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Paper short abstract:

With reference to both the constraints of the discipline and the author's own experience in the field of African History, this paper seeks to investigate the ways in which white historians of Africa interact with conversations surrounding the decolonization of the academy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which white historians of Africa can be seen to depend on their relationship with disciplinary traditions in order to recuse themselves from discussions around decolonization of the academy, and the implications that this bears for the scholarship they produce. It will argue that the temporal distance between the white historian of Africa and the communities that they research can be an alluring tool through which to justify the prevalence of white historians in the field of African Studies. Drawing on personal experience in studying, teaching, and researching African History, this paper will speak both to individual motivations for pursuing a career in the field as well as the intellectual logic underpinning the white gaze in histories of Africa. Particular attention will be given to the role of archival methodologies and accepted writing styles, both of which serve to further entrench the distance between the historian and the process of research itself.