Davidson College
Department of History
HIS 169
The Making of Modern Africa
Alice Wiemers
Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:15-1:30
Office: Preyer 201B
Email & Phone: alwiemers@davidson.edu, 704-894-2908
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-5:30, Wednesday 11:30-3:30, and by appointment
Note: Sometimes I work in my office, but I’m often working at various coffee shops. If you want to meet
with me outside of office hours, just make an appointment and we’ll figure out a time and place to meet. I
may also occasionally hold my office hours outside of my office, in which case I will let you know by
email.
Course Description, Themes, And Goals
This course will introduce you to social, political, and economic themes in the modern history of subSaharan Africa, from roughly 1800 to the present. Topics include: commercial and religious change,
colonialism, nationalism, post-colonial states, popular culture, and historical memory. The class will
be a mixture of lectures and in-class discussion based on common readings and primary source
documents. To help us make sense of Africa’s diverse history, we will concentrate on examples from
different regions: West Africa (Mali, Ghana), East & Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia,
Kenya); and Central Africa (D.R. Congo).
The course is built around three central themes and the questions they raise.
Theme one: The Making of Modern Africa. This is the title of the course, and has shaped how I’ve
designed the syllabus. Each section of the syllabus defines a period and a set of themes for that
period. In some ways, however, the title raises as many questions as it answers. When and for whom
is “Africa” a meaningful category? What about “modern”? We will return to these questions
throughout the course.
Theme two: Diversity and Unity. To further explore the relationship between continent-wide and
regional histories, we will focus on both diversity and commonality in the ways Africans shaped,
contested, and coped with political, economic, and social changes in each period. We approach these
comparisons by looking at regional examples.
Theme three: Constructing the Past. Finally, we will ask how official, academic, and popular
accounts of Africa’s history have been entangled with the events of the course. How were European
constructions of Africans as a “people without history” invoked in the ideology and practice of
colonial rule? How did nationalists claim and construct official visions of pre-colonial states? How
do the tools and sources historians use shape their understanding of the past? In this course, we will
pay particular attention to oral history, life histories, and narrative accounts as tools of historical
thinking.
1 With all this in mind, by the end of the course you should be able to:
• Write about and discuss major themes and turning points in modern African history (Theme: The
Making of Modern Africa).
• Examine the differences and similarities among regional histories, and explain how these
differences both shaped and were shaped by broader continental trends. (Theme: Diversity and
Unity)
• Discuss the choices scholars face when reconstructing African pasts, and offer written analysis of
primary sources (Theme: Constructing the Past).
Required Reading
There are 3 required books to purchase for the course:
§ John Parker and Richard Rathbone, A Very Short Introduction to African History (Oxford
Univ Press, 2007)*
*Note that this book is available as an e-book from the Davidson library. If you don’t want to
purchase it, you may read it online. Whether you have a print or electronic copy, you are
responsible for having the text accessible in class on the days it is assigned.
§ Amadou Hampaté Bâ, The Fortunes of Wangrin (first published in French in 1973, Aina
Pavolini Taylor trans., 2000)
§ Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (first published 1968, Heinemann
edition published 1989. Any edition is fine.)
All other readings, including scholarly articles and primary sources, will be available for download
through Moodle.
Course Expectations and Requirements:
Throughout this course, you are expected to attend class regularly, participate actively in class
sessions, and complete assigned readings before coming to class. Everyone is responsible for the
content of readings, lectures, discussions, and other class activities and for being participants—not
spectators—in our collective exploration of the historical field. Our class meetings will typically
involve a mix of lectures, discussions, and group work.
Participation and Attendance
Since your participation and attendance are critical parts of this course, you are expected to be in
class regularly. Failure to attend class will begin to negatively affect the participation/attendance
portion of your grade. When you come to class, I expect you to have already finished the assigned
readings and to be ready to participate regularly and meaningfully in class. This year, I’ll be
experimenting with digital tools for class participation—be ready to respond both individually and in
groups to written prompts about the readings and lectures.
NOTE: Socrative Room # is d4252f87
Papers and Reviews/Exams
In addition to participation and attendance, you will complete a map quiz, a midterm review, a final
exam, and two primary source analyses. We will spend a lot of class time analyzing sources, working
on writing, and discussing themes. Your participation in class activities will greatly improve your
ability to perform well on graded assignments.
