An Atlas of African Kingdoms
Martha Wilfahrt, Professor
Political Science
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2023 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2024.
How does the precolonial past influence contemporary African politics? This question animates a growing literature on precolonial legacies, yet this work has been hindered by imprecise and incomplete data on the nature of precolonial political organization. This project builds an original Atlas of Africa's precolonial polities in the 19th century by mapping these polities & locations as well as coding a number of attributes about their systems of government.
Role: The URAP will work with Professor Wilfahrt in finalizing this dataset and preparing it for release. Specifically, principle tasks will include: conducting original research using historical sources to fill in missing data, and assisting in georeferencing historical maps of kingdoms.
Regular meetings are required, but all work can be conducted remotely (library access will be necessary).
Qualifications: Students should have strong skills in locating academic/historical sources and basic knowledge of excel. Familiarity with a GIS program (QGIS or Arc) desirable but not essential; apprentices can develop these skills over the semester. French or Portuguese language skills a plus, but not required. Prior coursework in African studies, history or political science is highly desirable.
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Social Sciences