African History Commons^™

Spirituality & Wellness In The Black Lgbtqia+ Experience: A Literature Review, Black Pruitt

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review explores the intersections of race, sexuality, spirituality, and wellness. The findings highlight the complex trauma caused by both racialized and religious violence and how they have historically impacted the lives of Black LGBTQIA+ people today. The research offers evidence for the benefit and efficacy of implementing traditional Afrodiasporic spirituality into expressive arts therapeutic treatment, particularly for Black LGBTQIA+ people and communities. This research also suggests the necessity for actively and effectively dismantling Western psychological frameworks and approaches that have been historically harmful towards Black and LGBTQIA+ people in order to pave pathways towards collective healing and liberation.

Fragmented Landscapes: An Archaeology Of Transformations In The Pra River Basin, Southern Ghana, Sean Hamilton Reid

Dissertations - ALL

This doctoral archaeological research examines the Pra River Basin in southern Ghana through lenses of landscape, temporality, and transformation. Drawing on the Annales school and the writings of Tim Ingold, this study moves away from binary constructions of natural and cultural landscape features toward a more integrated view of the landscape's long human history. The primary temporal focus of this research is the past three millennia but evidence recovered of even more ancient eras is also examined. The artifacts and features documented while surveying this landscape allow us to glimpse pre-Atlantic (pre-1450 CE) settlement patterns, subsistence, and technology, as well …

From Patrons To Landlords: The Transformation Of Class Relations In Zanzibar Through Wakf Reform, Isabel Spafford

Honors Theses

This study examines the role of wakf reforms in reshaping class relationships in Zanzibar during the British protectorate. Prior to the establishment of the British protectorate in Zanzibar, wakf dedications maintained patron-client relationships between the landowning class and poor clients that were established during the time of slavery but continued after abolition. I argue that wakf dedications were essential to continuing these relationships, and therefore British wakf reforms were necessary to achieve British colonial goals of dissolving patron-client relationships and establishing a capitalist system based on wage labor and ground rent. I analyze the relationship of the British colonial class, …

To The Shores Of Tripoli: A Barbary Retrospective, Kathleen J. Brett

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The First and Second Barbary Wars were incredibly influential in shaping the diplomatic and military tactics of the early United States. These wars were fought against the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The First Barbary War lasted between the years of 1801 to 1805. The First Barbary War began due to the United States’ desire to no longer pay tribute sums to the Barbary states, along with an increase in the number American merchantmen captured and enslaved by the Barbary states. Tripoli served as the primary aggressor in the …

An Analysis Of The Tanzanian Public Response To Tanzanian Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Savannah Pipkin

Honors Theses

This thesis discusses the similarities and differences in Tanzanian COVID-19 policies implemented by the late President John Pombe Magufuli and his successor, President Samia Suluhu Hassan. It also analyzes the responses of Tanzanian citizens to these different policies as expressed in the media. The conclusions that were made in this thesis are based on qualitative analysis of articles published in Tanzanian-based newspapers during specific time periods surrounding significant policy changes during each presidency. The situation of COVID-19 policies in Tanzania is unique due to the differences in the COVID-19 policies implemented in comparison to those implemented by other countries and …

Reclamation: The Crown Of African American Identity, Lindsey Kellogg

English MA Theses

African American voices have been the main sources of influence on society and culture. For this reason, it is important that African Americans speak up and reclaim their voices. Not only are their voices important, but the stories that lie behind the voices are what need to be amplified. With the application of postcolonial theory, this thesis takes modern stories located in North America depicting racist behavior towards African Americans from the year 1970 to present-day New York City in order to fully amplify the process of social struggle. As these narratives are passed down through generations serving as a …

Zinā In The Criminal Legislation Act (1999-2000): An Evaluation Of The Implication For Muslim Women's Right In Nigeria, Paul Orerhime Akpomie

Theses and Dissertations

The research engages in an exploration of human rights in Islam. Human rights issues are then contrasted with international law positions. The data gotten is then used for investigating women’s human rights issues in Shariʾa penal tradition regarding zinā (adultery) in Nigeria. The re-emergence of Sharia penal codes adopted by 12 Northern states in Nigeria in 1999 as an operative Islamic law has sparked concerns about rulings amounting to stoning to death in several cases of zinā. These events raised concerns about Shariʾa penal traditions’ legality and relationship with other legal traditions operational in Nigeria, a secular political space. …

