The aim of this project is to examine the African textiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum and how they reflect the historical and cultural relationship between Britain and Africa. As recently as 2009 the V&A’s collecting policy stated ‘Objects are collected from all major artistic traditions … The Museum does not collect historic material from Oceania and Africa south of the Sahara’ (V&A 2012 Appendix 1). Despite this a significant number of Sub-Saharan African textiles have come into the V&A during the museum’s history. The V&A also has a large number of textiles from North Africa, both aspects of the collection are examined. The division between North and Sub-Saharan Africa and between ‘art’ and ‘ethnographic’ museum collections is crucial to understanding the African textiles in the V&A. The V&A began collecting North African textiles in 1852 and went on to build a strong collection, particularly embroideries from the urban areas. The museum also acquired some Sub-Saharan African textiles during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. During the 1920s the Textiles Department began to consider whether textiles from certain areas should be classed as ethnography. This was the most active period for collecting North African embroidery but the same process led to the exclusion and removal of Sub-Saharan African textiles. After World War II the Circulation Department actively collected West African textiles to tour to art colleges. The closure of the Department caused many of these textiles to be de-accessioned. The V&A has also collected textiles produced in Britain for sale in

This thesis is the study of the Indigenous peoples of Ghana, Canada and the United States. What links these three groups together is the colonial moment. These peoples are linked together because they have all been affected by the process and legacy of colonization. The "colonial moment" presents an opportunity to analyze the ways in which the Indigenous peoples of these three geopolitical units have experienced the colonization process and its impact as well as to analyze its implications for post-colonial sovereignty. If one goes back to the early days of colonization, Europeans were only a minuscule minority in the territories that would one day become Ghana, Canada and the United States. The evolution from that point forward is totally different. The scene at Ghana's independence celebration eloquently expresses this contrast: At the Black Star Square, as the midnight bell tolled, on March 6, 1957, the Union Jack slipped beneath the floodlights. Rising in its place was the tri-colour flag of red, gold and green, with a black star at its centre, the standard of the new, independent nation of Ghana. On the platform, President Kwarne Nkrumah, his faced streaked with tears, electrified the crowd when he declared: "At long last, the battle has ended. Your beloved country is free forever." What American or Canadian Indigenous leader can boast of his or her country being free on Independence Day? Free from whom and what? That argument begs the question -- why? Why did Ghana, which is much closer and more accessible to Europe, not become the target for mass migration? If the Indigenous peoples of Ghana, who were considered too primitive to engage in treaty as exemplified by the Berlin Conference of 1884, could achieve a form of sovereignty approximately equivalent to that of the other nations of the world, then why should the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose international treaty powers were affirmed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, not employ Ghana's sovereignty as a yardstick? This thesis uses the "Ghanaian lens" to examine the above questions and many more, and anchors them in the evolving nature of sovereignty in the colonial and post-colonial context. The aim is to link the analysis of the "shifting" European definition of statehood with the unconscious forces that shaped the colonial prismatic view of Indigenous sovereignty. What might be useful and unique about the thesis is its invitation to uncouple the train of thought from North America and examine the colonial moment and its implications for American and Canadian jurisprudence from an African perspective. It is hoped that this will provide a useful basis for helping to correct some of the injustices perpetrated against the Indigenous peoples of North America. The "Ghanaian lens" is then directed at the contact period to reveal that, despite the introduction of European goods and the concomitant fruits of so-called "civilization," the Indigenous peoples of the world generally suffered throughout this period and did not benefit from the presence of the Europeans who exploited their friendliness. The struggle for independence is the next phenomenon viewed through the "Ghanaian lens." Part VI then illustrates the manner in which the importation of American jurisprudence into the Canadian context has distorted the traditional British legal notion of Indigenous sovereignty to the detriment of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Part VIIA explains why the Western world and the "settled" nations should refrain from perpetuating doctrines of international law that define sovereignty as the exclusive preserve of Europe, which subordinated and excluded "uncivilized" indigenes, resulting in the current neo-colonial state of the Indigenous peoples of North America. Finally, Part VIIB develops a set of doctrines that could coherently account for Indigenous personality, in order to more adequately formulate the potential of the concept of sovereignty to remedy the enduring inequities and imbalances resulting from the colonial confrontation. The thesis then takes the reader on the solution path. On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Indigenous peoples of the world share much in common: faith in divine providence, hope in an eternal universe and the aspiration to be free and happy. Indigenous peoples in settled countries are many distinct natives in many countries, but with common concerns and a common voice. One of their prime concerns is to be heard. Indigenous peoples in settled countries cannot effectively express themselves politically. They are politically mute. To claim that they are represented at the United Nations by the countries in which they reside is, therefore, an insult. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This dissertation examines the sexual dimensions of miscegenation and the effect that it had on the lives of three slave women, their children, and their white slave masters. Chapter 1 explores the historical dynamic concerning the issue of cross-racial relationships in the slave South. Chapter 2 will examine the black female experience under slavery and the dynamics that helped to shape their lives including the issues of race, class and gender. Although we are well aware of the exploitation of slave women, we will also examine how these women used “agency” to resist and to control their day-to-day lives. Chapter 3 revisits the lives of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, which continue to ignite questions concerning their relationship, despite the revelation of the DNA study published in 1998. We will explore Jefferson's behavior, not as a politician, but as a man confronted with issues and choices, as most men are, particularly when the choices concern affairs of the heart. Chapter 4 concerns the dynamics of love, miscegenation, and murder in the lives of George Wythe, Lydia Broadnax, his freed slave woman, and Michael Brown, Lydia's mulatto son. Equally as important is the relationship between Wythe and his closest friend and confidant, Thomas Jefferson, which causes us to question how much Wythe really knew about Jefferson's personal life, particularly with Sally Hemings. Chapter 5 explores the lives of Richard Mentor Johnson, Vice President under Martin Van Buren, his slave Julia Chinn and their two daughters, Imogene and Adalaine. By all standards, their relationship was unusual. Richard lived openly with Julia, his slave, and their children in defiance of the South's social customs and laws. Chapter 6 will conclude with a look back at the significance of resistance in the lives of slave women and how the issue of public vs. private helped to shape relationships that crossed the color line in the slave South. It will show how America historically looked at race and sexuality, and why the color line and cross-racial relationships continue to be a problem in the twenty-first century.

