HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS OF AFRICA

Course objectives

The module - provides students with knowledge and understanding of the methodological, critical and problematic aspects of the discipline; proposes regional and sector-specific perspectives through which research projects relating to the discipline can be brought to fruition; shows the variability of the fields of interest within which disciplinary skills can be applied (Dublin descriptor 1) - develops students' independent ability to relate what they have learned to other disciplinary areas: historical, literary, artistic, cultural heritage, economic, political, historical-religious, etc.; (descriptor 2) - enables students to use the knowledge acquired and the specific language learned for so-called “transversal skills” (independence of judgement, communication skills (descriptors 3-5).

Channel 1
GIACOMO MACOLA Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The History of Africa from 1700 to the present This survey course is meant to introduce students to the key dynamics of sub-Saharan African history during the past three centuries. The module covers three different but closely related chronological 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, African resistance, 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.
Prerequisites
Not applicable
Books
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Frequency
Optional, but recommended
Exam mode
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Bibliography
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Lesson mode
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  • Lesson code1023729
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CourseCultural Anthropology and Ethnology
  • CurriculumSingle curriculum
  • Year1st year
  • Semester2nd semester
  • SSDSPS/13
  • CFU6