85506 - Contemporary History of North Africa and Middle East

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Docente: Irma Taddia
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: SPS/13
  • Language: English
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Ravenna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage (cod. 9237)

Learning outcomes

The Course Unit focuses on the Middle East and North Africa regions in 20th and 21st centuries. It aims at introducing students to the regions’ contemporary history by paying attention to social, economic, and political issues and the main theories and concepts about the formation of the contemporary Arab States. In the main, this Unit takes on an historical approach to examine the nature of political authority, the complex relationships between Islam and politics during the deep secularization of the 20th century, along with the succeeding resurgence of religious themes both in national and global politics. Course will point to examine the challenges of democracy, the legacy of the past in national and transnational belonging and the foundation of political institutions in the MENA region, with a focus on post-Cold War context.

Course contents

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course students will show understanding of colonialism in Africa and will be able to situate it in the framework of the development of European imperialism.They will be able to analyze how colonialism shaped African political institutions and economic systems and how it changed the participation of the continent to the global world. Forms of collaboration and resistance will be used as an analytical tool to look at the agency of African societies in the negotiation of power relations under colonial rule. At the end of the course, students will reach an understanding of how the global linkages of the African continent were changed and shaped by the development of formal European colonialism and by the establishment of asymmetrical power relations.

Programma/Contenuti

The course is divided into two parts.

The first part focuses on the methodology that has been developed to analyse the history of colonialism in Africa, also in relation to the general historiographical debate on colonial, imperial and global history. This methodological introduction will focus particularly on:

- orality, written sources and colonialism;

- Africans speak about colonialism;

- African intellectuals and colonialism;

- the historiographical debate on how colonialism shaped African history and changed African terms of participation to the global world

The second part of the course will focus on the history of colonialism in the Horn of Africa. This will be used as a case study to analyse forms of collaboration, resistance, and more in general African agency, in negotiating power relations during the colonial period. The history of the Horn will be analysed in relation to the global history of imperialism and colonialism during the 19th and 20th century. These are the main topics that will be discussed:

- colonialism and African resistance;

- colonialism and the abolition of slavery;

- colonialism and national identities

Testi/Bibliografia

Students not attending the course will read 4 volumes out of 6 of the following books:

i

Tekeste Negash, Irma Taddia, State, institutions and leadership in Africa, libreria universitaria edizioni 2018

A. Roberts (ed.), The colonial moment in Africa, Cambridge University Press, 2008

F. Cooper, Africa in the world. Capitalism, Empire and Nation-State,

Harvarversity Press

I. Taddia, Horn of Africa. History and Politics, Edizioni Accademiche Italiane, 2015

M.J. Willis, Politics and Power in the Maghreb. Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from independence to the Arab Spring, Oxforf University Press, 2016

Francesco Tamburini , Il Maghreb dalle indipendenze alle rivolte arabe: Storia e Istituzioni, Pisa University Press , 2017

- Students attending the course will read 3 out of 6 of the following books:

Tekeste Negash, Irma Taddia, State, institutions and leadership in Africa, libreria universitaria edizioni 2018

A. Roberts (ed.), The colonial moment in Africa, Cambridge University Press, 2008

F. Cooper, Africa in the world. Capitalism, Empire and Nation-State,

Harvarversity Press

I. Taddia, Horn of Africa. History and Politics, Edizioni Accademiche Italiane, 2015

M.J. Willis, Politics and Power in the Maghreb. Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from independence to the Arab Spring, Oxforf University Press, 2016

Francesco Tamburini , Il Maghreb dalle indipendenze alle rivolte arabe: Storia e Istituzioni, Pisa University Press , 2017


Alternative, students attending the course will be given weekly readings, that are designed to complement the lectures. The readings and assignments will make students think about African colonial history in a global perspective. The material will be uploaded on campus.unibo.it at the beginning of the course.

Metodi didattici

Frontal lectures, power point presentations; group discussions

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students attending the course will be evaluated on the basis of:

a. participation to classes and discussions (50%)

During the course, students will have to keep up on the readings. To receive a positive evaluation for this part, students will have to engage with the readings and assignments, to think actively about them and to participate to class discussions in a positive way.

b. short essay (50%)

At the end of the course, students have to write a paper in which they will present and discuss a historical source, or a historical novel, or a biography, that pertain to the objectives of the course. Further indications on length, deadlines, etc. will be given on the first day of the course.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students not attending the course, will be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. During the oral exam students will be asked three questions, one on each book they have read. During the exam, students have to show that they are familiar with the most important processes that characterize the history of colonial Africa in the 19th and 20th century and that they are able to situate them in a global perspective. They also have to demonstrate that they are able to discuss methodological problems and use an appropriate terminology.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

power point presentations

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Irma Taddia [https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/irma.taddia]

Readings/Bibliography




Students not attending the course will read 4 volumes out of 6 of the following books:
i

Tekeste Negash, Irma Taddia, State, institutions and leadership in Africa, libreria universitaria edizioni 2018

A. Roberts (ed.), The colonial moment in Africa, Cambridge University Press, 2008

F. Cooper, Africa in the world. Capitalism, Empire and Nation-State,
Harvarversity Press

I. Taddia, Horn of Africa. History and Politics, Edizioni Accademiche Italiane, 2015

M.J. Willis, Politics and Power in the Maghreb. Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from independence to the Arab Spring, Oxforf University Press, 2016

Francesco Tamburini , Il Maghreb dalle indipendenze alle rivolte arabe: Storia e Istituzioni, Pisa University Press , 2017

- Students attending the course will read 3 out of 6 of the following books:

Tekeste Negash, Irma Taddia, State, institutions and leadership in Africa, libreria universitaria edizioni 2018

A. Roberts (ed.), The colonial moment in Africa, Cambridge University Press, 2008

F. Cooper, Africa in the world. Capitalism, Empire and Nation-State,

Harvarversity Press

I. Taddia, Horn of Africa. History and Politics, Edizioni Accademiche Italiane, 2015

M.J. Willis, Politics and Power in the Maghreb. Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco from independence to the Arab Spring, Oxforf University Press, 2016

Francesco Tamburini , Il Maghreb dalle indipendenze alle rivolte arabe: Storia e Istituzioni, Pisa University Press , 2017


Alternative, students attending the course will be given weekly readings, that are designed to complement the lectures. The readings and assignments will make students think about African colonial history in a global perspective. The material will be uploaded on campus.unibo.it at the beginning of the course.
Metodi didattici

Frontal lectures, power point presentations; group discussions
Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students attending the course will be evaluated on the basis of:

a. participation to classes and discussions (50%)

During the course, students will have to keep up on the readings. To receive a positive evaluation for this part, students will have to engage with the readings and assignments, to think actively about them and to participate to class discussions in a positive way.

b. short essay (50%)

At the end of the course, students have to write a paper in which they will present and discuss a historical source, or a historical novel, or a biography, that pertain to the objectives of the course. Further indications on length, deadlines, etc. will be given on the first day of the course.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students not attending the course, will be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. During the oral exam students will be asked three questions, one on each book they have read. During the exam, students have to show that they are familiar with the most important processes that characterize the history of colonial Africa in the 19th and 20th century and that they are able to situate them in a global perspective. They also have to demonstrate that they are able to discuss methodological problems and use an appropriate terminology.
Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Teaching methods

teaching methodods 

 

 

Frontal lectures, power point presentations; group discussions

 

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

oral examination

written papers

 

 

Assessment methods


oral examination

written papers

Teaching tools

internet support

Office hours

See the website of Irma Taddia