Historical Narratives of Encyclopedia on Africa: The Chinese Chronicles
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Date
2023-12-25
Authors
Banwo, Adetoro Olaniyi & Obasa, Joshua Ifeoluwa
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Publisher
LASU Journal of African Studies (OPANBATA), A Publication of African Languages, Literature & Communication Arts, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State
Abstract
Chinese race and identity construction among Africans have been greatly influenced and shaped by government records since the dynastic era. The central aim of this research work is to examine how the encyclopaedias of the dynastic court of China have documented, influenced, and remained a primary source of data about Africa. Data for this research work were obtained through the historical descriptive method, and content analysis was used in the investigation of this work. Certain factors, such as Sino-African relations, encyclopaedias, gazettes, historical narratives, personal diaries, and perceptions, were adopted in this research work. It adopts Robert Darnton’s Communication Circuit of the book as its theoretical framework. He argues that encyclopaedias were widely influenced by a lot of external factors and created to enlighten, educate, and shape public opinion. This research work identifies that encyclopaedias serve as powerful primary sources of history that can influence the decisions of modern scholars without any form of prejudice. Primary sources in research hold reliable data; however, modern scholars often fall prey to the dogmatism of over-relying on such data from history. This overreliance reinforces existing data, especially with respect to a particular race or group, which might lack objectivity and clarity. Likewise, the verification of historical documents weakens the ability to authenticate the sources of information transferred on a national level. Nevertheless, this research concludes that these documents offer greater insights into the records and details of Chinese-African contacts and their perceptions of Africans.
Description
As Chinese-African relations continue to build momentum over the years, the need for an historical narrative cannot be overemphasized. This research, therefore, intends to convey different information about Africa in historical times. It also intends to examine how Chinese perceptions were reinforced by historical data through their continuous stimulation from ancient texts. To understand history, we must comprehend all forms of documentation and knowledge that were stored to protect the events and happenings within the particular era of study. Over the years, the study of history has proved to be the theoretical practice of modern research. The knowledge inherent has been applied to the new happenings around us, and it has brought forth social consequences that are embedded in the events of the past. History offers us an insight into not what things are but how they came to be. The social construct of a race identity for Africans by the Chinese is clearly crafted in the historical knowledge they hold and observe. Historians have observed that knowledge of the past focuses on the unique rather than the general, and as such, people must act within the purview of the events they are exposed to. Wallace and Van Fleet (2012) posits that the attempt to derive meaning from the past is a tradition that is as old as culture itself. The tenets of culture itself depend on the belief in a common history that members of a particular culture recognize and share together.
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Citation
Banwo, A. O. & Obasa, J. I. (2023). Historical Narratives of Encyclopedia on Africa: The Chinese Chronicles, LASU Journal of African Studies (OPANBATA), A Publication of African Languages, Literature & Communication Arts, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Volume 11, No. 2.