Abina and the Important Men

Abina and the Important Men is a compelling and powerfully illustrated "graphic history" based on an 1876 court transcript of a West African woman named Abina, who was wrongfully enslaved and took her case to court. The book is a microhistory that does much more than simply depict an event in the past; it uses the power of illustration to convey important themes in world history and to reveal the processes by which history is made. The story of Abina Mansah--a woman "without history" who was wrongfully enslaved, escaped to British-controlled territory, and then took her former master to court--takes place in the complex world of the Gold Coast at the onset of late nineteenth-century colonialism. Slavery becomes a contested ground, as cultural practices collide 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. The main scenes of the story take place in the courtroom, where Abina strives to convince a series of "important men"--a British judge, two Euro-African attorneys, a wealthy African country "gentleman," and a jury of local leaders--that her rights matter. "Am I free?" Abina inquires. Throughout both the court case and the flashbacks that dramatically depict her life in servitude, these men strive to "silence" Abina and to impose their own understandings and meanings upon her. The story seems to conclude with the short-term success of the "important men," as Abina loses her case. But it doesn't end there: Abina is eventually redeemed. Her testimony is uncovered in the dusty archives by Trevor Getz and, through Liz Clarke's illustrations, becomes a graphic history read by people around the world. In this way, the reader takes an active part in the story along with the illustrator, the author, and Abina herself. Following the graphic history in Part I, Parts II-V provide detailed historical context for the story, a reading guide that reconstructs and deconstructs the methods used to interpret the story, and strategies for using Abina in various classroom settings. Click the following links to see sample pages from the book:

ISBN 0199844399   Pages 208 ISBN13 9780199844395 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 584 Publisher Oxford University Press Inc   Published in New York Imprint Oxford University Press Inc   Height (mm) 254 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 180 Publication date 16 Feb 2012   Spine width (mm) 16 DEWEY 306.362092   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC23

TABLE OF CONTENTS ; PART I: THE GRAPHIC HISTORY ; PART II: THE TRANSCRIPT ; PART III: HISTORICAL CONTEXT ; THE GOLD COAST, C.1876 ; THE BRITISH CIVILIZING MISSION ; THE CIVILIZING MISSION IN THE GOLD COAST ; SLAVERY IN THE GOLD COAST ; THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND ABOLITION ; ABINA MANSAH AND THE IMPORTANT MEN ; PART IV: READING GUIDE ; WHOSE STORY IS THIS? ; LEVEL ONE: A STAIRCASE OF VOICES ; LEVEL 2: SILENCES ; LEVEL 3: REPRESENTATION AND TRANSLATION ; IS THIS A <"TRUE>" STORY? ; LEVEL 1: RECONSTRUCTING ABINA'S STORY ; LEVEL 2: DECONSTRUCTING THE COURTROOM TRANSCRIPT ; LEVEL 3: RECONSTRUCTING ABINA'S <"TRUTHS>" OR CONSTRUCTING OUR OWN? ; IS THIS <"AUTHENTIC>" HISTORY? ; LEVEL 1: LOCAL FORMS OF HISTORY-TELLING ; LEVEL 2: THE PERSONAL AND THE COLLECTIVE AUTHENTIC ; LEVEL 3: HISTORY AS A FORUM OR A TEMPLE ; PART IV: ABINA IN THE CLASSROOM ; ABINA FOR THE WORLD HISTORY CLASSROOM ; ABINA FOR THE AFRICAN HISTORY/AFRICAN STUDIES CLASSROOM ; ABINA AND COLONIALISM ; ABINA AND THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY ; GENDERING ABINA'S STORY ; READING QUESTIONS ; INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS, FOR STUDENTS AT ALL LEVELS ; QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE LEVEL ; ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR ADVANCED UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS ; TIMELINE OF EVENTS ; FURTHER RESOURCES ; ABINA MANSAH ; SLAVERY AND ABOLITION ON THE GOLD COAST ; ABOUT COLONIALISM AND THE GOLD COAST ; GENERAL HISTORIES OF AFRICA ; IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM ; GENDER AND AFRICAN HISTORY ; WEB RESOURCES ; GLOSSARY ; LIST OF MAPS AND IMAGES ; 1) LOCATION OF GOLD COAST, 16TH-18TH CENTURY ; 2) LANGUAGE DISTRIBUTION IN GHANA TODAY ; 3) ASANTE C. 1700 ; 4) ASANTE AND THE GOLD COAST IN THE 1870S, SHOWING SITES OF ABINA MANSAH'S ENSLAVEMENT ; 5) PAGE OF TRANSCRIPT FROM REGINA V. QUAMINA EDDOO FURTHER READINGS

"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."--Abena Dove Osseo-Asare, University of California, Berkeley

"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."--Patrick Manning, University of Pittsburgh

"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."--Jonathan T. Reynolds, Northern Kentucky University

"This is a superb introduction to the way that historians construct the past, to the history of slavery in Africa, and to colonialism. Getz's analysis of how he reads the document and the problems he had in building the narrative displays an ability to contextualize the document, and to read it both with and against the grain."--Martin Klein, University of Toronto

"I hope that this book will serve as a model to many historians with compelling stories to tell. 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 multip

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