@tragiclikebowie, awesome! Even though I’m an Italian, I still think it’s pretty badass how ballsy the Ethiopians were in fighting them. Speaking of the slave trade in North Africa, I could write about early Arabic slavers in the area.
@linguaphile, the Coptic church has a fascinating history. ...so does the Coptic language.
@anartist, you’re on a roll tonight. Well, you’re always on a roll. I really like your idea about somehow tying Foote and Idi together in a study. ...Power is brute force, not the ballot box. I like that. Would you mind if I co-opted that phrase if I chose this topic?
@lillycoyote, ask and ye shall receive:
Come up with an appropriate historical issue
Using our class readings, the textbook, and other resources, decide on a question—
usually beginning with ‘how’ or ‘why’—that interests you about the history of Africa.
Your topic may also concern a present-day issue so long as you focus primarily on its
origins in history (for our purposes, history “ends” in 1990, though this cutoff is
negotiable). Note that one of the biggest challenges will be to come up with an issue that
is proportionate to the length of the assignment, so please consult with me during this
phase. Finally, if you are covering an event or phenomenon in African history that
involves other parts of the world, you will need to make sure that at least half of your
paper looks at this event from African perspectives. (So, for example, a history of World
War II on the Horn of Africa will only meet this requirement if it looks at the war from
the Ethiopian and Somali perspectives, not exclusively from the viewpoints of the British,
Germans and Italians.)
Gather sources
Find academic secondary sources—academic books and journal articles— to help you
answer your question. Primary documents would be welcome here as well. In either
case, remember that this is a research essay, so you must use multiple academic sources
that were not assigned in class in order to support your assertions. (You may use in-class
sources to get started, but the vast majority of your documentation must come from
elsewhere.) When relevant, you can also make use of our textbook’s “Further reading”
section which begins on page 329 in Iliffe.
Write an essay
Write an essay of approximately five to six pages, word processed and double-spaced,
that attempts to address your issue. You should drop by my office hours to discuss
your project at least once during the remainder of the semester. I will be happy to
look at as many outlines and/or rough drafts as you would like.
This essay is due at the start of our class’s exam period, along with the
final mini-test. Please get started on this early because grades are due
shortly after final exams.