oakton community college course syllabus his 211 history ...mmadill/his_211_syllabus.pdf · c....

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Oakton Community College

COURSE SYLLABUS

HIS 211 History of Modern Africa

Department of Historical and Policy Studies

http://www.oakton.edu/acad/dept/his/index.htm

Michael Madill

[email protected]

http://www.oakton.edu/~mmadill

Contents Course Administration …………………………………………………………………………………….….1

Course Outline and Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………….…4

Introduction to the Course and this Bibliography……………………………………………….…..4

Background Readings ……………………………………………………………………………....6

Lecture and Discussion Schedule …………………………………………………………………..7

Lecture and Discussion Topics ……………………………………………………………………..7

Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………………………...….26

Course Administration

I. Course Course Course

Prefix Number Name Credit Lecture Lab

HIS 211 History of Modern Africa 3 3 0

II. Course Prerequisite: None

III. Course Description:

Course examines political, cultural and socio-economic history of Africa from 1885 to the

present. Course includes the end of European colonialism, the emergence of independent

African nation states, neo-colonialism, Africa during the Cold War, the rise and fall of

African dictatorships, apartheid, ethnicity and genocide, popular movements toward

democratization and the impact of globalization. Individual case studies will focus on South

Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Liberia and the Democratic

Republic of Congo, role of the African novel, film, music and popular art in understanding

the complexities of African history. IAI S2 907N

IV. Learning objectives:

The following are among the course learning objectives:

A. To understand the essential historical figures, events, and ideas associated with the history

of Africa from 1885 to the present.

B. To understand the interrelationship between political, economic, cultural, ethnic and

religious issues in defining the history of African states and societies.

C. To develop analytical thinking about history and to understand the importance of

examining the multiple causes behind major historical events.

D. To relate contemporary issues to the African past.

In addition to the above objectives, this course will help students develop the following

http://www.oakton.edu/acad/dept/his/index.htm

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.oakton.edu/~mmadill

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General Education Competencies that have been established by the College:

Identify, define, analyze, interpret, and evaluate: ideas, concepts, information, and their

consequences.

Communicate ideas, concepts, and information through written means.

Demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity as it relates to the individual, the

community, and the global society.

V. Academic Integrity:

Students and employees at Oakton Community College are required to demonstrate academic

integrity and follow Oakton’s Code of Academic Conduct. This code prohibits:

cheating,

plagiarism (turning in work not written by you, or lacking proper citation),

falsification and fabrication (lying or distorting the truth),

helping others to cheat,

unauthorized changes on official documents,

pretending to be someone else or having someone else pretend to be you,

making or accepting bribes, special favors, or threats, and

any other behavior that violates academic integrity.

There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton’s

policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you. If

you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment

and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice

President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years.

Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.

VI. Outline of Topics:

A. Pre-colonial Africa.

B. The origins of European imperialism and early colonial rule.

C. Colonial Africa and African resistance movements.

D. Africa between the wars.

E. The impact of the Second World War on African nationalist movements.

F. The struggle for independence and the creation of the African nation state.

G. Early Cold War politics in Africa.

H. The collapse of multi-party democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, military coups

and the development of underdevelopment.

I. The political, economic and social impact of the end of the Cold War.

J. African societies in transformation: AIDS, genocide and grass roots movements toward

democracy, 1990 to the present.

VII. Method of Instruction:

Classes will include a variety of instructional methods such as: lectures, in class discussions,

group activities, document and film analysis, and the use of new technologies.

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VIII. Course Practices Required:

Students will be required to:

A. Read a standard textbook and research materials.

B. Write outside of class the equivalent of 12-14 double-spaced typed pages in the form of a

term paper, summaries of journal articles, and short research papers.

C. Participate in in-class and out-of-class activities.

Course may be taught as face-to-face, media-based, hybrid or online course.

IX. Instructional Material:

Standard textbooks in modern African history will be used, such as:

Achebe, Chinua. Man of the People

Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

Emecheta, Buchi. The Joys of Motherhood

Mahajan, Vijay. Africa Rising

wa Thiong'o, Ngugi. The River Between

Supplementary readings will also be assigned as appropriate, such as:

Bates, Robert. Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa

Bayart, Jean Francois. The State in Africa: Politics of the Belly

Burton, Richard. The Lake Regions of Central Africa

Camus, Albert. The Foreigner

Chabal, Patrick. Political Domination in Africa

Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion

Fanon, Frantz. Wretched of the Earth

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost

Kitching, Gavin. Class and Economic Change in Kenya

Krueger, Anne. "The Political Economy of the Rent Seeking Society, "American Economic

Review

Ousmane, Sembene. God's Bits of Wood

Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa

Paton, Alan. Cry the Beloved Country

wa Thiong'o, Ngugi. Petals of Blood

X. Method of Evaluation:

At least one exam will be given in addition to other required papers and assignments.

XI. Other Course Information:

A. Support Services: Tutoring in history is available at the Learning Center.

B. If you have a documented learning, psychological, or physical disability, you may be

entitled to reasonable academic accommodations or services. To request accommodations

or services, contact the ASSIST office in the Learning Center.

All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements. The College will

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not waive any essential skills or requirements of a course or degree program.

C. Statement on Discrimination: Oakton Community College does not discriminate on the

basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation,

or marital status in admission to and participation in its educational programs, activities

and services, or employment practices. The College does not tolerate sexual harassment

or sexual assault by or of its students or employees.

D. Important Dates: *

02/10: Last day to withdraw and have course dropped from record

02/10: Last day to change to Audit

02/24: Last day for students to submit materials to make up incomplete from the

previous semester

03/10: Last day to withdraw from classes with a "W"

* These dates differ for each semester. You'll find the correct dates on the Academic

Calendar.

Course Outline and Bibliography

Here is detailed information about the weekly progress of the course. Please contact the Instructor if you

have questions about the contents of this section.

Introduction to the Course and this Bibliography

What is the history of modern Africa?

The course title may make sense to you if you have some familiarity with Africa. If not, don’t worry. Read

on.

History is fundamentally about power: who has it, how they got it, what they could do and did with it, the

causes and effects of these and why things are they way they are. During the course we will discuss factors

which affect those things in a selection of groups, states and areas in Africa.

Modernity is an idea. Sometimes it describes an era, sometimes it describes a condition of development and

sometimes it describes a cultural current. In this course we will use ‘modern’ to denote the period which

begins with the Scramble for Africa in about 1885 and which continues to the present.

Africa is big and it’s important, but few of us know much about it. It is more than twice the size of the US

and gives the world most of its diamonds, cocoa and iridium, which makes your mobile phone work. When

social science scholars discuss ‘Africa’ they usually mean sub-Saharan Africa, because the states of the

Sahara and North Africa share cultural characteristics and historical antecedents that the states south of the

Sahara do not. States of the Sahara and North Africa are usually studied in a group themselves or with

states of the Middle East. This is a very unhelpful distinction, because the countries of the continent have at

least as much in common as what divides them. When they are studied in context it is possible to derive

powerful insights from comparisons. For this reason we will ignore standard distinctions between North

Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and instead focus on what we can learn.

Put these pieces together and you have an idea of what’s in store. We will investigate and analyze the

events and processes which gave us the Africa we have today.

Objectives of the course

By the end of the course you should be able to declaim unprompted on at least two topics from the syllabus,

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on political, social and economic problems in Africa generally and on the pathologies of government and

power in civil society there. You also should have a good understanding of African politics. This means

that you would be able to describe contemporary political and cultural circumstances there as well as the

causes and effects of those phenomena, and that you would be able to offer an evidence-based argument

about solutions to some high profile political problems. This does not mean that you should become

experts on African history or African politics or the topics we study. It isn’t possible over one course. The

material in this syllabus is here to help you develop a solid understanding of problems and cases by

presenting a range of material from which you can choose.

Components of the course

This course is highly interactive. We will use many learning formats, but discussion is the most important.

This means that you will participate as much as possible, so you should come prepared, having done

reading and research and the assignments. We will engage a new theme in each unit, and the units are

structured such that each is a building block in a larger story. So, it is essential that you prepare thoroughly

for each unit in order to perform well in the course.

For each unit you should complete the assignments, read as much as time permits and complete some

research so you can participate in discussion effectively. You needn’t commit unreasonable amounts of

time to these exercises, and assignments are structured so that you shouldn’t have to. If you’re having

trouble with the workload it’s your responsibility to raise the problem.

Grading will account for your performance on exams and on written assignments and your participation in

discussion. There will be an exam in the middle of the term and an exam at the end of the course.

