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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
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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.

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

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