Gareth Austin, POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, c1450-c1900: REFLECTIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMIC HISTORIOGRAPHY’, Short position paper for The State of Economic History in the World lunchtime session, EHES Conference, Geneva, 4 September 2009.

From the beginning of continuous professional study on the subject, over half a century ago, the explicit or implicit focus of almost all research on the economic history of Sub-Saharan Africa has been the (sub-)’s continent’s relative poverty and seemingly halting development. This short paper is intended to outline the development of this extensive and diverse literature, and to highlight and critique recent trends. Brevity requires extreme selectivity; I apologise to the many authors unjustly neglected in what follows. Given the title of this session, there is a brief postscript on the state of the subject in African universities.