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Liberian Studies Journal VOLUME 33 2008 Number 2 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Nation of Nation of Counties of SIERRA -8 N LEONE Liberia Nation of IVORY COAST -6°N ldunuc Nr Geography Ikpartmcnt University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown iew Map Updated: 2003 sew Published by THE LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION, INC. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Cover page was compiled by Dr. William B. Kory, with cartography work by Joe Sernall at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnston- - Geography Department. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor VOLUME 33 2008 Number 2 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Editor James S. Guseh North Carolina Central University Associate Editor Emmanuel 0. Oritsejafor North Carolina Central University Book Review Editor Emmanuel 0. Oritsejafor North Carolina Central University Editorial Assistant Monica C. Tsotetsi North Carolina Central University EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: William C. Allen, Virginia State University Warren d' Azevedo, University of Nevada Alpha M. Bah, College of Charleston Lawrence Breitborde, Knox College Christopher Clapham, Lancaster University D. Elwood Dunn, Sewanee-The University of the South Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University Thomas Hayden, Society of African Missions Svend E. Holsoe, University of Delaware Sylvia Jacobs, North Carolina Central University James N. J. Kollie, Sr., University of Liberia Coroann Olcorodudu, Rowan College of N. J. Romeo E. Philips, Kalamazoo College Momo K. Rogers, Kpazolu Media Enterprises Henrique F. Tokpa, Cuttington University College LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Alpha M. Bah, College of Charleston, President Mary Moran, Colgate University, Secretary-Treasurer James S. Guseh, North Carolina Central University, Parliamentarian Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University, Past President Timothy A. Rainey, Johns Hopkins University Joseph Holloway, California State University-Northridge FORMER EDITORS Amos J. Beyan Al-Hassan Conteh C. William Allen Edward J. Biggane Edited at North Carolina Central University Department of Public Administration and the Office of International Affairs The Editors and Advisory Board gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the Department of Public Administration and the Office of International Affairs at North Carolina Central University. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Editorial Policy The Liberian Studies Journal is dedicated to the publication of original research on social, political, economic, scientific, and other issues about Liberia or with implications for Liberia. Opinions of contributors to the Journal do not necessarily reflect the policy of the organiza- tions they represent or the Liberian Studies Association, publisher of the Journal. Manuscript Requirements Manuscripts submitted for publication should not exceed 25 typewritten, double-spaced pages, with margins of one-and a-half inches. The page limit includes graphs, references, tables and appendices. Authors may, in addition to their manuscripts, submit a computer disk of their work preferably in MS Word 2007 or WordPerfect 8.0 (or higher) for Windows. Notes and references should be placed at the end of the text with headings. Notes, if any, should precede the references. The Journal is published in June and December. The deadline for the first issue is February 28, and for the second, August 31. Manuscripts should include a cover page that provides the title of the text, author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and affiliation. Anonymous referees will review all works. Manuscripts are accepted in English and French. Manuscripts must conform to the editorial style of either the Chicago Manual of Style (CMA), The American Psychological Association (APA), or Modern Language Associa- tion (MLA). Authors should send their manuscripts for consideration by regular mail or e-mail attach- ments to: James S. Guseh, Editor Liberian Studies Journal North Carolina Central University 1801 Fayetteville Street Durham, North Carolina 27707 Email: [email protected] Phone: 919-530-5201 All Book Reviews should be mailed to: Emmanuel 0. Oritsejafor, Co-Editor Liberian Studies Journal North Carolina Central University Durham, North Carolina 27707 Email: [email protected] Phone: 919-530-7589 Indexing and Abstracting: The Liberian Studies Journal is indexed and/or abstracted by America: History and Life (1970-); Bibliographic Index (Jan. 1990-); Current Abstracts (Jun. 2009); Historical Abstracts (1970-); International Bibliographies of the Social Sci- ences International Political Science Abstracts; Linguistic Bibliography; MLA Interna- tional Bibliography (Modern Language Association of America); RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Littermate (Musicale) (1973-). Ebsco Index (2009). PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor CONTENTS "THE BOYS FORM THE BARK LIBERIA": LIBERIAN LIFE NARRATIVES IN LATE 19TH CENTURY AMERICA Gareth Griffiths 2 RESEARCH ON LIBERIAN MUSIC: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Joshua Giddings 25 TALKING DRUM AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR MUSIC MAKING AND COMMUNICATION IN WEST AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF DUNDUN Oluwafemi Faseun 59 BOOK REVIEWS 77 NEW PUBLICATIONS ON AND ABOUT LIBERIA 82 LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES 84 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor "The Boys from the Bark Liberia": Liberian Life Narratives in Late 19th Century America Gareth Griffiths* Abstract The paper examines the ways Liberians educated in the United States in the late 19th century represented themselves in life narratives aimed at the audience of mission supporters and Churches involved in the conversion of the indigenous populations of Liberia. It focuses on a number of life narratives written in the 1890s by Liberians educated at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, an important institution for the education of Liberians from its founding in 1854 as the Ash- mun Institute. It illustrates how such representations and their control opens up the issues of white, African-American and "Africo-Liberian" (the term used for Liberian students at Lincoln at the time) relations in the late nineteenth century. The paper also examines the influence on the form, the content and the reception of these life narratives of the mission authorities who had sponsored the educa- tion of these young Liberians, the authorities of the colleges at which they were enrolled, and the expectations of the American Christian audiences at whom their life narratives were aimed. Introduction Whilst African-American texts from the earliest periods have been increasingly scrutinized, and justly so, the texts published by Africans brought to America in the 19th century by missions or other agencies have been relatively neglected. This account of the texts published by Liberians educated at Lincoln College, Pennsylvania is a small part of this larger neglected history of writing by Africans in America in the period before and after Emancipation. The ways Africans were represented and self-represented themselves was a crucial factor in forming identities within the recently contested and now reconstructed United States, in African-American com- munities as well as the larger white American society during a * Gareth Griffiths, BA, PhD, FAHA, is Winthrop Professor of English and Cultural Studies, at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 2 THE BOYS FROM THE BARK LIBERIA period when race was being reconstructed in the aftermath of the bloody civil conflict and the resulting rejection by the newly re- united states of the legality of the "peculiar institution" of slavery in American society. As both black and white Americans struggled to adjust to the new race relations that emerged from the war Africans temporarily or permanently resident in America played a crucial role in the debates about race and racial identities that emerged. Walter L. Williams has already drawn attention to the im- portance of the links with Liberia in the process of such exchanges, and the crucial role played in that link by Liberian students at Lin- coln University, "The earliest American missions to Africa were sponsored by white churches,which were interested in the Afro-American settlement of Liberia. For example, the Northern Presbyterians founded Lincoln University in Pennsylva- nia in 1854 to train black missionaries for Africa. In its early years its black mission students were from the United States or were the sons of Afro-American emigrants in Liberia. But in 1873 nine indigenous Africans were sent to the campus by alumni who were missionaries in Liberia. These young Africans arrived at an advan- tageous time for the struggling school, since the depression of 1873 had destroyed the fund-raising drive. But the college took the newly arrived students on a publicity tour, and they proved to be such attractive attention-getters that Lincoln was able to survive the depression. After this first group of Africans proved so advantageous, Lincoln continued to attract another twenty Africans before 1900, sixteen of whom were from Liberia." (Williams 1980, p. 229).
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