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Introduction: Bridging Histories of East and Central Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2019

Geert Castryck ,
Achim von Oppen  and
Katharina Zöller
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Abstract:

Regional distinctions such as “East” and “Central” Africa have been constructed, originally very much from an outsiders’ perspective. Different East and Central African historiographies reflect – and reproduce – these distinctions. However, the inhabitants of those spaces never stopped crossing and entangling them. Likewise, this section approaches East and Central Africa empirically as a space of historical entanglement. Moreover, the authors question the traditional divide between both regions epistemologically, by transferring research perspectives from one region’s historiography to the other. They thus illustrate that bridging histories of East and Central Africa can reveal histories that would otherwise remain hidden or marginal.

Résumé:

Les distinctions régionales entre “Afrique de l’Est” et “Afrique centrale” ont été établies à l’origine par des étrangers majoritairement. Les différentes historiographies de l’Afrique de l’Est et de l’Afrique centrale reflètent et reproduisent ces distinctions. Cependant, les habitants de ces espaces n’ont jamais cessé de les traverser et de les enchevêtrer. De la même façon, cette section aborde empiriquement l’Afrique de l’Est et l’Afrique centrale en tant qu’espace d’enchevêtrement historique. En outre, les auteurs s’interrogent épistémologiquement sur le clivage traditionnel entre les deux régions, en transférant les perspectives de recherche de l’historiographie d’une région vers l’autre. Ils illustrent ainsi que faire le lien entre les histoires de l’Afrique de l’Est et l’Afrique centrale permet de révéler des histoires qui autrement resteraient cachées ou marginales.

Type
Bridging Histories of East and Central Africa
Information
History in Africa , Volume 46 , June 2019 , pp. 217 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2019 

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