Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
Library Books | Magazines | Web Sites
Library Books
The Dewey Decimal areas for countries in Africa are (mostly) in the 916s (life in Africa) and the 960s (history). To find books on specific countries, do a subject heading search in the online catalog by the name of the country. Browse through all the headings and pick the one that's best for you!
960 General history of Africa
961 General history of Africa Tunisia & Libya
962 General history of Africa Egypt & Sudan
963 General history of Africa Ethiopia
964 General history of Africa Morocco & Canary Islands
965 General history of Africa Algeria
966 General history of Africa West Africa & offshore islands
967 General history of Africa Central Africa & offshore islands
968 General history of Africa Southern Africa
969 General history of Africa South Indian Ocean islands
Some helpful reference sources:
R 909 C8993 Culture Grams: Africa
R 909.0496003 Af83 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
R 919 D741 2007 Africa 2007 (older volumes are found in nonfiction and can be checked out for four weeks)
R 960 F197k Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide
R Q.960.03 Af831 Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students (4 volumes)
R Q.960.03 P146e Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (3 volumes)
R Q.966.02 W52 World Eras: Volume 10: West African Kingdom, 500-1590
The University has a very, very, very large collection of books about Africa. Please talk to library staff if you need help searching and requesting. Since you don't have much time, you are probably better off picking up the books yourself.
Magazine and Newspaper Articles
If you search these databases from home, you will be prompted to supply your NetID and password.
Search the general periodical databases that are linked to from the Library's home page. Your best bets are Ebsco's Academic Search Premier, Infotrac's Academic OneFile and Infotrac's Expanded Academic ASAP.
JSTOR searches full-text for backfile articles and reviews in over 130 multi-disciplinary journals. See Project Muse (below) for more recent articles.
Project Muse Searches full-text in over 150 journals supplied by 10 university presses. Click on the search button to start your search. Muse works well for more recent periodical issues, while JSTOR (see above) reproduces older volumes.
Search Lexis-Nexis for newspaper articles.
For more newspaper options, go to our guide on online newspapers.
Web Sites
Economist Intelligence Unit (requires UIUC NetID to log on)
Extensive information on particular countries (maps, political information, discussion of social tensions, etc,). Choose the “country profile” option on the screen that comes up.
Information Collected by the UIUC Center for African Studies
A wealth of information on all countries of Africa.
The World Factbook
From our friends at the CIA.
Try Google Scholar, which searches “open-to-the-free-web” peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts, and articles from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
Librarians Internet Index
“Websites you can trust.” Search for your country. 'Nuff said.