MODERN AFRICA University of Illinois at Chicago HISTAAST 242 Fall 2002

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MODERN AFRICAUniversity of Illinois at
ChicagoHIST/AAST 242Fall 2002
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Course Format
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Course Description

• Africa is the second largest, probably the
  oldest and most diverse, and certainly the least
  understood continent in the world. Until
  recently, prominent European scholars have denied
  that, with the possible exception of the
  Mediterranean countries north of the Sahara,
  there was no history in Africa before the arrival
  of Europeans. The reputation of Africa in the
  media has faired little better. We hear
  descriptions of Africa as the "sick continent"
  or, as Noble Laureate Wole Soyinka put it, "the
  open sore of a continent." Neoconservatives in
  the United States openly argue that African
  Americans should be grateful for slavery as it
  saved them from Africa. One could go on and on.
  But the purpose of this course is not to catalog
  the various ways in which the African continent,
  particularly the part south of the Sahara, has
  been disparaged equated with war, corruption,
  disease and squalor. Rather, we will critically
  review the modern history of the continent and
  explore the processes by which the contemporary
  state of affairs has come about, the past to the
  present crises and triumphs as there are
  triumphs too. We will approach this topic through
  a variety of media, including film, music and
  literary sources.

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Course Requirements
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Course Materials

• Books are available at Chicago Text Books on
  Taylor. Their
• phone number is [phone]. Additionalreadings
  will be
• provided in course reader.
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• - Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O'Meara, Africa,
  3rd Edition.
• - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart.
• - Sembene Osmane, God's Bits of Wood.
• - Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth.

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WEEK 1 Aug. 26-30Mon. Introduction to Modern
Africa

• - the politics of representation
• course overview
• film clip.

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Weds. Maps and Peoples of Africa

• Martin and O'Meara, preface and introduction,
  Micheal McNulty, "The Contemporary Map of Africa"
  in Martin and O'Meara, pp. 10-45. Take home map
  assignment due Weds., Sept. 4.
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• Assignment description On the following blank
  map of Africa 1) Identify all 54 countries, 2) 5
  major rivers, 3) 5 capital cities, 4) the oceans
  and seas surrounding the continent and 5) 3 major
  deserts.

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WEEK 2 Sept. 2-6Weds. Before Empire African
Societies on the Eve of Conquest

• Lamphear and Falola, "Aspects of Early African
  History" in Martin and O'Meara and Curtin Keim,
  "Africa and Europe before 1900" in Martin and
  O'Meara and Adu Boahen, Politics of Ghana,
  1800-1874 in J. F. Ade Ajayi and Michael
  Crowder, History of West Africa, Vol. Two. NY
  Columbia University Press, 1973

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WEEK 3 Sept. 9-13Mon. The Bible, The Compass and
the Gun

• Kevin Shillington, History of Africa, chaps.
  21-23,
• Sven Lindqvist, "Gods of Arms" in "Exterminate
  the Brutes" pp. 35-69. (Reading Packet)
• film "The Bible and the Gun"

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Weds. African Resistance Movements 1

• David Beach, "'Chimurenga' The Shona Rising of
  1896-97," Journal of African History, Vol. 20(3)
  1979, pp. 395-420, D. Chanaiwa, "African
  Initiatives and Resistance in Southern Africa" in
  A. Adu Boahen, General History of Africa. VII.
• (Reading Packet)

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WEEK 4 Sept. 16-18Mon. African Movements 2

• M'Baye Gueye and A. Adu Boahen, "African
  Initiatives and Resistance in West Africa,
  1880-1914," in A. Adu Boahen, General History of
  Africa. VII and Arhin Brempong, "The Role of Nana
  Yaa Asantewa (web)

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Weds. Theorizing Modern Africa Imperialism,
Underdevelopment and Deconstruction

• D.K. Fieldhouse, "The New Imperialism The
  Hobson-Lenin Thesis Revised" in George H. Nadel,
  Imperialism and Colonialism, pp. 74-97. Walter
  Rodney, "Some Questions on Development What is
  Development? What is Underdevelopment?" in How
  Europe Underdeveloped Africa, pp.3-29 and V.Y.
  Mudimbe, "Discourse of Power and Knowledge of
  Otherness" in The Invention of Africa, pp. 1-23.
  (Reading Packet) Read for different perspectives
  on the causes of Africa's economic marginality

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WEEK 5 African Worlds in Crisis

• Mon. African Worlds in Crisis
• Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, first half.
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• Weds. The Role of Literature in Modern African
  Studies
• Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, conclude.
  Carter and OMeara, chap. 15.

