Papers by José da Silva Horta
This chapter discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, and among ... more This chapter discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, and among Africans, on the Senegambia/Upper Guinea Coast and in the Cabo Verde Islands in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. While social domination was connected with slave or free status, “racism” and a “racial” approach do not accurately explain it. Prevailing scholarly interpretations of “racism” in Early Modern Europe are contested as prone to an ahistorical and teleological approach. An alternative to the idea of an underlying “racism” or “racisms” as a constant across historical periods and common to many diverse cultures would be a focused and historically contextualized study of the manner in which societies categorized people and then either did or did not ascribe characteristics to members of the resultant groups.
African Studies Centres Around the World – A Network-Based Inventory. , 2022
The point of departure of the discussion we make in this contribution is
two key concepts propose... more The point of departure of the discussion we make in this contribution is
two key concepts proposed by the hosts of the International Conference
African Studies – Multiple and Relational (University of Bayreuth, December
7-10, 2017), multiplicity, and relationality, previously developed
as an epistemological proposal by the article of Eva Spies and Rüdiger
Seesemann, as pluralicity and relationality. As the title of the latter suggests,
the issue was to discuss the new directions of African Studies as a
response to the tendency to subsume Area Studies ‘under the umbrella of
Global Studies’ (Spies and Seesemann 2016: 134). We argue that the way
time and historical frame have been devalued in African Studies is also
part of the problem. Hence, historicity should also be considered as a key
concept, complementary to multiplicity and relationality.
African Arts, 2022
Based on archaeological excavations conducted
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana... more Based on archaeological excavations conducted
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories
José da Silva Horta, 2022
Based on archaeological excavations conducted
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana),... more Based on archaeological excavations conducted
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories.
José da Silva Horta, 2021
Résumé. Ce qui est, et ce qui n’est pas, une source africaine de l’histoire de l’Afrique? À ce ch... more Résumé. Ce qui est, et ce qui n’est pas, une source africaine de l’histoire de l’Afrique? À ce champ d’études, il y a une fausse dichotomie entre les sources orales « africaines » et les sources écrites « européennes ». Seule l’analyse des conditions de production des sources écrites, souvent hâtivement classifiées comme européennes, nous permettra de dépasser cette dichotomie. On essaye de montrer, pour l’histoire de la Grande Sénégambie du XVIe et du XVIIe siècle, comment des auteurs portugais, cap-verdiens de naissance mais ayant été éduqués dans un système occidental, ont surmonté l’obstacle de l’absence de sources écrites accessibles pour écrire l´histoire africaine, il y plus de quatre siècles. Ils ont bien voulu intégrer l’historicité africaine dans leurs discours, surtout parce que le modèle historiographique qui encadrait l’écriture des récits sur les « Rivières de Guinée du Cap Vert » rendait cette approche indispensable. Ils l’ont fait par un usage extensif des traditions orales africaines, et des sources orales en général, dont ils ont reconnu la crédibilité. Ils s’en sont approprié au service d’un agenda de l’élite cap-verdienne, mais leurs ouvrages n’ont pas moins souffert l’impact des perspectives hétérogènes de leurs informateurs africains. Cet article montre les enjeux de l’interprétation des sources orales sur les « invasions » des Mane/Mani à la moitié du XVIe siècle dans le traité du cap-verdien André Álvares de Almada. Le but est de rendre évident que seule une conscience critique des conditions de production de ces textes « européens » permettra le bon usage de ces sources pour construire l’histoire de l’Afrique.
Mots-clés : Histoire “ancienne” de l’Afrique; Grande Sénégambie, XVIe-XVIIe siècle; Upper Guinea Coast; sources écrites portugaises; traditions orales africaines; sources orales; modèles historiographiques; André Álvares de Almada; Sierra Leone; Cap-Vert; Sapi; Mane/Mani migrations/invasions
Abstract. What is, and what is not, an African source for African history? In this field of study, there is a false dichotomy between oral "African" sources and written "European" sources. Only the analysis of the conditions of production of written sources, often hastily classified as European, will enable us to transcend this dichotomy. We demonstrate, for the history of Great Senegambia in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, how Portuguese authors, Cabo Verdeans by birth but Westerners in education, overcame the obstacle of the lack of accessible written sources for their writing of African history, more than four centuries ago. They wanted to integrate African historicity into their discourses, above all because the historiographical model that framed the writing of the histories on the “Rivers of the Guinea of Cabo Verde” made it indispensable. They did so through an extensive use of African oral traditions, and of oral sources in general, which they found reliable. There was an appropriation of these sources at the service of an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article exemplifies the challenges of interpreting oral sources on the Mane / Mani "invasions" of the mid-16th century in the treatise of the Cabo Verdean André Álvares de Almada. The aim is to show that a historical and critical awareness of the conditions of production of these "European" texts is needed for an accurate use of these sources to the making of African history.
Sina Rauschenbach and Jonathan Schorsch (eds.), The Sephardic Atlantic: Colonial Histories and Postcolonial Perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 57-84, 2018
IN ENGLISH
This essay discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, a... more IN ENGLISH
This essay discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, and among Africans on Senegambia/Upper Guinea Coast and in the Cape Verde Islands in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. While social domination was connected with slave or free status, “racism” and a “racial” approach do not accurately explain it. Prevailing scholarly interpretations of “racism” in Early Modern Europe are contested as prone to an ahistorical and teleological approach. An alternative to the idea of an underlying “racism”, or “racisms”, as a constant across historical periods and common to many diverse cultures would be a focused and historically contextualized study of the manner in which societies categorized people and then either did or did not ascribe characteristics to members of the resultant groups.
EM PORTUGUÊS
Este ensaio discute a historiografia das relações entre africanos e europeus, e entre os africanos na Senegâmbia/Upper Guinea Coast e nas ilhas de Cabo Verde no final do século XVI e início do século XVII. Para o contexto estudado, se se confirma que a dominação social estava conectada com os estatutos de escravo ou livre, argumenta-se que o racismo e a abordagem racial não a explicam com rigor. As interpretações académicas predominantes do “racismo” na Europa Moderna são contestadas como propensas a uma abordagem a-histórica e teleológica. Defende-se que uma alternativa metodológica à ideia de um “racismo” subjacente, ou “racismos”, como uma constante em todos os períodos históricos e comum a muitas culturas diversas seria um estudo focalizado e historicamente contextualizado da maneira pela qual as sociedades categorizavam as pessoas e, conhecida a mesma, ver que características atribuíam ou não aos membros dos grupos resultantes dessa classificação.
As Lições de Jill Dias. Antropologia, História, África e Academia/ The Jill Dias Lessons. Anthropology, History, Africa, Academia, coord. de Maria Cardeira da Silva e Clara Saraiva, Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, 2013, pp. 37-53, 2013
O Colonialismo Português e os PALOP –Novos Rumos da Historiografia dos PALOP, coordenação do Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto e do Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, V. N. de Famalicão, Ed. Humus, 2013
in Guy Saupin (ed.), Africains et Européens dans le monde atlantique, XVe-XIXe siècle, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2014, pp. 59-72
in Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia, Dir. e Coordenação de Fernando Cristovão, Coordenação de Mar... more in Dicionário Temático da Lusofonia, Dir. e Coordenação de Fernando Cristovão, Coordenação de Maria Adelina Amorim, Maria Lúcia Garcia Marques e Susana Brites Moita, Lisboa, Texto Editores – Associação de Cultura Lusófona, 2005, pp. 473-483. Em co-autoria.
in Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa, 1415-1600, direcção de Francisco Contente Domingues, 2 vols... more in Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa, 1415-1600, direcção de Francisco Contente Domingues, 2 vols. , vo. 1, Círculo de Leitores, 2016, pp. 488-490.
Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa,1415-1600, direcção de Francisco Contente Domingues, 2 vols., v... more Dicionário da Expansão Portuguesa,1415-1600, direcção de Francisco Contente Domingues, 2 vols., vol. 2, Círculo de Leitores, 2016, pp. 679-682
in Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, vol. 11, South and East Asia, Africa a... more in Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, vol. 11, South and East Asia, Africa and the Americas (1600-1700), ed. by David Thomas and John Chesworth, with Clinton Bennet, Lejla Demiri, Martha Fredriks, Stanisław Grodź, Douglas PrattBrill, Leiden/Boston, 2017, pp. 522-529
Th e blade weapons trade expanded early in the seventeenth century, by which time it was tied ine... more Th e blade weapons trade expanded early in the seventeenth century, by which time it was tied inextricably to the slave trade; weapons fi gured significantly among the goods exchanged for captives. Two centuries later, as the Casamance entered the geopolitical orbits of France and England on the eve of the
colonial period, the weapons trade again came to play a prominent role in overseas
exchange with Europe. Th is time, however, it was not blade weapons but fi rearms that were imported into Casamance. Our chapter describes and compares the two stages in the weapons trade to the Casamance.
Este foi o primeiro artigo em que tratámos a complexa relação inter-religiosa entre Europeus e Af... more Este foi o primeiro artigo em que tratámos a complexa relação inter-religiosa entre Europeus e Africanos que a presença judaica na “Petite Côte” envolvia, dando azo à busca de uma aliança dos seguidores de “Musa” (Moisés) aos seus anfitriões muçulmanos contra a perseguição dos católicos acusados de “idolatria”; o que prevalece é a protecção comercial a estes judeus, segundo as regras regionais de convivência e hospedagem aos mercadores hostil a conflitos externos que perturbassem o comércio.
In the 16th and 17th century Portuguese travel writing, the inhabitants of Guinea of Cape Verde, ... more In the 16th and 17th century Portuguese travel writing, the inhabitants of Guinea of Cape Verde, or Greater Senegambia, were clearly differentiated by "nations". This differentiation organized the authors discourse and was based in the record of identity markers, among which dressing, warfare, religion, language and particular customs, These and other markers mixed questionnaires of European origin with Western African forms of identity perception, to begin with the appropriation of names of local origin as identifiers of the "nações". The interpretation of the category of "nation" has historiographical implications, which are discussed, concerning the validity of the concepts of ethnic group and ethnic identity.
Keywords: Guinea of Cape Verde, "nations", ethnical identity
Uploads
Papers by José da Silva Horta
two key concepts proposed by the hosts of the International Conference
African Studies – Multiple and Relational (University of Bayreuth, December
7-10, 2017), multiplicity, and relationality, previously developed
as an epistemological proposal by the article of Eva Spies and Rüdiger
Seesemann, as pluralicity and relationality. As the title of the latter suggests,
the issue was to discuss the new directions of African Studies as a
response to the tendency to subsume Area Studies ‘under the umbrella of
Global Studies’ (Spies and Seesemann 2016: 134). We argue that the way
time and historical frame have been devalued in African Studies is also
part of the problem. Hence, historicity should also be considered as a key
concept, complementary to multiplicity and relationality.
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories.
Mots-clés : Histoire “ancienne” de l’Afrique; Grande Sénégambie, XVIe-XVIIe siècle; Upper Guinea Coast; sources écrites portugaises; traditions orales africaines; sources orales; modèles historiographiques; André Álvares de Almada; Sierra Leone; Cap-Vert; Sapi; Mane/Mani migrations/invasions
Abstract. What is, and what is not, an African source for African history? In this field of study, there is a false dichotomy between oral "African" sources and written "European" sources. Only the analysis of the conditions of production of written sources, often hastily classified as European, will enable us to transcend this dichotomy. We demonstrate, for the history of Great Senegambia in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, how Portuguese authors, Cabo Verdeans by birth but Westerners in education, overcame the obstacle of the lack of accessible written sources for their writing of African history, more than four centuries ago. They wanted to integrate African historicity into their discourses, above all because the historiographical model that framed the writing of the histories on the “Rivers of the Guinea of Cabo Verde” made it indispensable. They did so through an extensive use of African oral traditions, and of oral sources in general, which they found reliable. There was an appropriation of these sources at the service of an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article exemplifies the challenges of interpreting oral sources on the Mane / Mani "invasions" of the mid-16th century in the treatise of the Cabo Verdean André Álvares de Almada. The aim is to show that a historical and critical awareness of the conditions of production of these "European" texts is needed for an accurate use of these sources to the making of African history.
