Through an historical analysis of the transformations occurred since the first independences in the Sixties, the course will examine how African political leaderships and societies have been able to develop issues, languages and strategies in order to build relations with external (old and new) stakeholders and to develop a complex inter-African dialogue.
Compulsory readings: Paul Nugent, Africa since Independence. A comparative History, Palgrave Macmillan, second edition, 2012.
Letture consigliate: Padraig Carmody, The New Scramble for Africa, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2011; Patrick Chabal, The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, London, Zed Books, 2009
Durante le lezioni verrà distribuito materiale aggiuntivo.
Learning Objectives
The course will provide students with in-depth knowledge on the roots of contemporary Africa integration in the international arena, focussing on cold-war, post-cold war, and present political strategies.
The historical perspective adopted during the course will unable students to situate present African challenges in a long time framework providing them with consistent analytical tools
Prerequisites
Only students with Bachelor degree can attend the course.
It is desirable (not compulsory) for the students to have basic knowledge on African pre-colonial and colonial history
Teaching Methods
Lectures and workshops on primary and bibliographical sources.
Students attending the lectures will be asked to write and discuss, during the second module, on a specific case study related to the topics analysed during the course. In class, films, fiction and non-fiction literature as well as newspapers will also be used.
Further information
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Type of Assessment
Students attending the lectures will be asked to write and discuss on a specific case study related to the topics analysed during the second module plus passing an oral exam on the issues studied during the first module.
Students that do not attend lectures will be asked to pass an oral exam on the basis of the advised textbooks.
Course program
The African continent is getting increasing international relevance. New and old actors show an interest that aims not only to the natural resources abundant in many African countries, but also to frame new economic and political partnerships. Not surprisingly, the most important African multilateral organizations and the most influential African think-tanks are questioning whether and how African countries – and some of them in particular –are responding and will be able to respond to this new challenges. Will African governments and institutions, especially of those States that aim at playing a relevant role on the continental and international scene (South Africa and Nigeria for example), have the instruments to assert themselves along these new patterns of integration? What are the historical roots of present African international relations?
Through an historical analysis of the transformations occurred since the first independences in the Sixties, through the cold war and post-cold war periods, the course will examine how African political leaderships and societies have been able to develop issues, languages and strategies in order to build relations with external partners and to develop a still complex inter-African dialogue.
Students who will attend the lectures will be asked, in the second part of the course, to work on personal presentations of single case studies, on the basis of the interpretive frameworks analysed and discussed during the first module