| Unit name | Nationalism in Africa (Level I Lecture Response) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HIST25016 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Howe |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Until the second half of the nineteenth century, European domination in Africa was mostly confined to coastal enclaves, while most of the continent was divided into a huge number of political units ranging from large centralised states to tiny, self-governing 'tribal' communities. After about 1860, almost the whole of Africa very rapidly came under the rule of various European powers, with Britain in the lead.
Then in the mid-twentieth century, with equally dramatic speed, nearly all of Africa achieved independence from colonial rule; sometimes by peaceful negotiation, sometimes after bitter and bloody conflict. The movements which achieved independence had much in common, in their social roots and their guiding ideas, with the nationalist passions which had a bit earlier swept Europe, Latin America, Asia and indeed most of the world (and thus this course will look at least briefly at global comparisons and at theoretical literatures on nationalism in general). But they also had some unusual features. Some of their early inspiration came from outside the continent itself, from thinkers in the 'African Diaspora' of the Americas and elsewhere. The 'nations' they sought to create mostly bore little relation to Africa's pre-colonial political or ethnic boundaries, but instead followed the lines drawn on the map by the colonial powers. In some cases, perhaps especially where there were large white settler communities as in South Africa, there were fiercely contending, rival views of what 'the nation' was. And today, with dictatorship, economic stagnation, ethnic conflict and even civil war or genocide having ravaged so much of the continent, some say that the dreams and desires of African nationalists have, simply and completely, failed. We'll be asking how true this is, and about the causes of the alleged failure.
As well as a broad selection of historical literature, we shall be using an even wider range of primary sources, including some of the writings of African nationalist leaders and thinkers themselves, and some of the imaginative literature and other artistic forms which have championed, criticised, or commented on the nationalist idea and its often frustrated search for freedom.
10 x 1.5 hour interactive lectures
1 x 3000 word essay (50%) and 1 x 2 hour exam (50%)
Introductory Reading:
