My Slave Sold all of Kigoma’. Power Relations, Property Rights and the Historian’s Quest for Understanding

About the Book

The conversation with sources is at the heart of the historical profession. People of past times have left messages and traces in a variety of forms – oral transmissions, the written word, artefacts, visual depictions, etc. People of today try to interpret these sources in an attempt to understand human action in its historical context. What may, at first sight, seem like a straightforward dialogue between source and historian, hardly ever is. Neither the messages and traces, nor the historical interpretation, nor the availability and accessibility of the source itself turn out to be self-evident. This volume provides practical examples of and methodological reflections on working with sources from African history and culture. It includes cases from across the continent, from pre-colonial times to the present, and from a variety of disciplines all drawing on the conversation with sources. It includes transregional relations and conceptual reflections and draws attention to the politics of history. The organization of the volume reflects the research interests of Adam Jones and uses his academic trajectory as a backdrop for a volume about the use of sources and methods used for researching African history and culture.