Author: Sonja Magnavita, Lassina Koté, Peter Breunig, Oumarou A. Idé
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
ISBN: 9783937248172
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference “Cultural developments and technological innovations in first millennium BC/AD West Africa” held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in March 2008, with participants from eleven countries and three continents. The rationale behind the meeting was the conviction that the first millennium before and after the beginning of the Common Era, like no other period before, encompasses the origins of developments that are directly related to the modern world – particularly in Africa. Current archaeological research in West Africa has been providing an increasing amount of relevant evidence on this period, including a series of significant developments that had critical impacts on human ways of life in subsequent times. The papers of the present volume deal with different aspects of these developments and contribute towards the understanding of the unique cultural diversity of this part of the African continent.
Crossroads / Carrefour Sahel
Author: Sonja Magnavita, Lassina Koté, Peter Breunig, Oumarou A. Idé
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
ISBN: 9783937248172
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference “Cultural developments and technological innovations in first millennium BC/AD West Africa” held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in March 2008, with participants from eleven countries and three continents. The rationale behind the meeting was the conviction that the first millennium before and after the beginning of the Common Era, like no other period before, encompasses the origins of developments that are directly related to the modern world – particularly in Africa. Current archaeological research in West Africa has been providing an increasing amount of relevant evidence on this period, including a series of significant developments that had critical impacts on human ways of life in subsequent times. The papers of the present volume deal with different aspects of these developments and contribute towards the understanding of the unique cultural diversity of this part of the African continent.
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
ISBN: 9783937248172
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference “Cultural developments and technological innovations in first millennium BC/AD West Africa” held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, in March 2008, with participants from eleven countries and three continents. The rationale behind the meeting was the conviction that the first millennium before and after the beginning of the Common Era, like no other period before, encompasses the origins of developments that are directly related to the modern world – particularly in Africa. Current archaeological research in West Africa has been providing an increasing amount of relevant evidence on this period, including a series of significant developments that had critical impacts on human ways of life in subsequent times. The papers of the present volume deal with different aspects of these developments and contribute towards the understanding of the unique cultural diversity of this part of the African continent.
The Yoruba
Author: Akinwumi Ogundiran
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253051509
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
The Yoruba: A New History is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yoruba people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups on the African continent. Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history. The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253051509
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562
Book Description
The Yoruba: A New History is the first transdisciplinary study of the two-thousand-year journey of the Yoruba people, from their origins in a small corner of the Niger-Benue Confluence in present-day Nigeria to becoming one of the most populous cultural groups on the African continent. Weaving together archaeology with linguistics, environmental science with oral traditions, and material culture with mythology, Ogundiran examines the local, regional, and even global dimensions of Yoruba history. The Yoruba: A New History offers an intriguing cultural, political, economic, intellectual, and social history from ca. 300 BC to 1840. It accounts for the events, peoples, and practices, as well as the theories of knowledge, ways of being, and social valuations that shaped the Yoruba experience at different junctures of time. The result is a new framework for understanding the Yoruba past and present.
Global Byzantium
Author: Leslie Brubaker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100062448X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Global Byzantium is, in part, a recasting and expansion of the old ‘Byzantium and its neighbours’ theme with, however, a methodological twist away from the resolutely political and toward the cultural and economic. A second thing that Global Byzantium – as a concept – explicitly endorses is comparative methodology. Global Byzantium needs also to address three further issues: cultural capital, the importance of the local, and the empire’s strategic geographical location. Cultural capital: in past decades it was fashionable to define Byzantium as culturally superior to western Christian Europe, and Byzantine influence was a key concept, especially in art historical circles. This concept has been increasingly criticised, and what we now see emerging is a comparative methodology that relies on the concept of ‘competitive sharing’, not blind copying but rather competitive appropriation. The importance of the local is equally critical. We need to talk more about what the Byzantines saw when they ‘looked out’, and what others saw in Byzantium when they ‘looked in’ and to think about how that impacted on our, very post-modern, concepts of globalism. Finally, we need to think about the empire’s strategic geographical position: between the fourth and the thirteenth centuries, if anyone was travelling internationally, they had to travel across (or along the coasts of) the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was thus a crucial intermediary, for good or for ill, between Europe, Africa, and Asia – effectively, the glue that held the Christian world together, and it was also a critical transit point between the various Islamic polities and the Christian world.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 100062448X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
Global Byzantium is, in part, a recasting and expansion of the old ‘Byzantium and its neighbours’ theme with, however, a methodological twist away from the resolutely political and toward the cultural and economic. A second thing that Global Byzantium – as a concept – explicitly endorses is comparative methodology. Global Byzantium needs also to address three further issues: cultural capital, the importance of the local, and the empire’s strategic geographical location. Cultural capital: in past decades it was fashionable to define Byzantium as culturally superior to western Christian Europe, and Byzantine influence was a key concept, especially in art historical circles. This concept has been increasingly criticised, and what we now see emerging is a comparative methodology that relies on the concept of ‘competitive sharing’, not blind copying but rather competitive appropriation. The importance of the local is equally critical. We need to talk more about what the Byzantines saw when they ‘looked out’, and what others saw in Byzantium when they ‘looked in’ and to think about how that impacted on our, very post-modern, concepts of globalism. Finally, we need to think about the empire’s strategic geographical position: between the fourth and the thirteenth centuries, if anyone was travelling internationally, they had to travel across (or along the coasts of) the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was thus a crucial intermediary, for good or for ill, between Europe, Africa, and Asia – effectively, the glue that held the Christian world together, and it was also a critical transit point between the various Islamic polities and the Christian world.
