Welcome!
This site features the written work of Wake Forest University students studying African history with Dr. Nate Plageman. In its first iteration, it features the writing of students enrolled in a survey course “African History to 1870”, a course that considers African societies’ dynamic pasts from c. 1500 to 1870. Because it concerns an enormous geographical entity (remember, Africa is a continent), an expansive period, and the historical experiences of many different African societies, it is organized around a few case studies. Those case studies also use a range of source materials to think about how African societies understood themselves as well as the trajectories of change they pursued and pioneered.
The written work featured here reflects students’ understandings of African pasts, but it also reflects their critical engagement with the discipline of history. Instead of approaching history as an objective or straightforward assemblage of facts, we approach it as a subjective, conversational terrain about source materials, methods of inquiry, and modes of communication. As we read, evaluate, and write about African histories, our class considers the strengths and weakness of different historical approaches.
What you’ll find here
Written Work
Written Work contains short pieces of writing in which students offer their thoughts on a shared set of questions. These pieces of writing are collated together, which means that you can access different interpretations on our course material in one place. Each of these collated collections serves as a forum—a place in which we share with readers our thoughts and views of the past and the act of doing history.
Curated Sources
Curated Sources features students’ semester-long capstone projects in which they offer a range of perspectives on topics of their choosing. Here, students all engage in the same task—providing readers with a forum of different perspectives, insights, and offerings about their chosen topics—around various time periods, events, and groups of people.
Contributors
Contributors offers brief bio statements from each member of our shared learning community.
