Assemblage of African History: "Man is borne free, but everywhere he is in chains" - Jean- Jacques Rousseau

By Micqel Le Roux

A prelude to a historical affiliation found throughout African history from a modern perspective. Concealed within the essence of historical scenarios and local skirmishes, the African continent is rich in History. Weathered by the momentum of time, An assemblage of African History carries with it a notion of insightful historical themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781649694768

Book preview

DEDICATION

My Family: Jacques, Zandré & Nicolene, Micheal, Dirk, Mariana, Bertie & Peter. I would also like to thank my friends.

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ὁμόνοια, Homonoia is the concept of order and unity, being of one mind together or union of hearts. It was used by the Greeks to create unity in the politics of classical Greece,  Mauriac 1949, p. 106

ABSTRACT 

 An assemblage of African history entails different perspectives and insights into different histories of Africa and abroad. It comprises of different occurrences within Africa, interlinked with different geographical and historical spheres and promotes certain perspectives and questions. Furthermore one can expect to find different settings and occurrences within the context of history applied to Africa. An assemblage of African history stretches from the Cape to Cairo and entertains different scenarios throughout history. 

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PREFACE

Variis temporis momentum dilatationis et differentias.

Incorporated; societal humanism carries with it a dualistic double-edged sword. This notion is promotive, yet evident in the complicated abstract monogamous cultural relationship encompassed throughout the cultural geomorphic integration within a  South African context. The Zulu, Boers  & the British have an intricate cultural relationship. One can ask the question: Can a societal history conform a tradition within a culture to condition the unconscious mind within the primitive nature of man to create a societal bias. Indirectly promulgating or rather in contras disseminate an unconscious relativism than in return can create a defence mechanism that has been genetically incorporated into different cultures over vast periods of time to entertain the instinctive characteristic of survival of a societal species through? 

It is in these historical replications and investigation that an abstract thought can act as a memoir. Therefore, if this premise were to be entertained, can one indulge a theoretical analogy that there is a psychological or even empirical (conditioned genetic[1]) subliminal contributor to the human; a condition which can substantiate the idea that segregation, racism and division within today's societal constructs are compelled and conditioned throughout different cultures in conjunction with human nature that promulgated over time to act on an innate nature with the direct affiliation of the immediate nurtured environment? What we once considered a complicated relationship between the cultural relationships; can executively be described as a conditioned response to the difference of social context that has been promoted throughout history into our genetic aspect that has been promoted by environmental manipulation. 

This interpretation can arguably question, did we lose the battle of humanity when we came out of the Neanderthal cave, fighting to survive our environment? Ironically, the only way for humanity to survive was to create togetherness/ society, working together to come out of the cave and promote humanity. 

Yet, it is the same fight or flight in a combination of unity that created an opposing societal structure. It is paramount to understand the innate fight that has driven humanity out of the cave in a societal structure and promoted the survival of a specie even though this could be speculative. According to a Darwinist approach, the missing link between humans and animals is somewhat open to interpretation (following an evolutionary way of reason)

It is therefore intrinsically paramount to understand the exponential growth of a possible conditioned societal relationship, yet not use it as an excuse or the justifiability of positivistic reason. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the History department of the University of South Africa for their influence on these topics discussed. It should be noted that these discussed topics are not the view nor opinion of the university and are merely my own opinionated scholastic interpretation of history and scenarios thereof.  

CHAPTER 1  - Oral Tradition

Oral tradition: Different perspectives and methods to re-build African history in context.

It is imperative to understand the important value of evidence generated through different mediums to support historical findings. Due to cultural and technological differences, certain sources of history are documented in the pre-colonial era of Africa. Oral tradition is popular in African history, hence tribal stories and dances would be the pinnacle of evidence of the history of Africa. Even though there are different sources, like rock paintings, grazing patterns, archaeological findings like the Greate Zimbabwe- ruins and more, oral tradition finds itself amidst these sources to prove to be a definite source to be attained and scholastically studied. In the following paragraphs, different methods will be studied, to see what method could be more effective when studying pre-colonial African History.

According to colonialists, African history wasn’t inferior to western history and followed a functionalistic school of thought and some scholars correlated an anthological approach. History irrespective of personal perspective and recording still has viable sources that can be used to re-create scenarios and assist to build formidable, reliable evidence to add value to African History. One of those methods is an oral tradition. A few other methods that can be