HIST 48 - African History - Stage 3 - Vincent K. T. Farrar
Assessment
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| Assessment Description | In the fall of 2012, I conducted an assessment based on the use of literature, in particular, "Things Fall Apart," as a tool for understanding the history of a preliterate African society on the eve of colonial conquest. The novel involved is a historical novel, and very useful in the study of that period; hence its widespread use in history classes. But it is also a superb introduction to the culture of a West African people, better than just about any anthropological monograph on the subject. It is useful, then, in gaining an understanding of social structure, economic organization, political organization, religion and the supernatural, gender relations, etc. As a secondary tool in this process, I used "Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali." The Sunjaata epic is an 700 year old oral history of the founder of the Mali empire, Sunjaata Keita. The use of this epic, however, was not entirely satisfactory, since many, perhaps most, students approached it as a stirring and fascinating tale, but did not effectively explore its uses as a tool for gathering bits and pieces of history, and a lot more elements of culture. For the spring 2013 semester, I continued the assessment program of the fall, only this time with more emphasis on the Sunjaata epic, and the possibilities of its use as a tool for reconstructing history and culture. I considered its use as a tool for achieving a grasp of the content of Student Learning Outcomes: A) Consideration of the roots of African cultures: The geography, the peoples, and the institutions involved in shaping African history. I was able to get students to appreciated how much Sunjaata can inform us about geography (the environment of the Western Sudan), the peoples (the various Mande groups of the region who are named and otherwise described in the epic), and the institutions, political, economic, social, and religious, which are clearly described and shown how they operated in Mandinka imagination. B) Consideration of the socio-economic and political organizations of some of the major states that evolved in precolonial Africa, and their relations with the world beyond. The epic does this superbly in its discussion of the pre-imperial political landscape of early Mali (the existence of several small states) and in the transformations associated with the rise of the imperial phase of Mali history. C) Consideration of the spread of "Abrahamic religions"--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--in Africa. In the case of Mali, the religion of relevance is Islam. The epic is first composed in a period where Islam is not at all significant, and only poorly understood by the Mandinko and others in the region, even the ruling elites. Over time, its influence and integration into notions of the divine/supernatural grows, and this is clearly evident in the structuring of the epic, and in changes in the text that have clearly occurred over the last several centuries. This particular learning process is particularly interesting to teach, and is readily grasped by students. It challenged many students, not without discomfort, to think of their own religious beliefs as products of historical processes. D) Consideration of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Its scale, significance, and consequences. For this learning outcome, we were able to touch only on its background. The Mali empire, and the state systems in the region in general, were ruled by a warrior aristocracy. A primary pillar of its wealth was the ownership and control of the labor of slaves. Slaves were the primary reward of warfare. By the 13th century, the warrior aristocracies of the region were mounted. Horses were imported from North Africa, and they were paid for by slaves. This ushered in the most far-reaching long-distance slave trading network prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade. It was this network, with its highly organized merchant associations, commercial practices, and methods of moving high value goods, including human "goods," that was the precursor to the Atlantic trade. The first European involvement in the slave trade came through articulation into this already existing system. Questions related to these learning outcomes appeared on all four exams, and particularly in a paper assignment based on the epic of Sunjaata. Questions were asked about geographical/environmental zones, and how these affected economic systems. Students were asked to describe different types of political organization base on the reading of both Things Fall Apart and Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Students were asked to describe different types of political domination, and especially slavery, on these same bases. |
| Learning Outcomes | Outcomes A, B, C, and D, as outlined in detail above. |
| Number of Sections | One |
| Number of Instructors | One |
| Number of Students | Twenty-five |
Data Analysis
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| Data Sharing Methods | Face-to-face meetings |
| Data Summary | Roughly two-thirds of students were able to grasp all of the important aspects of the course material satisfactorily or better. |
| Analysis Summary | The subject matter of African history is difficult for many students to grasp. This results from many things. Student enter African history with a poor grounding in geography, for example. Much of what they know about Africa is inaccurate, at best, and usually wrong. The stereotypes of Africa are still very much alive and regularly appear in the mainstream media, and in popular journals of various sorts. Even if students are reading, too much of what they read about Africa continues of include too many of the types of stereotypes that have been prevalent for so long. Many of those that read more systematically and critically are likely to have read much of the prevailing Afrocentric literature, which, despite the critics, is a more positive source of information than much of what appears in the mainstream popular literature. The problem here is that the Afrocentric literature is profoundly Egyptocentric in nature, and severely lacking in any real discussion of most of the African continent. Yet another problem is the reality that many of the students that enroll in African history, and in African American Studies courses in general, come from communities in which in depth reading, as a source of information and pleasure, is not as robust as it could be. Students from these communities are especially challenged by the range, scope, and amount of reading. I come from such a community and know the challenges first hand. I also understand that this reality cannot be changed without a major effort, and expenditure of resources and time, in our educational institutions. Also essential are changes that must occur within the communities from which students come. And the effort to make those changes must be coordinated between school and community. Nothing short of this will be successful. |
| Next Steps Planned | I plan to follow the present course that I have established with renewed effort. No quick or easy path to improvement of outcomes exists. Persistence, perseverance, patience, and determination are the most valuable tools in this process. More practically, I plan to extend the use of primary sources (oral history, and early and later written materials by foreign travelers, and local people that have adopted systems of writing and methods of history based on literacy) to involve the remaining two SLO's. |
| Learning Outcomes | All. |
Tentative Future Plans
| Term | Fall 2013 |
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| Activities |
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| More Details | I will continue the process of assessment of outcomes, the analyses and the discussion of assessment date and next steps. If determined at the end of the process, changes will be planned through detailed discussion with African American Department faculty. These discussions are always on the agenda of beginning of the semester departmental meetings. We also hold separate meetings, specifically for discussions of SLO's after the process of assessment has begun in practice, and at the end of the semester. |
SLO Details Storage Location
- ELECTRONIC COPY - In my electronic filing system (hard drive or web server)
- ELECTRONIC COPY - On a department web server or shared document system