Debate: Why Study Precolonial African Technology and Material Culture?

Abstract

The worthiness (or worthlessness) of Africa's precolonial history has been a much debated theme since the colonial period. Diverse paradigms, historiographies, and schools of thought have emerged. Judging by the conference "Technology and Material Culture in African History: Challenges and Potentials for Research and Teaching" in the context of the above debates, we see indications of acknowledging precolonial Africa's potential to the present world. Accordingly, this article highlights the worthiness of Africa's past in two major areas: first, in reviving Africans' sense of pride and confidence erased by colonialists and colonial historians; second, in demonstrating the potential epistemological and paradigmatic benefits of African history for researching and teaching about technology and material culture within the continent and beyond. Finally, it advocates for historical archaeology as a means of retrieving information on Africa's past technologies and their resultant material culture.