HIST 3436 is also offered in Fall 2024
HIST 3436 is also offered in Fall 2022
HIST 3436 is also offered in Fall 2021
Fall 2024 | HIST 3436 Section 001: Fighting for History:Historical Roots of Contemporary Crises in Africa (32404)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person
- Meets With:
AFRO 3436 Section 001
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 140
- Enrollment Status:
Open (2 of 30 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- 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.
- Class Description:
- This course explores the historical roots of contemporary conflicts in Somalia, South Africa, Rwanda, Liberia and Mozambique. The course begins by examining the context in which Europeans colonized the African continent, resistance to European imperialism and the factors that made the conquest possible. Next we look at the complex and varied ways that colonialism precipitated or heightened ethnic, racial, religious and class divisions in Somalia, South Africa, Rwanda, Liberia and Mozambique as well as the underdevelopment and impoverishment of these five countries. Then we examine the emergence of African resistance and the struggle for liberation from the colonial powers after World War II. The second half of the course explores the problematic history of Africa's transition to independence and the predicament of the post-colonial era as new African nations grapple with neo-colonialism, economic dependency, political and ethnic conflict, and inequality on various scales. We also explore the possibilities for and the problems facing a non-racial democratic order in the new South Africa. In addition to reading primary sources and secondary historical accounts, students will read novels and view several films, including Tsotsi and Blood Diamonds
- Grading:
- 20% Midterm Exam
30% Final Exam
30% Reports/Papers
20% Class Participation
- Workload:
- 75-100 Pages Reading Per Week
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/32404/1249
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 8 April 2014
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2024 History Classes