Research Guides (LibGuides): Indigenous Studies: Africa

Africa

Report of the African Commission's Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities
The following book describes the human rights situations of indigenous peoples in Africa, an analysis of the African Charter and its jurisprudence on the concept of ‘peoples,’ and a possible criteria for identifying indigenous peoples in Africa.
Knowing our lands and resources: indigenous and local knowledge of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Africa
Provided by UNESCO Digital Library, the authors document the local knowledge and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services within their area, such as local knowledge of water protection in Tharaka, Kenya, or resource management by the Laikipia Maasai and the Samburu.

Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East by John A. Shoup
ISBN: 9781598843637
Publication Date: 2011-10-17
This encyclopedia is an essential guide to the different ethno-linguistic groups in Africa and today's complicated Middle East region. Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East contains encyclopedic entries arranged alphabetically within ethno-linguistic classifications. Each entry has four main sections: an introduction identifying the language group, where they are found, and their numbers; a brief discussion of their origins and early history; a section on cultural life that includes religion, literature, social organization, and art; and a final section on political organization and recent history.
Encyclopedia of African Peoples by Diagram Group Staff
ISBN: 0816040990
Publication Date: 2000-01-01
Available through Interlibrary Loan. A lively two-color design, tables, and chronologies complement a strong anthropological focus in entries on some 1,000 ethnic groups from all of Africa. Entries discuss each major group's history, language, social structure, religion, and cultural traditions. A separate section provides capsule information on Africa's regions and nations, helping readers understand each ethnic group in the context of the land, climate, and wildlife of its environment. Special map-based spreads focus on elements of culture and history that many groups share. Some 300 thumbnail biographies of prominent persons also appear.
Indigenousness in Africa by Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda
ISBN: 9789067046091
Publication Date: 2011-04-27
Indigenous in Africa explores the claims of the indigenous rights movement, as well as the legal and political implications of indigenous identification in Africa. By highlighting the quasi-inexistence of systematic and discursive – rather than activist – studies on the subject-matter, the analysis questions the appropriateness of this framework in efforts aimed at empowering claimant communities in inherently multiethnic African countries. The book navigates between various disciplines in trying to better capture the phenomenon of indigenous rights advocacy in Africa. Indigenous in Africa is valuable reading for academics in law and all (other) social sciences such as anthropology, sociology, history, political science, as well as for economists. It is also a useful tool for policy-makers, legal practitioners, indigenous rights activists, and a wide range of NGOs.
Indigenous African Institutions by George Ayittey
ISBN: 9789047440031
Publication Date: 2006-09-01
Since the publication of the first edition of "Indigenous African Institutions" in 1992, Africa has undergone a substantial change. Still, much mythology and misconception enshroud Africa and its people. An enduring myth claims that pre-colonial Africa had no viable institutions. This book is an attempt to provide a better, modern understanding of Africa and its people - not for cultural rehabilitation or romanticism but for practical reasons. Traditional or indigenous Africa has not vanished; it is still the home of the real people of Africa - the peasant majority, who produce Africa.

African Journal Archive
The African Journal Archive is a retrospective open access journal service that preserves and makes available African journal literature dating as far back as 1906, originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent. The Carnegie Corporation of New York initiated and sponsored the Sabinet Gateway project. Sabinet is pleased to make it available as a collection via the Sabinet African Journals' platform.
Africa - Ethnic Groups, Cultures, Languages | Britannica
The Britannica Encyclopedia on Africa describes the geological history, land, people, and economy. Focusing on the people of Africa, the encyclopedia briefly describes locations, tribes, and languages with hyperlinks to other encyclopedias for more information.

We recognize that Indigenous peoples do not have the same or similar histories and there are inherent limitations in the following selections.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History
Substantive, peer-reviewed, and regularly updated, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History combines the speed and flexibility of digital with the rigorous standards of academic publishing.

