Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Recovering Africa's Past: oralities in the digital age
School	History and Cultures
Department	African Studies & Anthropology
Module Code	09 39829
Module Lead	Gerald Mazarire
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-180 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	The module explores the various forms in which African experiences have been rendered and recollected through human words and voices. It distinguishes between tradition, history and the creative genius of African people in bringing about a corpus of ideas and experiences passed around in African communities orally, outside, before and after literacy. Students will be trained to identify, categorise and classify oral forms and trace how they have been studied and archived by generations of scholars seeking to find an authentic equivalent source to modern writing. Students will be shown the dynamism of oral sources beyond this elusive search for an 'oral historical narrative' because even the word 'history' itself conjures different meanings in particular African languages. The module explores and problematises key terms that are still often taken for granted, such as 'history' and 'tradition'. By the end of the module, students will be familiar with a range of forms of orality and understand how these survive in the digital age. In recent years, the volume of voice/oral based performances has increased due to real time communication, sharing and access as well as the ability to store large amounts of such data. This module will equip students with up-to-date methods and methodologies for processing this data and co-creating old and new oral forms in Africa.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Critically evaluate a range of African oral forms Critically assess the development of African oral historiography Debate the idea of 'authentic orality' and/or the existence of 'pure oral societies' Critically evaluate the impact, challenges and opportunities for African orality in the digital age
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 1,500-word written assignment (40%) 1 x 2,000-word written assignment (60%) Reassessment: Re-submission of failed component(s)
Other
Reading List