Strengths: Khapoya writes in a very lucid and communicative way to
undergraduates who are encountering Africa for the first time. One of
the greatest strengths of his prose is the way that he incorporates
personal experiences in the form of anecdotes, feelings, understandings,
especially relating to the later colonial period. With these, he very
effectively draws students into the stories he tells. Another strength
(well, feature) is that the book is not strictly historical, its chapters
varying from anthropology to economics and politics.
Weaknesses: Some of the chapters are very badly written. This is especially
the case with chapter three, "Political Development in Historic Africa," which
was not written by Khapoya himself. Chapter three is a classic case of
the old bias toward states and "civilizations" which is a virtual dictionary
of states and kingdoms, enough to make even a seasoned historian reel.
For students it appeared as nothing more than a list, which it really is.
It lacks the analytical eye put to selected evidence which Khapoya utilizes
in his other chapters. If you use the book, skip this chapter absolutely.
I found chapter two, "African Traditional Institutions" both wonderful and
positively annoying. Wonderful because Khapoya again draws students into
his prose convincingly and treats them to personal experiences and
understandings, but annoying because his terminology (traditional vs. modern)
undermined everything I was attempting to do with the class. I felt this
crucial chapter did little to challenge students to reconsider their
received categories for understanding Africa and Africans.
The book is very heavily weighted toward the twentieth century, which takes
pages 112-305. And if you subtract the hiddeous chapter 3 (mentioned above)
you are left with virtually no precolonial history. Students' most telling
critique of the book was the lack of readable and interesting information on
Africa before 1900. Serious problem.
Additionally, and this may be a bias of my own given my interests, there is
virtually nothing on slave trade and slavery in the book. Of course this
lacuna is in line with the paucity of pre-colonial narrative, but although
students don't generally like to spend undue time on this subject, they
crave accurate information. My own view is that in many ways the slave
trade was as important in scope for Africa (in terms of social transformations)
as was Europe's industrial revolution. The effects of the slave trade are
virtually invisible here.
Finally, there are amusing points in the narrative where Khapoya goes
overboard to justify rather than explain some social practices. Polygamy,
for example. He comes up with seven enumerated reasons why some African
men have more than one wife (33-36). Nearly all my students commented on
that section and many were unhappy that he seemed to draw undue attention
to one social practice and then to stake out a position rather than encourage
inquiry and debate. Perhaps this reflects Khapoya's experiences in the
classroom.
My try with Khapoya's THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE was the first time I ventured
to use any form of textook in any class, and it confirmed my dislike of them.
Students are much more happy with novels and selected primary documents and
readings, and my experience is that they produce a much richer learning
experience.
Perhaps Khapoya would consider a second, drastically revised, edition.
One heavy in primary documentation for students to work their way through
and formulate their own judgments might prove useful.