Category Archives: Africa

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: “African History For Beginners”

Posted on August 1, 2006 by Timothy Burke

We have a bunch of the “For Beginners” books published by Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative (WRP) at home somewhere, almost all of them from when they came in fairly plain if stylish brown covers. Someone should write a book … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 4 Comments

Historian as Snoop: Experiencing the Archive

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Timothy Burke

[cross-posted at Cliopatria] One thing that I think historians bring to the academic table is their experience of working with archives of all kinds. Lots of scholarly disciplines are involved in going to libraries and databases for their evidence, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

From the Archives

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

British South Africa Police, March 31 1952 Security Branch Memorandum No. 64 Report on a meeting of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia Congress members in Que Que reserve, March 23rd 1952, about 24 people “The following points will serve to illustrate … Continue reading →

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From the Archives

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Marwick Papers, File 10. Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban. Chief C.J.L. Kekana to J.S. Marwick, May 2nd 1901 “Honourable sir I am from home Now I let you know that my place is not realy saved Sir I beg you … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | Comments Off on From the Archives

Whigging Out

Posted on July 22, 2006 by Timothy Burke

A lot of people were wondering, in the aftermath of the investigation into Ward Churchill, about whether many scholarly works have the same kind of dubious manipulations of evidence when examined closely. Quite a few people inferred from the apparent … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

Dear Diary

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Bill Tozier recently wrote about archives and historians, about the difference between researchers who are alive doing scholarly work in simultaneous relation to other researchers who are alive, on topics that are being produced as knowledge in the here and … Continue reading →

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More From the Archives

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Timothy Burke

British South Africa Police, Security Memorandum on Native Affairs No. 67, June 27 1952. “It has been reliably reported that the following conversation took place between a European lady sales assistant and an African in a bookshop on the 19th … Continue reading →

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You Have No Idea

Posted on July 19, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Margaret Soltan in the last couple of months has sometimes posted links to stories about the wretched state of many European university systems once you go below the level of the elite few institutions at the pinnacle of a given … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa | 2 Comments

Correctness and Knowledge

Posted on July 19, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I’ve made it clear that I don’t have any respect at this point in my life for most forms of identity politics, which I think is a broader and more potent term than “political correctness”. Occasionally, however, I’m reminded of … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Miscellany | Comments Off on Correctness and Knowledge

It’s Full of Stars

Posted on July 19, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Going to a game park for a conference involving specialists in Africa seems like a natural, but the meeting I just attended was the first that I’ve been to in such a location. It wasn’t easy to get there, a … Continue reading →

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