The Flaws and Shortcomings of African Historiography
History is formed through a combination of personal experiences, psychological state, personal objectives, relation with the interviewer, position in society and many other factors that cannot be scientifically monitored and accounted for. Thus, no historian has been able to filter through the many layers they need to in order to arrive at an accurate account of history. What “personal narratives” and “life histories” provide are numerous examples of the complexities and ambiguities that accompany any reconstruction of African history. Each account of history does not offer a different perspective from which one may view a particular event or time, simply because no two accounts have the same concept of location or time. Western and African romanticism has lead many historians to create and adapt scientific methodologies in order to penetrate the combination of personal objectives, interview limitations, and psychological intricacies that were present in each life history.
Whether it is a matter of age, race, psychological state, or personal (or group) objective, the subjects oftentimes function in differing paradigms, which leads to significant inconsistencies between the transmittance and recording of any particular history. Texts such as Belinda Bozzoli’s, Women of Phokeng, Marjorie Mbilinyi’s article entitled “I’d Have Been a Man,” and several articles in White, Cohen and Miescher’s, African Words, African Voices, to put forth the claim that the information historians collect from “life histories” cannot be generalized in any way to correctly represent a society or group of people.
Each author claims to recognize his/her biases and shortcomings, then goes on to say...
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...ts that possibly affect the accuracy of any historical inquiry does not make the result any more accurate. Historians shift to recording “life stories” of previously overlooked populations did not get them closer to real African history. What historians did by sharing these stories was negate the traditional European historical view of Africans as simpleminded, docile and reactionary people. If it were formally stated that African Historians were trying to dispel the images of Africans and unethical, uncivilized, and dumb brutes, I would be the first to congratulate and reward them. But as long as historians attempt to reconstruct the true/real Africa, I shall continue to argue it is a futile attempt with no means to gaining any more accurate or valid evidence or testimony that will reveal any objective truth about Africa before, during and even after colonial rule.
The objective of structural family therapy for this family would be to improve the functionality of the family system and restore the structured family system with development (Collins, Jordan, & Coleman, 2010). Additionally, since the family dynamics are somewhat different since the father is away often and the girls were younger when the family dysfunction initiated, it may be appropriate to work on boundaries in therapy. McAdams, et al.(2016) found that “foundational structural principles of family hierarchy, system and subsystem boundaries, and member alliances all continue to play a central role in current applications of the structural model, and the assessment criteria applied most recently to structural family therapy process and outcome research are likewise grounded in those structural principles” (McAdams, et al.,
Some common themes of 17th-19th century African social and political history span these three stories despite their distinct historical contexts and characteristics. In each society, warlords vied for control without being able to unify small disintegrating states, and political strife led to social mobility and fed the slave trade with war captives (Lovejoy, 68-70). The struggle between competing definitions of orthodoxy and orthopraxy became crucially important when religious causes were allied with political causes, especially seen in the cases of Beatriz and Uthman. Another common feature, best illustrated in Guimba’s story, is the tradition African belief that spiritual power, whatever its source, is good when used in the interests of the community, but bad when used for personal gain (Thornton, 43-44).
Structural therapy focuses on the family as a whole. It is concerned about how the issues effect the family relationships and connections. This theory concentrates on how well the understanding is amongst the family members and counselor. The members of the family are prompted to understand how the issues were created, where did the issues come from, when the issues started effecting their family, and what the family needs to overcome their issues. Its focus is to help others understand and improve negative behavior. The structural therapy concentrates on the interaction and boundaries of families with separating the whole family into smaller groups. The subsystems will create a clearer understanding of what issues are hurting their family environment (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is concerned about the members interaction because this reveals how strong the relationships and connections are in the home. The boundaries are important because they create an understanding that there are limits and order, and the boundaries can be diffused, rigid, or clear (Gladding, S. T. 2010). The counselor is expected to identify techniques so members can understand which boundaries are clear, positive, and healthy (Gladding, S. T. 2010).
Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) in particular, has been found to be useful in helping to improve family functioning for those who are at risk for substance abuse. According to these researchers, BSFT is rooted in Structural Family Therapy, which was developed by Salvador Minuchin. They state that this approach was developed to help urban minority families living in poverty, and that it operates on the assumption that the therapy will be brief, provides flexibility in its use, and the major goal is to change the family system (e.g. based on the specific needs of the family). There are three major components of BSFT, which include: joining, family pattern diagnosis, and restructuring. In the study conducted by Santisteban et al (1997), African American and Hispanic American youth ages 12 to 14 and their parents participated in a BFST intervention program. The youth were given both pre-tests and post-tests to measure their behavior problems, conduct, anxiety, family functioning, and substance use. The researchers found that BFST was effective in improving conduct disorder, socialized aggression, as well as overall family functioning. They also found each of these factors were predictive of the likelihood of substance abuse initiation in the future (Santisteban et al,
Although, the Civil war brought about change for Africans, along with this change it brought heart ache, despair and restriction of worship to the African...
