The Historiography of African Resistance Movements

FAIN: FT-14083-78

Timothy C. Weiskel
Williams College (Williamstown, MA 01267-2600)

Placed as they were between "pre-colonial history" on the one hand and "colonial history" on the other, African resistance movements have occupied an anomalous position in the historian's understanding of the African past. This proposal, intended to be published as a book, will study the changing historical assessments of African primary resistance movements. It will examine specific case studies of African resistance movements and proceed with an analysis of underlying trends visible from comparisons between a wide variety of resistance phenomena. Case studies and analytical observances will be a basis for an extended discussion of the importance of resistance phenomena in African historiography as a whole.