Historiography Essay Instructions
The African American experience has long been articulated through a common history, and, indeed, a particular history. Stated differently, while African American history is now widely recognized as an essential part of the American story, it is also characterized as having its own discreet concerns, themes, issues, and debates. For this culminating essay, I would like for you draw on key historiography covered this semester to address how the African American story is distinct, yet inseparable from the American story. What do you see as the main temporal and geographical boundaries of the African American experience? What key themes and/or topics do you see as important to developing an understanding of African American history and, by extension, American history? What major turning points and/or transformative moments would you emphasize as instructive, and why? How does the historiography address issues of African American agency, culture, identity; in what ways does it intersect with experiences of race, class, gender and/or sexuality, as well as well as with themes and topics germane to intellectual and social history? What do you see as significant relative to the comparative and transnational dimensions of African American history as presented in the historiography? In what ways does African American history have the potential of transcending parochialisms, particularly parochialisms of nation states and nationalities? What are some pitfalls, dilemmas, and benefits of Afrocentric, or African-centered perspectives in the writing of African American history. Finally, returning to this idea of a “common history,” how has African American history, as represented by the historiography read this semester, “turn as on a pivot” to challenge, complicate, and/or enhance established narratives of American history?