1. By Professor Vansina, Jan in a review of The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 4 (Cambridge, 1975), JAH, 17(1976), 441.Google Scholar

2. Valuable guides include Fage, J.D., “Continuity and Change in the Writing of West African History,” African Affairs, 70(1971), 236–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “The Prehistory of African History,” Paideuma, 19/20 (1973/74), 146-61; and African Studies Since 1945: A Tribute to Basil Davidson ed. Fyfe, C. (London, 1976).Google Scholar An attempt to quantify the growth of the journal literature has been made by Gardinier, David, “Recently Published Articles,” History in Africa, 4(1977), 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Foucault, Michel, The Archaeology of Knowledge (London, 1972).Google Scholar

4. Beyond the Sociology of Development, Oxaal, Ivar, Barnett, Tony and Booth, David, ed. (London, 1975).Google Scholar

5. Ranger, T.O., “Towards a Usable African Past” in African Studies Since 1945, 17–30.Google Scholar

6. Wright, Harrison M., The Burden of the Present: Liberal-Radical Controversy Over Southern African History (Cape Town, 1977).Google Scholar

7. Hildebrand, Stanley J., “A New Paradigm in African Studies,” Ufahamu, 5(1974), 3–19.Google Scholar

8. Some examples of studies which have been “disposed of” are given in Roberts, A.D., “The Earlier Historiography of Colonial Africa,” History in Africa, 5(1978), 155–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9. On the term “improvement” see Williams, Raymond, Keywords (London, 1976), 132–33Google Scholar, and Briggs, Asa, The Age of Improvement (London, 1959), 1–6.Google Scholar

10. Nisbet, Robert A., Social Change and History: Aspects of the Western Theory of Development (Oxford, 1969).Google Scholar

11. This poem appears in a compendium of “improving” verse and social commentary by Mackay, Charles entitled Voices from the Crowd (London, 1846).Google Scholar

12. Macdonell to Grey, 1 May 1857, C.O. 87/50, Public Record Office. I owe this reference to Dr. Alieu Jeng.

13. “Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon wave, only one great fact with respect to which, since it is unique, there can be no generalizations, only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.” Fisher went on to reconicle his liberal beliefs with the course of world events in the following way: “The fact of progress is written plain and large on the page of history; but progress is not a law of nature. The ground gained by one generation may be lost by the next. The thoughts of men may flow into the channels which lead to disaster and barbarism.” Fisher, H.A.L., A History of Europe (3 vols.: Boston, 1939).Google Scholar

14. Beckerman, W., “The Economist as a Modern Missionary,” Economic Journal, 66(1956), 108–15.Google Scholar

15. For an incisive critique see Rimmer, Douglas, Macromancy: the Ideology of “Development Economics,” [Hobart Paper 55] (London, 1973).Google Scholar

16. For a sympathetic account see Hodgkin, Thomas, “Where the Paths Began,” in African Studies Since 1945, 6–16.Google Scholar

17. Quoted in Afigbo, A.E., “The Flame of History Burning at Ibadan,” JHSN, 7(1975), 716.Google Scholar By 1961 Professor Ajayi was able to state: “That the African past must play an important part in the process of nation-building in Africa today is no longer in doubt.” Ajayi, J.F. Ade, “The Place of African History and Culture in the Process of Nation Building in Africa South of the Sahara,” Journal of Negro History, 30(1961), 8.Google Scholar

18. Boahen, A. Adu, Clio and Nation-Building in Africa (Accra, 1975).Google Scholar

19. One attempt was made to employ national accounting techniques in a historical analysis. See Szereszewski, R., Structural Changes in the Economy of Ghana, 1891-1911 (London, 1965).Google Scholar The relevance of Western economics to the underdeveloped countries is discussed in Martin, K. and Knapp, J., eds., The Teaching of Development Economics (Chicago, 1967)Google Scholar and Myint, U Hla, Economic Theory and the Underveloped Countries (London, 1971).Google Scholar The issues are related to the African context by Livingstone, Ian, “After Divorce: The Remarriage of Economic Theory and Development Economics?” Eastern African Economic Review, 8(1976), 35–50.Google Scholar A judicious assessment of the relationship between growth theory and history is provided by Supple, Barry E., “Economic History and Economic Underdevelopment,” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 27(1961), 460–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20. This assumption has been questioned recently by Northrup, David, Trade Without Rulers: Pre-Colonial Economic Development in South-Eastern Nigeria (Oxford, 1978).Google Scholar

21. Ajayi, J.F.A., “Colonialism: An Episode in African History” in Colonialism in Africa, 1870-1960, ed. Gann, L.H. and Duignan, Peter, (5 vols.: Cambridge, 1969–1975), 1:497–509.Google Scholar