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WEEK 6 Sept. 30-Oct. 4Mon. Material Basis of
Colonial Society

• Sheldon Gellar, "The Colonial Era" Bill Freund,
  The Making of Contemporary Africa, chaps. 6,8.
  Sol Plaatje, Native Life in South Africa,
  descriptions of 1913 Native Lands Act in South
  Africa. "King Leopold's Syliloquy." (Reading
  Packet)

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Weds. The African Working Class

• Helen Bradford, "Mass Movements and the Petty
  Bourgeoisie The Social Origins of ICU
  Leadership, 1924-1929," Journal of African
  History, Vol. 23(1984), pp. 295-310, Donald
  Brody, "Clement Kadalie, Champion of the African
  Worker" and History of South African Communist
  Party. (webpage)

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WEEK 7 Oct. 7-11Mon. 1929 Womens War in Nigeria

• Judith Van Allen, Judith Van Allen, "'Aba Riots'
  or Igbo 'Women's War'? Ideology, Stratification,
  and the Invisibility of Women" in Nancy Hafkin
  and Edna Bay (eds.), Women in Africa, pp. 59-85
  and see John Oriji, "Ibo Women from 1929 to 1960"
  in West African Review, 2000.

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Weds. World War Two and After A Rising Tide of
Resistance

• After the War The Rising Tide of Anti-Colonial
  Resistance Through Film
• Kevin Shillington, The Second World War in
  Africa.
• Begin reading Gods Bits of Wood.
• film Sembene Ousmane's, "Camp de Thiaroye."
  Viewing times and venues tba.

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WEEK 8 Oct. 14-18

• Mon. Rising Tide of African Resistance through
  Literature
• Sembene Ousmane, God's Bits of Wood. Visit
  Website biography of Sembene Ousmane.
• Weds. Midterm Exam 

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WEEK 9 Oct. 21-25Mon. Ethiopianism John
Chilembwe to Marcus Garvey

• George Shepperson, "Ethiopianism Past and
  Present" in CG Baeta (ed.) Christianity in
  Tropical Africa Robert Hill and Gregory Pirio,
  Africa for the Africans the Garvey Movement
  in South Africa, 1920-1940 in Shula Marks (ed.),
  The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism, pp.
  209-253.

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Weds. Religion and Social Change

• Carter and OMeara, chaps. 11,16 and Bennetta
  Jules-Rosette, Symbols of Power and Change An
  Introduction to New Perspectives on Contemporary
  African Religion in The New Religions of Africa,
  1979, pp. 21.

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WEEK 10 Mon. Oct. 28-Nov. 1Mon. It Was the Best
of Times and the Worst of Times South Africa in
the 1950s

• Nigel Worden, "The Hey day of Apartheid" in The
  Making of Modern South Africa, pp. 95-120, Mariam
  Makeba, My Life, pp. 32-74.
• Peruse The Beat of Drum (website)
• film clips "Have you seen Drum Lately?"

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Weds. Rise of Anti-Apartheid Movement

• Women's Anti-Pass Protest Frances Baard, "My
  Spirit is not Banned." Peruse Women's Struggle
  Documents and Now You Have Struck the Women from
  ANC Homepage. Read Nelson Mandela, The Struggle
  is My Life, pp. 50-61 and 87-122.
• film "You Have Struck a Rock"
• Paper One is due

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WEEK 11 Nov. 4-8Mon. Mau Mau and other Armed
Rebellions

• See Global Literacy Project, Roots of the Kenyan
  Struggle for Independence, (webpage) Cora Ann
  Presley, "Kikuyu Women and the Mau Mau Rebellion"
  in Kikuyu Women, the Mau Mau Rebellion and Social
  Change in Kenya and Harkman Muniu speaks about
  the Mau Mau Rebellion. (webpage) Other sources,
  tba.

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Weds. Decolonization, Neocolonization and the
Congo Experience

• Kevin Shillington, The History of Africa, chaps.
  26-27(Reading Packet) and John
• Hendrick Clarke,"The Passing of Patrice
  Lumumba." Who Killed Lumumba? (webpage) Edmond
  Keller, Decolonization, Independence, and the
  Failure of Politics" in Carter and O'Meara, pp.
  156-171.
• film Raoul Peck, La Mort du Prophete

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WEEK 12 Nov. 11-15Mon. Frantz Fanon and African
Revolution

• Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, chaps.
  tba.
• Class Visitor Lou Turner

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Weds. Socialist Strategies of Revolution and
Development in Africa

• Amilcar Cabral, Revolution in Guinea, pp. Tba.
  (reading packet)

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WEEK 13 Nov. 18-22Mon. Anti-Apartheid and
Lusophone Liberation Movements in Chicago

• Readings tba.
• Class Visitors Lisa Brock and Prexy Nesbitt.

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Weds. Postcolonial and Postgenocidal Movements
for Democratization and Peace

• Carter and O'Meara, chaps. 347-412.
• Browse Truth and Reconciliation
• Commission site. (webpage)
• film "Long Night's Journey into Day"
• Paper Two is due.

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WEEK 14 Nov. 25-29Presentations on Contemporary
Developments in Africa

• Mon. Group Presentations
• Weds. Group Presentations
• FINAL EXAM ON Dec. 5th!

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