The articles in this collection span 38 years, from 1979-2017, during most of which time the author was a professor of history at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The first three sections are the results of his original research on the history of the Ethiopian Jews before their migrations to Israel, as well as the related socio-ethnic history of other peoples in Northwestern Ethiopia. One of these sections focuses specifically with the complex issue of using written and oral sources for these analyses. A fourth section provides a few examples of teaching methodological issues during his long teaching career, including one article on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The final two sections were stimulated by his decades-long teaching world history and African history at Fisk University, a pre-eminent HBCU (Historically Black College or University). These topics include the process by which W.E.B. Du Bois, the most famous graduate of Fisk, became a scholar and activist of African history and contemporary issues; the historical relationships of Fisk and Africa, including Fisk students who became missionaries in Africa in the late nineteenth century; Pan-Africanism and African American perceptions of the Battle of Adwa; and a short comparative discussion of the kind of education (“head or hand”) favored by different people. The final section deals with major issues relating to the significance of African history in relationship to world history. Many of the articles began as conference presentations given in the United States, Africa, Europe or Asia, while others were journal articles originally.

Preface

Foreword

1. REFLECTIONS on BETA ISRAEL (FALASHA) STUDIES

2. BETA ISRAEL and COMPARATIVE SOCIAL-ETHNIC HISTORY of NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

3. ORAL and WRITTEN SOURCE ANALYSIS

4. STUDIES in TEACHING HISTORY METHODOLOGY

5. HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS and COMPARISONS: ETHIOPIA, AFRICA, AFRICAN AMERICA, FISK UNIVERSITY

6. COMPARATIVE AFRICAN and WORLD HISTORY

These brilliantly told stories of Ethiopia’s peoples show community change and survival in tension with the Ethiopian Empire, as the empire too survived through religious and Pan-African ties. Chapters trace the Beta Israel community’s 500 years of independent Old Testament beliefs, the worldwide links of Ethiopian peoples, and Fisk University’s tradition of conveying Pan-African knowledge and identity. Quirin’s respect for the equal worth of all peoples reaffirms African heritage in world affairs. 

–Patrick Manning, Andrew Mellon Professor of World History, Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh

Historical Connections is a collection of essays from an estimable scholar of Ethiopia and its Semitic historical cultures ranging from the 15th to the 20th centuries. The volume encompasses 5 decades of work that spans five decades of scholarship, including insights into engagement with explorations of Ethiopia, Semitic Studies, and historical methods.  A tour de force. Africa aficionados, in both the academy and a new generation of engaged diaspora of Ethiopians and Africans.

–James McCann, Professor Emeritus, Department of History and African Studies Center, Boston University

Professor Quirin’s book covers many topics and serves many purposes; from how historians handle texts and oral traditions to history from multiple perspectives. It includes essays on W.E.B. Du Bois’ relationship with Fisk University and his work on Africa and Pan-Africanism, the development of the 20^th century study of World History, Africa in world history, and African history from an African perspective.  Thus, this book provides opportunities for scholars, teachers, and armchair globalists to expand their knowledge while resting in a master’s embrace.

–Beverly Moran, Professor Emerita, Vanderbilt University

The best and more accurate and original reference for whoever wishes to deal with the history of Beta Israel in Ethiopia

–Emanuela Trevisan Semi, Professor, University of Venice, Italy

James Quirin’s collected studies are essential reading because they go beyond his original work on the Beta Israel in numerous ways. Quirin critically discusses other approaches to the study of the Beta Israel, the contribution of those studies and controversies to the general study of Ethiopian history, the comparative socio-ethnic history of Northwest Ethiopia, the analysis of oral and written sources, and the contribution of his studies to teaching and research methodology.

The essays on the historical connections and comparisons with Ethiopia, Africa, and African America, and those on comparative world history, from Eritrea to Japan, are by themselves worth the purchase or perusal of this book. This work is must reading for a better understanding of Ethiopian, African and world societies and the politics and formation of caste and state anywhere.

–Irving Leonard Markovitz, Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, Queens College, City University of New York