22. Quoted in Baudet, Henri, Paradise on Earth: Some Thoughts on European Images of Non-European Man (New Haven, 1965), 62.Google Scholar

23. Quoted in Bolt, Christine, Victorian Attitudes Towards Race (London, 1971), 131.Google Scholar

24. Quoted in Behrman, Cynthia F., “The Mythology of British Imperialism, 1880-1914,” (Ph.D. thesis, Boston University, 1965), 97.Google Scholar The relevant passage from Marshall's Principles of Economics reads: “Whatever be their climate and whatever their ancestry, we find savages living under the dominion of custom and impulse; scarcely ever striking our new lines for themselves; never forecasting the distant future, and seldom making provision even for the near future, fitful in spite of their servitude to custom, governed by the fancy of the moment; ready at all times for the most arduous exertions, but incapable of keeping themselves long to steady work.” (8th ed. London, 1938), 723-24.

25. Quoted in Myrdal, Gunnar, Asian Drama (Abridged by King, Seth S., New York, 1972), 10.Google Scholar

26. O'Neill, John, Sociology as a Skin Trade (New York, 1972), 237.Google Scholar

27. Reappraisals of the state of economics include Leontief, Wassily, “Theoretical Assumptions and Non-observed Facts,” American Economic Review, 61(1971), 1–7Google Scholar; Brown, E.H. Phelps, “The Undervelopment of Economics,” Economic Journal, 82 (1972), 1–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Worswick, G.D.N., “Is Progress in Economic Science Possible?” Economic Journal, 82(1972), 73–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Method and Appraisal in Economics, ed. Latsis, S.S. (Cambridge, 1976)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Hutchinson, T.W., Knowledge and Ignorance in Economics (Oxford, 1977).Google Scholar Reappraisals of development studies include Bernstein, Henry, “Modernisation Theory and the Sociological Study of Development,” Journal of Development Studies, 7(1971), 414–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar, O'Brien, D. Cruise, “Modernisation, Order and the Erosion of a Democratic Ideal: American Political Science, 1960–70,” Journal of Development Studies, 8(1972), 351–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sandbrook, Richard, “The ‘Crisis’ in Political Development Theory”, Journal of Development Studies, 13(1976), 165–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nafziger, E. Wayne, “A Critique of Development Economics in the U.S.,” Journal of Development Studies, 13(1976), 18–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tipps, Dean C., “Modernisation Theory and the Study of National Development,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 15(1973), 199–226CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Cohen, Robin, Shanin, Teodor and Sorj, Bernado, “The Sociology of ‘Developing Societies’: Problems of Teaching and Definition,” Sociological Review, 25(1977), 351–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Trends in the relationships between economic history and other social sciences during the period 1938-68 are discussed in Postan, M.M., Fact and Relevance (Cambridge, 1971).CrossRefGoogle Scholar In the 1970s economic historians began to return to an older tradition (always strong among British scholars) in which institutions and power were accorded central places in the analysis of economic growth. The feeling that these problems required a broader perspective created a considerable, if belated, interest in the Anglo-Saxon world in the work of the Annales school.

28. Numerous guides to this literature are now available. For two examples see Pouillon, Françoiset al, L'anthropologie économique: courants et problèmes (Paris, 1976)Google Scholar, and Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic Anthropology ed. Seddon, David (1978).Google Scholar

29. Frank, Andre Gunder, Latin America: Underdevelopment or Revolution (New York, 1969), 3–17.Google Scholar The dependency thesis has now generated a massive literature. For its application to Africa see Rodney, Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London, 1972).Google Scholar

30. Alpers, Edward A., Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa (London, 1975), 264.Google Scholar

31. Brett, E.A., Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa, 1919-39 (London, 1973).Google Scholar

32. Marks, Shula, “South African Studies since 1945” in African Studies Since 1945, 186–99Google Scholar; Phimister, I.R., “Zimbabwean Economic and Social Historiography Since 1970,” African Affairs, 78(1979), 253–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The liberal belief that industrialization would eventually break down apartheid is no longer widely accepted. Apartheid is now regarded as a necessary product of industrialization, and is to be understood, so it is claimed, in the context of the emergence of class relations and the distribution of power in settlerdominated society.

33. The new literature, like the old, is heavily encrusted with terminological badges proclaiming its independent and ‘scientific’ status. Some debasement of language and analysis has occurred; when terms such as “mode of production” are used indiscriminately, their conceptual value is no more than honorific.

