[S] = Shillington, Kevin. History of Africa. 3rd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. ISBN: 9780230308473.
[M] = Mutongi, Kenda. Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi. University of Chicago Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780226471396.
[W] = Worger, William H., Clark, Nancy L., and Edward A. Alpers. Africa and the West: A Documentary History, Volume Two: From Colonialism to Independence, 1875 to the Present. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780195373134.
| SES# | TOPICS | READINGS AND VIDEOS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Representations of Africa and of Africans |
Reading Wainaina, Binyavanga. “How to Write about Africa.” Granta 92, May 2019. Video “The Danger of a Single Story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.” YouTube. “African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes. [Mamahope.org].” YouTube. |
| Part I: An Overview of Africa before the 19th Century | ||
| 2 | The Slave Trade and West Africa to 19th Century |
Readings [S] Chapter 12: The Atlantic Slave Trade, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century. [S] Chapter 13: West African States and Societies, to the Eighteenth Century. [S] Chapter 16: West Africa in the Nineteenth Century and the Ending of the Slave Trade. |
| 3 | Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa to 19th Century |
Readings [S] Chapter 14: Central and Eastern Africa to the Eighteenth Century. [S] Chapter 15: Southern Africa to the Eighteenth Century. [S] Chapter 17: Central and East Africa in the Nineteenth Century. [S] Chapter 18: Pre-industrial Southern Africa in the Nineteenth Century. |
| Part II: Colonial Conquest in 19th Century | ||
| 4 | 19th Century and Colonial Conquest |
Readings [S] Chapter 19: North and North-East Africa in the Nineteenth Century. [S] Chapter 20: Christianity and Pre-colonial ‘Nationalism’. [S] Chapter 21: The European ‘Scramble’, Colonial Conquest and African Resistance in East, North-Central and West Africa. [S] Chapter 22: Industrialisation, Colonial Conquest and African Resistance in South-Central and Southern Africa. **Skip the sections on northwestern Africa and Egypt.** Video “The Bible and The Gun Pt.1.” YouTube. “The African Cake.” YouTube. |
| Part III: The Workings of Colonialism | ||
| 5 | An Overview of Colonial Rule |
Readings [S] Chapter 23: Consolidation of Empire: The Early Period of Colonial Rule. [S] Chapter 24: Africa between the Wars: The High Tide of Colonial Rule. [S] Chapter 25: The Second World War and Africa. [W] Chapter 1.5: Frederick Lugard Instructs His Officials on How to Implement Indirect Rule (1913–18). [Preview with Google Books] [W] Chapter 1.6: The French Practice Direct Rule to Enforce Submission (1908). [Preview with Google Books] |
| 6 | Forced Labor and Taxation |
Readings [W] Chapter 1.4: Evidence of Colonial Atrocities in the Belgian Congo (1903–5). [Preview with Google Books] [W] Chapter 2.14: Forced Labor in Portugese Africa (1924). [W] Chapter 2.18: Colonial Rule Equals Taxes and Forced Labor (1934). [W] Chapter 2.19: Colonial Rule Equals Police Harassment (1920s–30s). [W] Chapter 2.20: Colonial Rule Equals Censorship (1936). |
| 7 | Capitalism and Segregation in South Africa |
Readings [W] Chapter 1.8: The Natives Land Act, South Africa, 1913 (1916). [W] Chapter 1.9: The African National Congress in South Africa (1919). [W] Chapter 3.28: Hendrik Verwoerd Explains Apartheid (1950). [W] Chapter 4.32: The Freedom Charter (1955). [W] Chapter 4.35: Verwoerd Reaffirms South Africa’s Commitment to White Supremacy (1958). Audio “Mandela: An Audio History.” National Public Radio. April 29, 2004. |
| Part IV: Africans’ Everyday Response to Colonialism | ||
| 8 | Gender and Earlier Forms of Resistance: Aba Riots in Nigeria |
Readings Van Allen, Judith. “‘Sitting on a Man’: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 6, no. 2 (1972): 165–81. Bastian, Misty L. “‘Vultures of the Marketplace’: Southeastern Nigerian Women and Discourses of the Ogu Umunwaayi (Women’s War) of 1929.” Chapter 11 in Women in African Colonial Histories. Edited by Jean Allman, Susan Geiger, and Nakanyike Musisi. Indiana University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780253215079. |
| 9 | Cultural Resistance: Female Circumcision Controversies in Kenya |
Readings Murray, Jocelyn. “The Church Missionary Society and the ‘Female Circumcision’ Issue in Kenya 1929–1932.” Journal of Religion in Africa 8, Facs. 2 (1976): 92–104. Thomas, Lynn M. “’Ngaitana (I will circumcise myself)’: The Gender and Generational Politics of the 1956 Ban on Clitoridectomy in Meru, Kenya.” Gender & History 8, no. 3 (1996): 338–63. |
| 10 | Leisure in Colonial Africa: Football and Flicks in Zanzibar and Zambia |