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

American Mission Schools And The Albert Academy School For Boys: Roots And Legacy Of Colonial Education In Sierra Leone, Theodore K. Andrews

Theses and Dissertations

This work is an examination of the role and impact of American mission schools on the culture of the peoples of Sierra Leone. Colonial capitalism – that is, colonialism with a capitalist component – was accompanied with western values and Christianity. The incorporation of Sierra Leoneans into colonial society was facilitated through education. Education served the purpose of socialization, in order that the institutions and system introduced into West Africa would be maintained. This research explores how the British colony sustained its control through education, although it eventually was weakened by the success of the missionary schools. This research provides …

Healing Through Mother Earth, Taylor A. Russell

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis deals with mental health, with a focus on Black women. Historically, Black women are often so compromised, being constant caregivers and helping everyone else, that they forget to help themselves, not having the time and financial means to do so. If we go back in the time of slavery, many Black women were taking care of slave owners' children and suckling the white women’s babies instead of their own. By the time they got home and after diligently caring for other people’s children they were focused on their own children, who they had been away from for hours …

“A Certain Brauch:” German-Georgian Palatine And Rhenish Immigrant Houses In Columbia County, New York And Their Vernacular Architectural Roots, Andrew J. Roberge

Senior Projects Spring 2022

In this archaeological and architectural survey of 18th Century Palatine and Rhenish immigrant houses in New York's Hudson Valley, specifically in Columbia County, I track the development of three houses from their earliest vernacular forms to those touched by the Georgian influence. The Georgian worldview, stemming from European Enlightenment ideals, began permeating colonial American society in the 18th Century. It's influence first began to touch the wealthy and elite most connected with mother Europe, and then trickled into more common society. I chronicle and analyze Germantown, NY's Reformed Sanctity Church Parsonage, Germantown, NY's Simeon Rockefeller House, and Clermont, NY's "Stone …

Colonial Markets, Consumers, And Trade: A Comparative Analysis Of Historic Ceramics From The Bluefields Bay Area, Westmoreland, Jamaica, Lacy Risner

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The ceramic assemblages from a British colonial settlement in Bluefields Bay, Jamaica, provide a unique window into the market availability, exchange routes, and consumption patterns of the eighteenth century. This study compares the historic ceramics collected from two sites in Bluefields Bay to one another and to other intra-island (Jamaica), intraregional (Lesser Antilles), and international (North America) colonial and postcolonial sites to reveal patterns of individual and global ceramic consumption and distribution in the emergent capitalist networks and markets of the colonial era. Integrating small British colonial sites into the networks of other more extensive studies focusing primarily on plantations …

Radical Folk Heroes: Anansi & Br’Er Rabbit’S West African Origins & Their Forced Pilgrimages, Sage Adia Swaby

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

“Nappy Hair, Don’T Care”: Storytelling Through Strands, Sasha D. Onyango

Senior Projects Spring 2022

There is a Kiswahili phrase that goes “intelligence/the mind is like hair, everyone has their own’. Following that logic, how Kenyan women relate to their hair is unique to the individual yet there remains collective and shared experiences. The questions that I raise throughout the paper explore: 1) how images and narratives of hair throughout Kenyan history have influenced the way women today understand how they interact with their hair, 2) the ways Kenyan women are taught about hair grooming and the journey of learning to care for their hair, and 3) Kenyan women’s understanding of their hair and how …

The Chosen One?: Reflections On Mid-Century Egyptian Nationalism, Gamal Abdel Nasser's Charismatic Leadership, And The Suez Crisis Of 1956, Owen P.S. Hobbs

Honors Theses

This thesis considers Gamal Abdel Nasser's 1956 nationalization of the Suez Canal and the subsequent Suez Crisis in the broader context of the histories of nationalism and charismatic leadership in a decolonial setting. Chapter one synthesizes the works of notable scholars into a cohesive historiography of nationalism's emergence in Egypt and Nasser's unique role within mid-century Egyptian society. Chapter two examines the direct causes of the Suez Crisis within the previously established context of nationalism and charismatic leadership, drawing new conclusions from memos, telegrams, and the Egyptian Government's 'White Paper on the Nationalization of the Suez Canal Maritime Company' -- …

“A Change Is Gonna Come”: Music And Its Role In The Civil Rights Movement, Nathanial Humphrey