Completing the exams and written assignments and making comments in discussion each week are the

minimum required to pass the course. How well you do each of those things will make the difference

between minimum passing marks and something better. Participation in discussion is the most important

component of your final grade. You will not be judged by your performance relative to other students, and

you shouldn’t measure yourself that way. You will be evaluated on how well you perform against the

instructor’s criteria for success. These are: whether you attend most sessions in the classroom or check the

course website frequently; whether you submit all the written assignments; whether the written assignments

show evidence of research and critical thinking; how frequently you make contributions to discussion; how

cogent and well-supported are your contributions to discussion; how willing you are to engage in argument

during discussion; how cogent and well-supported are your responses to exam questions. Final grades will

be reported as letters, according to College custom, but your performance against the instructor’s criteria

used to calculate the final grades will be judged as success or failure. One meets the criterion or doesn’t.

There are no shades of meaning discerned between letter grades or points on a scorecard attributed to your

performance during the course. If you are concerned about these criteria or about your grade or your

progress, it’s your responsibility to ask the instructor. Grade or progress reports won’t be issued unless

requested.

How to use this syllabus

There is more reading here than the average student could complete, but that isn’t the point. The readings

that appear here are choices. You decide how much you want to learn and read accordingly. Remember,

the more you learn and the more this is evinced on assignments, in discussion and on exams the better your

grade. It’s up to you.

Still, there’s no substitute for reading. If you want more than a passing understanding of anything in the

course, you must engage intimately with the topics we study. Read as much as you have time for, use the

internet liberally to keep up with current events, and above all else discuss what you see. The more you

read, the more you will develop opinions, and the more you discuss them the better they will get. The better

your opinions and the more often you use them, the more sophisticated will be your critical faculties, which

are the key to learning.

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Background Readings

You could get by, just, completing only the requirements in the course. But you won’t develop a very good

understanding of anything unless you put in more effort. A place to start is to develop some background in

the areas and the subjects we will study so that you have deeper context in which to analyze what we

discuss.

Basic History and Historiography

Carr, EH. What is History?

Churchill, Winston. History of the English Speaking Peoples

Fisk, Robert. The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East

Gibbon, Edward. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Hobsbawm, Eric. On History

Lloyd, Christopher. The Structures of History

Moore, Barrington. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Schama, Simon. Landscape and Memory

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War

Tuchman, Barbara. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century

Colonialism

Camus, Albert. L’Etranger [The Foreigner]

Cesaire, Aime. Discourse on Colonialism

Cohn, Bernard. Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness


Mamdani, Mahmood. Citizen and Subject: Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism


Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism

Scott, JC. Weapons of the Weak

Development

Bates, Robert. Markets and States in Tropical Africa

Ellis, Frank. Peasant Economics

Griffin, Keith. Alternative Strategies for Economic Development

Hirschman, Albert. The Strategy of Economic Development

Krueger, Anne. ‘The Political Economy of the Rent Seeking Society,” American Economic

Review, Vol 64, No 3, June 1974, pp. 291-303

Popkin, Samuel. The Rational Peasant

Sen, Amartya. Poverty and Famines

Spero, Joan and Hart, Jeffrey. The Politics of International Economic Relations

Van den Berg, Hendrik. Economic Growth and Development

World Bank. World Development Report 2000: Attacking Poverty

Africa


Bayart, Jean-Francois. The State in Africa: Politics of the Belly

Coetzee, JM. Waiting for the Barbarians

Davidson, Basil. The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State

Iliffe, John. Honour in African History


Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

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Twaddle, Michael. The Making of Modern Africa

wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. The River Between

World Bank. Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth

Lecture and Discussion Schedule

Unit Date Topic

1 15-Jan-13 Introduction

2 22-Jan-13 Political Identity

3 29-Jan-13 Basic tools of historical analysis

4 05-Feb-13 Pre-colonial Africa

5 12-Feb-13 The origins of European imperialism and early colonial rule

6 19-Feb-13 Colonial Africa and African resistance movements

7 26-Feb-13 Africa between the wars

8 05-Mar-13 Mid-term exam

9 12-Mar-13 Spring recess

10 19-Mar-13 The impact of the Second World War on African nationalist movements

11 26-Mar-13 The struggle for independence and the creation of the African nation state

12 02-Apr-13 Early Cold War politics in Africa

13 09-Apr-13 The collapse of multi-party democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, military coups

and the development of underdevelopment

14 16-Apr-13 The political, economic and social impact of the end of the Cold War

15 23-Apr-13 African societies in transformation: AIDS, genocide and grass roots movements

towards democracy, 1990 to the present

16 30-Apr-13 Review

17 07-May-13 Final exam

** 10-May-13 LAST DAY OF TERM

Lecture and Discussion Topics

1 Introduction

Introduction

In this meeting we will discuss how this course will run and basic topics which are critical to an

understanding of the course material to follow. We will locate Africa geographically and enter briefly into

its recent history, and we will touch upon elements of historiography and political science which students

will find useful in the course.

Assignments

Although there are no written assignments due at this meeting, you should consider the following as a

means to preparation for critical thinking.

Is greed good?

Who would you feed first, your family or your neighbor?

Are justice and fairness the same thing? Why or why not?

Readings

Bayart, Jean Francois. The State in Africa: Politics of the Belly

Cesaire, Aime. Discourse On Colonialism

Eggers, Dave. What is the What

Iliffe, John. A Modern History of Tanganyika

Isegawa, Moses. Abyssinian Chronicles

Kapuscinski, Ryszard. The Shadow of the Sun

Kitching, Gavin. Class and Economic Change in Kenya

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Mamdami, Mahmood. Politics and Class Formation in Uganda



Richburg, Keith B. Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa

Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

World Bank. Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth

2 Political Identity

Introduction

It often happens that we say one thing and do another. Politicians do this all the time. They make election

promises, giver assurances, and draw so-called lines in the sand. Then we watch as events overtake them

and nullify their words, causing them to explain, prevaricate and dissimulate when called to account. Are

all of us simply duplicitous or unprincipled, willing to say whatever is necessary to get what we want?

Perhaps we really don’t know what we want or are obeying unconscious needs. Perhaps there is more to

life and politics than words. In this unit we will explore the origins of political identity and discuss things

which also affect the way government works.

Assignments

Complete the following and bring them with you to the meeting for this unit or submit them to the

discussion board for the on-line version of the course. You should prepare answers of not more than one

page – about five hundred words – to each question. Other assignments should be completed as required.

It’s your responsibility to do the research necessary to answer the questions or complete the assignments.

Are your politics the same as your parents? Why or why not?

Is it true that group identity determines your views? For example, if you’re a woman, if you’re

black or Muslim, will you always have certain views? Why or why not?

Could you ever really act against your own interest, or in doing ‘irrational’ things are you merely

disguising or ignorant of your own choices? Why or why not?

Visit www.politicalcompass.org and take the survey. Note your results and be prepared to discuss

them.

Readings

Cleaver, Eldridge. Soul on Ice

Gates, Donald K., and Peter Steane. "Political Religion - the Influence of Ideological and Identity

Orientation." Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions 10, no. 3/4 (December 2009): 303-

325.

Goldwater, Barry. Conscience of a Conservative

Heller, Joseph. Catch 22

Hitchens, Christopher. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Huddy, Leonie, and Nadia Khatib. "American Patriotism, National Identity, and Political

Involvement." American Journal Of Political Science 51, no. 1 (January 2007): 63-77.

Kerouac, Jack. On the Road

Kolocharova, Elena. "The Sociological Dimension of Political Identity." Sociological Research

50, no. 3 (May 2011): 39-55.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird

Malka, Ariel, and Yphtach Lelkes. "More than Ideology: Conservative–Liberal Identity and

Receptivity to Political Cues." Social Justice Research 23, no. 2/3 (September 2010): 156-188.

RAENTO, PAULIINA. "INTRODUCING POPULAR ICONS OF POLITICAL IDENTITY."

Geographical Review 101, no. 1 (January 2011): iii-vi.

Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye

Stevenson, Clifford, and Orla T. Muldoon. "Socio-political context and accounts of national

identity in adolescence." British Journal Of Social Psychology 49, no. 3 (September 2010): 583-

599.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/

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3 Basic tools of historical analysis

Introduction

Whether we compare cases or instances of historical problems within a single case, the fundamentals of

comparison are the same. We look for common characteristics and also for differences in form and

function, then we ask why things are the same or different. Mere observation is insufficient as a means of

explaining cause and effect though, so we must always establish a chain of relationships between people,

groups, institutions or ideas which create the conditions under which the similarities or differences occur.

This accomplished, we then must reconstruct a chain of events which result in the conditions we observe,

given the evidence available. Only then can we say that we have an understanding of why things are the

way they are. In this unit we will discuss some of the basic principles of comparative historical analysis and

thought tools that will be useful in the rest of the course.

Assignments





Would you hire someone if you owed them a favor even though they weren’t the best qualified

candidate? Why or why not? Discuss corruption in Nigeria and Uganda when answering.

Is it better to earn money by working yourself or to take a cut of somebody else’s profits? Why?

Compare the oil industries in Libya and Angola in your answer.

