This is a pioneer work in an area of African history and culture that is virgin territory for the researcher. Except for the unpublished manuscript of Frank E. Chapman, Jr., the lectures of Dr. Lonnie Shabazz, formerly head of the Department of Mathematics at Atlanta University, and several other sources listed in the bibliography of this book, I know of no extensive work on African mathematics. There is also a tendency on the part of most Western scholars to deny the existence of mathematical methods that are distinctly African. Therefore, Mrs. Zaslavsky's "preliminary survey of a vast field awaiting investigation" will put some old arguments to rest and create some new ones. It is impossible to write a book of this nature without some reference to the misconceptions about Africa in general. Fortunately, the book is being published at a time when information about African history and culture is increasing and many of the newand important books are coming from the pens of Black writers, in this country and in Africa. It will soon be difficult to ignore the impact of Africans on world history. Now that the field of mathematics, as it relates to Africans, has been opened up for investigation by Mrs. Zaslavsky's book, it will be difficult to stop the much broader investigation into the role of Africans in world history and culture. This book is important both for what it says and for how it implies what still needs to be sa;d. It is clear that the old concepts about Africa and the African people will die hard, but they will die.
Author(s): Claudia Zaslavsky
Publisher: Prindle, Weber & Schmidt
Year: 1973
Language: English
Pages: 360
City: Boston
Tags: african mathematics;ethnomathematics
AFRICA COUNTS
DEDICATION
CONTENTS
MAPS
AFRICA TODAY
PEOPLES DISCUSSED IN THE TEXT
AFRICA: GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES AND ANCIENT CITES
OLD SUDANIC KINGDOMS
DISTRIBUTION OF NUMERATION SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
SIXTEENTH CENTURY STATES OF THE NIGERIAN REGION
EASTERN AFRICA: COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES
INTRODUCTION
PREFACE
SECTION 1 THE BACKGROUND
CHAPTER 1 AFRICAN MATHEMATICS?
CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
SECTION 2 NUMBERS—WORDS, GESTURES, SIGNIFICANCE
CHAPTER 3 CONSTRUCTION OF NUMERATION SYSTEMS
CHAPTER 4 HOW AFRICANS COUNT
CHAPTER 5 TABOOS AND MYSTICISM
SECTION 3 NUMBERS IN DAILY LIFE
CHAPTER 6 THE AFRICAN CONCEPT OF TIME
CHAPTER 7 NUMBERS AND MONEY
CHAPTER 8 THOSE FAMILIAR WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
CHAPTER 9 RECORD-KEEPING: STICKS AND STRINGS
SECTION 4 MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS
CHAPTER 10 GAMES TO GROW ON
CHAPTER 11 THE GAME PLAYED BY KINGS AND COWHERDS—AND PRESIDENTS, TOO!
CHAPTER 12 MAGIC SQUARES
SECTION 5 PATTERN AND SHAPE
CHAPTER 13 GEOMETRIC FORM IN ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER 14 PART I: GEOMETRIC FORM AND PATTERN IN ART
CHAPTER 14 PART II: GEOMETRIC SYMMETRIES IN AFRICAN ART, BY D. W. CROWE, WITH ORIGINAL DRAWINGS
SECTION 6 REGIONAL STUDY: SOUTHWEST NIGERIA
CHAPTER 15 HISTORY OF THE YORUBA STATES AND BENIN
CHAPTER 16 SYSTEMS OF NUMERATION
CHAPTER 17 SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS
CHAPTER 18 TIME-RECKONING
CHAPTER 19 MARKETS AND CURRENCY
SECTION 7 REGIONAL STUDY: EAST AFRICA
CHAPTER 20 HISTORY OF EAST AFRICA
CHAPTER 21 SPOKEN AND GESTURE COUNTING
CHAPTER 22 NUMBER SUPERSTITIONS
CHAPTER 23 EAST AFRICAN TIME
CHAPTER 24 WEALTH MEANS CATTLE—AND OTHER LIVESTOCK
SECTION 8 PAST AND FUTURE
CHAPTER 25 PURE MATHEMATICS IN AFRICA
APPENDIX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER REFERENCES AND NOTES
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
MARIANNE SCHMIDL
D. W. CROWE
FRANK E. CHAPMAN, JR.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
