Category Archives: Africa

Update on the Horn of Africa

Posted on January 9, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Just a quick note on this issue. Withywindle (who, judging from many comments made to me at the AHA meeting, has developed a cult following through his comments here) asks if I’ve changed my views based on the last two … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | 5 Comments

War and Peace, Horn of Africa Edition

Posted on December 14, 2006 by Timothy Burke

One of the major stories out of Africa that almost no one seems to know about is the political, military and social history of the Horn of Africa in the last three decades. This is despite the fact of Black … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Politics | 9 Comments

History 87 Development and Modern Africa

Posted on November 29, 2006 by Timothy Burke

This is the latest version of this course that I’ve taught. I still need to make some of the specific selections of reading material on a number of these texts: I’m trying to get small but potent samples of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 10 Comments

The Years of Rice and Salt

Posted on November 27, 2006 by Timothy Burke

A couple of people responding in the “Production of History” thread have suggested Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt for the week on time travel and alternate history. The suggestion is a great one, and I love … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books | 18 Comments

Tarnished City in a Swamp

Posted on September 29, 2006 by Timothy Burke

A short time ago (but it feels very much longer than that), I wrote an essay for a journal called Global Dialogue about the African Union, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and Thabo Mbeki’s “African renaissance”. One of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Politics | 37 Comments

Something Norm Geras and I Agree On

Posted on September 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Read this post from Eddie Cross, who maintains a blog called Zimpundit, detailing the last week or so of political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe. I’m often asked, “What’s going to happen next in Zimbabwe? Are things going to get … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | 2 Comments

You Can’t Tell the Players Without a Scorecard

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Timothy Burke

[Crossposted at Cliopatria] One of the overarching arguments in my current book project is that in Africanist scholarship, work by social historians has sometimes been difficult for outsiders to intuitively or empathetically grasp, that it is easier to connect to … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 15 Comments

More on Moral Panic

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Thinking again about moral panic this morning while reading through a memoir of a Rhodesian woman, Sally in Rhodesia. In current work, I’m trying to argue that the British Empire in Africa was a messier, more complicated, more mutualistic phenomenon … Continue reading →

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From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa

Posted on August 3, 2006 by Timothy Burke

The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa (subtitled The Real Story), in the revised third edition, is the best historical textbook I have ever seen. I’d assign this book in a second in relevant classes. Only problem is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | Comments Off on From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of South Africa

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: “Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood”

Posted on August 2, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Rob Nixon’s published work seems to me like a good direction for the more public, accessible side of scholarly discourse to be heading over the long haul, particularly his 2001 book Dreambirds. That could be what we’re looking for out … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 1 Comment