Should there be separation of church and state? Why or why not? Refer to the influence of

religion on politics in Algeria and South Africa in your answer.

Complete and submit the Basic Facts Worksheet which appears in the Appendix of this syllabus.

Readings

Bates, Robert. Markets and States in Tropical Africa

Bayart, Jean Francois. The State In Africa: Politics of the Belly

Bendix, Reinhard. Kings or People

CAMPBELL, MALCOLM. 2009. "The Making of the Nations and Cultures of the New World:

An Essay in Comparative History." American Historical Review 114, no. 3: 714-715.

Carr, E.H. What Is History?

Davidson, Basil. The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State

GEGGUS, DAVID. 2010. "Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History." Hispanic

American Historical Review 90, no. 4: 747-748.

Gül, Serkan. 2010. "METHOD AND PRACTICE IN COMPARATIVE HISTORY." Journal Of

Black Sea Studies 7, no. 26: 143-158.

Hobsbawm, Eric. On History

Huntington, Samuel. Political Order in Changing Societies

Krueger, Anne. “The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society”, American Economic

Review, Vol 63, No 3, June 1974, pp. 291-303

LeVan, A. Carl. "Questioning Tocqueville in Africa: continuity and change in civil society during

Nigeria's democratization." Democratization 18, no. 1 (February 2011): 135-159.

Lloyd, Christopher. The Structures of History

Mamdani, Mahmood. Citizen and Subject

Mbaku, John M. "Property rights and rent seeking in South Africa." CATO Journal 11, no. 1

(Summer91 1991): 135.

Migdal, Joel. Strong Societies and Weak States

Oakeshott, Michael. What Is History?

Offen, Karen. 2009. "Parallels and Intersections: the International Federation for Research in

Women's History in Comparative Historical Perspective: a plenary address presented at the

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twentieth anniversary conference, Sofia, Bulgaria, August 2007."

Prashad, Vijay. The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World

Ragin, Charles. The Comparative Method

Riggs, Fred. The Prismatic Society

Schmidt, Steffen. Friends, Followers and Factions: A Reader in Political Clientelism

Sobe, Noah W., and Corinne Ness. 2010. "Comparative History of Education." European

Education 42, no. 2: 57-66.

Whitley, Richard. 2010. "Business History and the Comparative Analysis of Capitalisms."

Business History Review 84, no. 4: 648-652.

Yong, Amos, and J. Rodman Williams. 2010. "Dreaming about the Divine/Dreaming in the

World's Religions: A Comparative History/God and Dreams: Is There a Connection?" Pneuma:

The Journal Of The Society For Pentecostal Studies 32, no. 3: 470-471.

4 Pre-colonial Africa

Introduction

Africa before the arrival of European explorers, missionaries and settlers wasn't empty. Neither was it a

land of anarchy, peopled by savages. During the Roman period and also under the Caliphate, centers of

commerce, culture and learning thrived in North Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa developed a network of small

kingdoms and self-governing communities, supported a thriving intra-continental trade and trade in the

Indian Ocean basin, and it was a significant source of gold, ivory and slaves for world markets after 1500.

In this unit we will condense the millennia of African history that preceded European colonialism but focus

on the years 1500-1885.

Assignments





Compare the influence of Islam in the pre-colonial period in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Choose one country from each region and discuss the effects of Islam on political organization,

social dynamics and the economy.

Who is to blame for the Atlantic Slave Trade? In your answer, discuss European textile, sugar

and tobacco industries. Also refer to the kingdoms of Asante, Dahomey, Benin, Oyo and Nri and

the Sokoto Caliphate.

Is a people without writing uncivilized? When answering, refer to the Buganda Kingdom and the

Kingdom of Zimbabwe.

Readings

Thiong'o, Ngugi wa. The River Between

Beachey, R.W. A History of East Africa 1592-1902

Burton, Richard. The Lake Regions of Central Africa

Campbell, Gwyn. 1991. "An industrial experiment in pre-colonial Africa: The case of imperial

Madagascar, 1825-1861." Journal Of Southern African Studies 17, no. 3: 525.

Eltis, David, and Lawrence C. Jennings. 1988. "Trade between Western Africa and the Atlantic

World in the Pre-Colonial Era." American Historical Review 93, no. 4: 936.

Fage, John D. and Crowder, Michael. The Cambridge History of Africa From c. 1050 to c. 1600

Håkansson, N. Thomas. "Regional Political Ecology and Intensive Cultivation in Pre-Colonial and

Colonial South Pare, Tanzania." International Journal Of African Historical Studies 41, no. 3

(October 2008): 433-459.

Hamdun, Said. Ibn Battuta in Black Africa

Haour, Anne. "Power and permanence in precolonial Africa: a case study from the central Sahel."

World Archaeology 37, no. 4 (December 2005): 552-565.

Haour, Anne. 2005. "Power and permanence in precolonial Africa: a case study from the central

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Sahel." World Archaeology 37, no. 4: 552-565.

Hillard, Constance. Intellectual Traditions of Pre-Colonial Africa

McCaskie, T.C. State and Society in Pre-Colonial Asante

Niane, D.T. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

Pancella, Peggy. Mansa Musa: Ruler of Ancient Mali

Smith, Andrew B. "On Subsistence and Ethnicity in Precolonial South Africa." Current

Anthropology 34, no. 4 (August 1993): 439.

Smith, Andrew B. 1993. "On Subsistence and Ethnicity in Precolonial South Africa." Current

Anthropology 34, no. 4: 439.

Speke, John. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile

Stambouli, Fredj, and A. Zghal. "Urban life in pre-colonial north Africa." British Journal Of

Sociology 27, no. 1 (March 1976): 1-20.

Stambouli, Fredj, and A. Zghal. 1976. "Urban life in pre-colonial north Africa." British Journal

Of Sociology 27, no. 1: 1-20.

5 The origins of European imperialism and early colonial rule

Introduction

It's not accurate to characterize European imperialism in Africa as a military-style invasion and occupation.

Although colonial government was thinly disguised slavery, the mechanisms by which it was implemented

are complex. The British mostly bribed and bought their way into power by playing competing African

rulers off one another. The French enforced cultural assimilation with a much more direct style of rule.

The Germans and Portuguese imperial efforts were notable for their preference for subjugation by brute

force and for the systematic use of racist ideology. In this unit we will explore the ways in which colonial

rule was established in Africa.

Assignments





Is it easier to control a large number of people directly or to use a few middlemen to do the dirty

work? Why? Compare British and French styles of colonial administration in your answer.

Is it possible to act against your own interest? Discuss the Uganda Agreement of 1900 between

the British and the Kabaka of Buganda.

Put yourself in the shoes of a white person that is in charge of a million black people. How could

you use racism to your benefit? Answer with reference to Carl Peters and the völkisch movement

in German East Africa.

Readings

Andrews, Edward E. 2009. "Christian Missions and Colonial Empires Reconsidered: A Black

Evangelist in West Africa, 1766–1816." Journal Of Church & State 51, no. 4: 663-691.

Bailes, Howard. 1980. "TECHNOLOGY AND IMPERIALISM: A CASE STUDY OF THE

VICTORIAN ARMY IN AFRICA." Victorian Studies 24, no. 1: 82.

Bastos, Cristiana. 2007. "Medical Hybridisms and Social Boundaries: Aspects of Portuguese

Colonialism in Africa and India in the Nineteenth Century." Journal Of Southern African Studies

33, no. 4: 767-782.

Burton, Richard. First Footsteps in East Africa

Campbell, Gwyn. 1991. "An industrial experiment in pre-colonial Africa: The case of imperial

Madagascar, 1825-1861." Journal Of Southern African Studies 17, no. 3: 525.

Cheney Coker, Syl. The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar

Eltis, David, and Lawrence C. Jennings. 1988. "Trade between Western Africa and the Atlantic

World in the Pre-Colonial Era." American Historical Review 93, no. 4: 936.

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Grimmer-Solem, Erik. 2007. "The Professors' Africa: Economists, the Elections of 1907, and the

Legitimation of German Imperialism." German History 25, no. 3: 313-347.

Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold's Ghost

Lugard, Frederick. The Rise of Our East African Empire

Musisi, Nakanyike B. 1999. "Morality as Identity: the Missionary Moral Agenda in Buganda,

1877-1945." Journal Of Religious History 23, no. 1: 51.


Park, Mungo. Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

Rovine, Victoria L. 2009. "Colonialism's Clothing: Africa, France, and the Deployment of

Fashion." Design Issues 25, no. 3: 44-61.

Rowe, John A. 1989. "Eyewitness Accounts of Buganda History: The Memoirs of Ham Mukasa

and His Generation." Ethnohistory 36, no. 1: 61.

Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism

Walther, Daniel J. 2004. "Gender Construction and Settler Colonialism in German Southwest

Africa, 1894–1914." Historian 66, no. 1: 1-18.

