African history
African History was first taught in Britain at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), which appointed Roland Oliver as its first lecturer in the subject in 1948, whilst he founding of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICOMM) a year later led to the establishment of the first seminars in the subject, some featuring participants from the independence movements of the time. The subject grew rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s with the emergence of centres of African Studies in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sussex and York, the founding of the Journal of African History and the establishment of the African Studies Association (ASAUK). Higher education funding cuts in the 1980s led to reductions both in staff and in exchanges with African universities, as well as challenges to the primacy of class-based approaches to the history of the continent.
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- Historians:
- Marks, Shula
Oliver, Roland - Institutions:
- African Studies Association (ASAUK)
Institute of Commonwealth Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies - Themes:
- Black history
Imperial/post-colonial history
Related publications
- A. G. Hopkins, 'From Hayter to Parker: African economic history at Birmingham University, 1964–1986', African Affairs, 86, 342 1987), 93–102
John McCracken, 'African history in British universities: past, present and future', African Affairs, 82, 367 (1993), 239–53
