This whole time that I've been in Kenya, I've been struggling to finish my BA in Sociology from Saint Mary's University in Canada. Coincidentally, it turned out that the only course I could take via the internet that would qualify for my degree was African History! I got my friends and family to send me the books (though they think it's weird sending texts on Africa to Africa, and I think it's weird using Kenya's sad excuse for the internet). The worst part of the course is getting research materials - the libraries here are abysmal, I'm not joking - no computers or photocopiers, but tons of rotting books, choking dust, and pigeon crap.

I'm posting some of my weekly discussions because I thought it might give you a glimpse into Africa... or at least my views on Africa!

• divine kingship The question was something like, do you think the Mugabe (king in Nkole society in Uganda) should be considered a divine king? But I also go into some present day differences between nomadic and agricultural tribes in Kenya/Sudan…
• traditional healing The question asked whether we believe herbalism and traditional healing is part of African religion. I also talk about some examples, such as Anthony's little scars...
• sudan, the nuer tribe, and war We were supposed to explain whether the anarchy of a southern Sudanese tribe - the Nuer - made for a successful society. However, the only text we had was a study from the 1930's. My classmates were quite impressed with the Nuer's methods. Needless to say, I had to enlighten them about the horrific war in Sudan.
• abolition of slavery A short one about the reasons why slavery was eventually abolished - the humanitarian vs. economic reason - after about 20-30 million Africans were taken from their land up to about 1850. A lot of them died along the way, either while marching in chains for hundreds of days or rotting in their own feces on a ship. The lucky ones went anywhere other than America.
• status of women Watch out, I'm an activist! But some of my views have changed now that I've been immersed in a completely different culture, and I can see that some traditions make sense. I think I may be a bit utopian here, but it was to show that there are two sides to every story (except FGM).
• impact of missionaries in the colonisation effort From the notes: "Many people today are skeptical of religion and antagonistic to the missionary enterprise. Nevertheless, if we are going to understand why missionaries did what they did, we must examine how they thought seriously. In other words, we must examine motivations as well as outcomes if we want to arrive at a more complete evaluation." Not sure my evaluation is complete, but it is my (likely biased) viewpoint..!
• economic reasons for colonisation Luckily, today's critical evaluation of colonisation is no longer blind - and in this course we were asked to explain why the usual economic reasons are so prevalent, versus the real reason of greed and competition.