"I Could Not Care for My Body or My Health": Excavating Africans' Voices for Research and Teaching

The multidisciplinary nature of African history creates a unique opportunity for closing the distance between young people today and the subjects of historical studies. In this paper, I will discuss ways of using new sources and critically rereading older sources to better understand Africans' lives. These sources include official documents, language, ethnohistorical and oral sources, and archaeobotanical evidence. More important, I will discuss ways that we can discuss these sources with students to communicate the lived experiences of Africans in the past. In this way, I suggest, these stories can help us to facilitate our students' growth as scholars, historically conscious human beings, and critically aware global citizens.