文章基本信息

标题：Expatriate Researchers and the Historiography of Calabar, 1650 - 1960: A Reappraisal
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作者：David Lishilinimle Imbua ; Patience O. Erim
期刊名称：Journal of Social Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0971-8923
出版年度：2012
卷号：30
期号：2
页码：165-170
出版社：Kamla-Raj Enterprises, Delhi
摘要：Among expatriates of note who lived a nd worked in the ancient city of Cala bar were researchers, who recorded events as they occurred or as they were told by the aborigines. Over the years, rather than commending expatriate resea rchers, most local historians do not only criticize and condemn their researches for Eurocentric prejudices, limitations, generalizations and erroneous judgments but also refer to them as garbage of no historical value. Opposed to this general view, this paper argues that studies by expa triate observers and chroniclers of events in Old Ca labar remain invaluable in the reconstruction of the early history of this region of Nigeria. Expatriate researchers of this period (1650 - 1960) did not only contribute in placing Ca labar on the World ma p but also ensured that researchers of pre-literate Calabar society a re not frustra ted by the lack of records or left entirely at the mercy of oral tradition. The pa per concludes that if viewed with a critical eye, researchers and students will find works of expatriate resea rchers on Ca labar indispensable mines of information with which to corroborate and expand existing studies on this cosmopolita n community in which the Efik, the Efut, the Qua and other ethnicities and nationalities lived in relatively peaceful coexistence. The materia ls used in putting this paper together were drawn from written and non-written sources, which complement a nd valida te each other. The use of ora l sources in this study becomes imperative when it is realized that some of the records we made reference to were written by foreigners and such records ha ve limita tion, which can be compensated by emic source s. The written sources include published and unpublished materials deposited at the University of Calabar Library, Old Residency Museum Ca labar and the Nigerian National Archives.
关键词：Histor y. O rality. Colonialism. Missiona ry. Old Ca la ba r