- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
Until recently, it had long been assumed that African peoples played relatively passive roles in modern international affairs, their peoples and nations characterised by weakness within twentieth century global institutions and systems. The extension of cold war conflicts onto African soil from the 1960s or the various ‘peacekeeping’ missions of the United Nations throughout the continent from the 1990s seemingly exemplified the impotence of Africans to deal with their own problems and define their own futures in the latter twentieth century. This course interrogates these assumptions through analyses of the ways in which Africans fitted into and moulded late-colonial and post-colonial world networks, international relations and global history. The module is designed to offer students, many of whom will not have studied African affairs before, a means to explore notions of African agency and action in the contemporary world.
Students will explore revisionist scholarship on African decolonisation, the global cold war (geopolitical and cultural) and Africa’s place within Afro-Asian collectives. By unpacking African roles within the global economy, students can question the chronologies of decolonisation, debates re-emerging in different ways as Asian superpowers like China and India reassess their relationships with African leaders and resources in the twenty-first century. Students will also engage the importance of pan-Africanism in shaping African internationalisms and thought. The roots of Africa’s contemporary challenges and opportunities are inextricably linked to Africa’s historical position within the international order. This course echoes one of Africa’s premier historians, Fred Cooper, by attempting to shed light on this ‘past of the present’.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2024-25 |
The aims of this module are:
Students who complete this module successfully will:
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1. Students will then attend a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW) during which there are no seminars. Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour plenaries/lectures and eight 2-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
For formative assessment, students will complete a referenced 1200 to 1500-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This will be submitted in either the Week 5 or Week 9 RAW week (on the day of the weekly seminar).
For summative assessment, students will complete an Assessed Essay (2000 words, footnoted). This will comprise 100% of the overall module mark.
Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading: