81695 - Africa and the World 1800-1960 (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will reach an understanding of the history of Africa from the abolition of the slave trade until independence. At the same time, they will be able to situate it in the framework of historical processes of globalization. During the course, students will learn how to engage with the major historiographical debates on Africa and its role in global history and be familiar with the methodology and terminology used by Africanist historians.

Course contents

The course is divided into two parts. The first part is an introduction to the history of sub-saharan Africa and its connections to global historical processes from 1800 to 1960. We will see how Africa contributed to the creation of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds, as well as analyze the colonization of Africa and the decolonization process in a global perspective. The second part of the course will explore sub-saharan Africa during the colonial period, focusing on the colonial encounters. Through the analysis of some specific thematic issues, such as gender, language, money and resistance, we will reconstruct the history of colonialism in Africa as a process of continuos interaction and negotiation between the colonizers and the colonized societies.

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 in a global perspective. The general material will be uploaded on campus.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 three books:

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

One 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 ATTENDING THE COURSE:

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

a. participation to classes and discussions (50%)

During the course, you will have to keep up on the readings. 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 four group discussions during the course. To be considered as attending students you have to participate to all of them and to come to class.

b. oral exam (50%)

Students will also be evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. In this, you will have to discuss the material of the first part of the course (which will be uploaded on campus.unibo.it) and select one out of four of the main topics discussed during the course: gender, money, resistance, language (and prepare the material on the topic that will be uploaded on campus.unibo.it)

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 three 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 from 1800 to 1960 and that you are able to situate them in a global 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-mai

Teaching tools

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

Office hours

See the website of Karin Pallaver