Uma história transnacional dos estudos africanos: o caso do Centre of West African Studies e a historiografia serra-leonesa (1963-1979)

Evander Ruthieri da Silva

doi:10.5007/2175-7976.2026.e100763

Authors

Evander Ruthieri da Silva Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5988-3739

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2026.e100763

Keywords:

African History, African Studies, Sierra Leone, Center of West African Studies

Abstract

After 1945, African studies became consolidated and expanded on a transnational level, driven by decolonization and liberation struggles in Africa. This period was marked by new geopolitical configurations, a realignment of relationships between African nations and their former metropoles, including in the academic field, and the expansion of "area studies," culminating in the creation of various centers for African studies. This article analyzes the formation of the Center of West African Studies at the University of Birmingham (England), with an emphasis on its interactions with the historiography of Sierra Leone. The analysis focuses on the dissertations and theses produced within the center between 1963 and 1979, in which it is possible to discern new intellectual projects aimed at Africanizing the writing of Sierra Leonean history, through the recovery of African agencies, initiatives, and resistances.

Author Biography

Evander Ruthieri da Silva, Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana

Doutorando em História na Universidade Federal do Paraná e bolsista da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

References

Abdullah, I. (2020). Arthur Anta Abraham: As Triple A passes on: An appreciation. African Studies Association. https://africanstudies.org/in-memory/arthur-anta-abraham/

Abraham, A. (1978). Mende government and politics under colonial rule, 1890–1937 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Barbosa, M. (2020). A razão africana: Breve história do pensamento africano contemporâneo. Todavia.

Barros, J. D’A. (2024). Histórias interconectadas, abordagens transnacionais, histórias cruzadas e outras histórias relacionais. In E. R. Silva (Org.), Histórias conectadas no Sul Global. Todas as Musas.

Bourdieu, P. (2011). O campo político. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Políticas, 5(1), 193–216.

Brito, M. E. E. S. (2025). Kenneth Onwuka Dike as an Atlantic historian: An alternative history of the formative years of African historiography. Práticas da História, 20(1), 111–160.

Brizuela-Garcia, E. (2004). Decolonising African history: Crisis and transitions in African historiography (1940–1990) (Tese de doutorado). School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Bush, D. (1973). The Colonial Office and the Northern Rivers of Sierra Leone, 1876–1882: A study in British official policy-making (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Centre of West African Studies. (1966). Annual report – 1965–1966. Author.

Centre of West African Studies. (1974). Annual report – 1973–1974. Author.

Cole, G. (2013). The Krio of West Africa: Islam, culture, creolization, and colonialism in the nineteenth century. Ohio University Press.

Desai, R. (1968). The explosion of African studies in the Soviet Union. African Studies Review, 11(3), 248–258.

Essiem, O. E. (1967). The development of an open economy: The Sierra Leonean case (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Fage, J. D. (1965). On the nature of African history (Conferência inaugural, panfleto). University of Birmingham.

Fage, J. D. (2002). To Africa and back: Memoirs. Centre of West African Studies.

Ferreira, R. (2010). The institutionalization of African studies in the United States: Origin, consolidation and transformation. Revista Brasileira de História, 30(59), 71–88.

Francisco, C. R. (2019). Diáspora estudantil africana: Revisão de literatura. Revista Ponto-e-Vírgula, (25), 15–27.

Gberie, L. (2005). A dirty war in West Africa: The RUF and the destruction of Sierra Leone. Indiana University Press.

Gibbs, C. (1972). Late nineteenth century attitudes to Islam and the foundation of government Mohammedan schools in Sierra Leone (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Harris, D. (2014). Sierra Leone: A political history. Oxford University Press.

Jones, A. (1979). A history of the Galinhas country, Sierra Leone, c. 1650–1890 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Kaniki, M. (1969). Traditional authority and early colonial policies in Sierra Leone, 1896–1905 (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Kaniki, M. (1972). The economic and social history of Sierra Leone, 1929–1939 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Kowalski, I. (1967). African studies in Poland. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 5(2), 269–272.

Larson, L. (2019). The making of African history: Tanzania in the twentieth century (Paper não publicado).

Liski, F. (1974). The political economy of Sierra Leone, 1961–1971 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Lopes, C. (1995). A pirâmide invertida: Historiografia africana feita por africanos. In Atas do Colóquio Construção e Ensino da História da África. Linopazes.

May, R. (1968). Sierra Leone as a reconciliation system, 1951–1968 (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Minikin, V. (1968). The development of political opposition in Sierra Leone (Dissertação de mestrado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Minikin, V. (1971). Local politics in Kono District, Sierra Leone, 1915–1970 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Moraes Farias, P., & Barber, K. (Orgs.). (1990). Self-assertion and brokerage: Early cultural nationalism in West Africa. Centre of West African Studies.

Msindo, E. (2023). A experiência dos estudos (de área) africanos: Uma história intelectual. Afro-Ásia, (68), 214–251.

Ojukutu-Macauley, S. (2013). Clapping with one hand: The search for a gendered “province of freedom” in the historiography of Sierra Leone. In S. Ojukutu-Macauley & I. Rashid (Orgs.), Paradoxes of history and memory in post-colonial Sierra Leone. Lexington Books.

Paquette, G. (2019). The Parry Report (1965) and the establishment of Latin American studies in the United Kingdom. The Historical Journal, 62(1), 219–240.

Report of the Sub-Committee on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies, University Grants Committee. (1961). Report. H.M.S.O.

Schlickmann, M. (2016). A introdução dos estudos africanos no Brasil (1959–1987). CRV.

Sibanda, M. J. M. (1978). Colonial policy and development in northwestern Sierra Leone, 1896–1939 (Tese de doutorado). Center of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Szanton, D. (2004). The politics of knowledge: Area studies and the disciplines. University of California Press.