African History by Philip D. Curtin; S. Feierman; L. Thompson; J. Vansina
ISBN: 0582050715
Publication Date: 1995-01-01
Available through Interlibrary Loan. The main aim of the book is to explain how the societies on the African continent came to be as they are today; but the authors also use African history to explore more general questions of how human societies change through time. Their approach and concerns are strongly influenced by the work of anthropologists as well as historians. he book starts with a study of the roots of African culture in the late Stone Age and its aftermath. Thirteen chronologically arranged regional chapters follow. These divide Africa into four major areas and provide parallel accounts of each across broad historical spans breaking, roughly, at 1500, 1780, and 1880. They take the reader from the first African civilization which grew up along the Nile Valley in ancient Egypt through to the colonial period of modern times. The final section of the book (c.1880 to c.1960) is written on a continent-wide rather than a regional basis. Its six chapters explore the impact of Europe on Africa and include discussions of the colonial economy; social change in the colonial period; and the clash of cultures and what it has meant for African religion, education, and thought. It closes with a review of African resistance to colonial rule, and the end of the European empires.

Africa | Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform
The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform is an open and inclusive space and brings together people and their knowledge systems to build a climate-resilient world for all. The ‘Africa’ subsect focuses on Africa’s indigenous communities, their knowledge systems, and how climate change affects them.
Indigenous Knowledge in the Digital Age | Elie Chansa | TEDxMajengo
In this engaging talk, Elie advocates for the preservation and curation of indigenous knowledge in Tanzania. Elie is a visual storyteller, community mobilizer, and cyber security consultant with a base in Arusha and multiple projects across Tanzania. His journalism skills have allowed him to reshape the narratives for small and medium enterprises, and for local communities through his brand, InHouse Pictures. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
Africa’s power lies latent in it’s indigenous knowledge systems | Botlhale Tema | TEDxMahikeng
Botlhale Tema dreams of the day when Africans can see tacit knowledge gained from their context and lived experience as a valid resource for innovation and development. But, she says, three specific obstacles stand in the way. One, from the beginning, education systems on the continent have rendered local indigenous knowledge irrelevant. Two, much like the education systems, the corporate workplace operates on the assumption that African workers bring nothing of value from their home backgrounds to the business world. And three, African societies have failed to productively harness the power and strength gained from overcoming historical subjugation and oppression. She proposes clear, practical steps on how African societies can truly rise, and turn this situation around. Scientist, author of Land of my Ancestors.

Mother Earth, Mother Africa and African Indigenous Religions by Nobuntu Penxa Matholeni (Editor); Georgina Kwanima Boateng (Editor); Molly Manyonganise (Editor)
ISBN: 1928480721
Publication Date: 2020-08-04
Available through Interlibrary Loan. Africans embrace all of life, the humanity of each person, the world, and the creation of God. Consequently, African indigenous education reflects the completeness of life itself. The various chapters in this volume recount religious events and experiences from individual perspectives as they are unfolding on the continent. The different voices show how modernity, colonisation, urbanisation, Christianity, and technology have sidelined beliefs and practices of African traditional religions (ATRs) to the detriment of the environment. This volume brings together voices from leading proponents of ATRs and African religious heritage to help us appreciate how values are richly entrenched in African religious life. It demonstrates the detailed richness of ATRs and culture and showcases how far the academic study of ATRs in Africa has come, and calls for a concerted effort through partnership between various actors to ensure environmental sustainability.
African Indigenous Knowledge and the Sciences by Gloria Emeagwali (Volume Editor); Edward Shizha (Volume Editor)
ISBN: 9789463005159
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
This book is an intellectual journey into epistemology, pedagogy, physics, architecture, medicine and metallurgy. The focus is on various dimensions of African Indigenous Knowledge (AIK) with an emphasis on the sciences, an area that has been neglected in AIK discourse. The authors provide diverse views and perspectives on African indigenous scientific and technological knowledge that can benefit a wide spectrum of academics, scholars, students, development agents, and policy makers, in both governmental and non-governmental organizations, and enable critical and alternative analyses and possibilities for understanding science and technology in an African historical and contemporary context.