The family has influence on how the dependent which in this case is the adolescent behaves, thinks, feels, etc. The effectiveness of the therapy relies on the effort of the family to work together. Usually, the family comes into therapy blaming the dependent for his or her actions and fail to realize that the home environment is contributing to it. This can lead to the dependent feeling worthless and creating more problems in the family. Family therapy changes the family dynamic by creating rules and boundaries in the house. The therapist creates interventions for the family during therapy to work on these issues (Szapocznik,
The relevance of West African history exists and is important to the world. Davidson’s ability to communicate the role of kinship, of belief and idea systems, the expansion of art and culture as well as the diffusion of learning and language across West Africa in its elegance can not be duplicated. The growth of the slave trade is almost forgotten as Davidson’s illustrates the beauty and rich culture of West Africa before 1850. Davidson encourages the reader to ignore the modern boundaries perceived by Western beliefs and ideologies and embrace that Africa was created and nurtured by Africans, and for Africans. The book under review is well written and balanced and offers a wealth of information regarding African history before colonialism.
In our society families are the foundation of all human relationships. Therefore learning to maintain and develop healthy families are the goals of family therapist. Counselors can use the Structural Family Therapy approach in counseling hurting families. The pioneer of structural family therapy is Salvador Minuchin (Hammond & Nichols, 2014).
In Kevin Gaines’ book, American Africans in Ghana, Gaines combines both African and African American history together unlike others have done in the past. Gaines’ book gives his audience insight on the relationship that many prominent African Americans in the Mid-nineteenth century had with Africa. Gaines tackles many issues that were prevalent during this time period, for instance, he tackles race, class, citizenship, independence and freedom. Gaines does this to change the narrative that existed about Africa. Many Black Nationalist, had romanticized Africa to be this place that once had thriving empires but lost everything due to colonization, and westernized blacks needed to go to Africa to help liberate it. Gaines dispels these myths, and
The opening of the novel places the reader not in Falola's shoes as a child, but rather as an adult scholar attempting to procure information from his own family. This proves easier said than done as Falola takes us through the process of obtaining specific dates in a society that deems them irrelevant. By examining the difficulty that Falola has in this seemingly simple task, the reader begins to understand the way in which time and space are intertwined and weighed in Africa. This concept of "connections between words, space, and rituals" encompasses the way that Africans perceive the world around them - as a series of interrelated events rather than specific instances in time (Falola 224). This approach also stems from the concept that the family unit, the village, and the elders come before the individual in all instances, making a detail such as a birthday unimportant when it comes to the welfare of the whole. Introducing the reader to the complexities of African conventions, Falola expands their minds and challenges them to view the forthcoming narrative with untainted eyes.
Diverse from other African authors of his time, Chinua Achebe, the “father of African Literature”, reconstructions the stigma surrounding traditional African tribes through his ground-breaking novel Things Fall Apart. Set in southern eastern Nigeria, the novel depicts village life through the eyes of Igbo clan members prior to colonization. This fresh take on perspective allows readers to view and examine the variety of individuals that mold Igbo life through the story of a village leader, Okonkwo. Contrasting other authors of his time, Achebe takes great measures to illustrate the varied substantial roles of not only men, but women in his novel Things Fall Apart. The contributions accompanied by pivotal roles in Igbo society are displayed
How to create an environment suitable for human living when resources are limited is a challenging problem for modern society. My strong interest in photography and art has compelled me to become especially observant toward the relationship between human beings and the environment. I have come to realize that the environment we live in has suffered much damage from pollution and lacks competent planning, making it difficult to find beautiful scenery to photograph or sketch. I began to think that I could make use of my artistic gift, concern about, and interest in the environment by entering the field of landscape design and putting my effort into beautifying our surroundings. Therefore, after graduating from high school, I entered the Department of Landscape Architecture at ABC University.
Chinua Achebe was an influential Nigerian author during the 1900’s who was credited with his three essays which have been fused together into the book “Home and Exile”. In his stories he discusses things such as his own Igbo people, the problems with colonialization, the strength that stories can have and many more topics. A big part of his essays are on his thoughts of colonialism, the impact it has had on his home of Nigeria, and how stories written by others either helped justify colonialism or rejected it. Chinua argues that stories have their own power to fight, and while stories themselves do not have the ability to directly fight colonialism; they do, however with their power of words, stories can motivate and encourage people to stand up against colonialism. In proving this thesis to be a true statement, I will be providing evidence of the how, why and the extent to which stories can fight colonialism.
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Bohannan, Paul, and Philip Curtin. Africa & Africans . Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. , 1995.