Youngs, Tim. 1991. "VICTORIAN BRITAIN AND 'PRIMITIVE' AFRICA: FIGURES AND

TOOLS OF IMPERIALISM." Africa (Edinburgh University Press) 61, no. 1: 118-127.

6 Colonial Africa and African resistance movements

Introduction

European colonialism in Africa wasn’t a one-sided affair of domination by white oppressors, but neither

was it a continuous war of liberation by black freedom fighters. On the strict principle that nations ought to

determine their own futures, though, colonialism was always unjust. During the three quarters of a century

following the Congo Conference in Berlin in 1885, European domination of Africa was a cocktail of

negotiation, manipulation, extortion, bribery and deceit. It was also occasionally brutal and violent,

especially but not always where acts of organized resistance occurred. However, acts of white oppression

without some black participation were rare, so it isn’t accurate to fix all the blame on racist white

adventurers or self-serving black toadies. In this unit we will discuss the political, social and economic

patterns which can be discerned in the experiences of African nations under colonial rule and in the ways

Africans resisted overcame European domination.

Assignments

Complete the following and bring them with you to the unit for this unit or submit them to the discussion

board for the on-line version of the course. You should prepare answers of not more than one page – about

five hundred words – to each question. Other assignments should be completed as required. It’s your

responsibility to do the research necessary to answer the questions or complete the assignments.

Did white people ruin Africa? Why or why not? In your answer, compare Uganda’s economy and

society under the colonial governor Andrew Cohen and under Field Marshal Idi Amin.

Is it better in the long term for a government to crush resistance movements or to negotiate with

them? Why or why not? Compare the South African War of 1899-1902 and the decline of

apartheid after 1990 in South Africa.

Do you think it’s possible for a nation to determine its own future? Why or why not? Discuss the

Algerian war of independence and the legacy of the FLN.

Readings

Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles chapters 2, 3, 14, 17

Byerley, Andrew. "Mind the Gap! Seeking Stability Beyond the 'Tribal' Threshold in Late-

Colonial Uganda: The Role of Urban Housing Policy, 1945-1960." African Studies 68, no. 3

(December 2009): 429-464.

Camus, Albert. L’Etranger

Carswell, Grace. 2003. "Food Crops as Cash Crops: The Case of Colonial Kigezi, Uganda."

Journal Of Agrarian Change 3, no. 4: 521.

13

Comaroff, John L. 1998. "Reflections on the Colonial State, in South Africa and Elsewhere:

Factions, Fragments, Facts and Fictions." Social Identities 4, no. 3: 321.

Cooper, Frederick. 2006. "A parting of the ways: Colonial Africa and South Africa, 1946–48."

African Studies 65, no. 1: 27-44.

Costa, A.A. 2000. "Chieftaincy and Civilisation: African Structures of Government and Colonial

Administration in South Africa." African Studies 59, no. 1: 13-43.

Daxecker, Ursula E. 2009. "Opposition Movements, Liberalization, and Civil War: Evidence from

Algeria and Chile." Civil Wars 11, no. 3: 234-254.

Djebar, Assia. Le Blanc de l’Algerie


Fraser, Alistair. 2007. "Land reform in South Africa and the colonial present." Social & Cultural

Geography 8, no. 6: 835-851.

Kallaway, Peter. 2005. "Welfare and education in British colonial Africa and South Africa during

the 1930s and 1940s." Paedagogica Historica 41, no. 3: 337-356.

Kynoch, Gary. "Urban Violence in Colonial Africa: A Case for South African Exceptionalism."

Journal Of Southern African Studies 34, no. 3 (September 2008): 629-645.

Loyal, Steven. 2009. "The French in Algeria, Algerians in France: Bourdieu, colonialism, and

migration." Sociological Review 57, no. 3: 406-427.

McDougall, James. 2005. "Savage wars? Codes of violence in Algeria, 1830s - 1990s." Third

World Quarterly 26, no. 1: 117-131.

Smith, Tony. "The French Economic Stake in Colonial Algeria." French Historical Studies 9, no.

1 (Spring75 1975): 184.

Steyn, M. 2003. "A comparison between pre- and post-colonial health in the northern parts of

South Africa, a preliminary study." World Archaeology 35, no. 2: 276-288.

Tuck, Michael W. "THE RUPEE DISEASE": TAXATION, AUTHORITY, AND SOCIAL

CONDITIONS IN EARLY COLONIAL UGANDA." International Journal Of African Historical

Studies 39, no. 2 (June 2006): 221-245.

Vincent, Joan. 1977. "COLONIAL CHIEFS AND THE MAKING OF CLASS: A CASE STUDY

FROM TESO, EASTERN UGANDA." Africa (Edinburgh University Press) 47, no. 2: 140.

Zack, Lizabeth. 2002. "Who Fought the Algerian War? Political Identity and Conflict in French-

Ruled Algeria." International Journal Of Politics, Culture & Society 16, no. 1: 55.

7 Africa between the wars

Introduction

The period between the First World War and the Second World War was probably the beginning of the end

of European colonialism in Africa, though this wasn’t obvious to Europeans or even to Africans at the time.

It was the era of the Isak Dinesen novel Out of Africa and of the Ernest Hemingway reportage The Green

Hills of Africa. Radio communication, railways, electrification, telephones and indoor plumbing in the

European-controlled areas made Africa a tourist destination by the end of the 1920’s, whereas before the

First World War the shorter reach of these “civilizing” utilities meant the continent was an attraction more

to hunters, settlers and imperial adventurers. The inter-war period was the height of the mercantilist and

imperialist economic model, where an African country was organized to produce raw material for

metropolitan industry and to buy re-exported finished goods. This meant that, while violent suppression of

resistance to colonial rule might have settled into regular, if brutal, policing of natives and colonial subjects,

the exploitative relationship essential to imperialism was at its most efficient. Resistance and independence

movements were formed earlier in the century, but the period between the wars saw them grow more

powerful quicker than during previous decades. In this unit we will discuss the economy and society of

African countries between the wars.

Assignments




14


Under what conditions should the rights of a minority be protected? Refer to movements by white

settlers to increase their power but keep British control in colonial governments in Kenya in the

1930’s.

Did Africans benefit from the development of imperial economies? In your answer, compare the

improvements in public health in the Niger River delta and the growth of the petroleum industry in

Nigeria between the wars.

Why do you think the British were more successful colonial rulers in Africa than the French?

Discuss the British “Cape to Cairo” corridor and the efforts of the French colonial policy in West

Africa and the Sahel in the 1920’s and the 1930’s.

Readings

1939. "Africa." Foreign Affairs 17, no. 4: 820-821.

Austin, Gareth, and Chibuike Ugochukwu Uche. 2007. "Collusion and Competition in Colonial

Economies: Banking in British West Africa, 1916-1960." Business History Review 81, no. 1: 1-26.

Bonner, Phillip. 1995. "African urbanisation on the Rand between the 1930s and 1960s: Its social

character and political." Journal Of Southern African Studies 21, no. 1: 115.

Chafer, Tony. 2007. "Education and Political Socialisation of a National-Colonial Political Elite in

French West Africa, 1936-47." Journal Of Imperial & Commonwealth History 35, no. 3: 437-458.

Cope, Nicholas. 1990. "The Zulu petit bourgeoisie and Zulu nationalism in the 1920s: Origins of

Inkatha." Journal Of Southern African Studies 16, no. 3: 431.

Dinesen, Isak. Out of Africa

Drew, Allison. 2007. "Urban Activists and Rural Movements: Communists in South Africa and

Algeria, 1920s-1930s." African Studies 66, no. 2/3: 295-319.

Du Bois, W. E. B. 1938. "BLACK AFRICA TOMORROW." Foreign Affairs 17, no. 1: 100-110.

Duignan, Peter and Gann, L.H., eds. Colonialism in Africa 1870-1960: Volume Four, The

Economics of Colonialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.

Genova, James E. 2004. "Conflicted Missionaries: Power and Identity in French West Africa

During the 1930s." Historian 66, no. 1: 45-66.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Green Hills of Africa and Other Stories

HOLTON, ROBERT. 2005. "The inclusion of the non-European world in international society,

1870s–1920s: evidence from global networks." Global Networks 5, no. 3: 239-259.

Jeater, Diana. 2005. "IMAGINING AFRICANS: SCHOLARSHIP, FANTASY, AND SCIENCE

IN COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, 1920s SOUTHERN RHODESIA." International Journal

Of African Historical Studies 38, no. 1: 1-26.

Jimenez, Floréal. 2005. "L'Homme du Niger/The Man from Niger: A cinematographic

construction of colonialist ideology in the 1930s." Studies In French Cinema 5, no. 2: 111-122.

Kallaway, Peter. 2009. "Education, health and social welfare in the late colonial context: the

International Missionary Council and educational transition in the interwar years with specific

reference to colonial Africa." History Of Education 38, no. 2: 217-246.

