This module is about ‘African History’. By this, I mean ‘what interests historians of Africa’ rather than ‘what happened in the past in Africa’. So it is not a chronological account of the whole history of the whole continent. Instead, it looks at themes. By this, I mean broad topics that have attracted interest from a range of historians.
The module will aim to equip you with knowledge about the African past, African worldviews, and the long shadow of colonial occupation. It will be useful for specialising in African history, but also for work in NGOs, international companies, or government agencies that have interests in the African continent. In particular, it should become clear that Africa is a huge and diverse continent, and that all generalisations about it are dangerous!
The essay titles and some of the marking criteria will be developed by you, with an eye to real-world situations. We will use our time together in class to work on finding the right questions to ask and the best ways to answer them.