BLST 056D. African Life Histories

Cross-listed with HIST 068.
In this course, we will examine the writing of microhistory, scholarship that focuses on the lives of individuals, of singular events and distinctive narratives. In the first third of the class, we will read various theoretical and methodological debates about microhistory and then for the rest of the semester we will use notable examples of microhistories written about life in Africa and the lives of Africans, including in the African diaspora in the Atlantic world, to discuss the advantages and pitfalls of microhistorical studies. What do we learn by looking up close, and what might we miss?
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Eligible for Eligible for Method/Theory. Concentration: Culture and Identity; Migration, Diaspora, and Space.
Spring 2028 Burke.
Catalog chapter: Black Studies.
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/black-studies

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