Global Humanities

This course is meant to introduce students to the key dynamics of sub-Saharan African history and politics during the past three centuries. The module covers three different but closely related periods: the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras. In their study of the pre-colonial period, students will familiarize themselves with the changing nature of African internal slavery before and after Abolition and the nineteenth-century reconstruction of political authority in the face of economic and military challenges. The colonial period forms the second section of the course. Here, students will gain an understanding of the modalities of the colonial conquest, the creation and operations of colonial economies and the socio-cultural transformations brought about by European rule. The study of the colonial period will end with an analysis of African nationalisms and decolonisation. In the final part of the course, students will develop an understanding of the challenges faced by independent African nations. The nature of the post-colonial African state will be explored alongside such topical issues as the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the Rwandan Genocide, the Great Lakes Crisis and the African AIDS epidemic.

Not applicable

Mandatory text: J. Iliffe, Africans: The History of a Continent (Cambridge, 2017; ed. orig. 1995) OR R.J. Reid, A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present. Third Edition (Hoboken, NJ, 2020) Two optional texts out of the following: M. Bratton and N. van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 1997) P. Chabal and J.-P. Daloz, Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (Oxford, 1999) J. Iliffe, The African Aids Epidemic: A History (Oxford, 2006) P.E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa (Cambridge, 2012; ed. orig., 1983) G. Macola, The Gun in Central Africa: A History of Technology and Politics (Athens, OH, 2016) M. Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda (Princeton, NJ, 2001) G. Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (London, 1997; ed. orig. 1995) G. Prunier, From Genocide to Continental War: The “Congolese” Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa (London, 2009) R. Ross, A Concise History of South Africa (Cambridge, 2008; ed. orig. 1999) L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (London, 1989) J. Vansina, Being Colonized: The Kuba Experience in Rural Congo, 1880-1960 (Madison, WI, 2010)

"Traditional" lectures will be enriched by drawing on both primary and secondary sources. This method is intended to favour and enhance student participation. A few seminars proper, based on student presentations, will take place towards the end of the module.

Optional, but recommended

Optional student presentations, scheduled for the closing week of the module, will form part of the overall oral assessment.

The module includes lectures as well as some student-led seminars.