African Archaeology

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

Theoretical-practical method with presentation of data from different research projects. Debate classes focused on the studied topics.

Promotion of seminars and open classes with experts, visits to museums and viewing of Podcasts made available by accredited education and training institutions.

Exam.

Learning Outcomes

This Curricular Unit is a general introduction to archaeological research on the African continent, focusing on the study of material culture. The student must be able to recognize the most important facts, materialities and contexts of African archaeology, the problems involved in the construction of archaeological knowledge in Africa and the way it change along timr. The student must be able to identify and characterize the most important pre-colonial kingdoms and the materialities of the diaspora. The student must also be able to recognize the most important museums with archaeological objects and discuss its materialities and their circumstances in the context of the construction of knowledge and the preservation of ancient African cultures.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Introduction to the Archeology and archaeological practices in the African world

1.1. The time of archaeological missions/expeditions in Africa:

1.2 The construction of African Archeological museums and sections

2. A geography of diverse cases:

2.1 North Africa:

2.1.1 European schools in the "construction" of North African Archeology: Rome and Islam

2.2 Sub-Saharan Africa:

2.2.3 The Niger River: Countries, Peoples, culture and Cultures

2.2.3.1. Nok and the origins of iron metallurgy in West and Central Africa

2.2.3.2 Medieval empires in the Niger Basin

2.2.4 Archeology in the African world and the materiality of cultural relations with the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean

3. Themes and issues of colonial archeology

3.1. Archeology in the Portuguese colonies

3.2.1 The kingdom of Congo

4. Post-colonial archeology

4. 1 Themes and regions

5. The archaeology of the Diaspora.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria da Conceição Lopes

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

BISANSWA, J. K., « V.Y. Mudimbé: réflexion sur les sciences humaines et sociales en Afrique », Cahiers d’études africaines, vol. 160, 2000, p. 705-722.

BOCOUM, Hamady (Directeur), (2002), Une ancienneté méconnue Afrique de l’Ouest et Afrique centrale Aux origines de la métallurgie du fer en Afrique  https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000126414.

FAUVELLE F.-X. et SURUN I. (dir.),2019, Atlas historique de l’Afrique. De la Préhistoire à nos jours, Paris, Autrement.

JOLLY, Éric, 2016, Mission ethnographique et linguistique Dakar-Djibouti (10 mai 1931-17 février 1933) [Deuxième mission Griaule] in À la naissance de l’ethnologie française. Les missions ethnographiques en Afrique subsaharienne (1928-1939).

MUDIMBÉ, V.-Y., The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1988.