|
|
|
|
Reviews
Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh
"The young Abina Mansah lost her 1876 suit for freedom, but her voice still resounds in the transcript
of her testimony. From that dusty transcript, Trevor Getz brings her struggle graphically to life. He
beautifully surrounds her sad tale with resources showing its links within West Africa and beyond.
Through Getz and in the engaging images of Liz Clarke, Abina affirms the mark that each person can make
on the world."
Martin Klein, University of Toronto
"This is a superb introduction to the way historians construct the past, to the history of slavery in Africa,
and to colonialism. Trevor Getz tells the same story three times. The first is a graphic presentation, which
simply tells a story embellished by the imagination of both author and artist. The second is the document
on which the story is based. The third is an analysis by Getz of how he reads the document and the
problems he had in building the narrative. In it, he displays an ability to contextualize the document, and
to read it both with and against the grain."
Candace Goucher, Washington State University Vancouver
"Getz has crafted a gem, a valuable contribution to African studies and the world history classroom. The
book combines a well-informed pedagogy with current historiographical trends. Its multi-layered format
delves deeply and lyrically into Abina's world of image and word."
Ken O'Donnell, Associate Dean, Academic Programs and Study, California State University
"Abina and the Important Men is intellectual and accessible at the same time, and the three-level
division of makes it work. Getz and Clarke make liberal-arts learning integrated, useful, and fun.
The characters are all morally ambiguous, something I aim for in my own writing, and it makes this
suspenseful. There's no automatic assumption the good guys will win, because it's all plausibly
depicting real people, without white hats on some and black hats on others."
Heather Streets, Washington State University
"I hope this book will serve as a model to many historians with compelling stories to tell, for
sometimes telling our stories only to each other just isn't enough. Most importantly, this book shows
that to tell our stories in a compelling and unconventional way does not mean that rigorous scholarship
needs to be compromised. Rather, it shows that rigorous scholarship can go hand in hand with speaking
to multiple audiences."
Paul Lovejoy, York University
"Abina and the Important Men is an excellent introduction to history and society through an innovative mix
of primary text, annotated transcription and highlighted in cartoon form that captures the imagination of
new students. It is a must for adoption in first year courses."
Jeremy Rich, Middle Tennessee State University
"This is a very strong and original work. All three sections (the inclusion of the primary source, the
historical context section and the reading guide) allow for a broad range of discussion topics. Students
can compare the graphic novel section to the court transcript and discuss how historians develop
historical narratives."
Sharlene Sayegh, California State University, Long Beach
"Abina and the Important Men addresses an important gap in the teaching of history, one that recognizes
that there are a variety of learning styles."
Jonathan T. Reynolds, Northern Kentucky University
"Trevor Getz has pushed the envelope of Africanist Scholarship. With Abina and the Important Men he
offers unique insight into such contentious topics as personhood, gender, slavery, and colonialism. Along
the way, he provides teachers and readers with a powerful tool for investigating the process of giving
meaning to historical documents and narratives. This is exactly the sort of work that will help African
history escape the dark and dusty halls of academia and help make it relevant to a wider audience. This is
GENIUS."
Jason Ripper, Everett Community College
"Academia has finally woken up to the interests of students and Oxford University Press is a willing partner
in this awakening. Bravo!"
"This book takes college-level course material in a fresh and invigorating direction. The story – images
included – is engrossing, addresses themes regularly featured in our courses, and provides needed insight
into a people who still get too little treatment even in world history courses. Also, the author's added
commentary on the source material and the general historical context ensure that when students have
the book with them at home, they will still recognize the academic qualities of the volume."
Erin O'Connor, Bridgewater State University
"This is an innovative approach to teaching social history and colonialism in Africa. The graphic history
contains beautiful and compelling artwork, and the text closely follows historical documentation.
Furthermore, the inclusion of the actual document transcription and historical context make it possible to
teach this book on many different levels, getting students to think deeply about and probe the process of
how history is made (both in the past and by historians). It would work well in courses on either African
history or world history."
Tiffany F. Jones, Cal State-San Bernardino
"This is a pioneering work in the narration and representation of African History and will appeal to
students of all levels. The book engages in the actual historical process and makes it very evident for
students the processes historians go through when compiling such a document. The fact that Abina and
the Important Men highlights the difference between primary and secondary documents, and talks in
detail about representation and translation, makes it particularly valid for all history classes."
Alicia D. Decker, Purdue University
"This is an excellent project! It is fresh, engaging, and historically sound. I would definitely use this text
in my Modern Africa and African Women's History classes. I really like the way that the author and
illustrator have divided the book into sections for different levels of analysis. Beginning students can
focus on the graphic novel, while more advanced students can also discuss the production of historical knowledge and the larger historiography."
Paul S. Landau, University of Maryland
"This is an important departure for Oxford University Press and an excellent combination of research and
pedagogy. It is a fine work and I will use it in my teaching."
"Students today do not easily grasp the difference between a primary and secondary source. This text
merges that appreciation – for how historians work – into the fabric of the book."
Maxim Matusevich, Seton Hall University
"The project's originality is its main strength; it certainly stands out among other texts on slavery. It also
makes the experience of enslavement more immediate, more visual, in other words, it brings it to life."
Nicola Foote, Florida Gulf Coast University
"I think this is an extraordinarily original and ambitious project. This is a very interesting experiment in
using the graphic novel as a means to deliver the life-story of someone who is only known to the author
through archival material, and in doing so to think more profoundly about how histories are created."
Kwasi Konadu, City University of New York
"This is a remarkable feat in scholarship. It tells an equally remarkable story with creativity, historical
context, and a deep compassion for the humanity of its subjects. This graphic history charts a new ground
for excavating African lives, especially of the seemingly less "important men," (and women) and should
be read widely by scholars, students and the general reading public. Trevor Getz and Liz Clarke should be
praised, and Abina should be pleased."
Abena Dove Osseo-Asare, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
"Am I free? Abina and the Important Men recovers the compelling courtroom drama of a young woman
who demanded this question in West Africa in 1876. Seized from her family as a teenager, forced to carry
heavy loads, and sold into domestic slavery, Abina wanted to have control over her own life again. She
brought her case to a colonial court, where a British magistrate leaned on African merchants and kings
to decide Abina's fate. This is a universal story of deception and truth that will appeal to anyone who
has sought greater independence from the obligations of family, employer, or government. Abina's legal
battle comes to life in the graphic novel. A section on historical background explains the complexities of
early British occupation in West Africa when a young woman could be simultaneously free and enslaved.
Abina and the Important Men engages with thorny issues in World History—human trafficking,
colonialism, cultural autonomy, and women's rights. While the stories preserved over time are often
those of male leaders, this book brings to life the concerns of a young woman at a pivotal moment in
African history. Slavery becomes a contested terrain, as cultural practices interface with an emerging
wage economy and British officials turn a blind eye to the presence of underpaid domestic workers in
the households of African merchants. Through the multiple voices of a forgotten heroine and a cast of
African, European, and Euro-African men, it shows the many perspectives that helped shape our concepts
of freedom and independence."
ORIAS 2011 Summer Institute for K-12 teachers
Absent Voices: Experience of common life in world history
Summarized by Timothy Doran, Ph.d.
"Abina and the Important Men: Engaging students in reversing the silences of history."
Professor Trevor Getz, History, San Francisco State University
To view the full PDF document, please click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