Lahiri, Shompa. 2003. "Performing identity: colonial migrants, passing and mimicry between the

wars." Cultural Geographies 10, no. 4: 408.

Ranger, Terence. 1999. "'TAKING ON THE MISSIONARY'S TASK': AFRICAN

SPIRITUALITY AND THE MISSION CHURCHES OF MANICALAND IN THE 1930S."

Journal Of Religion In Africa 29, no. 2: 175.

Shinar, Pessah. 2006. "A Major Link between France's Berber Policy in Morocco and its "Policy

of Races" in French West Africa: Commandant Paul Marty (1882-1938)." Islamic Law & Society

13, no. 1: 33-62.

Steenkamp, Philip. 1991. "`Cinderella of the empire?': Development policy in Bechuanaland in the

1930s." Journal Of Southern African Studies 17, no. 2: 294.

Weisbrode, Kenneth. 2009. "International Administration Between the Wars: A Reappraisal."

Diplomacy & Statecraft 20, no. 1: 30-49.

Whittlesey, Derwent. 1937. "BRITISH AND FRENCH COLONIAL TECHNIQUE IN WEST

AFRICA." Foreign Affairs 15, no. 2: 362-373.

15

Wilder, Gary. 2003. "Colonial ethnology and political rationality in French west Africa." History

& Anthropology 14, no. 3: 219-252.

Willis, Justin. 1995. "`Men on the spot,' labor, and the colonial state in British East Africa: The

Mombasa water.." International Journal Of African Historical Studies 28, no. 1: 25.

8 Mid-term exam

The mid-term exam consists of a short-essay paper. Typically the paper requires you to answer two

questions in about three hours. It is designed to test your critical thinking skills and your facility in

argument as well as the knowledge of the subject which you have accumulated over the course.

See your instructor for further details.

9 Spring recess

There is no unit scheduled during the Spring recess, and the College will be closed. Use time to catch up on

earlier units or to read ahead.

10 The impact of the Second World War on African nationalist movements

Introduction

It’s hard to overestimate the impact of the Second World War on people living under colonial occupation.

Superficially, images of the imperial powers fighting, winning but especially losing battles; of cities

destroyed, especially the imperial capitals London and Paris electrified nationalist movements in Africa.

Here was proof that colonial masters weren’t invincible, were vulnerable, and could be beaten. Subtly, the

service of troops from the colonies in Europe brought home to Africa the idea that the racist pretensions

which underpinned colonialism were just pretensions. Black- and brown-skinned Africans fought beside

white skinned Europeans, who stopped bullets, bled and died just like them. Returning soldiers asked the

simple question, “Why?” of their supposed masters and on that built or bolstered nationalist resistance

movements and independence parties. Internationally, Britain and France came under strong pressure from

the United States to divest itself of its empire, not for humanitarian reasons so much as to give the US new

power. In this unit we will discuss the impact of the Second World War on African nationalist movements.

Assignments





Why was African nationalism primarily a left-wing cause? Answer with reference to Kwame

Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta and Leopold Senghor.

Do you think that, if the United States had entered the Second World War earlier, Britain and

France would have been able to keep their empires after the war? Compare the costs of running

the British and French empires (in cash terms and per cent of GDP) before the war and after in

your answer in order to estimate the effects of the war on imperial administration.

Was independence given or taken in most African cases? Refer to Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and

Algeria during the period 1945-1965 in your answer.

Readings

Adi, Hakim. 2000. "Pan-Africanism and West African Nationalism in Britain." African Studies

Review 43, no. 1: 69.

Cohen, Andrew. 2008. "Business and Decolonisation in Central Africa Reconsidered." Journal Of

Imperial & Commonwealth History 36, no. 4: 641-658.

de Reuck, Jenny. 1996. "A politics of blood: The `white tribe' of Africa and the recombinant

nationalism of a colonizing.." Critical Arts: A South-North Journal Of Cultural & Media Studies

16

10, no. 2: 139.

Jolly, Margaret. 1994. "Motherlands? Some notes on women and nationalism in India and Africa."

Australian Journal Of Anthropology 5, no. 1/2: 41

Kendhammer, Brandon. 2007. "DuBois the pan-Africanist and the development of African

nationalism." Ethnic & Racial Studies 30, no. 1: 51-71

Kenyatta, Jomo. Facing Mount Kenya

Laqueur, Walter Z. 1961. "COMMUNISM AND NATIONALISM IN TROPICAL AFRICA."

Foreign Affairs 39, no. 4: 610-621

Munger, Edwin S. 1963. "BOUNDARIES AND AFRICAN NATIONALISM." California

Geographer 4, 1-7.

Nathan, Ronald. 2001. "'AFRICAN REDEMPTION': BLACK NATIONALISM, AND END OF

EMPIRE IN AFRICA." Exchange 30, no. 2: 125.

Nkrumah, Kwame. Africa Must Unite

O'Sullivan, Christopher. 2005. "THE UNITED NATIONS, DECOLONIZATION, AND SELF-

DETERMINATION IN COLD WAR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, 1960-1994." Journal Of Third

World Studies 22, no. 2: 103-120.

Schmidt, Elizabeth. 2009. "Anticolonial Nationalism in French West Africa: What Made Guinea

Unique?." African Studies Review 52, no. 2: 1-34.

Stockwell, Sarah. 2008. "'Splendidly Leading the Way'? Archbishop Fisher and Decolonisation in

British Colonial Africa." Journal Of Imperial & Commonwealth History 36, no. 3: 545-564.

Thomas, Martin C. 2008. "Innocent Abroad? Decolonisation and US Engagement with French

West Africa, 1945-56." Journal Of Imperial & Commonwealth History 36, no. 1: 47-73.

Van Dyke, Kristina. 2002. "THE SHORT CENTURY Independence and Liberation Movements in

Africa, 1945-1994." African Arts 35, no. 3: 76.

Wallerstein, Immanuel, and Michael Hechter. 1970. "SOCIAL RANK AND NATIONALISM:

SOME AFRICAN DATA." Public Opinion Quarterly 34, no. 3: 360-370.

Zartman, I. William. 1976. "EUROPE AND AFRICA: DECOLONIZATION OR

DEPENDENCY?." Foreign Affairs 54, no. 2: 325-343.

11 The struggle for independence and the creation of the African nation state

Introduction

The results of independence struggles in Africa were always going to be more important than the struggles

themselves, but you wouldn’t know that by visiting most countries on the continent today. Failed states and

failed policies in durable states have left hundreds of millions of African people more or less to themselves

in the struggle for development, but banners and billboards and public exhortations to work together or

remember the glory days of independence are everywhere. Leaders survive on memories of liberation wars

while they steal government money and misuse government resources. This is usually criticized as a failure

of the idea of the nation state in Africa, but that’s not true. Rather, the nation state in Africa has worked in

much the same way as it has elsewhere. The trouble in most African countries is that corrupt leaders have

figured out how to make the nation state work for their personal gain to the detriment of almost everyone

else, and the average African citizen can’t or won’t hold their leaders to account in order to correct the

problem. This is partly due to the nature of the struggle for independence. Most African countries

negotiated their exit from a European empire without a war, or at least without a protracted one, so the

philosophies and laws and institutions of post-colonial governance were remarkably similar to imperial

ones. Since there weren’t many violent struggles about the nation state in Africa, there were bound to be

violent struggles with the nation state as oppositions, “have-nots,” and messianic rogues fought for control

of governments. In this unit we will discuss the basic conflict between state and civil society in the struggle

to use the African nation state for development.

Assignments




17


Are governments in Africa too strong? Why or why not? Refer to Zaire under Joseph Mobutu,

Uganda during the first Milton Obote administration and Southern Rhodesia under Ian Smith.

Which is better, a country where people are suspicious of each other but have common interests or

or a country where everyone agrees to work together but have little in common? Why? In your

answer, discuss federalism in South Africa and the one-party state in Tanzania under Julius

Nyerere.

If you were picked to lead a country and you wanted to develop its economy quickly, would you

use force or persuasion to get what you wanted? Why? Refer to Nigeria under Nnamdi Azikiwe

and Ghana under Jerry Rawlings in your answer.

Readings


Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, chapter 2, 3, 4, 5


Amadife, Emmanuel N., and James W. Warhola. 1993. "Africa's Political Boundaries: Colonial

Cartography, the OAU, and the Advisability of Ethno-National Adjustment." International Journal

Of Politics, Culture & Society 6, no. 4: 533.

Amuwo, Adekunle. 2010. "Between elite protectionism and popular resistance: The political

economy of Nigeria's fractured state since juridical independence." Journal Of Contemporary

African Studies 28, no. 4: 423-442.

Asumah, Seth N. 1998. "The Nation-State and Public Policy in Africa: Reconsidering the Effects

of Structural.." Western Journal Of Black Studies 22, no. 1: 11.