Temporalising Anthropology
Author: Timothy Insoll
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
ISBN: 3937248358
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This volume contains the results of significant fieldwork completed in the Tong Hills of Northern Ghana, an area currently inhabited by the Talensi ethno-linguistic group. Although made anthropologically renowned by the anthropologist Meyer Fortes, the archaeology and material culture of the Talensi Tong Hills had largely been neglected until the research initiated by the authors. Extensive archaeological surveys and excavations were completed allied with ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotanical research on shrines, sacrifice, and indigenous medicine. The data is presented and described, and a settlement chronology for the region reconstructed. The results of the geological, organic geochemical, petrographic, and archaeometallurgical analysis are provided. The function of shrines and the meaning of 'shrine' as a concept are evaluated, and indigenous medicinal practices, their links with shrines, and their substances, materiality, and archaeological implications assessed with reference to the primary empirical material gathered. Ritual, performance, and its inter-relation with the past and the archaeological record are also considered so as to question the 'timelessness' of previous anthropological presentations. The Tong Hills are also discussed with reference to their place in the wider history and archaeology of the region. This book will be useful to anyone interested in the archaeology and anthropology of African indigenous religions and ritual practices, as well as those interested in West African history, and the relationship between archaeology and anthropology.
Publisher: Africa Magna Verlag
ISBN: 3937248358
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This volume contains the results of significant fieldwork completed in the Tong Hills of Northern Ghana, an area currently inhabited by the Talensi ethno-linguistic group. Although made anthropologically renowned by the anthropologist Meyer Fortes, the archaeology and material culture of the Talensi Tong Hills had largely been neglected until the research initiated by the authors. Extensive archaeological surveys and excavations were completed allied with ethnoarchaeological and ethnobotanical research on shrines, sacrifice, and indigenous medicine. The data is presented and described, and a settlement chronology for the region reconstructed. The results of the geological, organic geochemical, petrographic, and archaeometallurgical analysis are provided. The function of shrines and the meaning of 'shrine' as a concept are evaluated, and indigenous medicinal practices, their links with shrines, and their substances, materiality, and archaeological implications assessed with reference to the primary empirical material gathered. Ritual, performance, and its inter-relation with the past and the archaeological record are also considered so as to question the 'timelessness' of previous anthropological presentations. The Tong Hills are also discussed with reference to their place in the wider history and archaeology of the region. This book will be useful to anyone interested in the archaeology and anthropology of African indigenous religions and ritual practices, as well as those interested in West African history, and the relationship between archaeology and anthropology.
Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
Author: M. C. Gatto
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847408X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 589
Book Description
Places burial traditions at the centre of Saharan migrations and identity debate, with new technical data and methodological analysis.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847408X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 589
Book Description
Places burial traditions at the centre of Saharan migrations and identity debate, with new technical data and methodological analysis.
Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna
Author: Stephen A. Dueppen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317543661
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
Many West African societies have egalitarian political systems, with non-centralised distributions of power. 'Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna' analyses a wide range of archaeological data to explore the development of such societies. The volume offers a detailed case study of the village settlement of Kirikongo in western Burkina Faso. Over the course of the first millennium, this single homestead extended control over a growing community. The book argues that the decentralization of power in the twelfth century BCE radically transformed this society, changing gender roles, public activities, pottery making and iron-working. 'Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna' will be of interest to students of political science, anthropology, archaeology and the history of West Africa.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317543661
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359
Book Description
Many West African societies have egalitarian political systems, with non-centralised distributions of power. 'Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna' analyses a wide range of archaeological data to explore the development of such societies. The volume offers a detailed case study of the village settlement of Kirikongo in western Burkina Faso. Over the course of the first millennium, this single homestead extended control over a growing community. The book argues that the decentralization of power in the twelfth century BCE radically transformed this society, changing gender roles, public activities, pottery making and iron-working. 'Egalitarian Revolution in the Savanna' will be of interest to students of political science, anthropology, archaeology and the history of West Africa.
