HIS-30113 - Module Specification
School of Humanities
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None.

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2020/21

Can a continent possess "a history"; or "a people"? To what extent are ideas of Africa and Africans still tied to race and other colonial legacies? To understand the ways we imagine Africa today, the module examines the cultural, political and economic dialogues which took place regarding Africa c.1945 to the present. The module uses the latest scholarship and, in challenging a hitherto dominant national historiography, emphasises the importance of both the local (e.g. diverse subaltern experiences in Ghana, Kenya, Algeria, South Africa or Nigeria) and the global (e.g. decolonisation, socialism, postcolonialism and pan-Africanism), in shaping Africa. Perhaps most controversially, the module asks: do you have to be black to be African? And is Africa, as The Economist recently wrote, a "hopeless continent", inherently violent, poor and diseased? While the main focus will be on English-language primary sources and former British colonies, there will also be a chance to compare different colonial legacies within Africa. This will enable students to critically analyse a variety of historiographical approaches to African history and introduce them to a range of primary source materials which have been utilised by historians to interpret key events and processes. For example, students will have a chance to read the works of: Leopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon, Steven Biko, Nelson Mandela, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Julius Nyerere, Walter Rodney, George Padmore, and recent works by people like C. N. Adichie and Thabo Mbeki. Films and other media formats will also be incorporated into the module's analysis, as will official documents.

Can a continent possess "a history"; or "a people"? How are contemporary ideas of Africa and Africans still tied to race or other colonial legacies? To understand the ways we imagine Africa today, students will analyse the various images of Africa (its people, environment and history) which have developed within particular historical and regional contexts since c.1945. Students will have the opportunity to evaluate ongoing debates regarding ethnicity, nationalism, urbanisation and globalisation, violence, race and gender, while also examining specific regions, particularly former British and French colonies.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2

Study hours

10 x two-hour seminars
40 hours seminar preparation
40 hours researching and writing for the source commentary
50 hours preparation for a 24-hour, take-home examination

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment