i have been put in my place by one of my collegues. i am doing a PhD in history, and i am already in my second year and have passed my exams. yet, i still dont know much at all about the life and deeds of haile selassi, former emperor of eithiopia. further more, i know appaullingly little about african history. this all emerged in a conversation between one of my collegues (who is african) and some customers (from ghana). my collegue pointed out that, as a phd student who hopes to be a historian, i have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing the basics of african history. and he is completely correct.
of course i have taken courses in world history. i am fairly knowledgeable on europea history and south american (i somehow along the way even managed to get a degree in latin american studies). i have a tolerable knowledge of asian, in particular indian history. but africa is a black hole in my knowledge. too often in universities it is ignored, unless you are in a programme that specilises in it. you cant get a history degree in europe without taking, for example, american history or british history, but you can easily get by without african, which is especially absurd given that just over a generation ago, when my father was growing up, much of africa was controlled from london or paris. so it is not like we can say this is a part of the world that is irrelevant or unconnected to us. i told the story to some of my friends at the university who felt that i shouldnt feel badly: africa is unrelated completely to my thesis, and knowledge of it is in no way required for me to write a good dissertation. but is that a good enough excuse? can we really, as historians, afford to be so specialised that we excuse ourselves from knowing even the basic facts about the rest of the world. i think not. and so, my collegue trotted me over to the mini warehouse in the basement of our shop and picked out some books on african history for me to read. so now i am well into Martin Meredith's The State of Africa: a history of fifty years of independance, and several of my african collegues are joking that they will give me a test when i am done, to see what i have learned. but i can see i clearly have a long long way to go before i can call myself a historian!
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Quote: "as a phd student who hopes to be a historian, i have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing the basics of african history."
You don't need an excuse. I take it that Africa is not your field - so relax.
Do you beat yourself up because you can't name the moon's seas? Do you feel 'guilt' because you don't know the chemists' periodic table? No, of course not.
So you don't know the history of Ethiopia? Do you suppose that your PhD counterpart in any African country knows the history of Latvia?
Sometimes people in the West seem all too ready to adopt a feeling of 'guilt' towards Africa? Why?
Do you have the same feelings of guilt if you can't name the last 10 Popes?
Do you readily reach for shame if you can't name the members of the current British cabinet?
No, of course not.
Finding out these things is great if you want to, but no need for shame!
i agree with marcus on this.
it's a pitty that we don't know the basics of african history. but then, how many historians have you met who know central-eastern european history? (well, if they are not specialising in the field, of course).
i feel more ashamed of not having read some of the classic literary pieces. and not speaking 5 more foreign languages...
don't worry! but do read that bok about africa! you will then update me on it :)
You're at least doing better than a student of mine who, despite being 18 or 19, once asked me "Is Africa a democracy ?"
no africa is obviously not my feild.but i dont think that is a good enough excuse. of course i am not saying that i need an in depth knowledge of africa (or asia, or austrailia) but i do think that i should have a better general knowledge than i do. and i do think a phd student in eithiopia should have a general knowledge of european history (and asia and american ect)
how many times have i sat with friends and laughed (or been annoyed) as i heard people make stupid, uneducated remarks about east-central europe?
and tom's comment is sadly all to typical of many peoples attitudes, not only towards africa, but to the world beyond there limited perspective. (it reminds me of the time my mother asked her students why they were so convinced spanish was an easier language than french. they answered "it has to be easy, even mexicans can speak it." ignorance. cringe)
"it has to be easy, even mexicans can speak it"
logique, quoi! :)))
that made my day, really
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