his308-spr2007-syl 

 


DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HIS 308 | Spring 2008 | Dr. D. Zizwe Poe


History of Africa to 1880 - 1990
T Th 2 - 3:20 pm | DH 141


Professor D. Zizwe Poe | email: history308@gmail.com
OFFICE: Room 377, Dickey Hall | Extension: 7298
OFFICE HOURS: M W , Noon - 2 pm and Th 3:30 - 5:30 pm


Course Description:

This course was originally designed to examine the concept of European Imperialism and certain factors that led to the partition of Africa by European powers in the latter part of the nineteenth century. It also focused on the character of colonial rule and its overthrow in Africa. The course includes those earlier goals but now seeks to integrate themes related to the post-independence period and the various ideological and organizational efforts of the independent states as they engaged neo-colonialism, developmental strategies and new exigencies before the African People.

Learner Outcomes

Learners examine African peoples as agents in their own development and/or demise while negotiating a range of global political economies in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Particular focus is given to African people's responses to European and American imperialism. Mass agency is explored to avoid reducing historical events and processes to individuals' resultant actions. History, in this way, should be empowering. Students in this class will improve their reading, research, and presentation skills.

Themes:

  • Both the erosion of African unity along and global business collaboration intensified African enslavement and European colonial-imperialism.
  • Economic principles of capitalism inspired European and American imperialism in Africa.
  • Pan-Africanism was an African cultural response that led to the political liberation of African nation-states.
  • Neo-colonialism and new colonialism challenged Africa's political independence
  • African states moved toward administrative union while 'commercial marketing agents' move toward consolidation of their operations.

Concepts used:

Pan-Africanism capitalism
colonialism Imperialism
socialism African Liberation Movement (ALM)
African agency enslavement
corruption European supremacy
racialism apartheid
Negritude Regionalism
balkanization World Bank
Revolving aid United Nations
Garvey Movement Pan-African Confabs.
Organization of African Unity Nkrumahism
Marxism Third Universal Theory
ideology Maoism
Strategic minerals Ujamma
Positive Action Guerilla Warfare
zonal analysis structural adjustment programs
irredentism African Union
NEPAD Casablanca Group
Monrovia Group  

Required materials for the course:

  • History of Africa by Kevin Shillington.
    • Preface
    • Chapters 17-29
  • Other Materials and Multimedia Aids:
  • UNESCO's General History of Africa Volumes 7 & 8
  • Ali Mazrui videos-
    • Eden in Decay
    • In search of stability
    • Global Africa
  • Basil Davidson's videos-
  • DVDs and Video clips: Blood Diamonds; Battle of Algiers; Amandla
  • Slideshows, sound files, and articles posted through WebCt.

Grading formula:

1.     Prompt attendance (10%).

2.     Historical Research project (writing assignment) (20%). Project report must be in approved format and use texts and/or presentations from a professor-approved list.

3.     Written responses to prepatory questions for collective discussion of material worth a total of (20%) of your grade. Answers must be in approved format.

4.     There will be 2 (two) tests worth 20 percentage points each for a total of (40%) of your grade.

5. Each out of class written assignments, after being previewed, is to be emailed through WebCt submission buttons as a 'rich text format' attachment with a digital backup sent to history308@gmail.com. For the backup, the assignment title must be in the subject heading. A hard copy of all written assignments must be brought to class to assist your discussions. ALL Emailed work should include the class and date of assignment in the subject heading. THE PROFESSOR MUST NOT BE THE FIRST PERSON TO READ YOUR WRITTEN WORK! Read your work; take it to a person with the appropriate skill level to check it (the Learning Resource Center in Dickey Hall or a certified tutor); then submit it.


6.    Grading Scale

  • A = 95-100%; A- = 90-94%;
  • B+ = 85-89%; B = 80-84%; B- = 75-79%;
  • C+ = 70-74%; C = 65-69%; C- = 60-64%;
  • D = 55-59%; F = 0-54%

W1- - - - -

January 10 - Introduction and expectations

  • Discussion of syllabus
  • Read Chapter 1 of Writing for College History
  • (check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

W2- - - - -

Texts to be discussed:

  • Chapter 1 of Writing for College History
  • Shillington Chapter 16: West Africa in the nineteenth century and the ending of the slave trade
  • Shillington Chapter 17: Central and east Africa in the nineteenth century
  • Shillington Chapter 18: Pre-industrial southern Africa in the nineteenth century

Video to be discussed: The Bible and the Gun (Davidson)

January 15

Methodological Approaches

  •      Discussion on the concept of 'agency'
    •      The relation between information and skill
    •     The relation between information and will
    •     Dialectically related forms of human will, skill, and praxis

January 17

Methodological Approaches

  •      Discussion on the concept of 'sovereign'
    •      Traditional Academic Perspectives
    •      Psychological Theories
    •       Diplomatic Theories
    •       African Dimension Theory
    •       Periodization of African Resistance
    (check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

W3- - - - -

Texts to be discussed:

  • Shillington Chapter 16: West Africa in the nineteenth century and the ending of the slave trade
  • Shillington Chapter 17: Central and east Africa in the nineteenth century
  • Shillington Chapter 18: Pre-industrial southern Africa in the nineteenth century

(check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

January 22

Discuss European colonialism in Africa and its impact on African populations

  • Discuss the impact of 'any means necessary' in the acquistion of profitable enterprizes
  • Discuss the video: This Magnificent Cake (Davidson)

January 24

Presentation on the Pan-African Centered Perspective of History

W4- - - - -

(check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

January 29

Quiz on methodological approaches, 'sovereignty', and the Pan-African Centered Perspective

Discussion of Shillington Chapter 16 - West Africa in the nineteenth century and the ending of the slave trade

January 31

Shillington Chapter 17 "Central and east Africa in the nineteenth century"

Shillington Chapter 18 "Pre-industrial southern Africa in the nineteenth century"

W5- - - - -

(check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

February 5

  • Shillington Chapter 19 - North and northeast Africa in the nineteenth century
  • Shillington Chapter 20 - Prelude to empire in Tropical Africa

February 7

Shillington Chapter 21 "The European 'Scramble', colonial conquest and African resistance in east, north-central and west Africa"

W6- - - - -

(check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

February 12

UNESCO v. 7 Chapter 3 "African initiatives and resistance in the face of partition and conquest"

February 14

  • Quiz on chapters 19 - 21 (Shillington) and UNESCO v. 7
  • The evolution of the Pan-African Congresses

W7- - - - -

(check WebCT for assignment submission deadlines [VERY IMPORTANT])

February 19

The evolution of the Universal Improvement Association and the African Community Leagues :

February 21

Review for Midterm

W8- - - - -

February 26

MIDTERM

February 28

Garvey and DuBois clips

W9- - - - -

March 4

Examples of initiative and resistance (part1):

o       UNESCO v. 7 Chapter 7 African initiatives and resistance in East Africa, 1880 - 1914
o       UNESCO v. 7 Chapter 4 African initiatives and resistance in North-East Africa, 1880 - 1914
o       UNESCO v. 7 Chapter 5 African initiatives and resistance in North Africa and the Sahara, 1880 - 1914

March 6

Examples of initiative and resistance (part2):

o       Shillington Chapter 22 Industrialization, colonial conquest and African resistance in south-central and southern Africa
o       UNESCO v. 7 Chapter 9 African initiatives and resistance in South Africa, 1880 - 1914

W10- - - - -

March 11

Video: Nationalism (Davidson)

March 13

Shillington Chapter 26: The winning of independence (1)

W11- - - - -

March 18

  • UNESCO v. 8 Chapter 25 Pan-Africanism and Liberation
  • Nkrumah and the Pan-African initiative (part 1)
    • The struggle to create the Pan-African Liberated Zone
    • The impact of the Pan-African Liberated Zone

March 20

  • Nkrumah and the Pan-African initiative (part 2)
    • The struggle to create an African Socialist Union
    • The formation of the Organization of African Unity
  • Eesedebe Chapter 5 "From Accra to Addis Ababa"

W12- - - - -

March 25

  • DVD: Amandla
  • Shillington Chapter 27 The winning of independence (2)

March 27

  • The liberation struggles of:
    • Angola
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia

W13- - - - -

April 1

  • The liberation struggles of:
    • Zimbabwe
    • South Africa

April 3

The participation of Africans outside of Africa in the struggle for African liberation and unity

W14- - - - -

April 8

Neo-colonialism and its evolution in Africa

April 10

The Zonal Analysis and contemporary movements toward continental unity.

W15- - - - -

April 15

Review

April 17

Review

- - - - - - - - - -

Finals Week

Final

- - - - -


Suggested Booklist:

  • Books by Nkrumah:
    • Challenge of the Congo
    • Africa Must Unite
    • Ghana, an autobiography
    • Neo-Colonialism: The last stage of Imperialism
    • Class Struggle in Africa
  • Books by Fanon:
    • Algeria Unveiled
    • Towards Colonial Freedom
    • Wretched of the Earth
  • Books by Cabral:
    • Return to the source
  • Books by S. Toure
    • United States of Africa
    • Culture, Revolution, and Pan-Africanism
  • Book by Qadaffi
    • The Green Book