The course examines the trajectories the continent has experienced since the end of the colonial domination up to the present “new rush for Africa”. Through a methodology that comprises a variety of sources, students will deepen their knowledge on the recent history of the continent, developing a personal view and understanding to confront the processes that have marked and still characterize the various African regions and ultimately link them to the rest of the world
Reading material for the preparation of the exam.
Attending students:
- P. Nugent, Africa since independence : a comparative history, New York Macmillan : Palgrave ; 2012, pp. 1-57.
- E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa from the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2013.
- Attending students will be given other reading materials (articles, essays, primary documents) in class and will be uploaded on the Moodle page
Non attending students:
- P. Nugent, Africa since independence : a comparative history, New York Macmillan : Palgrave ; 2012, pp. 1-57.
- E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa from the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2013.
- Padraig Carmody, The New Scramble for Africa, Cambridge : Polity Press ; 2016, pp. 1-121; 215-234.
Recommended reading for all students who have no previous knowledge of African history:
- Dennis Laumann, Colonial africa 1884-1994, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013.
All the volumes can be found at the Library of the School of Political Science.
Learning Objectives
The course will provide students with in-depth knowledge on the roots of contemporary Africa integration in the international arena, focusing on cold-war, post-cold war, and present political strategies.
Abilities acquired at the end of the course: 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.
Capacity to apply the knowledge: students will be able to use these new skills while working, in particular, within international organizations, governmental and non-governmental institutions, and media.
Prerequisites
It is desirable (not compulsory) for the students to have some knowledge on African pre-colonial and colonial history; on Contemporary History and on History of International Relations.
Teaching Methods
Lectures and workshops on primary and bibliographical sources.
Attending students will be asked to read articles and essays which will be discussed in class. In the second part of the course, in groups, students will be asked to work on archival sources and prepare a class presentation. The discussions and presentations will form a fundamental part of the final grade. Attending students only will be given access to the Moodle page of the course, where they will find materials related to the issues discussed in class.
Type of Assessment
Students attending the course: an oral exam (or written, at students’ choice) on the whole course program (lectures and reading materials) based on open questions; students attending the course will be asked to work on a specific case study that they will present in class, the oral presentation will add between 1/30 to 3/30 to the final grade. On a voluntary base students may write an essay on their own case study (maximum 10 pages Word format). The active and constant participation in the class is considered an essential requirement in order to get top marks (between 27/30 and 30/30)
Non attending students:
an oral exam on the course program consisting in answering open questions based on the topics presented by the authors of the suggested books.
Course program
Today Africa is experimenting a renewed global interest. All the issues that arise and operate within the continent, being them cultural, economic, political or security related, project themselves at an internal level – within each State – at a regional and continental level and reverberate on the relations between Africa and the rest of the world. The image of a marginal and isolated Africa has been definitively superseded, nevertheless the common interpretative instruments used in order to grasp the running processes within the continent seem unfitted; they are often too concentrated on current events and only tuned on emergency as the unique possible view point.
The course, through an historical perspective, aims to stimulate students to reflect about the trajectories made by the continent – formed today by 55 States – since the end of the colonial domination to the present “new rush for Africa”. Through a methodology that comprises a variety of sources – including literature and cinema – students will deepen their knowledge on the recent history of the continent. Through the case studies’ analysis they will develop a personal view and understanding that will allow them to confront the plurality of the political, economic and social processes that have marked and still differently characterize the various African regions and ultimately link Africa, or rather the diverse ‘Africas’, to the rest of the world.
Key issues that will be discussed are:
• History and historiography: the roots of the History of Africa as a discipline
• Africa's colonial legacy.
• Paths and visions of independence.
• Cold War in Africa in the Sixties : The Congo Crisis, 1960-1965; the Biafra attempted secession
• Cold War in Africa in the 70s and 80s: The internationalization of the Angolan Civil War and the Southern Africa scenario.
• The democracy that never was : Mobutu of Zaire.
• The crisis of the ‘80s from economic turmoil to political (and military) conflict.
• The end of the Cold War, 1994, South Africa and Rwanda.
• Post Cold War : new rules, new actors.
The second part of the course, through specific seminars, we will address the issue of security in Africa since the end of the Cold War. The concept of 'security' can, in fact, be a useful key to interpreting the transformations that have characterized the recent history both within the continent and with reference to Africa in international relations.