This volume makes a vital contribution to the conceptualizing and theorizing of precolonial African history. Its critical exegesis is a befitting honor to Professor Paulo de Moraes Farias, whose contributions to historical research are tremendous and indelible. The critical analyses and appraisals of these essays are organized around the main themes of the book in chapters contributed by prominent scholars from various disciplines such as history, anthropology, and diaspora studies.
The festschrift can be appraised as an intellectual attempt to contribute to the academic study and investigation of Africa's precolonial history. It is a powerful set of germinal contributions by famous researchers who are intellectually invested in African history. Each chapter provides relevant contributions that are useful for unearthing existing gaps in research. The collection provides a solid case to advance the relevance of precolonial Africa at a time when it has been abandoned by the majority of scholars. This is not to say that the study of postcolonial history is not intellectually beneficial, but rather to reiterate that the study of precolonial African history invites us to evaluate what is presented as Africa's past in relation to studies in postcolonial history.
This volume considers the need for complementarity between archaeological research and historical data by examining the integration of archaeological studies into African historiography. If anything, one is justified in pointing out that some of Moraes Farias's works exemplify the need to understand archaeological data. Moraes Farias believes that archaeological data should be thoroughly and carefully scrutinized by historians. In fact, the contributions of archaeologists to this anthology show that critical archaeological analysis should be an integral aspect of studying precolonial Africa.
The contributors’ critical analyses show that there is a necessary connection between topography and how people react to things around them. This in turn influences how they internalize the transcendental. Not only does this volume critically evaluate the topographical dimension of historical research, but it also helps in understanding how a people's history is evident in their arts and crafts. In recognition of Moraes Farias's works on orature, part of the volume exemplifies the connection between sources of precolonial African history and orality. The book reveals that oral testimonies, panegyrics, and praise songs can be legitimate historical sources.
The collection concerns itself with reviving the past while taking note of the ideological underpinnings of the sources of African history. The chapters argue that historical sources can be contextual and sometimes politicized. Oral narratives are affected by a narrator's state of mind and an informant's environmental circumstances, and general happenings at the time of research may well cause biased and presupposed ideas which are then taken to be facts by historians. With the help of archaeological data, the ‘kernel of truth’ in certain narratives may be uncovered.
The first part of the book identifies many of the proposals made by Moraes Farias. In most of his essays, Moraes Farias proposed that historical research must take seriously archaeology, the natural sciences, and other subsidiary fields. The second part builds on the first, suggesting that when interpreting any evidence, one must display sensitivity to issues of geography and culture. Moraes Farias's Medieval Arabic Inscriptions from the Republic of Mali is a benchmark for Part Three of this book, where the contributors examine inscriptions as sources and build on his scholarship.
The emphasis on orality is one of the most important ideas in this volume. Moraes Farias's contribution influenced the scholarship of contributors such as Mamadou Diawara, Jan Jansen, Karin Barber, Toby Green, and Paul Lovejoy, who consider the various ways that traditions, poetry, and praise singing are genuine sources for historical research. It is right to say that all of the methodologies examined in Parts One to Four are put to practical use in Part Five.
From the foregoing, Moraes Farias's significance to historical research is indispensable. The topics that the authors have taken on show that Moraes Farias is a methodological innovator who has laid the foundation and designed templates on which historical research should be built. Moraes Farias's recognition of the essence of orature and epigraphs in telling Africa's past is a major contribution to decolonial epistemology.
This compilation of commendable essays will influence young and old scholars in the years to come. It not only presents the idea that there must be a methodological shift, but also puts into practice the essence and outcome of these methodologies. One can say Moraes Farias laid the foundation and the contributors have taken his propositions a step further. The book will introduce a generation of African students to the methodologies discussed in this work, which will in turn help them in their field research. This book suggests that precolonial African history should be the starting point of any African history.
