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Who Writes African Economic History?

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  • Johan Fourie

Abstract

Much has been said about the rise, or ‘renaissance’, of African economic history. What has received far less attention is who is producing this research. Using a complete dataset of articles in the top four economic history journals, I document the rise in African economic history in the last two decades. I show that although there has indeed been an increase in papers on Africa, it has included little work by Africans. I then attempt to explain why this is so, and motivate why this should matter. The good news is that, mostly owing to efforts by the academic community, more is being done to encourage African inclusion. I conclude with a few suggestions on how to make more African scholars part of the renaissance of African economic history.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Fourie, 2019. "Who Writes African Economic History?," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 111-131, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:34:y:2019:i:2:p:111-131
    DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2019.1639500
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    8. Thomas Piketty, 2015. "About Capital in the Twenty-First Century," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 48-53, May.
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    10. Sarah Cummings & Paul Hoebink, 2017. "Representation of Academics from Developing Countries as Authors and Editorial Board Members in Scientific Journals: Does this Matter to the Field of Development Studies?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(2), pages 369-383, April.
    11. Johan Fourie & Leigh Gardner, 2014. "The Internationalization of Economic History: A Puzzle," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-14, June.
    12. Eichengreen, Barry, 2012. "Economic History and Economic Policy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 289-307, May.
    13. Johan Fourie & Nonso Obikili, 2019. "Decolonizing with data: The cliometric turn in African economic history," Working Papers 02/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    14. Doyle, Shane & Meier zu Selhausen, Felix & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2019. "The Blessings of Medicine? Patient Characteristics and Health Outcomes in a Ugandan Mission Hospital, 1908-1970," African Economic History Working Paper 45/2019, African Economic History Network.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nadia Fernández-de-Pinedo & Alvaro La Parra-Perez & Félix-Fernando Muñoz, 2023. "Recent trends in publications of economic historians in Europe and North America (1980–2019): an empirical analysis," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Désiré Avom & Louis de Berquin Eyike Mbongo, 2020. "La diffusion des TIC ameliore‐t‐elle qualitativement les institutions politiques en Afrique?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 419-431, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods

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