Dr. Deborah Barndt (Environmental Studies, York)

Dr. Deborah Barndt(Environmental Studies, York)

Fire in the Belly: Igniting Popular Education with Spirit, Song and Story12:30pm - 1:15pm

Friday, Sept. 14

12:30 -1:15

Dennis Hall

Arts 4 Social Change6:30pm - 9:00pmThursday, September 13Dennis Hall

•attend up to two talks each semester• our next class, hand in a two page, double spaced synopsis/analysis• relate to overall questions of Global History • I will grade each out of 3 – so up to 6% bonus per term

Were you surprised about where the text began?

“the paradoxical result was that the world was becoming more interconnected, while its regions were becoming more differentiated”

Shaping the nature of contactCommercial connections: technology and

knowledge of the sea, wind and landmasses

political stabilityorganization

Commercial developments: commoditiesmetropolitan centers

swahili

amphora

Conclusion• revolutions at sea• societal maturity

possibilities of connectedness

and, increasing difference

Over the next few classes – examine those differences in Africa, western Asia, south Asia

The ‘Dark’ Continent?

Geography of the African Continent: impact on human societies

The Gift of the Nile

• gradual, predictable flooding• sprouting, inundation, summer

• communication:• Nubia-Egypt• current: north/Winds: south• Sub-Saharan Africa-

Mesopotamia

• increased in importance with desiccation of the Sahara

Early Agriculture

• evidence 10,000 BCE• migrants from Red Sea hills

(northern Ethiopia)• introduce collection of wild

grains, language roots Coptic

• Why does this matter?

• 5000 BCE • Sudanese cultivators and

herders migrate to Nile river valley

• adaption to seasonal flooding of Nile through construction of dikes, waterways• villages dot Nile by 4000

BCE

Bantu Migrations, 2000 B.C.E-1000 C.E.Bantu: “people”

• migration throughout sub-Saharan

regions

• 500+ variations of original Bantu

languages• 90 million speakers

• by 1000 BCE, occupied most of Africa south of the equator

• displaced other people-groups

• evidence?

20C Nyamwezi, Tanzania (1940s?)

Regional African states, c.1300

Mande, Mandinkaalso Babara and

Sarakole, Tuareg, Songhai, Doagon

peoplesGhanaMali Empire, 13C

Also note: Yoruba statesKongoEthiopiaGreat Zimbabweswahili city-states

Highly complex and sophisticated organization

Sankore Masjid, Tombouctou Evidence:oral history – griotstraveler’s accountsarchaeology

mosque, Djenne 1989

Africa in the Islamic WorldWatch terminology

Africa ↔ western Asiasouth Asiaeast Asiasoutheast Asia

Trading ↔ goldivory, hardwoods,

feathersskins, gemspeople – for work genes, marriage, ideas, beliefs

Conclusions• factors that limited connections between the continent of Africa and

the outside world • factors that allowed for connections • How do we know ?(evidence necessary/possible)

• remain important to the present: geography

• why if Egypt has been thought of as a Mediterranean civilization, why have historiansgrouped other African societies together differently?

• think about the implications for understanding belief and social organization

• Terms: swahili dhow complex societies