Starting from fundamental issues on African historiography – from the question of sources to the role played by the construction and re-construction of the African history during the colonial period and from independence onwards – the course offers an overview of the history of Sub-Saharan Africa between the XIX and XX century.
Attending students:
G. Calchi Novati, P. Valsecchi, Africa. La storia ritrovata, Roma, Carocci, 2016, from p. 11 to p. 175.
Anna Maria Medici; Arrigo Pallotti; Mario Zamponi, L’Africa contemporanea, Milano, Le Monnier, 2017, from p. 75 to p. 172; from p. 199 to p. 210; from p. 274 to p.416.
Optional further reading:
Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, Edizioni dell'Asino,
Historical and geographical maps will be suggested in class.
Non attending students:
The same program of attending students plus Felwine Sarr, Afrotopia, Edizioni dell'Asino.
Learning Objectives
The course will allow students to grasp fundamental trajectories of the political history of the African continent and place them against the backdrop of the general transformations of the international system during the XIX and XX centuries up to date. They will be able to appreciate the different levels of analysis, the local, the regional and the international.
The students will become acquainted with sources and bibliography on the examined issues and will be able to develop original research hypotheses.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of Contemporary History and of History of International Relations is useful.
Teaching Methods
Lectures and workshops on documentary sources in Italian, French and English. Film and fiction will be used as complementary teaching tools.
Attending students will take part to working groups and class presentations
Type of Assessment
Attending students: An oral exam on the issues examined during the course.
Alternatively, the students may sit a written exam based on open questions on the issues examined in class. One of the questions will regard a specific case study analyzed during the course.
Non attending students will have to pass an oral (or written) exam based on open questions related to the issues presented in the suggested readings