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West African History Dr. C. A. Brown History 508:322:01 Fall 2010 Tuesday/Thursday 6:10-7:30 Van Dyck Room 110 Murray Hall 211 732-932-8522 Email: [email protected] Off.Hrs: Tues. 2:30 – 3:30
A HISTORY OF WEST AFRICA
Course Description The class focuses on the history of West Africa from the 5 th Century and the period of the great empires to independence. It is designed to give students an introduction to an area that has contributed substantially to the development of the New World. The majority of African Americans in North, South and Central America as well as the Caribbean come from West Africa. The course focuses on internal political developments of select polities in this area. The course has several themes – state formation, identity (ethnic, class and gender), politics and trade.
Required Books: Kevin Shillington, History of Africa . MacMillan/Palgrave Edition, 2 nd Edition David Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History. Cambridge University Press. Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood. Heineman. William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: a Guide for Students, Oxford U. Press. Emmanuel Akyeampong. Themes in West African History , Ohio University Press.
Additional Readings: SAKAI Many of your readings are on SAKAI. There are also additional materials on SAKAI that you may use in writing your essays. Essay topics will be posted on SAKAI as are instructions for writing the papers.
Course Requirements: (1) Components of your final grade 25 % Mid term examination 35% Final Examination 15% Classroom participation: scheduled class discussions, in class o Quizzes, etc. 25% Two short essays on topics to be announced. o Due Dates Essay #1 September 30th Essay #2 November 18th (2) Essays: You will be given a list of topics for your essays. The key source book for your essays will be Akeyampong’s, Themes in West African History . You may use the essays as a first source in researching your essays. In writing the essay you must use the text, William Kelleher Storey Writing History: a Guide for Students . You are expected to write with correct grammar and to use normal college essay form – footnotes, bibliography, etc. (3) Class Attendance: Attendance will be taken each class. You are allowed THREE UNEXCUSED ABSENCES. Any additional will jeopardize your grade. If you are ill you must bring a doctor’s note. If you know you will be absent notify the instructor to insure that you do not miss class assignments. 2
(4) Films: There are a number of films selected to emphasize the material in the readings. This material should be treated the same as course readings. You will have written assignments related to the exams. (5) Maps: One way to understand the history is to be familiar with the geography and location of the places studied. Maps will be put on SAKAI or given out in class. Be sure to use them in your readings as they will be on examinations. (6) SAKAI and Examinations: Both of your exams will be on SAKAI. You will have a 12 hour period to take the exam but once you sign in the ‘clock’ will be ticking. This means that with the mid-term, you will have a class period to take the exam. With the final you have 3 hours. The final exam will include, within the time slot, the period listed for the final by the university. Both will consequently be open book but BOTH WILL BE TIMED.
SYLLABUS Note: All readings not in your required texts are available on SAKAI
Week I. Course Introduction, Requirements and an intro to West Africa September 2nd Film: ‘Dollars and Dreams – West Africans in New York’/Living Memory
J The geography of West African history Mabogunje , ‘The Land and Peoples of West Africa’, in J.F.A. Ajayi and M. Crowder, , History of West Africa , Vol. I,
Shillington, Chapter 1-4
Week II. Trade, Islam and the Great Sudanic Empires
September 7 th : Ancient Ghana Readings: Shillington, Chapter 6
Robinson, Chapter 1 & 2
Film: Basil Davidson, Caravans of Gold
September 9 th Islam and Ancient Mali Readings: Shillington, Chapter 7 Sundiata – selections from the Epic.
Robinson, Chapter 3 &4
Week III West African Coastal states to the 19 th Century (Part I)
September 14 th : The Yoruba people in the Oyo Empire Readings: Shillington, Chapter 13 3
I.A. Akinjogbin, ‘The Expansion of Oyo and the Rise of Dahomey, 1600-1800’ in J.F.A. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, History of West Africa , Vol. I, 305-343
September 16 th : The Gold Coast Readings: Ray Kea, “’ I am here to plunder on the general road’: Bandits and banditry in the pre-19 th century Gold Coast”, in D. Crummey, Banditry, Rebellion and Social Protest in Africa.
Week IV West African Coastal State to the 19 th Century (Part II)
September 21 st : Asante Readings: Robinson, Chapter 9
Shillington, Chapter 13
Ivor Wilks, ‘Founding the Political Kingdom: The Nature of the Akan State’, Forests of Gold: Essays on the Akan and the Kingdom of Asante. Ohio U. Press.
September 23: Benin Readings: Ryder, "The Benin Kingdom"
Shillington, 186-194.
Week V The Slave Trade
September 28 th : General overview Readings: Walter Rodney, ‘West Africa and the Slave Trade’
Shillington, Chapter 12
Sylviane Diouf, ‘The last resort: Redeeming Family and Friends’, in Fighting the Atlantic Slave Trade , 81-100,
September 30 th African Voices in the Slave Trade Readings: Ivor Wilks, Abu Bakr Al -Siddiq of Timbuktu’, in P. Curtin, ed, Africa Remembered.
