating that you have completed and understood the reading will receive full credit. I will not
accept late submissions, but you may miss up to three discussion posts during the semester without
penalty.
3. Group Presentations on African Cereal Crops, due September 15 or September 17. Your group,
which will be determined in week 1 or 2, will be responsible for conducting research on one major
African crop. You will need to prepare a presentation of approximately 10 minutes, during which you
will teach the class about that crop. The presentations will include a food tasting component. Please
see handout on Blackboard for more information.
4. Two 3-4 page papers, due on October 15 and November 19. These will not require additional
reading or outside research and should be based only on class readings, lectures, and discussion. I will
provide a list of paper topic options two weeks before the due date. You must choose your paper topics
from these lists.
5. Reading Quizzes (if necessary). Quizzes, if given, will focus on class texts and will be very brief (1-2
questions, no more than 10 minutes). They will be unannounced (i.e. “pop” quizzes). Answers should
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be fairly obvious if you have completed the reading assignment. I prefer not to give quizzes, and will do
so only if it seems that students are not reading.
6. Comprehensive in-class final examination. This will include some vocabulary or identification
questions, some short answer questions, and one or more essay questions that will require you to
synthesize the readings, lectures, and discussions from the entire course. I will provide you with a study
guide. Date, time, and location TBA.
7. Class attendance and participation. I expect each of you to attend class and to contribute regularly
to discussions. Our classroom community values diversity of opinions and experience, and seeks to
create a comfortable and respectful environment for the exchange of ideas.
The learning opportunities count toward your final grade as follows:
Two Map Quizzes: 10%
Final Examination: 20%
First 3-4 page paper: 20%
Participation and Attendance: 15%
Second 3-4 page paper: 20%
Group Presentation: 5%
Weekly Blackboard discussion: 10%
Grading scale
A+: 97-100, A: 94-96, A-: 90-93
B+: 87-89, B: 84-86, B-: 80-83
C+: 77-79, C: 74-76, C-: 70-73
D+: 67-69, D: 64-66, D-: 60-64
F: below 60
Course polices
 Please turn your work in on time! It is in your best interest (so you do not fall behind) and mine
(so I can provide feedback in a timely manner).
 I will send important course announcements and other correspondence to you via your Rowan
email account. If you do not use this as your primary account, please make sure that you have
your Rowan email forwarded. We will use Blackboard regularly, so please notify me as soon as
possible if you expect to have limited access to the internet, or if you have problems logging in
to Blackboard.
 Regular attendance is required, expected, and central to your learning experience. If you must
miss class for an illness, university sponsored event, religious observance, family emergency, or
inclement weather, please contact me by email before or immediately after your absence. In
accordance with University attendance policies, absences for the above reasons are considered
excused, and you will have an opportunity to make up work. Unexcused absences will result in a
participation grade of 0 for the day, and missing more than two classes for any reason will result
in a maximum grade of “C” in class participation. In addition, because they disrupt the class and
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distract other students (and your professor), the following will negatively affect your grade:
repeated cell phone use during class, recurrent lateness, and leaving class early.
Rowan University has a licensing agreement with Turnitin, an online service to help prevent
student plagiarism. As part of this course we may use Turnitin for some written work. This will
allow both you and your professor to determine the originality of your work. If your work is
submitted to Turnitin, it will be stored in the Turnitin database. You have the right to refuse
either to submit your work to Turnitin or have the university do so; availing yourself of this right
will not negatively impact your success in the course. If you do not wish to use Turnitin, you
must notify me by e-mail before September 15, 2010. If you object to the use of Turnitin, I will
use other procedures to assess originality.
For University policies governing classroom behavior, the use of laptop computers in class, and
other topics, please see the student information guide
(www.rowan.edu/studentaffairs/infoguide/). If you decide to bring a laptop, please be
considerate and refrain from checking Facebook, email, and other websites not related to the
class.
Ethics and Academic Honesty
The University values and expects academic and personal integrity. Ethical violations include cheating,
plagiarism, fabrication, academic misconduct (including reuse of assignments). To avoid plagiarism, you
must properly cite direct quotations, paraphrased information, and facts that are not widely known.
Please use footnotes or endnotes following the Chicago Manual of Style. For more information on
Rowan’s Academic Integrity Policies, see the Student Information Guide, available at:
www.rowan.edu/studentaffairs/infoguide
Classroom Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
This statement on disabilities is from the Faculty/Staff Handbook: “Your academic success is important.
If you have a documented disability that may have an impact on your work in this class, please contact
me. Students must provide documentation of their disability to the Academic Success Center in order to
receive official University services and accommodations. The Academic Success Center can be reached
at 856-256-4234. The Center is located on the 3rd floor of Savitz Hall. The staff is available to answer
questions regarding accommodations or assist you in your pursuit of accommodations. We look forward
to working with you to meet your learning goals.”
Course Schedule and Reading Assignments
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Introduction/Overview; Human diversity and evolution
September 1: Introduction to the course; Why and how do we study Africa?; What do we
already “know” about Africa?
September 3: What do we already “know”? And: Diversity and human evolution
Reading (due on Friday for this week only):
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Ann Gibbons, “Modern Men Trace Ancestry to African Migrants,” Science 292, no.
5519 (May 11, 2001): 1051-1052. [Blackboard]
 John Noble Wilford, “A Different Take on Human Origins,” New York Times, 7 March
2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/us/a-different-take-on-humanorigins.html?scp=4&sq=human+origins+africa&st=nyt [Blackboard]
 Collins, xi-xvi and 1-15.
 Jefferson M. Fish and Ken Schles, “Mixed Blood,” Psychology Today 28, no. 6 (1995):
55-61, 76, 80. [Blackboard]
Blackboard assignment: Go to the discussion board in the “Week One” section of the “Lessons”
folder. Follow the instructions.
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Communities, social relationships, and identities
September 8: Discussion [don’t forget to post to Blackboard]
Reading:
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Collins, 244-250.
John Parker and Richard Rathbone, African History: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 43-47 (“‘Tribes’”). [Blackboard]
David L. Schoenbrun, A Green Place, A Good Place: Agrarian Change, Gender, and
Social Identity in the Great Lakes Region to the 15th Century (Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann, 1998), 91-122 (ch. 3). [Blackboard]
Roger Rosenblatt, “‘A Killer in the Eye,’” New York Times, 5 June 1994. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/05/magazine/a-killer-in-theeye.html?scp=20&sq=genocide%20rwanda&st=nyt&pagewanted=1
September 10: First Map Quiz—modern country names of Africa; Lecture—Social organization,
hierarchy, and human relationships in African history
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Environment and foodways
September 15: Group Presentations—African cereals; Discussion [don’t forget to post to
Blackboard]
Reading:
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Mamadou Baro and Tara F. Deubel, "Perspectives on Vulnerability, Famine, and Food
Security in Sub-Saharan Africa," Annual Review of Anthropology 35 (2006): 521-538.
[Blackboard]
Edda L. Fields-Black, "Untangling the Many Roots of West African Mangrove Rice
Farming: Rice Technology in the Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c. 1800," Journal of
African History 49, no. 1 (2008): 1-21. [Blackboard]
September 17: Group Presentations—African cereals. Lecture—Food production and
community: From gathering and hunting to farming and herding
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Film: Basil Davidson, Africa: A Voyage of Discovery, Program 2 - "Mastering a Continent" (1984)
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Northeast Africa to 1650
September 22: Second Map Quiz—geographic features of Africa; Discussion
Reading:
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Stanley Burstein, ed., Ancient African Civilizations: Kush and Axum (Princeton:
Markus Wiener Publishers, 1998), 77-100. [Blackboard]
Harold Courlander, “Ethiopian Beginnings: The Axumite Empire,” in A Treasury of
African Folklore (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1975), 522-533. [Blackboard]
Be sure to pay attention to the similarities and differences between the two
accounts.
James Brooke, "Ethiopia: Rebellion Behind a Mask of Conformity," New York Times,
15 March 1987. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/15/world/ethiopia-rebellion-behind-a-mask-ofconformity.html?scp=18&sq=queen%20of%20sheba%20ethiopia&st=nyt&pagewant
ed=1
Trymaine Lee, "Harlem to Ethiopia, in Search of Their Spiritual Roots," New York
Times, 16 September 2007. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/nyregion/16church.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=q
ueen+of+sheba+ethiopia&st=nyt
Film excerpts: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Wonders of the African World, Episode 4--"The Holy
Land" (1999)
September 24: Lecture—Axum (Aksum) and the Ethiopian Highlands
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West Central Africa to 1650
September 29: Discussion
Reading:
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Jan Vansina, “Of Masks and Governance,” in How Societies Are Born: Governance in
West Central Africa before 1600 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004),
206-260. [Blackboard]
October 1: Lecture—States and stateless societies
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Southern Africa to 1600
October 6: Discussion
Reading:
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Collins, (selections from) Problem II: Bantu Origins and Migration, 55-57 and 78-98.
D.N. Beach, “The Rise of the Zimbabwe State,” in Collins, 127-134.