Readings Fair, Laura. “Kickin’ It: Leisure, Politics and Football in Colonial Zanzibar, 1900s–1950s.” Africa 67, no. 2 (1997): 224–51. Burns, James. “John Wayne on the Zambezi: Cinema, Empire, and the American Western in British Central Africa.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, no. 1 (2002): 103-17. |
| Part V: Decolonization | ||
| 11 | Everyday Family Life in Rural Africa: An Example from Western Kenya |
Readings Mutongi, Kenda. Excerpts from Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya. University of Chicago Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780226554204. [Preview with Google Books] |
| 12 | The Winning of Independence |
Readings [S] Chapter 26: The Winning of Independence (1). [S] Chapter 27: The Winning of Independence (2). [S] Chapter 28: The Winning of Independence (3). **Skip the sections on northwestern Africa and Egypt.** |
| 13 | Theories of Decolonization |
Readings [W] Chapter 5.39: Frantz Fanon Discusses the Limits of African Independence (1961). [W] Chapter 5.41: Julius Nyerere Argues for African Democracy, Self-Reliance, and Socialism (1967). [W] Chapter 5.43: “The Civilized Man’s Burden” (1963). [W] Chapter 5.44: Eduardo Mondlane Rejects Portuguese Apologetics (1969). |
| 14 | Guerilla Warfare and Decolonization: The Case of Mau Mau |
Readings [S] Chapter 27: The Winning of Independence (2). **Re-read pp. 405–6.** Berman, Bruce J. “Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Modernity: The Paradox of Mau Mau.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / La Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 25, no. 2 (1991): 181–206. Atieno-Odhiambo, E.S. “The Production of History in Kenya: The Mau Mau Debate.” Canadian Journal of African Studies / La Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 25, no. 2 (1991): 300–307. |
| 15 | The “End” of Apartheid |
Readings [W] Chapter 5.42: The African National Congress (ANC) Adopts a Policy of Violence (1961). [W] Chapter 5.45: Black Consciousness (1971). [W] Chapter 8.62: Negotiating Democracy in South Africa (1993). [W] Chapter 8.65: Nelson Mandela and a New Africa (1994). Video “President Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech May 10, 1994.” YouTube. Frontline: The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela. Directed by Clifford Bestall. Color and Black and White, 111 min. 1999. |
| Part VI: Africa since Independence | ||
| 16 | Africa since independence: Aid? |
Readings [S] Chapter 29: Africa Since Independence (1). [S] Chapter 30: Africa Since Independence (2). [S] Chapter 31: Contemporary Africa (1). [S] Chapter 32: Contemporary Africa (2). [W] Chapter 7.56: The Problem with Africa (1980). [W] Chapter 7.57: Structural Adjustment in Ghana (1983–89). |
| 17 | Crises in the 1990s: The Rwandan Genocide |
Readings [W] Chapter 8.67: Holding Someone Responsible (2007–8). Uvin, Peter. “Reading the Rwandan Genocide.” International Studies Review 3, no. 3 (2001): 75–99. Kanyangara, Patrick, Bernard Rimé, Pierre Philippot, et al. “Collective Rituals, Emotional Climate and Intergroup Perception: Participation in ‘Gacaca’ Tribunals and Assimilation of the Rwandan Genocide.” Journal of Social Issues 63, no. 2 (2007): 387–403. Video Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda. Directed by Kathi Lynn Austin and Andrea Torrice. Color, 35 min. 1997. **Please be warned: some of this is violent and disturbing.** |
| 18 | Crises in the 1990s: AIDS |
Readings [W] Chapter 7.58: Thabo Mbeki on AIDS and Poverty in Africa (2000). Whiteside, Alan “Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa.” Third World Quarterly 23, no. 2 (2002): 313–32. Susser, Ida, and Zena Stein. “Culture, Sexuality, and Women’s Agency in the Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa.” (PDF) American Journal of Public Health 90, no. 7 (2000): 1042–48. |
| Part VII: African Entrepreneurship and China’s Involvement in Africa | ||
| 19 | Nollywood |
Readings Okome, Onookome. “Nollywood: Spectatorship, Audience and the Sites of Consumption.” Postcolonial Text 3, no. 2 (2007). Haynes, Jonathan. “Nollywood in Lagos, Lagos in Nollywood Films.” Africa Today 54, no. 2 (2007): 131–50. Video Watch a Nollywood movie of your choice and report on it in class. |
| 20 | Matatus in Kenya |
Readings [M] “Introduction: Matatu.” [Preview with Google Books] [M] Chapter 1: The Only Way to Get There Was on Foot. [Preview with Google Books] [M] Chapter 2: It Is a Difficult System to Beat. [M] Chapter 3: We Are Making a Living by Constitutional Means. |
| 21 | China in Africa |
Readings Large, Daniel. “Beyond ‘Dragon in the Bush’: The Study of China-Africa Relations.” African Affairs 107, Issue 426 (2008): 45–61. Mohan, Giles, and Ben Lampert. “Negotiating China: Reinserting African Agency into China–Africa Relations.” African Affairs 112, Issue 446 (2013): 92–110. |
| Part VIII: The Afterlives of 21H.165: Modern African History | ||
| 22 | Brief presentations of your final papers | No readings and/or videos assigned |
| 23 | Brief presentations of your final papers | No readings and/or videos assigned |