Robinson, Chapter 5
FIRST ESSAY DUE
Week VI De-Centralized Societies – The Igbo
October 5 th : The Igbo Readings: 4
Elizabeth Isichei, “Selections”, A History of the Igbo People , London: Macmillan Press 1976
E. J. Alagoa, ‘The Niger Delta states and their neighbours, 1600-1800’, in Ajayi and Crowther, History of West Africa , Vol. I.
October 7 th : The organization and consequence of the Slave Trade Readings: David Northrup, ‘The Slave Trade and Economic Development” (Chapter 6) and ‘The ‘God Men’ of the Trade, ‘ The Trade Without Rulers ,
John Oriji, ‘Igboland, slavery and the Drums of War and Heroism”, Sylviane Diouf, in Fighting The Atlantic Slave Trade , 121-131
Week VII Jihad, Abolition and the Emergence of a Christian Elite October 12 th : A Member of the Christian Elite: Case History
Readings: Shillington, 188-192, J.F.A. Ajayi, ‘Samuel Ajayi Crowther of Oyo’, in Africa Remembered.
Robinson, Chapter 10
October 14 th : The 19 th Century Crisis in Yorubaland – The Fulani Jihad Readings: Bolanle Awe, ‘Militarism and Economic Development in 19 th Century Yoruba Country: The Ibadan Example’, in Journal of African History , 14, 1 (1973) 65-77.
J.F.A. Ajayi ‘Professional Warriors in 19 th Century Yoruba politics’, in Tarikh , I:1.
WeeK VIII Conquest – The spread of Islam and loss of
October 19 th : The ending of the slave trade & Loss of Readings: Shillington, Chapter 16
March 13 th – Mid-Term Examination On Line
Readings: Robinson, Chapter 13
Week IX The Loss of Sovereignty – The Conquest
October 26 th : Readings: Shillington – Chapter 20 & 21
Robinson, Chapter 6
Film: Davidson ‘The Beautiful African Cake’
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October 28 th : The Ingenuity of Samori Toure Readings: Yves Person, ‘Samori and Resistance to the French’, in Rotberg and Mazrui, Protest and Power in Black Africa
Week X Colonial Society and World War I
November 2 nd : Colonial Rule Readings: Shillington, Chapter 23 T. Hodgkin, “Policies of the Powers”, Part I, Nationalism in Colonial Africa
L. Matory, “The English Professors of Brazil: on the Diasporic Roots of the Yoruba Nation” Comparative Studies in Society and History Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1999), pp. 72-103
November 4 th : Colonial Rule – The status of African women Readings: Kristin Mann, ‘The Dangers of Dependence: Christian marriage among elite women in Lagos colony, 1880-1915”, in Journal of African History , 24 (1983)
V. Tashjian, m. Musisi and Jean Allman , ‘Marrying and Marriage on a Shifting Terrain: Reconfigurations of Power and Authority in Early Colonial Asante”, in J. Geiger and J. Allman, Women in Colonial African Histories, Indiana U. Press.
Week XI The Inter-war Years – Nationalists Grumblings November 9 th : Anglo-Phone West Africa Readings: Shillington, Chapter 24
R. Okonkwo, ‘The Garvey Movement in British West Africa’ Journal of African History , 21:1 (1980), pp 105-117.”
Hakim Adi, ‘Pan Africanism and West African Nationalism in Britain’, African Studies Review, 43:1 (April 2000) pp. 69-82.
November 11 th : Francophone West Africa Readings: J. A. Langley, ‘Pan-Africanism in Paris, 1924-36’ , Journal of Modern African Studies, VII:1 (April 1969), pp 69-94.
Week XII The Nationalist Movement – World War II
November 16 th : World War II and the rise of African nationalism Readings: Shillington, Chapter 25
Crowder, ‘The 1939-45 War in West Africa’, in Ajayi and Crowder, West African History , V.II.
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November 18 th : West African Troops in the Theaters of War Readings: Myron Echenburg, , ‘Morts pour la France’: The African Soldier in France During the Second World War”, Journal of African History , 26 (1985), 363-80.
E. E. Sabben-Clare, ‘African Troops in Asia’, African Affairs , V, 44 (1945), no. 177.
Second Essay Due
Week XIII French West Africa in Fiction – God’s Bits of Wood
November 23 rd : The French West African Railway Strike Readings: Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood
November 24 th THANKSGIVING RECESS Readings: Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood
Week XIV Independence
November 30
Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood
December 2 nd : Rise of Nationalism Shillington, Chapter 26
Hodgkin, Nationalism in Colonial Africa , Part II: “The New Towns”, “ The New Associations”, “Prophets and Priests”, “Workers and Peasants”, “Parties and Congresses
Film: Basil Davidson ‘The Rise of Nationalism’
Week VI Final Class
December 7 th : Review Session
Hopkins, Selections from African Nationalism
FINAL EXAMINATION: December 16 th 8:00-11:00 PM (ON SAKAI)