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P.S. Garlake, "Prehistory and Ideology in Zimbabwe," Africa: Journal of the
International African Institute 52, no. 3 (1982): 1-19. [Blackboard]
October 8: Lecture—“Bantu” Societies and the history of Great Zimbabwe
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Early Trade Routes and the Coming of Islam
October 13: Discussion
Readings:
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Ibn Battuta’s description of Mali. Ibn Battuta, Ibn Battuta in Black Africa,ed. Said
Hamdun and Noel King (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1994), 34-48.
[Blackboard]
Al-Bakri, in Medieval West Africa: Views from Arab Scholars and Merchants, ed.
Nehemia Levtzion and Jay Spaulding (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2003),
9-22. [Blackboard]
“Ibn Battuta: The East African Coast in 1331” in Documents from the African Past,
ed. Robert O. Collins (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2001), 8-14.
[Blackboard]
David Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004), 27-59 (ch. 3 and 4). [Blackboard]
October 15: First 3-4 page paper due in class. Lecture—Travel, trade, and the spread of religion
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West Africa to 1600
October 20:
Reading:
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Bamba Suso and Banna Kanute, Sunjata, entire book (including introductory
chapter).
October 22: Lecture—Early West African States
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East Africa to 1600
October 27: Discussion
Reading:
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G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville, The East African Coast: Select Documents from the First to
the Earlier Nineteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), 34-56
(“Anonymous: An Arabic History of Kilwa Kisiwani c. 1520” and “Vasco Da Gama’s
Discovery of East Africa for Portugal 1498”). [Blackboard]
James de Vere Allen, Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture and the Shungwaya
Phenomenon (London: James Currey, 1993), 1-19 (“Foreword: The Problem of
Swahili Identity”). [Blackboard]
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October 29: Lecture—Swahili , the East African Coast, and the Indian Ocean System
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Africa and the World, 1450-1700; case study: the Kingdom of Kongo
November 3: Discussion
Reading:
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“Correspondence of the Kings of Kongo,” African Christianity: A History of the
Christian Church in Africa, available at:
http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/SSAKongoLetters.html
Giovanni Cavazzi, “Queen Anna Nzinga,” in Documents from the African Past, ed.
Robert O. Collins (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2001), 57-59. [Blackboard]
Northrup, 11-17, 20-82.
Thomas L. Friedman, "Foreign Affairs; Booting Up Africa," New York Times, 5 May
1998. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/05/opinion/foreign-affairsbooting-up-africa.html?scp=17&sq=globalization&st=nyt
November 5: Lecture—Cultural, Economic, Social Exchanges
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Africa and the Slave Trades
November 10: Lecture: The Transatlantic, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Saharan Trades
November 12: Discussion
Reading:
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Excerpt from the “Diary of Antera Duke,” in Efik Traders of Old Calabar, ed. Daryll
Forde (London: International African Institute/Oxford University Press, 1956), 2733. [Blackboard]
“Willem Bosman Describes the Dutch Trade for Slaves on the West African Coast
(1704),” in Africa and the West: A Documentary History, 2nd ed., vol. 1, ed. William
H. Worger, Nancy L. Clark, and Edward A. Alpers (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2010), 49-51. [Blackboard]
Northrup, ch. 4 and 6
Slavery in Africa
November 17: Discussion
Reading:
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Collins, Problem VI: Slavery in Africa, 253-309
November 19: Second 3-4 page paper due in class. Film: The Language You Cry In (1998)
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Political Change and Innovation, 1500-1800
November 24: Discussion and lecture—African State-building
November 26: No Class, Thanksgiving holiday
Reading:
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Collins, Problem III: African Trade and States, 101-125 and 135-141. (skip selection
by D.N. Beach, which you have already read)
Islam and Islamic States in West Africa
December 1: Discussion
Reading:
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Collins, Problem IV: Islam in Africa, 143-180
Robert O. Collins, ed., Western African History (New York: Markus Wiener
Publishers, 1990), 62-72 (documents by Abd Allah Ibn Muhammad and Al-Kanami).
[Blackboard]
December 3: Lecture—Jihad, State Building, and the Sokoto Caliphate
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Conclusion and Review
December 8: Lecture—Europeans in Africa: Harbingers of Colonial Rule?; Discussion
December 10: Review for Final Exam
Reading:
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Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa: Performed Under the
Direction and Patronage of the African Association in the Years 1795, 1796, and
1797 (London: W. Bulmer and Co., 1799), 1-3, 15-28, 299-312. Available at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=7MkTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gb
s_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Northrup, epilogue
Final Examination: Week of 12/13. Exact date, time, and location TBA
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