Misconceptionsabout african history

There have been many misconceptions , myths , stereotypes about African history . A lot of European scholars like Hugh Trevor Roper have denied Africa a history .Hugh Trevor Roper said "Perhaps there will be something to write about African history but currently there is none , there is darkness in Africa and darkness is not a subject of history " He actually denied the fact that Africa has a history . Later on in the 1960s we see a lot of scholars like Jan Vansina coming in and writing about African history. We cant deny a history of Africa because there is no society without a history of its origins . Therefore the question is that what type history was Roper talking about . Yes Africa was a pre literate society by that time so was he considering only the written sources because the Europeans believed that history is only history when it is only in written form .There is need to revisit this concept we see Arthur Marwick defining history is a written past . There is need to differiantite "HISTORY" from the PAST . History is different from the past in the sense that the past are events that have taken place in the past whilst history is now the work of the historian to put it down . In the 1960s we see scholars like Vansina introducing oral sources which is oral tradition. Oral traditions were therefore important in the extraction of African history .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OGOT
JAN VANSINA ORAL TRADITION

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