History Commons^™

[Book Review] Female Monarchs And Merchant Queens In Africa By Nwando Achebe, Bright Alozie

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Book review excerpt:

Have you ever heard of small but mighty? Female Monarchs aptly fits that description. Traveling through time and across the African continent in a roughly chronological order, Nwando Achebe uses a slew of case studies to (re)frame and (re)tell the African-gendered narrative in solidly African-centered and gendered terms. Breaking from Western perspectives and relying on distinctly African-derived sources and methods, she weaves together the worlds and experiences of African females who occupied positions of power, authority, and influence. In Female Monarchs, the author not only restores voice and dignity to a people but also places elite …

Undressing For Redress: The Significance Of Nigerian Women’S Naked Protests, Bright Alozie

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social media went abuzz on July 23, 2020, when hundreds of women – mostly naked – staged a protest in the northwestern state of Kaduna, Nigeria. Wailing and rolling on the ground, they protested at the killing of people in ongoing attacks on their community.

The protesters, mostly mothers, demanded justice and called on the government, security agencies and international community to intervene.

Such naked protests are not new in Nigeria. Traditionally, among the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, stripping naked signifies a curse against those targeted. Sometimes, mothers strip naked to put a curse on their truant sons or …

How Igbo Women Used Petitions To Influence British Authorities During Colonial Rule, Bright Alozie

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Selected petitions and written correspondence between Igbo women and British officials between 1892 and 1960 shed fresh light on how women navigated male-dominated colonial institutions and structures of the time.

African women acted in varied and complex ways to the situations they found themselves in. This ranged from subtle to overt opposition, and sometimes violent resistance.

One response was through petition writing as women took to the pen to articulate their concerns. In my research, I examined several petitions written by Igbo women to British officials during the colonial period. I found that petition writing was part of the complex …

A Cultural History Of Black Musicians In Renaissance Europe, 1500-1700, Jamar Taylor

University Honors Theses

This research project concerning Black Africans in Renaissance Europe is predicated on including Africans into a global history they have largely been excluded from, even though there is ample evidence that proves their cultural influence, in this case, with music. Culture is inextricably linked to the politics of the time. European societies were highly hierarchical, so nothing was approved without the blessing of the elites. In almost every strata of the social hierarchy, music is an important component, from military exhibitions to court and formal events to informal social gatherings. In some European societies, musicians were employed as government officials. …

Public Morality And Ethno-Religious Chauvinism In Nigerian: Why History Matters, Bright Alozie, Ngozika Anthonia Obi-Ani

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Indubitably, history is a branch of knowledge which stretches way back to the beginning of time in human civilization and ipso facto, contributes to the shaping of a society’s past and future as well. As Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) puts it, a people without the knowledge of the past History, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. Therefore, since development is a product of change, and the subject matter of history focuses on continuity and change, it follows that development can only be understood and appreciated within the context of history. This article examines the relevance of history …

Settler Visions Of Health: Health Care Provision In The Central African Federation, 1953-1963, Catherine Janet Valentine

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines healthcare provision in the Central African Federation, the late colonial union between the British colonies of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland (the later independent nations of Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi respectively). Unusually in federal formations, healthcare delivery in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland became a federal function. "Settler Visions of Health" seeks to explain how the white settler elite reconciled the language of development and multiracial partnership with the underlying values of a settler society. Throughout its short existence, the Federal Health Service maintained a celebratory narrative of success designed to legitimize and justify both …

Interpreting Women’S History Through Museum Relics: Lessons From The National Museum Of Unity Enugu, Bright Alozie, Chimee Nkemjika Ihediwa, Vitalis Nwashindu, John Uchne Ngonadi, John Kelechi Ugwuanyi

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although women's history surrounds us, women's contributions to history are easily over looked and often unacknowledged. In fact, decades ago, there was what could be referred to as the invisibility of women in any serious study of history in spite of the fact that history itself has not and can never be solely a male preserve. It was not until recently towards the end of the 20th century that women's history began to be studied and documented. However, since the past fifty years, a number of roadblocks still prevent the historian from producing a coherent narrative on women's history as …