Honors College Theses

This thesis paper will provide thorough research and analysis regarding the role of music during the Civil Rights Movement. It would be the goal of this paper to answer the questions of whether or not music had an impact on the Civil Rights Movement, and if so, then in what ways and how was this conveyed through the music.This paper aims to discuss different genres of music, including but not limited to; jazz, rock, pop, blues, etc. In order to answer these questions, this paper will be analyzing songs written by artists during the movement, looking for forms of rhetoric …

Black Organizations As A Way To Increase Black Students’ College Attendance Rates By Improving Their Academic Performance At Primary And Secondary Schools, Leydi Mercedes Vidal Perlaza

Doctoral Dissertations

The racial academic achievement gap between Black students and other students is one of the most pressing education-policy challenges faced by the United States. This gap refers to the disparities in standardized test scores between these groups of students. Decades ago, Fordham and Ogbu’s theory about the “burden of acting White” was one of the most cited studies indicating the causes of this achievement gap. This theory indicates that Black students who do not perform well academically, do not want to achieve success at school because it is considered as acting White. However, this is an old way of thinking …

The Fight For Freedom Of Two Oppressed Groups: Indian Nationalism And African American Liberation, Denzel D. Goodman

Theses (2016-Present)

This study examines the activities of two revolutionaries, one Lala Har Dayal (1884-1939) who established in the U.S. the Ghadar Party as an Indian revolutionary party against the British rule in India and the other was Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) who was a founder of the Black Panther Party which violently agitated against the longstanding chokehold of the “White” rule over the African American people. Juxtaposing the two different time periods and two different continents, which are incompatible phenomena give further understanding of what caused both such movements, regarded as aggressive resistance by their peoples to their oppressive rulers, to …

German Odysseys Of The First World War, David Terence Hillman

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the journeys of four separate German military units away from the European theater and forced to operate without aid or allies in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, as well as in Africa. Each group had a clear goal to accomplish, to strengthen the German war effort from abroad, either by disrupting, evading, or diverting Allied personnel and war materiel. To accomplish this, each group required cunning, discipline, deception, and strong leadership. These odysseys, although more aptly compared to Xenophon’s Anabasis, demonstrate the global nature of the First World War, the deterioration of international good will …

The Ill-Treatment Of Their Countrywoman: Liberated African Women, Violence, And Power In Tortola, 1807–1834, Arianna Browne

Master's Theses

In 1807, Parliament passed an Act to abolish the slave trade, leading to the Royal Navy’s campaign of policing international waters and seizing ships suspected of illegal trading. As the Royal Navy captured slave ships as prizes of war and condemned enslaved Africans to Vice-Admiralty courts, formerly enslaved Africans became “captured negroes” or “liberated Africans,” making the subjects in the British colonies. This work, which takes a microhistorical approach to investigate the everyday experiences of liberated Africans in Tortola during the early nineteenth century, focuses on the violent conditions of liberated African women, demonstrating that abolition consisted of violent contradictions …

Challenges Of Repatriation: Asante Artifacts At The American Museum Of Natural History, Abdul-Alim Farook

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Inspired by calls for the repatriation of famous artifacts like the Benin Bronzes and the Elgin Marbles, for this capstone project, I have analyzed and catalogued 250 sampled Asante artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Through this analysis, I discuss the many ways museums in North America acquired their collections. By doing so, I explore the difficulties that arise in debates surrounding repatriation due to the manner in which these artifacts were acquired. I argue that due to the many different types of donors of the Asante artifacts to the American Museum of Natural History, the Asante …

Archaeology And Settlement Histories Along The Pra River, Southern Ghana, Circa 500 B.C. – Ad 1970, Samuel Amartey

Dissertations - ALL

Archaeological and historical data are used to examine transformations in settlement organizationand settlement patterns along the Pra River, southern Ghana, from the first millennium BC to the mid-twentieth century. The study's focus is on Supomu Island and Wawase, two abandoned settlement sites located in the lower reaches of the Pra River, 15 kilometers north of the coastal trading and port town of Shama. Mapping of surface features, surface collections, shovel test pits, and test excavations are used to document intra- and inter-site artifact distributions. These lines of evidence are used in conjunction with historical sources to explore the processes of …

Archaeology And Settlement Histories Along The Pra River, Southern Ghana, Circa 500 B.C. – Ad 1970, Samuel Amartey