This essay discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, and among Africans on Senegambia/Upper Guinea Coast and in the Cape Verde Islands in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. While social domination was connected with slave or free status, “racism” and a “racial” approach do not accurately explain it. Prevailing scholarly interpretations of “racism” in Early Modern Europe are contested as prone to an ahistorical and teleological approach. An alternative to the idea of an underlying “racism”, or “racisms”, as a constant across historical periods and common to many diverse cultures would be a focused and historically contextualized study of the manner in which societies categorized people and then either did or did not ascribe characteristics to members of the resultant groups.
EM PORTUGUÊS
Este ensaio discute a historiografia das relações entre africanos e europeus, e entre os africanos na Senegâmbia/Upper Guinea Coast e nas ilhas de Cabo Verde no final do século XVI e início do século XVII. Para o contexto estudado, se se confirma que a dominação social estava conectada com os estatutos de escravo ou livre, argumenta-se que o racismo e a abordagem racial não a explicam com rigor. As interpretações académicas predominantes do “racismo” na Europa Moderna são contestadas como propensas a uma abordagem a-histórica e teleológica. Defende-se que uma alternativa metodológica à ideia de um “racismo” subjacente, ou “racismos”, como uma constante em todos os períodos históricos e comum a muitas culturas diversas seria um estudo focalizado e historicamente contextualizado da maneira pela qual as sociedades categorizavam as pessoas e, conhecida a mesma, ver que características atribuíam ou não aos membros dos grupos resultantes dessa classificação.
colonial period, the weapons trade again came to play a prominent role in overseas
exchange with Europe. Th is time, however, it was not blade weapons but fi rearms that were imported into Casamance. Our chapter describes and compares the two stages in the weapons trade to the Casamance.
Keywords: Guinea of Cape Verde, "nations", ethnical identity
two key concepts proposed by the hosts of the International Conference
African Studies – Multiple and Relational (University of Bayreuth, December
7-10, 2017), multiplicity, and relationality, previously developed
as an epistemological proposal by the article of Eva Spies and Rüdiger
Seesemann, as pluralicity and relationality. As the title of the latter suggests,
the issue was to discuss the new directions of African Studies as a
response to the tendency to subsume Area Studies ‘under the umbrella of
Global Studies’ (Spies and Seesemann 2016: 134). We argue that the way
time and historical frame have been devalued in African Studies is also
part of the problem. Hence, historicity should also be considered as a key
concept, complementary to multiplicity and relationality.
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories
in the 1970s by Merrick Posnansky in Begho
(Ghana), this paper outlines a new cluster of early
African ivories located in central Ghana.1 This
group dates from the same time of other clusters
widely recognized by the literature on early
African ivories, such as those located on Serra Leoa,2 Owo, Benin,
Calabar, and Kongo.3 Ivories belonging to some of these clusters
are well documented in historical sources of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, including records in European collections
as early as the mid-sixteenth century. Fragments of other ivories
were found in archaeological contexts dating from the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, namely in Portugal (Manso, Casimiro
and Gomes 2021) and Ghana (Posnansky 1976). When compared
against each other, the internal cohesiveness of these clusters becomes
clearer, as well as their differences.
We structured this paper into three sections in order to present
our arguments for outlining Ghana’s cluster of early African ivories.
First, we discuss the position of Begho in the trans-Saharan
trade and how it fostered the development of local industries, including
the production of small ivory objects. Second, we present
evidence for considering the two fragments of side-blown ivory
trumpets found by Posnansky in Begho as a product of the Akan
peoples4 and we rebut the arguments of Ezio Bassani, who classified
them as a subset of the Kongo cluster (2008: 35–38). Our reasoning stems from the relevance of Posnansky’s archaeological
findings and from a deeper stylistic analysis of these objects.
Third, we contrast Ghana’s ivory trumpets with trumpets from
other early African clusters—namely Serra Leoa, Benin, Calabar,
Kongo and another cluster in West Africa whose specific location
remains undetermined, in order to strengthen the idiosyncrasy
of Ghana’s ivories.
