SYLLABUS
HIST 262, 001 - Survey of Modern African History
Dr. Joan Plubell Mattia
Science Technology II 15, 12:00 – 1:15pm, MW
jmattia@gmu.edu
Home: 703-733-0181, Cell: 703-678-3469
Office: Rob B 377D
“Africa is what you will, and it withstands all interpretations.”
Markham, West with the Night, p. 8.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the peoples and cultures of Sub-Sahara
Africa. Its main themes are change and continuity in contemporary Africa. For many who
“discover” Africa for the first time the continent is a blank canvas; a fantasy landscape onto
which each person projects their own wishes, dreams, future success, or organizational
principles. At the same time the peoples of Africa retain their own distinct identity and culture;
a core undaunted, but sometimes modified, by what is imposed from explorers, missionaries,
and political figures. Using regional case studies and approaches from the social sciences and
the humanities, this class will explore issues that have shaped, and will continue to shape, the
African experience.
COURSE GOALS
The purpose of this class is three-fold. First, it is intended to convey content; an
understanding of African societies in the past and the present through various stages and in the
world today. Secondly, it seeks to cultivate a set of skills involving analytical thinking, reading,
writing, and to a lesser degree speaking. Thirdly, and less definable, the course attempts to
generate an interest in and an enthusiasm for things African, an attitude of curiosity and
appreciation which will extend beyond the course itself.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The course will include lectures, assigned readings, class discussions, and media
presentations. Signing up for a university class is a type of contract which students and
instructors agree to honor; this includes attendance --from both parties! Interest in this
subject is assumed, therefore, cells, blackberries, and internet programs will be turned off
during class meetings to take advantage of the exciting content. There will be a mid-term and a
final exam consisting of identification and short essays. Bring blue examination booklets
(available at the book store). The GMU Honor Code will be in effect. There will be an open book
exam on the assigned readings and a short book response paper for River Between. Final
evaluation will be based on the following scale: mid-term –25%, final – 30%, Open Book-35%,
book response – 10%.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Password for e-reserves: “Africa”
Cooper, Frederick. Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge University Press, 2002
Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The River Between. Oxford: Heinemann, 1965
Gilbert, Eric and Jonathan T. Reynolds. Africa in World History: From Prehistory to the Present.
New Jersey: Pearson, 2004
All texts will be on reserve at the Johnson Center, at the bookstore, or used at amazon.com.
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CLASS SCHEDULE
Week One -- Introduction: Africa: Hiding in Plain Sight
Jan. 24 & 26 Read: Africa in World History, pp. xi – xiv and begin The River Between.
Week Two -- Fly Over Africa: Environments and Virtual Tour
Jan. 31 & Feb.2 Read: Africa in World History, Chapter 2, pp. 16 – 22; cont. The River Btwn.
Week Three – Building Blocks: African Traditions and Spiritual World
Feb. 7 & 9
Read: Africa in World History, Chapter 4 & 5
Week Four – Wider World Encounters: Universal Religions and the Slave Trade
Feb. 14 & 16 Read: Africa in World History, Chapter 6
Also Chapter 8, p. 123-125 and p. 210 – 218
Week Five -- European Encounters: Before and After the Scramble for Africa
Feb. 21 & 23 Read Shillington, Chapter 20, pp. 294 – 300 (on reserve/e-reserve); and
Africa in World History, Chapter 13
Week Six -- Colonial Africa: The “Civilizing Mission: and “Developmentalism”
Feb. 28 & Mar. 2 Read: Africa in World History, Chap 14, and Shillington, Chap 24 (e-reser)
Week Seven -- Book Discussion of The River Between and Review
Mar. 7 & 9
Mid-Term Exam – Turn in Book Response
Week Eight -- Spring Break
Mar. 14 & 16 No Classes
Week Nine -- The Lion Roars: Nationalism and Independence
Mar. 21 & 23 Read: Africa since 1940, Chapters 1-4; Turn in Open Book I
Week Ten -- The Congo and South Africa: Not for the Fainthearted
Mar 28 & 30 Read: The Graves Are Not Yet Full by Bill Berkeley, Chapter 3, (e-reserves)
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, Selected passages, Johnson Center
Week Eleven --Armed Struggle and the Honeymoon
Ap. 4 & 6
Read: Africa since 1940, Chapter 6
Africa since 1940, interlude and Chapter 5
Week Twelve –Coups, Conflict and Corruption: Can it get any worse?
Ap. 11 & 13 Read: Africa since 1940, Chapter 7 and Review of Anthills by Achebe:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R30P5QREBWMQAJ/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R30P5QREBW
MQAJ
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Week Thirteen –Popular Participation and Democratic Breakthrough
Ap. 18 & 20 Democratic Experiments in Africa, p. 268 – 279 (e-reserves/reserves)
Read: Long Walk to Freedom by Mandela, Selected passages, Johnson Center
Week Fourteen – Rwandan Nightmare and the AIDS Disaster
Ap. 25 & 27 Read: We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our
Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch, pp. 15 – 43, Johnson Ctr.
Black Death: AIDS in Africa, Susan Hunter, Chapter One, Johnson Center
(both also on e-reserves)
Week Fifteen – Zimbabwe Tragedy and REVIEW
May 2 & 4
TURN IN OPEN BOOK II
Where We Have Hope by Andrew Meldrum, Chapter One & Epilogue
Our Votes, Our Guns: Robert Mugabe and the Tragedy of Zimbabwe, Chap. 1
Both readings are on e-reserve and print at the Johnson Center
May, TBA
FINAL EXAM
Book Response Paper
The book response paper will be due on March 9 after a small group discussion on March 7
(from which you may get ideas). The length should be 1 ½ to 2 pages, double spaced (but no
longer than 3 pages). Please read the book with an eye toward the theme of this class – change
and continuity. Mark these passages and tell me about them: quote them and tell me how you
see these passages illustrating the interaction of outside ideas with indigenous ideas. Or
perhaps you see a resistance to outside ideas, and a continuance of indigenous ideas that you
wish to illustrate. For example, on page 53 the author writes, “Waiyaki could still remember
her last words as they approached the hospital, ‘Waiyaki,’ she turned to him, ‘tell Nyambura I
see Jesus. And I am a woman, beautiful in the tribe…’ “. Muthoni wanted to be both a Christian
and a circumcised woman in her tribe. She wanted to keep the old traditions of her culture, but
also add the new religion brought from the outside. The fact that she died may be an
illustration on the part of the author that the blending of outside and inside traditions is not
always a successful one; in fact it may be fatal in some way to those who attempt this pathway.
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