The Individual in African History: The Importance of Biography in African Historical Studies

Description

This volume investigates the development of biographical study in African history. Preceded by an introduction on the relevance of biography in history, case studies deal with methodological insights, personas living through societal transition, and biographical subjects and their discursive worlds. The Individual in African History: The Importance of Biography in African Historical Studies Copyright Contents Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Prologue: Reflections on Historiography and Biography and the Study of Africa's Past Part 1: Methodological Insights 1 Human Symbols 2 'Your Surroundings Don't Make You; You Must Rise above all that' 3 From Life Histories to Social History Part 2: Persons in Transitions 4 The Effervescence of Individual Life: Cornelius Badu, Born 1847 in Elmina, Gold Coast 5 The Leopard that Came to Laikom: Michael Timneng in Colonial Cameroon 6 Underground Struggles: The Early Life of Jack Hodgson Part 3: Discursive Worlds 7 Binding Words: Student Biographical Narratives and Religious Conversion 8 A Muslim Boy in Sunday School 9 Barthélémy Boganda between Charisma and Cosmology 10 A Road not Taken? The Biography of Laurent Kabila (1939-2001) Index