Self-Presentation And Identity In The Roman Empire, Ca. 30 Bce To 225 Ce, Rhiannon Ysabel-Marie Orizaga

Dissertations and Theses

The presentation of the body in early imperial Rome can be viewed as the manipulation of a semiotic language of dress, in which various hierarchies that both defined and limited human experience were entrenched. The study of Roman self-presentation illuminates the intersections of categories of identity, as well as the individual's desire and ability to resist essentializing views of Romanness (Romanitas), and to transform destiny through transforming identity. These categories of identity include gender; sexuality or sexual behavior; social status; economic status; ethnicity or place of origin; religion; and age. Applying the model of a matrix of identity deepens our …

Between Two Jailers: Women's Experience During Colonialism, War, And Independence In Algeria, Adrienne Leonhardt

Anthós

After a nearly 130-year regime of violence and oppression under French colonialism, Algerians began their struggle for independence in 1954. Nearly one million people were killed, centuries-old traditions were broken, and the country was torn apart. The Algerian war has also been described as a “moment in which gendered, religious, and ethnic identities were challenged.” Within Algerian society and the French colonial regime at the time, expectations were deeply ingrained regarding the status and rights of women. Particularly significant is the impact that the war had on shaping Algerian women’s role in society. Both sides used women during the conflict …

Entanglement: Health, Healing And Society In Africa, Haley Noel

Anthós

As a continent, Africa has been explored, exploited, and largely abandoned by the West. During the colonial era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, foreign powers encountered diverse cultures, superstitions and disease before promptly labeling the entire continent a dangerous and primitive place. For early explorers and colonialists, disease and the threat of ill health is what defined Africa. They overlooked the pre-existing strategies and practices that Africans had adapted to guard against certain diseases, either ignoring them or labeling the misunderstood safety nets as primitive. Also overlooked was the importance of societal organization and communal cooperation among …

Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Overview Of Text, Bronwyn Dorhofer

Gift of the Word

PSU student Bronwyn Dorhofer presents her research on a selection of pages from an 18^th-century prayer book, an Agpeya, written in Bohairic Coptic and Arabic. This manuscript on paper was transcribed for the purpose of hourly prayers and hymns and it is likely that the text would have been read and sung by a Coptic priest in a church setting as part of daily ritual. Cresting the top of each prayer page are hand-drawn archways reflecting the interlaced geometric patterns in Islamic designs.

Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.7 cm Origin: Egypt

Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. …

"Gift Of The Word" Exhibit Catalogue, Katherine Bass, Karena Bennett, Jeffrey Brown, Bronwyn Dorhofer, Normandie Holmes, Denise Loncar, Alexandra Park, Darcie Hart Riedner, Christy Valentine

Gift of the Word

This is the catalogue for the exhibit "Gift of the Word"

Abbasid Qur’An Leaf In Kufic Script Description, Jeffrey Brown

Gift of the Word

PSU student Jeff Brown presents his research on a leaf from a Qur’an manuscript in Kufic script. This vellum leaf dates to approximately the turn of the tenth century (early 4^th century AH), the height of the Abbasid dynasty, and may have been produced in one of the great centers of Islamic culture such as Cairo, Damascus, or Kairouan. Kufic script is common to Qur’ans from this era. This page is from Surah 87 (Al-A’la), verses 11-15 [verso], 16-19 [recto], which warns against the perils of a worldly existence that ignores the path to salvation put forth by scripture. …

Ethiopian Scroll, Karena Bennett

Gift of the Word

PSU student Karena Bennett presents her research on the creation and meaning of an Ethiopian magic scroll from the 19^th century. Scrolls such as this were created for individuals, inscribed with specific prayers and then worn as talismans. The text is in Ge’ez, an Ethiopian liturgical language, and the images depict guardian angels and a priest watching over the supplicant. The scroll is made of vellum and was originally a single continuous piece.

