In The Philosophy of History (1837), Georg Hegel

Background: In The Philosophy of History (1837), Georg Hegel, an influential German philosopher, stated: “At this point we leave Africa, not to mention it again. For it is no historical part of the World; it has no movement or development to exhibit . . . . What we properly understand by Africa, is the Unhistorical, Undeveloped Spirit, still involved in the conditions of mere nature, and which had to be presented here only as on the threshold of the World's History.” More than one hundred years later, the British professor, Hugh Trevor-Roper, echoed Hegel’s assertions in his book, The Rise of Christian Europe: “Perhaps in the future there will be some African history to teach. But at the present there is none; there is only the history of Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness, and darkness is not the subject of history” (1964). Assignment: Write an essay in which you critically reflect and respond to Hegel’s and Trevor-Roper’s comments above about Africa. Your essay should be 4-5 pages, typed and doubled spaced and must conform to the sixth (or seventh) edition of the MLA (Publication Manual of the Modern Language Association). Two hard copies of your essays are due in class on May 6 an extra copy will be submitted as a Microsoft word attachment on Blackboard (details will be provided in class).