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Drink Deep, or Taste Not: Thoughts on the Use of Early European Records in the Study of African Material Culture*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Adam Jones
Adam Jones*
Affiliation:
Universität Leipzig
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Extract

In African studies the potential for collaboration between students of history and those of material culture or art has long been recognized. On the one hand, items of material culture, both ancient and modern, can shed light on aspects of the past which remain obscure in written and oral sources; on the other, in order to see a material culture (or parts of it) in perspective, we need to study the historical background of the area concerned. The contribution of material culture to historical knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa has received considerable attention; but the same can hardly be said of the use of historical sources in understanding material culture.

This does not mean that such sources have been neglected. Most of them certainly were in the colonial and immediate post-colonial periods, but things have improved. In many recent books, articles, and exhibitions devoted to Africa's material culture, considerable use has been made of the writings and engravings of early European visitors. Scholars are delighted if they can discover old records of anything resembling the objects that are today found either in museums or still in use in Africa. Indeed, it has become almost obligatory to search old books for textual and visual material. No historian can object to this interest in early sources. Yet looking at what has been published recently, one wonders whether we have nearly reached the end of the road. The same classic travelers' accounts are cited again and again (even the same passages!), and it is beginning to look as if this source of information will soon run dry. What, if anything, remains to be done?

Type
Sources and Resources for the Study of African Material Culture
Information
History in Africa , Volume 21 , 1994 , pp. 349 - 370
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1994

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Footnotes

*

I dedicate this article to the memory of Marion Johnson (1914-88), who died while I was writing the paper on which it is based. She was a pioneer in the field of study discussed here, and like many others, I benefited from stimulating conversations with her. I am grateful to Eugenia Herbert and Timothy Garrard for criticism of the original version and to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn) for supporting this research.

References

References

Abbreviations

AA African Arts

GNQ Ghana Notes & Queries

HA History in Africa

JAH Journal of African History

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