DELL, JEREMY
This course introduces students to the main currents of African history in the 19th and 20th centuries. From the closing of the Atlantic slave trade to the wave of "democratization" in the 1990s, we will examine changes and continuities across 200 years of history. Topics include state building and political organization; the growth of cities and trade networks; the spread of Islam and Christianity; the imposition of European colonial rule and forms of African resistance and accommodation; forced labor, colonial political economies and resource extraction; the process of decolonization and the emergence of African nationalist movements and political parties; and the struggles of independence. We will pursue these themes in a variety of settings, from the Nile Valley to the East African Coast, and from southern African to the Western Sahel, meeting many African artists, intellectuals, and political figures along the way. In the process, students will become acquainted with different methods of historical research and be asked to think about history alongside contemporary representations of the continent.
