Resources for AfAm 40 Ancient Civilizations
This guide was created for students enrolled in the African-American Studies course 40, African Origins.
Course description:Ancient African civilizations to the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Folklore and mythology manifested in ceremonies, rituals and rhythmic movements are examined.
This guide supports the African-American Program Learning objectives:
- Describe global linkages between African Americans and other people of African descent throughout the world, articulate the impact of slavery of African peoples in U.S. society and explain how American society and its institutions have historically shaped Black Americans/African Americans.
- Describe and explain African-centered theories, concepts, and research.
- Critique historical and contemporary research literature, formulate research, interpret historical records, documents, and audiovisual materials, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions that follow logically from the analysis.
Ways to Get Started on Your Project
The following resources help you choose your topic, plan your project, and search databases. For in-person help, Ask a Librarian.
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How to start your researchThis is an interactive guide to walk you through each step of writing your research paper.
Textbooks
The following readings are often required or suggested in AfAm40.
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Stolen legacy
George Granville Monah James was a South American historian and author, best known for his 1954 book Stolen Legacy, in which he argued that Greek philosophy originated in ancient Egypt.
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The world and Africa : an inquiry into the part which Africa has played in world history, by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois by
Publication Date: 1947W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. -
Civilization or Barbarism
by
ISBN: 9781556520495Publication Date: 1991-03-01Challenging societal beliefs, this volume rethinks African and world history from an Afrocentric perspective.
Encyclopedias and Reference Sources
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Encyclopedia of African History and Culture
by
Call Number: Africana Center 5th Floor DT3 .P27 2001ISBN: 9780816044726Publication Date: 2001-10-01 -
Key Events in African History byCall Number: DT20 .F35 2002ISBN: 0313006687Publication Date: 2002
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General History of Africa byCall Number: Africana Center 5th Floor DT25 .A53x 1990ISBN: 0852550928Publication Date: 1990The series is co-published in Africa with seven publishers, in the United States and Canada by the University of California Press, and in association with the UNESCO Press.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica This link opens in a new windowFull text of the 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica (additional articles and images not available in the print set); Merriam Webster's Dictionary; over 130,000 links to web sites selected, rated, and reviewed by Britannica editors. Other resources include country comparisons and data analysis; history timeline; brief biographies; as well as articles from the New York Times and the BBC.
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Senegal. (2019). Britannica Online Academic Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc."The region today known as Senegal was long a part of the ancient Ghana and Djolof kingdoms and an important node on trans-Saharan caravan routes."
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Kush/Nubia (2019). Britannica Online Academic Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc."Nubia, ancient region in northeastern Africa, extending approximately from the Nile River valley (near the first cataract in Upper Egypt) eastward to the shores of the Red Sea, southward to about Khartoum (in what is now Sudan), and westward to the Libyan Desert."
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Punt. (2019). Britannica Online Academic Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc."Punt, in ancient Egyptian and Greek geography, the southern coast of the Red Sea and adjacent coasts of the Gulf of Aden, corresponding to modern coastal Ethiopia and Djibouti."
Selected Databases for African Origins
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Historical Abstracts with Fulltext This link opens in a new window
This database supports upper-division and graduate research on World History, Military History, Women's History, History of Education and many other related topics. It also provides indexing of historical articles from more than 3,100 journals in over 40 languages dating back to 1955. Also provides access to the full text of more than 380 journals and 140 books.
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary full text, peer reviewed academic journals that support scholarly research in key areas of academic study.