The Environmental History of Africa

Reading

Books:

Helge Kjekshus, Ecology Control and Economic Development in East African History (Athens, OH).
Gregory Maddox, James Giblin, and Isaria Kimambo, Custodians of the Land (Athens, OH).
James C McCann. Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa (Portsmouth and Oxford, 1999).
William Beinart William and Peter Coates. Environment and History (London).
Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns, The Lie of the Land (Portsmouth, 1996).
Jonathan Adams and Thomas McShane, The Myth of Wild Africa (Berkeley, 1992).
David Anderson and Richard Grove, eds. Conservation in Africa: people, policies and practice (Cambridge, 1987).


Articles for Student Reading (included in Reading Packets):

David Anderson, "Depression, Dust Bowl, Demography, and Drought: The Colonial State and Soil Conservation in East Africa during the 1930s," African Affairs, 83 (1984), 321-43.
Allan Hoben, "The Origins of Famine," New Republic (January 21, 1985), 17-19.
Douglas Johnson, "Political Ecology in the Upper Nile: The Twentieth Century Expansion of the Pastoral Common Ecology," Journal of African History, 30 (1989), 463-86.
Michael Lofchie, "The Roots of Economic Crisis in Tanzania," Current History (April 1985), 159-63, 184-86
James C. McCann, "A Great Agrarian Cycle? Productivity in Highland Ethiopia," Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XX (Winter 1990), 389-416.
James C. McCann, "Review Article: Agriculture and African History," Journal of African History, 32 (1991), 507-14.
James C. McCann, "Climate and Causation in African History," International Journal of African Historical Studies, 32 (1999), 261-280.
Mwelma C. Musambachime, "The Fate of the Nile Crocodile in African Waterways," African Affairs, 86 (1987), 197-207.
Edward Steinhart, "Hunters, Poachers and Gamekeepers: Towards A Social History of Hunting in Colonial Kenya," Journal of African History, 30 (1989), 247-64.
J.E.G. Sutton, " Irrigation and Soil Conservation in African Agricultural History," Journal of African History, 25 (1984), 25-41.
John Tierney, "Fanisi's Choice," Science, 86 (January/February 1986), 26-42.
John Tosh, "Lango Agriculture during the Early Colonial Period: Land and Labour in a Cash-Crop Economy," Journal of African History, 19 (1978), 415-39.
Richard Waller, "Tsetse Fly in Western Narok, Kenya," Journal of African History 31 (1990), 81-101.


Articles for Instructor Reference:

Christopher Ehret, "On the Antiquity of Agriculture in Ethiopia," Journal of African History, 20 (1979), 161-77.
John Illife, "Review Article: The Origins of African Population Growth," Journal of African History, 30 (1989), 165-69.
James Giblin, "Trypanosomiasis Control in African History: An Evaded Issue," Journal of African History, 31 (1990), 59-80.
Sharon Nicholson, "The Methodology of Historical Climate Reconstruction and Its Application to Africa," Journal of African History, 20 (1979), 31-49.


Working Papers (Included in Institutional Reading Packets):

Global Warming and Regional Environmental Change: Winners and Losers in Africa, by Michael H. Glantz, WP 162 (1991). Productivity and Environmental Conservation under Rapid Population Growth: A Case Study of Machakos District, by Mary Tiffen, WP 170 (1993).

Integrating the History of Land Use into Epidemiology: Settler Agriculture as a Cause of Disease in Zimbabwe, by James Giblin, WP 176 (1994).

Early Experiences of Soil Conservation in Southern Africa: Segregated Programs and Rural Resistance, by Kate B. Showers, WP 184 (1994).

Deforestation History and the Ecology of Swidden Fallows in Sierra Leone, by A. Endre Nyerges, WP 185 (1994).

From Exclusion to Participation: A History of Forest Access Control in Eastern Senegal, by Jesse C. Ribot, WP 187 (1994).

French and British Colonial Forest Policies: Past and Present Implications for Côte D'Ivoire and Ghana, by Marc P.E. Parren, WP 188 (1994).

A Hundred Years of Crisis? Environment and Development Narratives in Ukambani, Kenya, by Dianne E. Rocheleau, Philip E. Steinberg, and Patricia A. Benjamin, WP 189 (1994).

Forest Conservation and Central African Cities: Kinshasa, Libreville, and Yaounde, by Theodore Trefon, WP 200 (1995).

Gully Erosion in Lesotho and the Development of Historical Environmental Impact Assessment, by Kate Showers, WP 201 (1995).

Lords of the Flies: British Sleeping Sickness Policies as Environmental Engineering in the Lake Victoria Region, 1900-1950, by Kirk Arden Hoppe, WP203 (1995).

Colonial and Post-Apartheid Water Projects in Southern Africa: Political Agendas and Environmental Consequences, by Kate B. Showers, WP 214 (1998).

The Human Exploitation of Local Environmental Variations on the Mbulu Highlands, Northern Tanzania, 1920s-1950s, by Yusufu Qwaray Lawi, WP 221 (1999).

Maize and Grace: History, Corn, and Africa's New Landscapes, 1500-1999, by James C. McCann, WP 223 (1999).

The Sacred Forests of North Pare, Tanzania: Indigenous Conservation, Local Politics, and Land Tenure, by Michael J. Sheridan, WP 224 (2000).

The Environmental Consequences of Independence and Socialism in North Pare, Tanzania, 1961-1988, by Michael Sheridan, WP 233 (2000).


Suggested Films and Videos:

King Solomon's Mines (Boston University Krasker Film Library)
Maragoli (Boston Unversity Krasker Film Library)
The Desert Doesn't Bloom Here Anymore (PBS, Nova)
Second Nature (Boston University, African Studies Outreach Library)