The importance of ethnography to the study of African history
Posted by Chester Morton / Saturday, 15 April 2017 / No comments
THE IMPORTANCE OF ETHNOGRAPHY TO THE STUDY OF AFRICAN HISTORY
Introduction
Ethnography is the study of the
evolution of crafts and skills of a people over the years to reconstruct the
history of their early days. It is one of the sources that are available to the
African historian in the writing of African history. Ethnography is important
to the study of African history for many reasons.
It helps to understand traditional
political system of today
Ethnography is important to the study
of African history because it helps the writers of African history to
understand current traditional political systems in Africa. In Nigeria, for
example, ethnography is able to help historians understand the political
structure of the Yoruba and the origin of the Oba-ship or kingship among them.
Helps to understand how the modern
world is technologically arranged
Another reason why ethnography is
important to African history is that it helps the historian to comprehend modern
technological arrangements. It, for example, helps in understanding why the people
of Bowere, in Ghana, are involved in kente weaving as an industry, why also the
people of Vume in the Volta Region of Ghana are in the business of portery and
last but not least, why the Yorubas and the Ibos of Nigeria are into beads.
Helps to understand African rituals and festivals
Ethnography is important for another
reason. It allows for the study of African rituals and festivals. With this
deep study, historians get deeper insight into why certain rituals were performed
in the past and why they are still important to the communities today. The
celebration of the festival of yam in many parts of West Africa sheds light on
the history of the people.
Helps to determine the extent of an ancient
civilization
Another reason why ethnography is
important to the historian is that it helps him or her to be able to determine
the height of an ancient civilization. It helps to determine ancient
architecture, and skills in the area of art and craft. It was in the field of
ethnography that the civilization of Egypt, Nilotic Sudan and the Kalahari Desert
was revealed.
Helps to determine the economic
activities of the period
Finally, ethnography is important
because it helps to determine the types of economic activities that pertained
in the period and which of them the people were actively engaged in. It also
helps to determined which kinds of people they had contact with, politically,
socially and economically and also interactions with close neighbours and with
people who came from far away. A branch of ethnography, called ethno-botany,
also helps to determine the plant species that were cultivated by the people
and which groups of people they traded with within their enclave and beyond.
For example, ethnography helped to determine how and when the African continent
interacted with Europe and the Asian world.
SAMPLE QUESTION(S)
1. Show the importance of ethnography
as a source of African history.
