79 226 - Introduction to African History: Earliest Times to 1780

Institution:

Carnegie Mellon University

Subject:

Description:

A beginning point for this course will be the question: how do historians reconstruct history when few written sources are available? Breaking disciplinary boundaries, the course will draw on linguistics, "climateology," archaeology, and anthropology to reconstruct dynamic social, cultural, political, and economic processes in Africa before the arrival of Europeans and before the availability of written source materials. When written sources are available, the course will interrogate them to illuminate the changes that occurred in African societies during the early period of contact with Europeans. Lastly, by focusing on long-term processes, such as economic specialization, urbanization, and Islamization, the course will begin to put the slave trade in an African-centered perspective.

Credits:

9.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.cmu.edu/

Phone Number:

(412) 268-2000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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