The midterm exam will consist of one essay question based on a prompt. The essay will require you to draw from the reading materials assigned in class as well as lectures, audio-visual materials, reader responses, and class discussions. Your essay should consist of a minimum of four (4) readings already covererd in class. This essay is designed to probe the student’s knowledge of the different concepts and themes discussed in class. Essay will be assessed on organization, the accuracy and breadth of the information given, critical thinking ability, the cogency of the argumentation, and the ability to use APA documentation style. Please watch this video for specific details ron completing this exam.
Compose your file with Microsoft Word and submit it through this link.
Instructions: Your essay must include the following components:
A body of the essay that includes several paragraphs. In this section, you will identify and select two or three areas—political, economic, social-cultural institutions/practices (education, family, religion, etc.). Then, critically evaluate and discuss how the areas functioned in pre-colonial Africa and the changes and exchanges that transpired in those areas during the colonial and postcolonial periods.
Your concluding paragraph should summarize your ideas about this topic. It should examine to what extent the new knowledge of Africa obtained from AFA 201 has reinforced or debunked the widespread myths and stereotypes of Africa held in the Western world such as the one embraced by Hegel and Trevor-Roper.
The question tests your understanding of the entire course content for AFA 201. Your essay will need to include references to at least four materials (book chapters/ articles/books/videos) studied and discussed in your class during the semester. You may include additional materials from other sources, if you choose. But, the four cited materials from your course are a minimum. Your references need to be well integrated into your essay.
Your essay must be clearly written, using correct grammar and spelling. It is expected that you will approach the writing of this essay seriously. The sixth (or seventh) edition of APA (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) will be the required reference for the writing and citation guidelines for this essay. Please contact your instructor when you have a question. *See grading rubric provided in class.
Background:In The Philosophy of History (1900), Georg Hegel, an influential German philosopher, stated: “At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of the World; it has no movement or development to exhibit . . . . What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World’s History” (p. 98) More than one hundred years later, the British professor, Hugh Trevor-Roper, echoed Hegel’s assertions in his book, The Rise of Christian Europe (1966): “Perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach. But at the present there is none; there is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness, and darkness is not the subject of history” (p. 9).
Assignment: Write an essay in which you critically reflect and respond to Hegel’s and Trevor-Roper’s comments above about Africa. Your essay should be 4-5 pages, typed and doubled spaced and must conform to the seventh edition of the APA (The American Philosophical Association).
References
Hegel, George W. F. (1900). The Philosophy of History. New York: The Colonial Press.
Trevor-Roper, H. (1966). The Rise of Christian Europe (2nd ed). London: Thames and Hudson.
References For Attached Files
Williams, S. (2009). Ways of Seeing Africa. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vii–xiv. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40961465
Hanson, J. H. (2014). Religions in Africa. In M. GROSZ-NGATÉ, J. H. HANSON, & P. O’MEARA (Eds.), Africa, Fourth Edition (4th ed., pp. 103–122). Indiana University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gh7ps.9
Omolewa, M. (2007). Traditional African Modes of Education: Their Relevance in the Modern World. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l’Education, 53(5/6), 593–612. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27715419
Acquah, J. (2015). The Rise and Fall of States and Empires in Precolonial Africa. In Nnoromele, S. & Anyanwu, E. O. (Eds.), ReTracing Africa: A Multi-Disciplinary Study of African History, Societies, and Cultures (2nd ed., pp. 9-21). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Answer preview
Trevor-Roper’s remark that “there are no African records to teach” is equally misguided and dismissive. African history is not only rich and complicated but additionally critical to know how the wider dynamics of human records. It is proper that a great deal of what’s taught approximately Africa in Western faculties makes a specialty of European colonialism and exploitation, but this doesn’t mean that Africa’s records aren’t always really worth reading. Indeed, information on the complexities of African societies and their interactions with the relaxation of the arena is important to comprehending problems like globalization, inequality, and social justice. Contrary to the beliefs of some foreign researchers and observers like Trevor-Roper and Georg Hegel, Africa was not a dark continent before the arrival of the first people
