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WRITING HISTORIES OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2002

STEPHEN ELLIS
STEPHEN ELLIS
Affiliation:
Afrika-Studiecentrum, Leiden
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Abstract

This essay argues that historians need to engage with the history of contemporary Africa both as a way of throwing new light on Africa's more remote past and as a way of understanding the present. The paper discusses two types of problem involved in such an enterprise. The first is the identification of the most fruitful themes for investigation. The second is the sources that may be used.

Keywords

Historiographypost-colonialsources
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I am grateful for comments on a previous draft of this paper by David Killingray and by two anonymous referees.