Dimensions: 15 x 192 cm

Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss 39

Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Warrior Saint Images, Denise Loncar

Gift of the Word

PSU student Denise Loncar presents her research on a selection of illustrated pages from an 18^th-century Coptic prayer book. The hand-painted images of Christian saints on horseback (St. George, St. Theodore the Eastern, and St. Mercurius) are similar to equestrian representations seen in Eastern Orthodox, Armenian, and Ethiopian iconography, indicating a complex interplay of cultural influences that is also shown by the Coptic, Arabic, and Greek text.

Dimensions: 19.5 x 13.7 cm Origin: Egypt

Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 40

Coptic Prayer Book Leaves: Video Exploration, Jordan Long

Gift of the Word

PSU student Jordan Long wrote and narrated this video as part of PSU’s University Studies program for the Medieval Portland Capstone taught by Professor Anne McClanan. This five-minute presentation demonstrates that the hand-illuminated Agpeya in Portland State’s Special Collections is a rare example of a manuscript book created after the rise of printing, describes the technique, materials, and meanings of its illustrations and calligraphy, and identifies its liturgical use as a ritual text.

Soundtrack: Choir of the Coptic Church, "Litugical Hymns," Chants from the Holy Land, vol. 35: Ecumenical Evening.

Portland State University Library, Special Collections, Mss. 40

The Persistence Of African Religious Beliefs And Practices As Cultural Resistance To Slavery In Pre-Emancipation Colonial Tobago, Okokon Okon Essiet

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines African religion as a form of cultural resistance to slavery in pre-emancipation Tobago. African religion was a tool of resistance to enslavement and oppression in pre-emancipation colonial Tobago. African religion acted as a source of empowerment, cohesion, and identity at a time when the colonial authorities in Tobago were attempting to strip the African of his/her Culture. This research examines the social dimensions of this struggle for religious/cultural supremacy between master and the enslaved African.

The purpose of this study is to show that the colonial authorities in Tobago, in order to sustain their basic economy had …

A Survey Of Diplomatic And Commercial Relations Between The United States And Oman In Zanzibar, 1828-1856, Mohammed Al-Mukadam

Dissertations and Theses

Informal relations between American merchant traders and the Sultanate of Oman in the port of Zanzibar began with the landing of the first American merchants about 1828. At the same approximate time, Sultan Said bin Sultan moved his official residence from Muscat, Oman, to Zanzibar, underlining the importance of Zanzibar to the administration of his territories on the East African coast. Relations were formalized by the Treaty of 1833 between the United States and Oman, and the U.S. established a consular mission in Zanzibar in 1837 and in Muscat in 1838.

The growth of the Omani Empire under Sultan Said …

The Defense System In Libya During The I-Vi Centuries A.D., Ramadan A. Geddeda

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis will examine the significance of the defense system that was a result of the Libyan wars against the Romans, Byzantines, and the Vandals. For economic and strategic reasons these nations were involved in long and bitter wars which lasted over six centuries. The policy of the long distance military expeditions, which was the main instrument of the Romans in subduing the natives in the early Empire, had failed to achieve its goals. Thus, the alternative was to erect a network of roads and forts in strategic spots such as water points, commanding hills, along the caravan routes and …

Restitution Of Cultural Material To Africa, E. Kofi Agorsah

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

As African nations search for means to establish viable and authentic cultural identities, an increasing number of demands have been made on European Governments to return art objects, archives and antiquities taken during the colonial era. In a sense these demands come as attempts to turn back history, the history which denuded Africa of its culture in order to impress the fact of colonial subjugation.

For centuries, the movement of African art and antiquities has been an outward flow and as thousands of military and political conquerors, administrators, missionaries and adventurers took home souvenirs of their African experiences, and with …

"Nkrumism: The Correct Ideology For The African Revolution", Stokely Carmichael

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

No abstract provided.

"Nation-Building In Kenya", Maure Leonard Goldschmidt

Special Collections: Oregon Public Speakers

Taped in the Portland Room, Portland State College Center.