Dissertations - ALL

Archaeological and historical data are used to examine transformations in settlement organizationand settlement patterns along the Pra River, southern Ghana, from the first millennium BC to the mid-twentieth century. The study’s focus is on Supomu Island and Wawase, two abandoned settlement sites located in the lower reaches of the Pra River, 15 kilometers north of the coastal trading and port town of Shama. Mapping of surface features, surface collections, shovel test pits, and test excavations are used to document intra- and inter-site artifact distributions. These lines of evidence are used in conjunction with historical sources to explore the processes of …

The Role Of Nations-State In Protecting And Supporting Internally Displaced Persons, Daisy Byers

Master's Theses

The rising increase of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has become a global problem. There are over 40 million internally displaced people globally, and 15.9 million are displaced in Africa. These displacements come into place due to war/conflict, corruption, massive human rights violations, natural disasters, urban renewal projects (at the hands of powerful nations such as America, China, France, UK, etc.), and large-scale development projects. According to UNHCR, refugees are people who have international cross-border. In contrast, internally displaced persons must stay within their own country and stay under the protection of their government, even if the government is the reason …

Shifting Sands., Rachid Tagoulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shifting Sands is a re-exploration of the presentation of North Africans in colonial postcards, an examination of identity, and a critique of the modern Western museum. Since the inception of photography, colonizers used this medium- especially in the form of postcards- to categorize and exoticize Eastern peoples in order to more easily subjugate them. Shifting Sands is a series of reconstructed colonial postcards which challenges colonial-era stereotypes of North African peoples. The colonial gaze, represented by the camera lens, is subverted through a lensless image-making process in which sand is used to remove the subject from the colonial gaze and …

The United States And Portuguese Angola: Space, Race, And The Cold War In Africa, Alex J. Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an international history of the role of the United States in the process of decolonization in Angola, a former colony of Portugal. I argue that the United States embraced Portugal, Angola, and neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo as irreplaceable Cold War allies. Decolonization in Africa challenged America’s relationship with all three countries, as competing forces within the American public called for Washington to adopt an anti-colonial, anti- racist ideology, while others demanded their government to support white supremacy at home and abroad. Decolonization in Angola, a protracted liberation struggle that started in 1961 and lasted until 1974, …

Les Esprits Vodou, L’Oncle Sam, Et Le Crucifix : Les Relations Endommagées Entre Le Monde Occidental Et Haïti Dans Bain De Lune, Catherine S. Freeman

Senior Theses and Projects

In her novel Bain de Lune, Haitian writer Yanick Lahens opens the doors of her native country to a Western readership that may be unfamiliar with its culture and history, in part because it has been mistreated by Western powers ever since gaining its independence in 1804. Readers are transported to the heart of a culture rich in Haitian Vodou traditions through the interwoven stories of the villagers of Anse Bleue, who struggle to survive the political instability of their country. Vodou is foregrounded through the narrative of the spirit of Cétoute, a young woman who is found dead on …

The Impact Of State Violence On Women During The 22 Years Of Dictatorship In The Gambia, Isatou Bittaye-Jobe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis investigates the gendered dynamics of dictatorship in The Gambia by exploring the impact of state sanctioned violence on women during former President Yahya Jammeh’s twenty-two years of tyranny in the country. During the two-decade long brutal reign under Jammeh, Gambians from all walks of lives faced gross human rights violations and abuses that inflicted collective national trauma on the population. Therefore, this project examines how Jammeh’s tyrannical rule affected women’s rights, health, and wellbeing. Using a content analysis approach coupled with semi-structured interviews with victims and survivors, I argue that although the dictatorship affected all sectors of the …

Us, Abundantly: From Africa To The Americas, Karisma Jay

Theses and Dissertations

"Us, AbunDantly," a Live theatrical dance performance and film, delves into the African Diaspora and its influences. An artistic and academic project built upon the amplification of Black excellence and Black pride, this paper contextualizes a work within the oral histories and contemporary dance studies of a powerfully ancestral community.

The Nana Yaa Asantewaa War: Analysis Of The Political Institutions Of The Asante During The War Of The Golden Stool And The Existing Narratives, Angela Danso Gyane

Senior Independent Study Theses

The War of the Golden Stool was the last in the Anglo-Asante Wars, where the Asante fought against the British colonial agenda. According to the Asante oral history, Nana Yaa Asantewaa was at the forefront of this war. She was the commander, but most of the literature to not reflect this oral history. Therefore, this study seeks to address two essential questions: how did gender dynamics in the Asante Kingdom's political system shape their Resistance against the British in 1900- 01? Moreover, how does the analysis of oral histories from the matrilineal culture of the Asante decenter Western narratives of …