i'm super curious about this collection of african history you found! is it a link or something you'd be able to give me? i wanna read this too hahaha. also while im here, love your blog. im a zoology student so its right up my alley haha
It’s a link and they’re all free PDFs online!!! I was SO excited when I found it via an old professor’s Facebook. Here’s the link, you can access the volumes by clicking “volumes” over on the left side. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/general-history-of-africa/ Also something that made it even better -
“In 1964, UNESCO launched the elaboration of the General History of Africa with a view to remedy the general ignorance on Africa’s history. The challenge consisted of reconstructing Africa’s history, freeing it from racial prejudices ensuing from slave trade and colonization, and promoting an African perspective.
UNESCO therefore called upon the then utmost African and non African experts. These experts’ work represented 35 years of cooperation between more than 230 historians and other specialists, and was overseen by an International Scientific Committee which comprised two-thirds of Africans.”
A history that was specifically written to avoid the racist/colonist/European viewpoint, and with mostly African writers & editors!! Honestly, this was a HUGE part of why I was so excited to find it. I’ve been wanting to read more on African history for ages, but was really apprehensive about buying books without being able to research to avoid getting skewed history from a European perspective. So this is just amazing & really exciting. :D
I do have a few memoirs from Africans, one of which is the memoir from the president of Liberia (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf), and that book was really fascinating to read. She includes a fair amount of the country’s history & the politics and major events, so it was a really good read both for learning more about her life & for learning more about the country.
(Side note, if anyone ever has recommendations on good history books from …really, any country other than the post-colonization US, I will gladly accept!)
And also, thank you so much! ♥♥♥ I’m glad you like it! :D
