Starting from fundamental issues on African historiography – from the question of sources to the role played by the construction and re-construction of the African history during the colonial period and from independence onwards – the course offers an overview of the history of Sub-Saharan Africa between the XIX and XX century.
Attending students:
G. Calchi Novati, P. Valsecchi, Africa. La storia ritrovata, Roma, Carocci, 2016, da pag. 11 a pag. 175.
Anna Maria Medici; Arrigo Pallotti; Mario Zamponi, L’Africa contemporanea, Milano, Le Monnier, 2017, da pag. 75 a pag. 172; da pag. 199 a pag. 210; da pag. 274 a pag.416
Optional further reading:
Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, Edizioni dell'Asino,
Historical and geographical maps will be suggested in class.
Non attending students:
The same program of attending students plus Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, Edizioni dell'Asino as a compulsory reading material.
Learning Objectives
The course will allow students to grasp fundamental trajectories of the political history of the African continent and place them against the backdrop of the general transformations of the international system during the XIX and XX centuries up to date. They will be able to appreciate the different levels of analysis, the local, the regional and the international.
The students will become acquainted with sources and bibliography on the examined issues and will be able to develop original research hypotheses.
Prerequisites
Sound knowledge of Contemporary History and of History of International Relations is useful.
Teaching Methods
Lectures and workshops on documentary sources in Italian, French and English. Film and fiction will be used as complementary teaching tools.
In the second part of the course working groups and class presentations will be organised.
Type of Assessment
Attending students: An oral exam on the issues examined during the course and the suggested reading materials .
Alternatively, the students may sit a written exam also based on open questions on the issues examined in class and the suggested reading materials. One of the questions will regard a specific case study analyzed during the course.
Non attending students will have to pass an oral (or written, at students’ choice) exam based on open questions related to the issues presented in the suggested readings
Course program
Starting from fundamental issues of African historiography – from the question of sources to the role played by the construction and re-construction of the African history during the colonial period and since independence – the course offers an overview of the history of the continent between the XIX and XX century.
Against the backdrop of the general evolution of the international system, the course will focus on the political, economic and social transformations occurring before and during the imposition of the colonial order to grasp trends of continuity and discontinuity within the colonial State in the different parts of the African continent.
The second section of the course will analyse different paths of change in the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world during the first half oh the XX century in order to understand the roots of the decolonisation process and its consequences on the development of the independent and contemporary African States. Through specific case studies students will be encouraged to reflect upon the latest political developments on the backdrop of the 'new rush for Africa'.