African History Paper Guidelines

Paper Topic

Both Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart describe life in the Igbo region of what is now Nigeria. Your paper should describe the social, economic, and political institutions of the region as they are presented in the two books. Your specific focus should be on change. What has changed in the years between Equiano's description and Achebe's? Part and parcel of this historical analysis should be a critical examination of the two sources as historical evidence. What are the limitations of these two sources? What are the biases of the authors? What can we as historians accept as believable? What seems implausible? What might we learn from the parts we don't believe?

Mechanical Stuff

Your paper should not exceed 10 pages. 12 would be acceptable; 15 would be pushing it. If you can make your argument in fewer than ten pages, more power to you. The paper should be typed, double-spaced, and done in the departmentally-mandated Turabian style. Any idea not your own should be attributed to its originator by means of a footnote. Your grade will reflect the quality of your analysis, the strength of your argument, and the clarity of your prose.
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