African Peacemaking Database
The African Peacemaking Database (APD) is a collection of knowledge intended to catalogue and nourish, for the very first time, indigenous practices of positive peace and reconciliation throughout the African continent. Existing peace and conflict databases focus on peace within the context of the government and its institutions, uses data sources and definitions rooted in Western ways of knowing, and concentrates on measurement and analysis. Through research and partnership over the past two years, we are creating the first Afro-centric peace index, so that community strengths of reconciliation, communication, daily peacemaking, and rituals of music, dance, proverbs and storytelling are shared with the wider world.
African Plant Database
The African Plant Database is a database of over 200,000 names of African plants with their nomenclatural status. Data capture, edition, and broadcast are the product of a collaboration between the South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Converatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, Tela Botanica, and the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Indigenous Film Index: Africa
Search for films of African Indigenous groups by clicking different locations. Films cover history, culture, and recent issues regarding African Indigenous groups.

The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC)
The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee is a network of 135 indigenous peoples’ organizations in 21 African countries. This makes it the largest indigenous peoples’ network in the world. IPACC was legally founded in 1997 when a draft constitution was adopted by the founding members in Geneva, Switzerland during the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples. They promote human rights and gender equality, environment and climate justice, and indigenous peoples’ networking.
Indigenous Africa
The University of Michigan presents documentation of different violations against the indigenous peoples of Africa, including agribusiness, conservation, farmer conflict, infrastructure, language, extractive industry, refugees, and urban expansion. It provides a map with dots you can click to learn more about each case.
Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples of Africa
Written by Albert Kwokwo Barume. The indigenous peoples of Africa are increasingly being dispossessed of their ancestral lands. It started during colonial times when many of them lost their land to European settlers. It continues today where conservation interests, commercial plantations, mineral exploitations, and other economic activities are leading to encroachments, expropriations, and forced removals. Indigenous peoples have not let this happen without reacting and in some cases they have gone to court, challenging those who threatened them. This book analyzes some of the land cases filed by indigenous peoples in selected African countries, to see how the judiciary has dealt with this human rights theme, and what lessons can be learned from these court cases.

Archives of Traditional Music
The Archives of Traditional Music is housed at IU/Bloomington. Their holdings document the history of ethnographic sound recording and include Native American, African, and Latin American music and spoken word. Some collections may only be accessed by specific communities or descendants of Indigenous peoples.
Africana Periodical Literature
The Africana Periodical Literature database provides metadata of articles on Africa covering a wide range of topics, from geography, history and anthropology to agriculture, women's studies, medicine and health. As of January 2020, it contains more than 179,000 records from over 800 journals. The majority of the journals are in English or French. A smaller number is in German, Afrikaans, Dutch, Italian and Portuguese. There is a strong focus on journals published in Africa. More than 50,800 articles have a link to full text, and more than 75,800 articles have an abstract.
African Online Digital Library
African Online Digital Library (AODL) provides free universal access to cultural heritage materials from and about African countries and communities. It brings together tens of thousands of digitized photographs, videos, archival documents, maps, interviews and oral histories in numerous African languages, many of which are contained in curated thematic galleries and teaching resources.
Ross Archive of African Images
The James J. Ross Archive of African Images presents approximately 5000 pictures of African art published before 1921. The archive aspires to include all the figurative African objects in books, periodicals, catalogs, newspapers, and other publications appearing in 1920 and earlier—the oldest dates in 1591. The collection is extensively cataloged and annotated, including verbatim the original European and American views (may include erroneous and sometimes racist language). Foreign texts appear in English translations followed by their original language. Possible Epilepsy Warning.
SOAS Home - African Collections
The SOAS Digital Collections is a database of images provided by the University of London documenting a multitude of topics in various African countries and cultures. Note: the database provides content warnings of various images.

Indigenous Studies

Africa

CONTACT

QUICK LINKS