Roland Oliver (1923–2014)
Author of A Short History of Africa
About the Author
Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, the son of a British army major and his wife, Roland Anthony Oliver has been recognized as the leading British historian of Africa. Educated at Stowe and King's College, Cambridge University, he served in the Foreign Office from 1942 to 1945, at which time he left to show more complete his graduate studies at Cambridge on a R. V. Smith research studentship. In 1948 he became lecturer at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, a position he held until 1958, when he became reader in African History. In 1964 he was appointed the first professor of the history of Africa at the University of London, where he remained until his retirement in 1986. Oliver's long tenure at the University of London and his numerous publications made him one of the leading academic protagonists for the study of the African past both in the United Kingdom and internationally. A whole generation of American, European, and African students passed through the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London under his tutelage, strongly influenced by him. Professionally very active and the principal academic spokesman for the study of African history, he received numerous honors, including Francqui professor at the University of Brussels and visiting professor at Northwestern and Harvard universities. Among his many publications is A Short History of Africa, which he co-authored with J.D. Fage in 1962 and which has probably been the most widely used text in schools and universities. His most massive contribution, however, was the general editorship of the eight-volume Cambridge History of Africa (1975-86). He shared the editorship with J. D. Fage, with whom he also edited for many years The Journal of African History, the leading journal in the field and by far the most influential in shaping African historiography. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Roland Anthony Oliver
Works by Roland Oliver
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Oliver, Roland
- Legal name
- Oliver, Roland Anthony
- Birthdate
- 1923-03-30
- Date of death
- 2014-02-09
- Gender
- male
- Education
- King's College, University of Cambridge (BA|1946|MA|Ph.D|1950)
- Occupations
- professor
historian
africanist - Organizations
- University of London ∙ School of Oriental and African Studies
British Intelligence (WWII) - Awards and honors
- Fellow, British Academy (1993)
Distinguished Africanist Award of the African Studies Association of the UK (1989)
Haile Selassie Prize (1966) - Short biography
- Roland Oliver (born 1923) is Emeritus Professor of African history at the University of London. He was a founding editor, with John Fage, in 1960 of the Journal of African History and, again with John Fage, in 1960 of the Cambridge History of Africa which appeared in eight volumes between 1975 and 1986.
The Cambridge History of Africa, and his influential Oxford History of East Africa, were produced in a decade between the late 1970s and late 1980s. These histories recognised and celebrated the long, rich history of Africa, which for the first half of the 20th Century was previously thought by historians to have only a history "created" by white travellers, administrators and settlers.
Throughout his long career Professor Oliver was an eminent researcher, writer, teacher, administrator and organiser, who had a profound effect on the development of African Studies in the United Kingdom and who has made an outstanding contribution to the study of African history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_O... - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Srinagar, Kashmir, British India
- Places of residence
- Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
London, England, UK
Srinagar, Kashmir, India - Place of death
- Frilsham, Berkshire, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
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Reviews
There's probably some utility to Medieval Africa, 1250-1800, inasmuch as it lays out a fairly exhaustive chronology of the timeline of political and military events on the continent of Africa (at least as they were understood in 2001, when this revised edition was published). However, when considered as a history as opposed to a mere listing of events, this is not good: dated and full of blithe assumptions that made my eyebrows meet my hairline on several occasions. "Non-literate people lack show more the means to place past events within an accurate chronological framework" (10), we are told, which shows little familiarity with studies of orally-transmitted information. Portugal's colonial activities in the Congo are referred to as its "civilising mission" (172). That a university press would publish something like this in 2001 is perhaps not as surprising as it should be, but it is still shocking. show less
Surprisingly interesting. “The tour of pre-colonial Africa is now complete.It could, of course, have been accomplished in more detail, but more detail would not necessarily have left a clearer picture...” Excellent Boxer and Vansina chapters. The note on Great Zimbabwe has been overtaken by more recent scholarship [See Main and Huffman, 2021], as has the material on ‘Nutcracker man’.
A useful overview, especially until around the end of the 1800s, but the tone and focus are sometimes shockingly mushy and bland when describing events that were, by all other accounts, quite horrific. Do read with [b:King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa|347610|King Leopold's Ghost A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa|Adam Hochschild|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173937358s/347610.jpg|937922] and [b:The Challenge for show more Africa|5167050|The Challenge for Africa|Wangari Maathai|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320542961s/5167050.jpg|5234087] for balance. This is the white-bread version of the seizing and exploitation of Africa. show less
As the series moves closer to contemporary history, the details expand and more complete historical narratives are possible. The most detailed historical accounts remain where there is greater interaction between the African population and Europeans, so the level of detail in North Africa still outweighs that of the rest of the continent. As Islam had a major impact on this region during this period, the religious conflicts and divisions is prominent. However, Islam did much to link Northern show more Africa politically and culturally to the East more than to the North and Europe. Trade and religious pilgrimage to Egypt and the Middle East did more to create the culture during this period than the more limited trade with the Europeans. Details increase as the European navigation and trade lead to more interaction with the rest of the land mass, even if that interaction tends to be limited to the coastal regions and the lands immediately surrounding them. The increase in trade lead to more interaction between the coastal peoples and those who inhabited the interior. In this early period, the goods of Africa remained the primary trade good, especially the previous metals. People groups become more defined, and while the lack of written history leaves much room for conjecture and imprecision, the history and movements of people in Western Africa in particular become more clear. Prominent kingdoms and people groups that would have a more marked impact in later history begin to appear. The interaction of Eastern Africa with the Arabian peninsula is prominent before the Eastern coast becomes the battleground of Europeans quest to control the trade to India and the Far East. The richness and the vitality of Yemen and Somalia is marked considering their seeming limited development. show less
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