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Information and Ideas / Central Ideas and Details Difficulty: Hard

Jürgen Kocka and other historians of capitalism rarely discuss domestic capitalism in Africa before the period of European colonization, implicitly presenting capitalism as external to and imposed on Africa. Crislayne Alfagali and other Africanist scholars have shown, however, that in parts of Africa, returns-focused investment, the establishment of open markets for wage labor, and other features of capitalism predated colonization. One reason for this discrepancy is that historians of capitalism tend to focus on longitudinal economic data drawn from archival records, which do not exist for much of precolonial Africa.

Which statement about Alfagali and other Africanist scholars is best supported by information in the text?

They likely make use of different types of evidence than historians of capitalism typically rely on.

They likely differ from historians of capitalism in the methods they use to derive longitudinal economic data from archival records.

They likely have a different view about which activities should be considered capitalist in nature than historians of capitalism do.

They likely view capitalism as having been more beneficial for Africa than historians of capitalism do.

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Explanation

Choice A is the best answer because it presents a statement about Alfagali and other Africanist scholars that is supported by the text. The last sentence of the text explains that historians of capitalism generally rely on a type of data that requires "archival records, which do not exist for much of precolonial Africa." Nevertheless, Alfagali and other Africanist scholars have demonstrated that features of capitalism including "returns-focused investment,...open markets for wage labor, and other features of capitalism" existed in parts of Africa before colonization. Because archival records typically used by historians of capitalism aren′t available for precolonial Africa, Alfagali and other Africanist scholars of precolonial capitalism in Africa likely used atypical sources for their studies.

Choice B is incorrect because the text states that archival records containing longitudinal economic data "do not exist for much of precolonial Africa." If these records don’t exist for precolonial Africa, then Alfagali and other Africanist scholars couldn’t derive data from them by any method. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that Alfagali and other Africanist scholars define capitalism differently than other historians of capitalism do. On the contrary, the text simply asserts that specific features they found, such as "returns-focused investment [and] open markets for wage labor," are "features of capitalism," which implies scholarly agreement that these activities are capitalist in nature. Choice D is incorrect because the text doesn’t indicate any effects of capitalism in Africa, positive or negative. Rather, the text explains why precolonial Africa has been omitted from mainstream histories of capitalism and presents work by Alfagali and other Africanist scholars that challenges and corrects the historical record of precolonial capitalism.