Mots-clés : Histoire “ancienne” de l’Afrique; Grande Sénégambie, XVIe-XVIIe siècle; Upper Guinea Coast; sources écrites portugaises; traditions orales africaines; sources orales; modèles historiographiques; André Álvares de Almada; Sierra Leone; Cap-Vert; Sapi; Mane/Mani migrations/invasions
Abstract. What is, and what is not, an African source for African history? In this field of study, there is a false dichotomy between oral "African" sources and written "European" sources. Only the analysis of the conditions of production of written sources, often hastily classified as European, will enable us to transcend this dichotomy. We demonstrate, for the history of Great Senegambia in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries, how Portuguese authors, Cabo Verdeans by birth but Westerners in education, overcame the obstacle of the lack of accessible written sources for their writing of African history, more than four centuries ago. They wanted to integrate African historicity into their discourses, above all because the historiographical model that framed the writing of the histories on the “Rivers of the Guinea of Cabo Verde” made it indispensable. They did so through an extensive use of African oral traditions, and of oral sources in general, which they found reliable. There was an appropriation of these sources at the service of an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article an agenda of the Cabo-Verdean elite, but their writings were nevertheless affected by the impact of the heterogeneous perspectives of their African informants. The article exemplifies the challenges of interpreting oral sources on the Mane / Mani "invasions" of the mid-16th century in the treatise of the Cabo Verdean André Álvares de Almada. The aim is to show that a historical and critical awareness of the conditions of production of these "European" texts is needed for an accurate use of these sources to the making of African history.
This essay discusses the historiography of relations between Africans and Europeans, and among Africans on Senegambia/Upper Guinea Coast and in the Cape Verde Islands in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. While social domination was connected with slave or free status, “racism” and a “racial” approach do not accurately explain it. Prevailing scholarly interpretations of “racism” in Early Modern Europe are contested as prone to an ahistorical and teleological approach. An alternative to the idea of an underlying “racism”, or “racisms”, as a constant across historical periods and common to many diverse cultures would be a focused and historically contextualized study of the manner in which societies categorized people and then either did or did not ascribe characteristics to members of the resultant groups.
EM PORTUGUÊS
Este ensaio discute a historiografia das relações entre africanos e europeus, e entre os africanos na Senegâmbia/Upper Guinea Coast e nas ilhas de Cabo Verde no final do século XVI e início do século XVII. Para o contexto estudado, se se confirma que a dominação social estava conectada com os estatutos de escravo ou livre, argumenta-se que o racismo e a abordagem racial não a explicam com rigor. As interpretações académicas predominantes do “racismo” na Europa Moderna são contestadas como propensas a uma abordagem a-histórica e teleológica. Defende-se que uma alternativa metodológica à ideia de um “racismo” subjacente, ou “racismos”, como uma constante em todos os períodos históricos e comum a muitas culturas diversas seria um estudo focalizado e historicamente contextualizado da maneira pela qual as sociedades categorizavam as pessoas e, conhecida a mesma, ver que características atribuíam ou não aos membros dos grupos resultantes dessa classificação.
colonial period, the weapons trade again came to play a prominent role in overseas
exchange with Europe. Th is time, however, it was not blade weapons but fi rearms that were imported into Casamance. Our chapter describes and compares the two stages in the weapons trade to the Casamance.
Keywords: Guinea of Cape Verde, "nations", ethnical identity
The reconstitution of the genesis of these texts underlines the context of regional and mestizo identity in the Cape Verde-Guinean world, from which they emerged. Within this world, interests and aims crossed with external motivations, namely from the metropolitan powers. The history of the writings on Guinea is a chain of production and of appropriation of texts and discourses, the latter mainly by cultural agents with no links with the Guinean reality, such as the Jesuits. Descriptions of the "praticos dos Rios de Guiné" [Rivers of Guinea experts] share knowledge that is based on common experiences and on oral information. Surprisingly, the discourse on geographical space and its control by African societies combines the models of erudite culture with the textual reception (and retransmission) of African and Luso-African oral traditions.