2 Assignments and Grading
There will be the following graded components of the course (Note that detailed instructions for each assignment will be presented and discussed in class):
Quiz:
Ø Map quiz in Week 2 (5%)
Papers:
Ø 3 page paper on sources from “The Forging the Zulu State” (responding to a prompt), due in
Week 4 (10%)
Ø 5 page paper on The Fortunes of Wangrin & The Small Matter of a Horse (oral histories &
colonial rule, responding to prompt) Due in Week 11 (20%)
Midterm and Final:
Ø Midterm Review (Short answer & ID/Sig), due in Week 7 (20%)
Ø Final Exam (Take Home Essays (10 pages) & ID/Sig) (35%)
Participation:
Ø Attendance & Participation (10%)
Grading scale: All assignments will be given numerical grades that will be weighted and converted to letter grades according to the following: A 93 – 100 C+ 77 -­‐ 79 A-­‐
90 – 92 C 73 -­‐ 76 B+ 87 – 89 C-­‐ 70 -­‐ 72 B 83 – 86 D 65 -­‐ 70 B-­‐ 80 – 82 F 64 or lower Note on late assignments: The due dates for assignments are noted on the syllabus. Unless instructed otherwise, paper copies of all written assignments are due at the beginning of class. In usual circumstances, I will mark down any assignments I receive thereafter by 5 grade points per day. I have worked out a schedule for assignments that makes sense for this course. I have not, of course, figured out how this schedule corresponds to the workflow of your other courses. If you have a conflict with one of these assignment due dates, please let me know WELL IN ADVANCE so that we can work out an extension. I am very flexible about extensions as long as they are planned in advance and don’t impede on your overall progress in the course. Papers turned in after the agreed-­‐upon date will be marked down 5 grade points per day. I will make exceptions for true emergencies and illnesses. Class Policies Honor Code All students are expected to work within the bounds of Davidson College’s Honor Code. Acts of plagiarism on class assignments are considered an honors violation, and are cause for failure in the course. Accommodations Davidson College is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its programs. If you have a documented disability (or think you may have a disability) and, as a result, need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this class, complete course requirements, or benefit 3 from the College’s programs or services, contact the Dean of Students Office as soon as possible. To receive any academic accommodation, you must be appropriately registered with the Dean of Students Office, which works with students confidentially and does not disclose any disability-­‐
related information without their permission. For further information about services for students with disabilities, please contact the Dean of Students Office. Class Schedule and Readings
I. INTRODUCTION AND COURSE THEMES
Week 1—Introduction and Themes (Jan 13 & 15)
- Tuesday (no reading, primary sources handed out in class)
- Thursday
o Read: Very Short Introduction, chs 1& 2, pp 1-47
II. STATECRAFT AND SOURCES IN THE EARLY 19th C.
Week 2—States & Sources in the Study of Pre-Colonial Africa (South Africa) (January 20 & 22)
- Tuesday
o Very Short Introduction, Chs 3 & 4, pp 48-90.
- Thursday
o Introduction and Documents 1-6 in Robinson and Smith, eds., “The Forging of the Zulu
State,” Sources of the African Past (1999), 1-9.
o In-Class Map Quiz (physical & contemporary political map)
o Prompts for paper #1 handed out in class
Week 3—Interpreting the Zulu Kingdom (January 27 & 29)
- Tuesday: “The Forging of the Zulu State”
o Documents 7-27 in Robinson and Smith, eds., “The Forging of the Zulu State,” Sources
of the African Past (1999), 9-25.
- Thursday: Intro to Historical Interpretation
o Excerpts from Carolyn Hamilton, Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the
Limits of Historical Invention (Harvard Univ Press, 1998), 149-154
o Excerpts from Karen Flint, Healing Traditions: African Medicine, Cultural Exchange,
and Competition in South Africa, 1820-1948 (Ohio U Press, 2008), 67-73
Week 4—Jihad and State Formation in 19th c. West Africa (Feb 3 & 5)
- Tuesday:
o Omar Ibn Said, selections from “The Life of Omar Ibn Said, Written By Himself” (1831)
in A Muslim American Slave, trans & ed by Ala Alryyes (Wisc. U Press, 2011)
- Thursday:
o DUE IN CLASS: Short paper (3 pages) on the “Forging of the Zulu State” collection
III. COMMERCIAL & POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE LATE 19TH C.
Week 5—European Exploration/Exploitation & Commercial Change (Feb 10 & 12)
- Tuesday: Tuesday: Abolition & “Legitimate Commerce”
o Excerpts from Edward Blyden, “Africa and the Africans,” The Popular Science Monthly
(1878).
4 -
o Selections from Henry Morton Stanley, The Congo and the Founding of Its Free State
(1885), in Africa and the West, v. 1, 232-235.
Thursday: 19th Century Economic Change in Southern Africa
o Allan Isaacman and Derek Peterson, “Making the Chikunda: Military Slavery and
Ethnicity in Southern Africa, 1750-1900,” in Morgan & Brown, eds., Arming Slaves:
from Classical Times to the Modern Age (2006), 95-115
o Documents 29-39 in Robinson and Smith, eds., “The Forging of the Zulu State,” Sources
of the African Past (1999), 25-37.
