This is a general survey course that will look at Africa from the eve of the colonial revolution to the contemporary period. Africa on the eve of colonialism will be examined in the contexts of both internal processes and the legacies of the mercantilist, especially slave trade, experience. The scramble for and subsequent colonial occupation of the continent from the second half of the nineteenth century form an important part of the course, as do the range of subtle as well as overt modes of African resistance or even aid to this occupation. The various forms of colonial economies and societies will be examined: from the extractive and often predatory systems in the Congo to the west coast peasant production model or to white settler farming in southern Africa and the wage plantation system in parts of German east Africa. Colonial rule in Africa will be examined not only from the point of view of its transformative role but also in terms of its contradictory features that bore the seeds of its eventual destruction during the nationalist era. Some time will be allocated to a brief examination of how the post-colonial African economy and society have evolved, and the domestic as well as international pressures to which these have been subjected in the contemporary period. As a general course meant mainly, though not exclusively, for students with no prior background in African history, the course will draw principally on general texts.
No prerequisites or enrollment limit. Group C.

KAIJAGE