Azevedo-Harman, Elisabete. 2011. "Parliaments in Africa: Representative Institutions in the Land

of the 'Big Man'." Journal Of Legislative Studies 17, no. 1: 65-85.

Ba, Mariama. So Long a Letter

Barkaoui, Miloud. 1999. "Kennedy and the Cold War Imbroglio: The Case of Algeria's

Independence." Arab Studies Quarterly 21, no. 2: 31.

Bayart, Jean-Francois. The State in Africa: Politics of the Belly

Clark, Andrew F. 1999. "Imperialism, independence, and Islam in Senegal and Mali." Africa

Today 46, no. 3/4: 149.

Corder, Hugh. 2010. "'Building a Nation': The Judicial Role in South Africa." Law In Context 28,

no. 2: 60-75.

Davdison, Basil. The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State

HUGHES, ARNOLD. 2004. "Decolonizing Africa: Colonial Boundaries and the Crisis of the

(Non) Nation State." Diplomacy & Statecraft 15, no. 4: 833-866.

Jones, Peris Sean. 1999. "`To Come Together for Progress': Modernization and Nation-building in

South Africa's.." Journal Of Southern African Studies 25, no. 4: 579.

Legum, Colin. 1965. "WHAT KIND OF RADICALISM FOR AFRICA?." Foreign Affairs 43, no.

2: 237-250.

Sehulster, Patricia. 2004. "So Long a Letter: Finding Self and Independence in Africa." Western

Journal Of Black Studies 28, no. 2: 365-371.

Smith, Ian. The Great Betrayal

Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. A Grain of Wheat

12 Early Cold War politics in Africa

Introduction

The independent states of Africa weren’t the most important battlegrounds of the Cold War, but in the

1960s and the 1970’s the US and its allies and the Soviet Union and its clients backed opposing sides in

vicious local wars in order to contain the influence of each other, in order to sell military hardware and open

parts of the continent to their businesses, and ostensibly in order to promote development under their

ideologies. These proxy wars opened so many doors that skeptics started calling outside influence “neo-

colonialism,” and countries that were far under the influence of one side or the other really did feel like

18

colonies of the US or the USSR, right down to the rhetoric of the politicians, the red banners in the streets,

the brand names in the shops and the makers marks on the guns carried by the armies and police. Money,

civil and military advisers and consumer goods didn’t exactly flood Kenya or Ethiopia, for example, but it

was clear in which “camp” each thought it belonged. Some countries which were thought to be strategically

important tried to play the US and the USSR against each other, notably Congo under Patrice Lumumba.

Although most African countries felt the effects of the Cold War in some way, few benefitted materially

over the long term. Africa simply wasn’t important enough to either the US or the USSR to hold their

attention for long or to outweigh the importance of proxy conflicts in Asia or Latin America. In this unit we

will discuss the politics of the early Cold War in Africa.

Assignments





Do you think Africa gained anything from the Cold War conflicts played out on the continent?

Why or why not? Discuss the building of the Aswan Dam in Egypt and World Bank aid Kenya in

your answer.

Were African countries willing participants in the Cold War? Why or why not? In your answer,

discuss South Africa under Charles Swart and Jacobus Fouche and Mozambique under Samora

Machel.

Did Cold War politics in Africa cause the failure of the nation state there? Why or why not?

Refer to the Central African Republic under Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the Congo under Joseph Mobutu,

and Nigeria under Yakubu Gowon in your answer.

Readings

Amin, Julius A. 1998. "United States Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea: A Case Study of US-

African Relations during the Cold War." Journal Of Contemporary African Studies 16, no. 2: 197.

Collins, Carole J.L. 1993. "The cold war comes to Africa: Cordier and the 1960 Congo crisis."

Journal Of International Affairs 47, no. 1: 243

Edo, Uvie. 2010. "Dual Hegemonies: A Dialectical Appraisal of Niger-Delta Politics." Journal Of

Pan African Studies 3, no. 10: 104-118.

Frazier, Javan David. 2008. "Almost Persuaded: The Johnson Administration's Extension of

Nuclear Cooperation with South Africa, 1965–1967." Diplomatic History 32, no. 2: 239-258.

Gleijeses, Piero. 2006. "Moscow's Proxy? Cuba and Africa 1975-1988." Journal Of Cold War

Studies 8, no. 4: 98-146.

Hubbard, Douglass. Bound for Africa: Cold War Fight Along the Zambezi

James Quinn, John, and David Simon. 2006. "Plus ça change, ... : The Allocation of French ODA

to Africa During and After the Cold War." International Interactions 32, no. 3: 295-318.

Kalb, Madeleine G. The Congo Cables: The Cold War in Africa from Eisenhower to Kennedy

Kent, John. "United States reactions to empire, colonialism, and cold war in Black Africa, 1949–

57." Journal Of Imperial & Commonwealth History 33, no. 2 (May 2005): 195-220.

Mitchell, Nancy. 2007. "Tropes of the Cold War: Jimmy Carter and Rhodesia." Cold War History

7, no. 2: 263-283.

Müller, Tanja R. 2010. "‘Memories of paradise’ – Legacies of socialist education in

Mozambique." African Affairs 109, no. 436: 451-470.

Nyang, Sulayman S. 2005. "US-Africa Relations over the Last Century: An African Perspective."

Social Research 72, no. 4: 913-934.

Olympio, Sylvanus E. 1961. "AFRICAN PROBLEMS AND THE COLD WAR." Foreign Affairs

40, no. 1: 50-57.

Onslow, Sue. 2005. "A Question of Timing: South Africa and Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of

Independence, 1964–65." Cold War History 5, no. 2: 129-159.

O'Sullivan, Christopher. 2005. "THE UNITED NATIONS, DECOLONIZATION, AND SELF-

DETERMINATION IN COLD WAR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, 1960-1994." Journal Of Third

19


Percox, David. Britain, Kenya and the Cold War: Imperial Defence, Colonial Security and

Decolonisation

Peterson, Don. Revolution in Zanzibar: An American’s Cold War Tale

Schraeder, Peter J. 2000. "Cold War to Cold Peace: Explaining U.S.-French Competition in

Francophone Africa." Political Science Quarterly 115, no. 3: 395.

Storkmann, Klaus. 2010. "Fighting the Cold War in southern Africa? East German military support

to FRELIMO." Portuguese Journal Of Social Science 9, no. 2: 151-164.

White, Evan. 2003. "Kwame Nkrumah: Cold War Modernity, Pan-African Ideology and the

Geopolitics of Development." Geopolitics 8, no. 2: 99-124.

13 The collapse of multi-party democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, military

coups and the development of underdevelopment

Introduction

It didn’t take long for most governments of newly independent African countries, which were at least

nominally democratic, to deteriorate into one-party states or military or civilian dictatorships. Some

observers marked such events as signs of progress away from colonial or capitalist repression, but in every

case of coup d’état or extreme centralization of state power, sharp increases in income inequality and

corruption and sharp decreases in macroeconomic stability were followed by increasing incidence of human

rights abuses and the deterioration of quality of life factors like literacy and infant mortality. So, it’s hard to

argue, given the evidence that African states evolved away from the nominal democratic forms of

government they were given at independence, in that political and social and economic conditions generally

improved. It’s more accurate to day they devolved, in the sense that development was retrograde. The

word commonly used to describe this phenomenon is “underdevelopment.” In this unit we will discuss the

political economy of underdevelopment.

Assignments





If you could steal all the money you wanted, and you knew you wouldn’t be punished, would you

do it? Why or why not? How do you think this might affect other people? After you explain

yourself, discuss Gabon under Omar Bongo and Malawi under Hastings Banda.

Does the end justify the means? Why or why not? Discuss Nigeria under Sani Abacha and Cote

d’Ivoire under Felix Houphouet-Boigny.

Is a government of intellectuals better than a government of soldiers? Why or why not? In your

answer, compare Senegal under Leopold Senghor, Guinea under Sekou Toure, Sierra Leone under

Valentine Strasser and Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankra.

Readings


Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, chapter 6, 7, 10, 11, 15


Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart

Adjibolosoo, Senyo. 2012. "Facing the Challenges and Tasks of Development: The Human Factor

Perspective on Why Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo Failed in their Leadership Roles."

Review Of Human Factor Studies 18, no. 1: 1-19.

Bayart, Jean-Francois. The State in Africa: Politics of The Belly

Bond, Patrick. 2003. "African anti-capitalisms." Society In Transition 34, no. 2: 233-251.

Foden, Giles. The Last King of Scotland

Forje, John W. 2006. "Constructing a Developmental Nation: The Challenges of Science,

20

Technology, and Innovation in the Socioeconomic Transformation of Africa." Perspectives On

Global Development & Technology 5, no. 4: 367-384.

Fraser-Moleketi, Geraldine. 2007. "Towards a common understanding of corruption in Africa."

International Journal Of African Renaissance Studies 2, no. 2: 239-249.

Frimpong-Ansah, J.H. The Vampire State in Africa: The Political Economy of Decline in Ghana

Isegawa, Moses. Abyssinian Chronicles

Jogwu, C. N. O. 2010. "ADULT ILLITERACY : THE ROOT OF AFRICAN

UNDERDEVELOPMENT." Education 130, no. 3: 490-498.

Johnson, Simon, Jonathan D Ostry, and Arvind Subramanian. 2010. "Prospects for Sustained

Growth in Africa: Benchmarking the Constraints." IMF Staff Papers 57, no. 1: 119-171.

Jones, Branwen Gruffydd. 2005. "Africa and the Poverty of International Relations." Third World

Quarterly 26, no. 6: 987-1003.

Kerr-Ritchie, Jeffrey R. 2007. "The New Scramble for Africa." Nature, Society & Thought 20, no.

2: 205-212.

Kihika, Maureen. 2009. "Development or Underdevelopment: The Case of Non-Governmental

Organizations in Neoliberal Sub-Saharan Africa." Journal Of Alternative Perspectives In The

Social Sciences 1, no. 3: 783-795.

Kraxberger, Brennan M. 2012. "Rethinking responses to state failure, with special reference to

Africa." Progress In Development Studies 12, no. 2/3: 99-111.

MARKS, JON. 2009. "Nationalist policy-making and crony capitalism in the Maghreb: the old

economics hinders the new." International Affairs 85, no. 5: 951-962.

May, Julian, and Charles Meth. 2007. "Dualism or underdevelopment in South Africa: what does a

quantitative assessment of poverty, inequality and employment reveal?." Development Southern

Africa 24, no. 2: 271-287.

McSherry, Brendan. 2006. "The Political Economy of Oil in Equatorial Guinea." African Studies

Quarterly 8, no. 3: 25-45.

Migdal, Joel. Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in

the Third World

Ngara, Shingai. 2011. "Bennu: Africa innovating itself out of underdevelopment." International

Journal Of African Renaissance Studies 6, no. 1: 60-77.

Olumuyiwa Ọmọbọwale, Ayọkunle. 2010. "Political clientelism and rural development in south-

western Nigeria." Africa (Edinburgh University Press) 80, no. 3: 453-472.

Orobator, Agbonkhianmeghe E. 2010. "CARITAS IN VERITATE AND AFRICA'S BURDEN OF

(UNDER)DEVELOPMENT." Theological Studies 71, no. 2: 320-334.

Ousmane, Sembene. God’s Bits of Wood

Schatz berg, Michael. The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire

Tang, Min, and Dwayne Woods. 2008. "The Exogenous Effect of Geography on Economic

Development: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa." African & Asian Studies 7, no. 2/3: 173-189.

Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. Petals of Blood

Umejesi, Ikechukwu. 2011. "Coal Sector Revitalization, Community Memory, and the Land

Question in Nigeria: A Paradox of Economic Diversification?." African Studies Quarterly 12, no.

3: 2-21.

Wa Muiu, Mueni. 2008. "CIVILIZATION" ON TRIAL: THE COLONIAL AND

POSTCOLONIAL STATE IN AFRICA." Journal Of Third World Studies 25, no. 1: 73-93.

14 The political, economic and social impact of the end of the Cold War

Introduction

The end of the Cold War was supposed to be the last step in the freeing of African societies from external

domination. It was, and it wasn’t. By the time the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, which date is generally

accepted as the end of the Cold War, all the African states on the map were independent. (Eritrea wasn’t

created until 1993, South Sudan until 2011; Somaliland, Western Sahara and the Sahrawi Republic aren’t

recognized as independent states by the African Union or the United Nations). So, official colonial

21

domination was over. Since the Cold War was over so, too was neo-colonial domination by the US and the

USSR. Africa was supposed to be free, but was it? The rolling back of competition between states for

colonies or clients in Africa created opportunities for government and business, particularly business, to

develop consumer and factor markets in all sectors of countries’ economies. However, given the effects of

underdevelopment, African governments and businesses were poorly placed to meet consumers’ needs and

to create demand. Capital was extremely scarce, land and labor extremely unproductive, people poorly

educated for the jobs and tasks required of economic and political development. Since indigenous

governments and business could not, for the most part, create markets or supply the needs of the economy,

non-governmental aid and foreign direct investment jumped. American, European and Asian businesses

and lending institutions risked more money in Africa even as official development assistance (from

governments and official development agencies) stagnated or decreased. Nationalists in Africa complained

that Africa was open for business to further neo-colonial domination, this time by multinational

corporations and banks. While it’s true that foreign investment benefitted non-African businesses,

institutions, and people, it’s also true that it benefitted Africans in ways that pay off in the longer term. Risk

capital is gradually accumulating in the stabler markets like South Africa and Ghana and Rwanda. Natural

resource exploitation is driving economic and political change in Nigeria and Uganda. Markets with greater

global exposure, like Kenya, are realizing economies of scale as they grow in services such as mobile phone

banking or luxury commodities like cut flowers. The end of the Cold War created opportunities to benefit

from an increased tolerance for political and financial risk in Africa. Governments mostly missed these

opportunities, and the average African couldn’t participate in them directly, but combinations of foreign

investment, local seed capital and indigenous expertise and labor did take risks which are beginning to pay

off. In this unit we will discuss the effects of this opening.

Assignments





Which is more important for business success, a steady supply of capital or predictable law

enforcement? Compare the privatization of the electricity utility in Uganda and the fiber optic

communications network in Rwanda in your answer.

What is the right balance between government regulation and free enterprise for development in

Africa? Refer to ujamaa in Tanzania under Julius Nyerere and Ghana under Jerry Rawlings in

your answer.

Do societies have to become more tolerant to become rich? Why or why not? Discuss the

influence of Islam in Kaduna in Nigeria, the Mourides of Senegal and Afrikaaners in South Africa.

Readings

Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, chapter 14, 16, 17, 18


Adjasi, Charles K. D., and Nicholas Biekpe. 2009. "DO STOCK MARKETS MATTER IN

INVESTMENT GROWTH IN AFRICA?." Journal Of Developing Areas 43, no. 1: 109-120.

Amadasun, Akongbowa Bramwell, and Sunday Adelunuoghene Ojeifo. 2011. "Foreign Direct

Investments And Sustainable Development In Sub Sahara Africa In The 21st Century: Challenges

And Interventions." Insights To A Changing World Journal no. 6: 135-146.

Ayittey, Goerge. Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future

Baldé, Yéro. 2011. "The Impact of Remittances and Foreign Aid on Savings/Investment in Sub-

Saharan Africa." African Development Review 23, no. 2: 247-262.

Brixiova, Zuzana. 2010. "Unlocking Productive Entrepreneurship in Africa's Least Developed

Countries." African Development Review 22, no. 3: 440-451.

Buys, A. J., and P.N. MBewana. 2007. "Key success factors for business incubation in South

Africa: the Godisa case study." South African Journal Of Science 103, no. 9/10: 356-358.

Chiloane-Tsoka, Evelyn G. 2011. "THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LOCAL BUSINESS SERVICE

CENTRES IN DISSEMINATING INFORMATION TO WOMAN ENTREPRENEURS IN

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GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA." Gender & Behaviour 9, no. 1: 3566-3579.

Cohen, Andrew. 2008. "Business and Decolonisation in Central Africa Reconsidered." Journal Of

Imperial & Commonwealth History 36, no. 4: 641-658.

COTULA, LORENZO, and SONJA VERMEULEN. 2009. "Deal or no deal: the outlook for

agricultural land investment in Africa." International Affairs 85, no. 6: 1233-1247.

de Haan, Leo, and Alfred Lakwo. 2010. "Rethinking the Impact of Microfinance in Africa:

‘Business Change’ or Social Emancipation." European Journal Of Development Research 22, no.

4: 529-545.

Fick, David. Entrepreneurship in Africa: A Study of Success

Gantsho, Mandla Sv, and Patrick Karani. 2007. "Entrepreneurship and innovation in development

finance institutions for promoting the clean development mechanism in Africa." Development

Southern Africa 24, no. 2: 335-344.

Handley, Antoinette. Business and the State in Africa: Economic Policy Making in the Neo-

Liberal Era

Hendrickson, Roshen. 2012. "Adjustment in the Role of the Overseas Private Investment

Corporation (OPIC) in Sub-Saharan Africa." Africa Today 58, no. 4: 67-86.

Jauch, Herbert. 2011. "CHINESE INVESTMENTS IN AFRICA: Twenty-First Century

Colonialism?." New Labor Forum (Murphy Institute) 20, no. 2: 48-55.

Kalaycioglu, Sema. 2011. "Between Mission and Business: Turkey's New Approach to Africa."

Journal Of US-China Public Administration 8, no. 11: 1288-1297.