Material Explorations in African Archaeology
Author: Timothy Insoll
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199550069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488
Book Description
How people engaged with materials such as clay or stone, why people dug features such as pits, why they decorated their bodies, or treated their dead in certain ways, were all meaningful in the African past. However, these are subjects that have been generally neglected by archaeologists working in Africa until recently. Material Explorations in African Archaeology examines materiality in African archaeology by exploring concepts of material agency and material engagement and entanglement in relation to their manifest presence in persons, animals, objects, substances, and contexts. It investigates the magnificent and complex world of past African materiality by considering a range of case studies. These include, for example, why standing stones were erected, the potential meanings of bodily alteration practices such as scarification and dental modification, and why, recurrently, Africans in the past gave ritual importance to objects, materials, and locations thought of as exotic or different. Adopting a multidisciplinary focus, the volume draws not only on archaeology but also, among other areas, ethnography and history, discussing themes such as bodies, landscape, healing and medicine, and divination, as well as concepts such as memory and biography, transformation, and metaphor and metonym.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199550069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488
Book Description
How people engaged with materials such as clay or stone, why people dug features such as pits, why they decorated their bodies, or treated their dead in certain ways, were all meaningful in the African past. However, these are subjects that have been generally neglected by archaeologists working in Africa until recently. Material Explorations in African Archaeology examines materiality in African archaeology by exploring concepts of material agency and material engagement and entanglement in relation to their manifest presence in persons, animals, objects, substances, and contexts. It investigates the magnificent and complex world of past African materiality by considering a range of case studies. These include, for example, why standing stones were erected, the potential meanings of bodily alteration practices such as scarification and dental modification, and why, recurrently, Africans in the past gave ritual importance to objects, materials, and locations thought of as exotic or different. Adopting a multidisciplinary focus, the volume draws not only on archaeology but also, among other areas, ethnography and history, discussing themes such as bodies, landscape, healing and medicine, and divination, as well as concepts such as memory and biography, transformation, and metaphor and metonym.
Material Worlds
Author: Barbara J. Heath
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317327292
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Material Worlds examines consumption from an archaeological perspective, broadly exploring the intersection of social relations and objects through the processes of production, distribution, use, reuse, and discard. Interrogating individual objects as well as considering the contexts in which acts of consumption take place, a range of case studies present the intertwined issues of power, inequality, identity, and community as mediated through choice, access, and use of the diversity of mass-produced goods. Key themes of this innovative volume include the relationship between colonial, political and economic structures and the practices of consumption, the use of consumer goods in the construction and negotiation of identity, and the dialectic between strategies of consumption and individual or community choices. Situating studies of consumerism within the field of historical archaeology, this exciting collection reflects on the interrelationship between the material and ideological aspects of culture. With a focus on North America from the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries, Material Worlds is an important examination of consumption which will appeal to scholars with interests in colonialism, gender and race, as well as those engaged with the material culture of the emergent modern world.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317327292
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Material Worlds examines consumption from an archaeological perspective, broadly exploring the intersection of social relations and objects through the processes of production, distribution, use, reuse, and discard. Interrogating individual objects as well as considering the contexts in which acts of consumption take place, a range of case studies present the intertwined issues of power, inequality, identity, and community as mediated through choice, access, and use of the diversity of mass-produced goods. Key themes of this innovative volume include the relationship between colonial, political and economic structures and the practices of consumption, the use of consumer goods in the construction and negotiation of identity, and the dialectic between strategies of consumption and individual or community choices. Situating studies of consumerism within the field of historical archaeology, this exciting collection reflects on the interrelationship between the material and ideological aspects of culture. With a focus on North America from the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries, Material Worlds is an important examination of consumption which will appeal to scholars with interests in colonialism, gender and race, as well as those engaged with the material culture of the emergent modern world.
Africans
Author: John Iliffe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107198321
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 421
Book Description
An updated and comprehensive single-volume history covering all periods from human origins to contemporary African situations.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107198321
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 421
Book Description
An updated and comprehensive single-volume history covering all periods from human origins to contemporary African situations.
Caravans in Global Perspective
Author: Persis B. Clarkson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000504190
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
This book provides a fresh and unique global perspective on the study of caravans by bringing together a wealth of up-to-date research that explores the similarities and divergences of caravan lifeways in Africa, Eurasia, the Near East, Southwest Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. The volume presents theoretical frameworks for caravan assessment and intercultural caravan crossings, pushing the boundaries of caravan route history and archaeology to consider the emergence, evolution, maintenance, and adaptations of caravans. Drawing from anthropological, archaeological, historical, geographical, economic, social, political, and art historical perspectives, the volume will be attractive to scholars of these disciplines and beyond who are interested in social issues embedded on trade, travel, and nomadism. .
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000504190
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
Book Description
This book provides a fresh and unique global perspective on the study of caravans by bringing together a wealth of up-to-date research that explores the similarities and divergences of caravan lifeways in Africa, Eurasia, the Near East, Southwest Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. The volume presents theoretical frameworks for caravan assessment and intercultural caravan crossings, pushing the boundaries of caravan route history and archaeology to consider the emergence, evolution, maintenance, and adaptations of caravans. Drawing from anthropological, archaeological, historical, geographical, economic, social, political, and art historical perspectives, the volume will be attractive to scholars of these disciplines and beyond who are interested in social issues embedded on trade, travel, and nomadism. .