28760 - History and Institutions of Africa

Academic Year 2022/2023

Learning outcomes

• At the end of the course, students will be familiar with the historical sources needed to study the history of sub-Saharan Africa. They will know the main social, economic and political processes that have characterized the history of the African continent over the long term. They will be aware of the main historiographical debates on the history of sub-Saharan Africa, especially on colonialism, the decolonization process and the building of the post-colonial state. They will be able to plan and develop a research on subjects connected to African history and cultures. They will acquire the ability to talk and write about Africa using the specific terminology of the field.

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts. The first part (6 hours) is an introduction to the history of sub-saharan Africa and its connections to global historical processes from 1800 to 1960. Those students who do not have a background in African history can read R. Reid, A History of Modern Africa. 1800 to the Present, Wiley 2012. In this first part we will also analyse the main developments of the African History field and the main elements of the historiographical debates, also in relation to the field of Global History. The second part of the course will explore sub-saharan Africa during the colonial period. The analyses will be situated into the larger framework of the history of European imperialism in the 19th and 20th century. This part of the course will specifically focus on the colonial encounters. Through the analysis of some specific thematic issues, such as gender relations in the colonies, the relation between European and local languages, the impact of colonial money on African societies, violence and genocide, colonialism and memory, we will reconstruct the history of colonialism in Africa as a process of continuous interaction and negotiation between the colonizers and the colonized societies.

ONLY FOR THE STUDENTS TAKING  THE INTEGRATED COURSE African History and Institutions (12 CFU): for module 2, please, refer to this webpage: https://www.unibo.it/it/didattica/insegnamenti/insegnamento/2022/392230

 

Readings/Bibliography

STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE:

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 history and historiography in a critical perspective. The material will be uploaded on virtuale.unibo.it at the beginning of the course and the material on specific themes will be uploaded each week.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students not attending the course will read a total of four books:

(This is a bibliography in English only; if you prefer to read the texts in Italian, please make reference to the Italian page of the course)

Compulsory readings:

Gilbert, Erik and Jonathan T. Reynolds, Africa in World History: From Prehistory to the Present. Boston: Pearson, 2012 [3rd edition]

AND

Cooper, F., Africa in the world. Capitalism, Empire and the Nation-State, Cambridge, 2014

AND

Two among the following:

Johannes Fabian, Language and Colonial Power. The Appropriation of Swahili in the Former Belgian Congo 1880-1938, University of California Press, 1986.

Katherine Luongo, Witchcraft and colonial rule in Kenya, 1900-1950, Cambridge University Press, 2015.

John M. Mugane, The Story of Swahili, Ohio University Press, 2015

Carina Ray, Crossing the Color Line: Race, Sex, and the Contested Politics of Colonialism in Ghana, Ohio University Press, 2015


Teaching methods

Lectures and class discussions. Archival documents and photographs, travelogues, biographies, novels, will be presented and analyzed in order to better situate the historical processes discussed in class.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of classes as well as all class discussions are considered to be attending.

 

STUDENTS ATTENDING THE COURSE:

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

a. participation to classes and discussions

During the course, you will have to keep up on the readings assigned every week and discusse in class. To receive a positive evaluation for this part, you will have to engage with the readings and assignments, to think actively about them and to participate to class discussions in a positive way. There will be a total of five group discussions during the course. To be considered as attending students you have to participate to at least four out of five  group discussions. The material analysed in class will be discussed also during the oral exam.

b. oral exam

Students will  be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. During the exam, you will have to discuss the articles and book chapters (5 in total)  which will be uploaded on virtuale.unibo.it and discuss the main topics analysed during the course: gender, money, language, violence using the material that will be uploaded on virtuale.unibo.it. During the exam, you have to show that you are familiar with the most important processes that characterize the history of Africa during the colonial period and that you are able to situate it in a wider historical perspective. You also have to demonstrate that you are able to discuss methodological problems and use an appropriate terminology.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE:

Students not attending the course will be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. During the oral exam you will be asked four questions, one on each book you have read. During the exam, you have to show that you are familiar with the most important processes that characterize the history of Africa during the colonial period  and that you are able to situate it in a wider historical perspective. You also have to demonstrate that you are able to discuss methodological problems and use an appropriate terminology. You have to read all the books assigned. If the reading list is not clear enough or you have problems in finding the texts, please contact Prof. Pallaver by e-mail.

EVALUATION:

If the student achieves an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the topics discussed in class and required for the discipline; provides an effective critical commentary; shows mastery of expression and uses the specific language of the discipline, he/she will obtain very good or excellent in the final evaluation (28-30L).

Average marks (satisfactory-good) will be awarded to students who have memorized the main points of the material and are able to summarise them satisfactorily, while howver failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology or contents (22-27).

An incomplete command of contents and/or inappropriate terminology, albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the course material, will lead to a 'pass' mark (18-21).

A student will fail the exam if he/she makes significant mistakes in the understanding of the relevant topics and fails to grasp the overall outlines of the course topics, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology (< 18)

 

PLEASE NOTE: Students who are taking this course as part of the integrated course African History and Institutions (12 CFU for History and oriental studies) will take two different exams: one for the first module (29729 - African History and Institutions (1) LM) and one for the second module (75650 - History and Institutions of Africa (2) LM). The final grade will be the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two modules.

 

Teaching tools

We will use power point presentations with images and maps. These will be made available to the students and uploaded on virtuale.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Karin Pallaver

See the website of Domenico Cristofaro