This volume contains essays on the history of African Studies at the University of Leipzig from the 1890s to the 1990s. With the exception of an overview chapter they were written by students of the Institut für Afrikanistik. The topics covered include plans for a 'colonial institute', African students in the period 1946-95, African linguistics in the GDR period, the journal 'asien, afrika, lateinamerika' and short studies of six scholars in this field.

As the direct descendants of the first human beings, African people are the supreme witnesses of Creation itself, and senior authorities regarding the earthly Creations. African people bear supreme witness to humanity, and the most effective methods of being human: the biology and chemistry of life, the physiological and metaphysical aspects of earthly existence, and the science of the cosmic Creations--observing all that is above and what exists there, beyond the sky. By definition humanity is African: the first human beings were African and the first defining innovations of humanity were birthed in Africa. Since history is necessarily a study of the origins of humanity, and the first humans were African, history then must initiate at the emergence of humankind, which took place in Africa. The records left and maintained by the oldest humans on earth--written, memorized, or otherwise--provide amazing clues as to the initial Creation and subsequent development of humankind. As each successive generation works to strengthen the collective memory of their own people's past before conquer, the struggle to remember memories and to keep traditions intact becomes even more evident. As with every epic turn of events, the conquered are forced to decide if they will remain as such or not. This paper explores the ways in which the African worldview provides a critical and otherwise impossible analysis of human history, by exploring the oldest contributions of the first human beings--who were African. I argue that the ancient Kemetic worldview--Mdw Ntr--provides a prototypical blueprint for every African's self-liberation, creating a context through which contemporary freedom struggles can ultimately be assessed and achieved. In particular, this paper examines how the ancient Kemetic worldview has, since its inception, presented a working method of thinking and doing--seeing with Sia--which not only inspired successive African generations, but also the freedom struggles of contemporary African communities. Mdw Ntr is both a theory and a methodology: it encompasses a way of seeing reality, while also providing exact methods for how to go about this process. I propose that the notion of Sia--or "exceptional clarity"--is an actionable blueprint exemplified in the Shabaka Text and The Great Hymn to Aten. Both texts provide a methodology for achieving Sia; both texts speak to the fundamental processes of Mdw Ntr; and both texts exhibit a working model for self-liberation through the ancient Kemetic worldview. In order for human beings to manifest power--to be empowered--they must ultimately think with "exceptional clarity" and speak their intentions into existence. To be effective, one cannot speak without thinking, or do without first thinking and speaking. According to the ancient Kemites, thinking is the first step in speaking and also doing. Thinking initiates all actions: the more exceptional the clarity, the better. Hence, self-liberation emerges and subsequently, the collective liberation of African people. / African American Studies

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