The Usages of the past: African historiographies since independence

Abstract

“I did history at school, but that wasevents, not the realthingsin Mantsoba's prophesies”.[David Coplan 2002]During the recent past poststructuralist and postmodernist era it has become fashionable to think of continents, communities, identities, belonging, tradition, heritage and home as imagined, invented or created entities. The idea of Africa has been tantalising to the West ever since Aristotle in hisHistoria Animaliumreported to the effect that ‘a certain proverb[paroimia]is current that Libya always produces something new -aei Libye pherei ti kaino.’