The rationale behind this course and the follow-up “African Diaspora II: A.D. 1800 to Present Times”, is to present a revisionist interpretation of the place of Africa, native Africans and African diasporas in Europe, Asia and the New World by A.D. 1800. This is to counter the received ‘Hegelian’ and ‘scientific-racist’ views of the 19th century North Atlantic world, to the effect that Africa and African-descended people constituted a ‘civilisational nullity’ until the era of contact with the North Atlantic world from the 15th century.
Special focus will be given to the history of the evolution of negative views of Africa and African-descended people from the writings of certain ancient Jewish, Talmudic thinkers, through the writings of medieval Muslim intellectuals and then through the 19th-century school of scientific racism across the North Atlantic.
Department of History
Faculty of Humanities and Education
UWI St. Augustine
Tel: (868) 662-2002 ext. 82022
Fax (868) 663-9684
Email: Sherry-Ann.Singh@sta.uwi.edu
