HIST3436: Fighting for History:Historical Roots of Contemporary Crises in Africa

Open any newspaper and there is almost certain to be one or more articles about crises or chaos in Africa. Journalistic accounts highlight famines, “tribalism,” failed states, ethnic cleansing, the plight of refugees and the AIDS pandemic. There rarely, if ever, is a serious discussion of the underlying causes of this instability. Instead, it is implicitly assumed that this is the natural order of events in the “Dark Continent.” This course challenges the racially inspired cultural arrogance which underlies assumptions about Africa and explores it with the long-term structural and historical roots of the crises which confront many parts of Africa. It is a course about Africans and how they responded to the challenges and legacies that date back to the colonial period and before. Throughout this course we will be concerned with African initiatives in a rapidly changing political, economic, social, and ideological context and the changing ways that the Global North has represented Africa. In doing so we will be fight for a more accurate history of Africa.

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