Week 6—Conquest & Themes of Colonial Rule (Feb 17 & 19)
- Tuesday: Conquest
o A Very Short Introduction, ch 5, pp 91-113
- Thursday: Conquest
o Discuss Fortunes of Wangrin, Introduction, Forward & pp 1-41.
o Midterm review questions posted on Moodle.
III. LIVING WITH COLONIAL RULE (C. 1900-1935)
Week 7—Violence and Labor (Feb 24 & 26)
- Tuesday: Violence and Labor in Congo
o Primary Sources:
§ Evidence of colonial atrocities in the Belgian Congo (1903-5), in Africa and the
West v. 2, pp. 13-19
o MIDTERM REVIEW DUE TO MOODLE BY START OF CLASS (Please take 1.5-2
hours of your own time to complete, without consulting your notes. Please let me know if
you anticipate needing additional time)
- Thursday: Land and migrant labor in South Africa
o Primary Source: Selection from The small matter of a horse: the life of ‘Nongoloza’
Mathebula, 1867-1948. (Charles van Onselen, 1984), pages TBD.
Week 8—Colonial Administration (March 10 & 12)
- Tuesday:
o Jeffrey Gorer account of tax collection in West Africa (1934), in Africa and the West, v.
2, p 63-68.
o Selections from Frederick Lugard, “Methods of Ruling the Native Races,” in The Dual
Mandate in Tropical Africa (1922)
o Fortunes of Wangrin, 42-64
- Thursday: Intermediaries, Interpreters, Clerks
o Fortunes of Wangrin, 64-96.
o Emily Osborn, “‘Circle of Iron’: African Colonial Employees and the Interpretation of
Colonial Rule in French West Africa,” The Journal of African History, 44:1 (2003), 2950.
5 Week 9—Navigating Colonial Rule (March 17 & 19)
- Tuesday: “We Toiled for the White Man in Our Own Gardens”
o Fortunes of Wangrin, 96-146
- Thursday: Colonial Cities
o Fortunes of Wangrin, 222-260
o Prompt for Paper #2 handed out in class
IV: MID-CENTURY OPENINGS & CLOSURES: DECOLONIZATION, PAN-AFRICAN
NATIONALISM & APARTHEID
Week 10—WWII and the Post-War Moment (March 24 & 26)
- Tuesday
o A Very Short Introduction, ch 6, pp 114-129 (stop at the section “Post-Colonial States”)
- Thursday
o Selections from Waruhiu Itote’s autobiography, in Africa and the West, v. 2, pp. 75-82
o Selection of contemporary news reports, TBD
Week 11—Pan-African Nationalism and Retrenchment (March 31 & April 2)
- Tuesday: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Decolonization
o Sources from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, 1957, in Africa and the West v. 2, pp.
125-127.
o Selected speeches from Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Patrice Lumumba (Congo), TBD
- Thursday: Intro to Apartheid/National Party Victory
o DUE IN CLASS: 5-page paper on Fortunes of Wangrin & A Small Matter of a Horse
V. HOPE, DESPAIR, AND CREATIVITY IN POST-COLONIAL AFRICA
Week 12—Dilemmas of Independence (April 9th)
- Thursday
o A Very Short Introduction, pp 129-134 “Post-Colonial States”
o Ayi Kwei Armah, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Chapters 1-7
Week 13—1970s and 80s: Recession and Struggle (April 14 & 16)
- Tuesday: The 1970s
o Complete The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
- Thursday: The Late Decolonizations
o Selection of primary sources from anti-apartheid movements, South Africa and the US
Week 14—“Crisis” & Contemporary History in Post-Colonial Africa (April 21 & 23)
- Tuesday:
o Selections from Frederick Cooper, “The recurrent crises of the gatekeeper state,” in
Africa Since 1940 (Cambridge, 2000), pages TBD
o Selections from World Bank, Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (1981)
(“The Berg report”)
o Selections from newspaper coverage of famine in Sudan and Ethiopia, 1983-5
o In class: Excerpts from Live Aid concert, 1985
6 -
Thursday:
o A Very Short Introduction, ch 6, pp 135-149
o Lecocq, Mann et al, “One hippopotamus and eight blind analysts: a multivocal analysis
of the 2012 political crisis in the divided Republic of Mali,” Review of African Political
Economy, 40:137 (2013), 343-357.
Week 15—Afropolitanism, “Africa Rising,” and Contemporary Debates (April 28)
- Tuesday:
o Achile Mbembe, “Afropolitanism,” in Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of A Continent
(Johannesburg Art Gallery, 2007), 26-31
o “Africa Rising,” The Economist, 3 Dec 2011
- Thursday:
o TBD, as needed
Week 16 (May 5th)
- Meetings and final exam workshop as needed
FINAL EXAM DUE AT 5:15 PM ON MAY 13TH (Uploaded to Moodle) 7