HIS 2371 01 - History & Cultures of Africa

About This Course

Get help using 'About This Course'

Welcome to HIS2371!

This course provides students with an understanding of contemporary Africa by surveying key issues in the history of the region and by introducing the dynamism and diversity of its cultures. Issues explored in the course include: pre-colonial political systems, slavery and its legacies, European colonization, 20th century liberation movements, and post-colonial state and nation building. Throughout the course, students will be asked to question previous historiographical approaches to the region through a critical engagement with primary source documents from the late 1400s to contemporary times.

On these pages you will find the syllabus and other material (assignments and readings) used in the course. 

Bookmarks

Get help using 'Bookmarks'

  • Legacies of Slavery

    Britain's Treasury Payout
    Required
    www.theguardian.com
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Links to Useful & Cool Sites

    Africa is a Country
    Required
    africasacountry.com
    BBC Africa World News
    Required
    www.bbc.com
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 1

    Parker & Rathbone: "The Idea of Africa" in African History: A Very Short Introduction
    Required
    libproxy.aui.ma
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 4

    Campbell-Africa the Indian Ocean World & the Early Modern
    Required
    jiows.mcgill.ca
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 12

    Biko-Fear
    Required
    www.sahistory.org.za
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 15

    BBC Rwanda: 100 Days of Slaughter
    Required
    www.bbc.com
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Ungrouped

    BBC - Life under Apartheid
    Required
    www.youtube.com
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
Edit the following settings for all selected Resources.
Select a start and end date and time
Start: Start:
End: End:

Calendar

Get help using 'Calendar'

Announcements

Get help using 'Announcements'
You have no incoming announcements.
Show All Announcements

Handouts

Get help using 'Handouts'

  • Legacies of Slavery

    Benin & Legacies of the Trade in Slaves
    Required
    An African country reckons with its history of selling slaves - The Washington Post.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Syllabus & Assignments

    Geography Map Quiz
    Required
    Geography Map Quiz.pdf
    Political Map Quiz
    Required
    Political Map Quiz.pdf
    Syllabus
    Required
    HIS2371-Spring 2018 Syllabus.pdf
    Aya Assignment
    Required
    Aya Assignment.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 1
    Wainaina-How to Write About Africa
    Required
    how-write.pdf
    Tibebu-The Anomaly and Paradox of Africa
    Required
    Tibebu-Ethiopia_The Anomaly & Paradox of Africa.pdf
    Mazrui-The Re-Invention of Africa
    Required
    Mazrui-The Re-Invention of Africa.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 2
    Gilbert & Reynolds-Ch 1 & 4
    Required
    Gilbert & Reynolds-Selections Ch. 1 & 4.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 3
    Davidson-The History of West Africa (selections)
    Required
    Davidson-History of West Africa.pdf
    Thornton-The Development of Commerce between Europeans and Africans
    Required
    Thornton-Ch 2-Africa & Africans in the Making of t.pdf
    Early Arab Sources on West Africa
    Required
    Arab Sources on Medieval West Africa.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 4
    Ibn Battuta in East Africa
    Required
    Ibn Battuta in East Africa.docx
    Loimeier-The East African Coast
    Required
    LOIMEIER.East_African_Coast .pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 5
    Meirs & Kopytoff: “African ‘Slavery’ as an Institution of Marginality” Part I
    Required
    Miers & Kopytoff-Introduction-Part 1.pdf
    Meirs & Kopytoff: “African ‘Slavery’ as an Institution of Marginality” Part II
    Required
    Miers & Kopytoff-Introduction-Part 2.pdf
    Meirs & Kopytoff: “African ‘Slavery’ as an Institution of Marginality” Part III
    Required
    Miers & Kopytoff-Introduction-Part 3.pdf
    El Hamel-The Interplay btw Slavery & Race & Color Prejudice
    Required
    El Hamel-The Interplay btw Slavery & Race & Color .pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 6
    Equiano-Chapter 2
    Required
    Chapter2-Equiano.pdf
    Falconbridge-An Acct of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa
    Required
    Falconbridge-Acct of the Slave Trade on the W Coas.pdf
    Lovejoy-The Impact of the AST in Africa: A review of the Literature
    Required
    Lovejoy-The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on .pdf
    Rediker: Chs 3 & 4: The Slave Ship
    Required
    Rediker-Chapters 3-4 The Slave Ship.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 7
    Getz & Ehrisman-The Marriages of Abina Mansah
    Required
    Getz & Ehrisman-The Marriages of Abina Mansah.pdf
    Additional Abina Sources
    Required
    Abina Homework Assignment-Bibliography.docx
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 9
    Greene-"Minority Voices: Abolitionism in West Africa"
    Required
    Abolitionism in West Africa.pdf
    The Asante King Questions British Motives in Ending the Slave Trade
    Required
    Asante King Questions British Motives for Ending t.pdf
    Further Correspondence Relating to the Abolition of Slavery on the Gold Coast
    Required
    Further Correspondence Relating to the Abolition o.pdf
    Lynn-The W. African Palm Oil Trade in the 19th C & the Crisis of Adaptation
    Required
    Lynn-The West African Palm Oil Trade in the 19th Cetnury & the Crisis of Adaptaton.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 10
    Von Trutha-The Fellows Can Just Starve
    Required
    Von Trotha-The Fellows Can Just Starve.pdf
    Taithe-Losing Their Mind & Their Nation
    Required
    Taithe-Losing Their Mind & Their Nation.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 11
    Ranger-The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa
    Required
    Ranger-The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Afri.pdf
    Cooper-Colonizing Time
    Required
    Cooper-Colonizing Time.pdf
    Whittlesey-British and French Colonial Technique in West Africa
    Required
    Whittlesey-British and French Colonial Technique in West Africa.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 12
    Clark & Worger-South Africa: The Rise & Fall of Apartheid
    Required
    Clark & Worger-South Africa The Rise & Fall of Apa.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 13
    Lonsdale-Constructing Mau Mau
    Required
    Lonsdale-Constructing Mau Mau.pdf
    Cooper-Possibility & Constraint
    Required
    Cooper-African Independence in Historical Perspect.pdf
    Iliffe-Independent Africa
    Required
    ILLIFE.Africans_The_History_of_a_Continent_African_Studies__2007.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 14
    Cooper-Development & Disappointment
    Required
    Cooper-Development & Disappointment.pdf
    Bracking-Structural adjustment: why it wasn't necessary & why it did work
    Required
    Bracking-Structural adjustment why it wasn t neces.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Week 15
    Huening-Explaining the Congo Wars
    Required
    Huening-Explaining the Congo Wars.pdf
    Baaz & Stern-Making sense of violence: voices of soldiers in the Congo
    Required
    Baaz & Stern-Making Sense of Violence.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.

  • Abina Sources (not on syllabus)
    Fage: “Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Context of West African History"
    Required
    Fage-Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Context of.pdf
    Peabody: "Slavery, Freedom, and the Law in the Atlantic World, 1420-1807"
    Required
    Peabody-Slavery Freedom and the Law in the Atlanti.pdf
    Akurang-Parry-African Intelligentsia & Abolition in the Gold Coast
    Required
    Akurang-Parry-African Intelligentsia & Abolition in the Gold Coast.pdf
    While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
While focused on a reorder icon, press the Enter key or spacebar to "select" the icon. While a reorder icon is selected, pressing the up and down arrows will change the order of the selected item within the list. Pressing Enter key or spacebar again will drop the selected item at that location in the list.
Edit the following settings for all selected Resources.
Select a start and end date and time
Start: Start:
End: End: