Some southern African entry points into global history
Abstract
So-called Global History has taken off in the Unites States to liberate
undergraduates from Big Power parochialism, and has been the topic of a major
conference held in London in May this year. The key element of Global Studies is to
demonstrate the connectedness between different peoples and lands and periods of
time. This paper is an attempt to crack the small-end of the egg by starting studies in
one familiar region of the world, rather than the big-end approach of starting with
general explanations or theory and then relating them back to particulars. It suggests
three ways in which Southern Africa could be used as the starting point to throw more
general light upon the world’s history. First, by taking cues from and asking questions
about the latest genetic research which suggests that modern human population dispersal
about 60 000 years ago began in Angola-Namibia frontier region. Second, by taking
cues and asking questions about Indonesian contact with Africa and coastal settlement
that may account for significant influences on southern African societies. Third, by
tracing the biographies of real individuals whose careers encompass not only southern
Africa but other parts of the world and in doing so demonstrate not only interconnectedness
of cultural, social, political and economic histories but also significant
points of comparison in the experience of global trends and events.