Kihato, Caroline, and Ralph Hamann. 2006. "Is business coming to the table? Corporate

citizenship in Africa." Development Southern Africa 23, no. 2: 173-174

Mbeki, Thabo. Africa: The Time Has Come

Mehta, K., A. Maretzki, and L. Semali. 2011. "TRUST, CELL PHONES, SOCIAL NETWORKS

AND AGRICULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EAST AFRICA: A DYNAMIC

INTERDEPENDENCE." African Journal Of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition & Development 11, no.

5: 5374-5388.

Moyo, Dambisa. Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa

Sachs, Jeffrey. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

Sardanis, Andrew. A Venture in Africa: The Challenges of African Business

SEN, KUNAL, and DIRK WILLEM TE VELDE. 2009. "State Business Relations and Economic

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa." Journal Of Development Studies 45, no. 8: 1267-1283.

Shikwati, James. 2007. “Africa: Africans See Poverty, Foreigners See Resources and Wealth,”

Occasional Papers, Vol 1, Inter Region Economic Network.

Tignor, Robert L. 2007. "The Business Firm in Africa." Business History Review 81, no. 1: 87-

110.

15 African societies in transformation: AIDS, genocide and grassroots movements towards

democracy, 1990 to the present

Introduction

In the history of modern Africa, there’s never been a long period without at least one or two continent-wide

upheavals. From the 1960’s to the 1980’s these upheavals were mostly exogenous, meaning caused by

factors outside the model, outside the continent: colonialism, the Cold War, the economic dislocations of

structural adjustment policies. Beginning in the 1990’s, though, exogenous shocks receded and endogenous

– inside or homegrown – shocks became more important. Civil war, genocide, AIDS, corruption and

democratization played bigger roles in national development across Africa. In a way, these phenomena are

the legacy of colonial oppression: social and political pathologies that weren’t created by imperialism but

which were kept under tight control by it. It’s not all “their” fault, though. The venality, short-termism,

bigotry, licentiousness and greed of too many African leaders and the complaisance, indifference or despair

of too many African citizens made national and continental crises out of problems which ought to have been

contained despite Africa’s history and endemic poverty. Genuine social transformation began when the

right people – young or young-at-heart, open-minded, hopeful, and forward-looking – found the right tools

23

– security, money and entrepreneurship – at the right time. The right time was the recent past when, finally,

the notion that Africa was “someone else’s” problem was replaced with the hope that, despite what has

happened to us we can do what is best for us, individually or nationally. The places where this attitude is

popular are easy to see, because they’re safer, harder working, wealthier and often but not always happier

than their neighbors. In this unit we will discuss contemporary African societies and their options for the

future.

Assignments





Could a country have democracy without development or development without democracy? Why?

Discuss Rwanda under Paul Kagame and Kenya under Mwai Kibaki in your answer.

Does development depend on money? Why or why not? Refer to HIV/AIDS management

programs in Uganda under Yoweri Museveni and in South Africa under Thabo Mbeki in your

answer.

Is ethnic conflict always a bad thing? Discuss the Rwanda Genocide of 1994, the Truth and

Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the Biafra War in 1967 in Nigeria in your answer.

Readings

Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, chapter 9, 11, 12, 14, 16


Adichie, Chimamanda. Purple Hibiscus

ASUMAH, SETH. "Islam, Rentier States and the Quest for Democracy in Africa." Western

Journal Of Black Studies 34, no. 4 (Winter2010 2010): 399-411.

Badru, Pade. 2010. "ETHNIC CONFLICT AND STATE FORMATION IN POST-COLONIAL

AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ETHNIC GENOCIDE IN THE CONGO, LIBERIA,

NIGERIA, AND RWANDA-BURUNDI." Journal Of Third World Studies 27, no. 2: 149-169.

Bates, Robert H. 2010. "Democracy in Africa: A Very Short History." Social Research 77, no. 4:

1133-1148.

Bradley, Matthew Todd. 2005. "Civil Society, Emigration and Democracy in Africa: An

Alternative Proposition." Western Journal Of Black Studies 29, no. 2: 540-552.

Carmody, Padraig. The New Scramble for Africa

Chabal, Patrick. Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling

Chanock, Martin. 2010. "Constitutionalism, Democracy and Africa: Constitutionalism Upside

Down." Law In Context 28, no. 2: 126-144.

Clarke, Ian. The Man With The Key Has Gone

de Waal, Alex. Famine that Kills: Darfur, Sudan

Fuller, Alexandra. Don’t Let’s Go to The Dogs Tonight

Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our

Families: Stories From Rwanda

Guseh, James S., and Emmanuel Oritsejafor. 2005. "DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC

GROWTH IN AFRICA: THE CASES OF GHANA AND SOUTH AFRICA." Journal Of Third


Herrera, Javier, Mireille Razafindrakoto, and François Roubaud. 2007. "Governance, Democracy

and Poverty Reduction: Lessons Drawn from Household Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin

America." International Statistical Review 75, no. 1: 70-95.

Kapuscinski, Ryszard. The Shadow of the Sun

Krog, Antjie. Country of My Skull

Le VAN, A. CARL. 2011. "Power Sharing and Inclusive Politics in Africa's Uncertain

Democracies." Governance 24, no. 1: 31-53.

Martin, Guy. 2011. "Revisiting Fanon, From Theory to Practice: Democracy and Development in

Africa." Journal Of Pan African Studies 4, no. 7: 24-38.

24

Mattes, Robert, and Michael Bratton. 2007. "Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness,

Performance, and Experience." American Journal Of Political Science 51, no. 1: 192-217.

Oyekan, Adeolu Ouwaseyi. 2009. "Democracy and Africa's Search for Development." Journal Of

Pan African Studies 3, no. 1: 214-226.

Prunier, Gerard. Rwanda: History of a Genocide

Selassie, Bereket Habte. 2011. "Democracy and Peace in the Age of Globalization: Old Problems,

New Challenges for Africa." African Studies Review 54, no. 1: 19-31.

Stockemer, Daniel. 2011. "Women's Parliamentary Representation in Africa: The Impact of

Democracy and Corruption on the Number of Female Deputies in National Parliaments." Political

Studies 59, no. 3: 693-712.

Tutu, Desmond. The Rainbow People of God: The Making of a Peaceful Revolution

16 Review

Introduction

We will review for the final exam in this unit. If you are taking the course in the classroom, you should

bring your assignments with you to the meeting. If you are doing the online version of the course, you

should do post your assignments to the discussion board on the course website.

Assignments





Choose one African country and study its economy, society and political system. Write three

recommendations for policies which you think will result in greater economic growth and greater

political self-determination for its people.

What is the most important thing you've learned in this course? Why?

Prepare questions about the preceding course material which you would like discussed and bring

them with you to the meeting or post them to the discussion board in the on-line version of the

course.

Readings

Abrahams, Peter. Mine Boy

Amadi, Elechi. The Concubine

Armah, Ayi Kwei. The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born

Baingana, Doreen. Tropical Fish: Tales From Entebbe

Beti, Mongo. King Lazarus

Brink, Andre. A Dry White Season

Coetzee, J.M. Waiting for the Barbarians

Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nervous Conditions

Dongala, Emmanuel. The Fire of Origins

Farah, Nuruddin. Maps

Gordimer, Nadine. July’s People

Head, Bessie. A Bewitched Crossroad

Huxley, Elspeth. The Flame Trees of Thika

Kroma, Siaka. Gomna’s Children

Mafhouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley

Naipaul, V.S. A Bend in the River

Okri, Ben. The Famished Road


Thiong’o, Ngugi wa. The Wizard of the Crow

Vera, Yvonne. Butterfly Burning

25

17 Final Exam

The final exam consists of a short-essay paper. Typically the paper requires you to answer two questions in

about three hours. It is designed to test your critical thinking skills and your facility in argument as well as

the knowledge of the subject which you have accumulated over the course.

See your instructor for further details.

Thank you for sitting the course this term.

.

26

Appendix

Africa Basic Facts Worksheet

Name all the countries on the map below

27


There are fifty-four African countries. Complete the table below

Name Capital city Population Head of gov’t GDP per capita

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

28

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

Helpful hints

Use the first map in this worksheet to help you

Use the internet and the college library to do research

GDP is Gross Domestic Product – look it up if you don’t know what this means – use the

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) measure

The head of government and the head of state are not always the same person

Record the population in millions of people – for example, write 31 to mean 31,000,000

29


Locate the following on the map below: the Sahara Desert, the Kalahari Desert, the Nile River, the Congo

River, the Niger River, the Zambezi River, Lake Victoria, the Great Rift Valley and the Cape of Good Hope

30


Locate the areas best known for the following on the map below: diamonds, gold, oil. copper, coffee, tea,

cocoa, cotton, palm oil

oakton community college course syllabus his 211 history ...mmadill/his_211_syllabus.pdf · c....

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