34. Quoted in Tipps, , “Modernisation Theory,” 220.Google Scholar

35. Discussions of historicist reconstructions of the African past include Wrigley, Christopher, “Historicism in Africa: Slavery and State Formation,” African Affairs, 70(1971), 113–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Denoon, Donald and Kuper, Adam, “Nationalist Historians in Search of a Nation: The ‘New Historiography’ in Dar es Salaam,” African Affairs, 69(1970), 329–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Ranger, Terence, “The New Historiography’ in Dar es Salaam: An Answer,” African Affairs, 70(1971), 50–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36. Baudet, Paradise on Earth. See also Jones, W.R., “The Image of the Barbarian in Medieval Europe,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 13(1971), 376–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37. Iggers, Georg C., The German Conception of History (Middletown, Conn., 1968), ch. 8.Google Scholar

38. Ford, John, The Role of Trypanosomiases in African Ecology (Oxford, 1971).Google Scholar

39. For one of several possible examples see Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change ed. Hafkin, Nancy J. and Bay, Edna G. (Stanford, 1976).Google Scholar

40. For example Lovejoy, Paul E. and Baier, Stephen, “The Desert-Side Economy of the Central Sudan,” IJAHS, 8(1975), 551–81.Google Scholar

41. It would be hard to find in any branch of history more sensitive or more thorough evaluations of oral and literary evidence than Miller's reconstruction of the Mbundu kingdoms in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Law's history of the Oyo empire in the eighteenth century, and Wilks' study of Asante in the nineteenth century, to cite just three examples from west and west cental Africa. See Miller, Joseph C., Kings and Kinsmen: Early Mbundu States in Angola (Oxford, 1976)Google Scholar; Law, Robin, The Oyo Empire, c. 1600-C.1836 (Oxford, 1977)Google Scholar; and Wilks, Ivor, Asante in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1975).Google Scholar

42. This statement obviously glosses over a problem of great complexity. It is intended to refer to the reformulation by Lakatos of the falsificationist position in the light of criticism made by Kuhn and others. See Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, ed. Lakatos, Imre and Musgrave, Alan, (Cambridge, 1970).CrossRefGoogle Scholar A fascinating assessment of this debate can be found in Gellner, Ernest, Legitimation of Belief (Cambridge, 1974).Google Scholar For a complementary approach to research into African history see Vansina, Jan “The Power of Systematic Doubt in Historical Enquiry,” HA, 1(1974), 109–27.Google Scholar

43. An excellent example is the way in which Akinjogbin's explanation of Dahomey's participation in the slave trade has been challenged by re-examining the sources he used in the light of hypotheses other than those espoused by nationalist historiography. See Henige, David and Johnson, Marion, “Agaja and the Slave Trade,” HA, 3(1976), 57–67Google Scholar; and Johnson, Marion, “Bulfinch Lambe and the Emperor of Pawpaw: A Footnote to Agaja and the Slave Trade,” HA, 5(1978), 345–50.Google Scholar

44. A start on this problem has been made by Perceptions of Development, ed. Wallman, Sandra (Cambridge, 1977Google Scholar). Important research in this area is currently being undertaken by Dr. T.C. McCaskie on Asante and by Prof. J.D.Y. Peel on Ilesha. For the difficulties of demonstrating underdevelopment in precolonial Africa see Miracle, Marvin P., “Underdevelopment of Africa: Comments on Methodology,” HA, 3(1976), 157–62.Google Scholar

45. This is not to suppose that Ranke's aim of reconstructing the past “as it really was” can be achieved without also grappling with the difficulty that the evidence is not entirely independent of our view of it.

46. The phrase occurs in Dryden's play All For Love.

47. Some important work on this subject is discussed by Wrigley, C.C. in “Myths of the Savanna,” JAH, 15(1974), 131–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

48. Quoted in Thompson, Robert, African Art in Motion (Berkeley, 1974), 41.Google Scholar This splendid book merits close attention by all African specialists.

49. Ibid, 68.

50. Finley, M.I., “‘Progress’ in Historiography,” Daedalus, 106 (1977), 125–42.Google Scholar

51. Immense liberties have been taken with the term paradigm in recent years following the application of Kuhn's ideas to the world at large. It seems particularly dangerous to suppose that proclaiming a “new paradigm” is itself sufficient to justify eliminating antecedent and rival views.

52. Roberts, “The Earlier Historiography.”

53. A full and stimulating review of Wright's book is Hughes, K.R., “Challenges From the Past: Reflections on Liberalism and Radicalism in the Writing of Southern African History,” Social Dynamics, 3(1977), 45–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

54. This point can be illustrated by considering what would be needed today to re-establish the Hamitic hypothesis as a powerful scholarly proposition.

55. Gay, Peter, Style in History (London, 1975), 211–16.Google Scholar