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Home , History of West Africa, West Africa

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West African Dr. C. A. Brown History 508:322:01 Fall 2010 Monday/Wednesday 4:30-5:50 Van Dyck Room 110 Hardenberg A7 848-932-8569 Email: [email protected] Off.Hrs: 3:00-4:00

A HISTORY OF WEST : 19th century to the Present

Course Description The class focuses on the history of from the 5th Century and the period of the great to independence. It is designed to give students an introduction to an area that has contributed substantially to the development of the New . The majority of African in North, South and as well as the come from West Africa. The course focuses on internal political developments of select polities in this area. The course has several themes – formation, identity (ethnic, class and gender), politics and trade. Required Books:

Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (7th Edition) Boston: Bedford Martin, 2012 ISBN-10: 0312610416

Kevin Shillington, 3rd Edition. Palgrave Macmillan; 3rd edition (May 15, 2012) ISBN-10: 0230308473

Trevor Getz Abina And The Important Men 2nd edition, ISBN-10: 0199844399

Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood. Longman.ISBN-10: 0435909592

Chimamanda Adichie The Thing Around Your Neck Anchor ISBN-10: 0307455912

Howard French, China’s Second : How a Million Migrants are Building a New in Africa Vintage, Reprint edition; February 3, 2015 ISBN-10: 0307946657

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. On your syllabus if a reading says ‘Optional’ you may use it to write your essays. Course Requirements: (1) Components of your final grade  50 % Two Exams – one a Mid term the other at end of class  20% Classroom participation: scheduled class discussions, in class o Quizzes, etc.  30% Two short essays on topics to be announced. o Due Dates . 10% Essay #1 October 5th (3 pages) . 20% Essay #2 November 23rd (5 pages)  Extra credit – 10% (This is for various activities or projects) On October 16th The Center for , Center for European Studies, French and Italian Departments will have a symposium on ‘Africa, and the Mediterranean Migration Crisis’. This and two other Africa- related events will give you the 10% credit. 2

(2) Essays: You will be given a list of topics for your essays. In writing the essay you should use the text, Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History 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. (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 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) Examinations: October 19th and December 10th. Both of your exams will be take home and are of equal credit.

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 Video : Chimanda Adichie “The Danger of A Single Story” B. Wainaina, “How to Write About Africa,” Granta, Vol. 92 (Winter 2006), 92-95

Week II. Analyzing Media Coverage of Africa Today DISCUSSION I September 8 Paul N. Edwards, “How to Read A Book” Karen Rothmyer, “ Hiding the Real Africa: Why NGOs prefer bad news” Columbia Journalism Review, 17 March 2011 Patrick Gathara, “ If western journalists get Africa wrong, who gets it right, “ Guardian UK, Jan24, 2014

September 9th Lecture - West Africa Before the 19th Century Shillington, Chapter 6-7 David Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History Chapter 1- 4

Week III West African Coastal states to the 19th Century (Part I) September 14th: The in the Shillington, Chapter 13 I.A. Akinjogbin, ‘The Expansion of Oyo and the Rise of , 1600-1800’ in J.F.A. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, , Vol. I, 305-343

September 16th: , Trade and Film: Basil Davidson, Caravans of Gold Shillington, 188-191

Week IV West African Coastal State to the 19th Century (Part II) September 21th : The and Asante Readings: 3

Robinson, Chapter 9 Shillington 193-196. Ivor Wilks, ‘Founding the Political Kingdom: The Nature of the Akan State’, of Gold: Essays on the Akan and the Kingdom of Asante. Ohio U. Press.

September 23rd : Readings: Ryder, "The Benin Kingdom" Shillington Chapter 13

Week V The Slave Trade DISCUSSION CLASS September 28th: General overview Readings: Walter Rodney, ‘West Africa and the Slave Trade’ Shillington, Chapter 12

September 30th African Voices in the Slave Trade Readings: Trevor Getz, Abina and The Important Men.

Week VI De-Centralized Societies – The Igbo October 5th: The Igbo FIRST ESSAY DUE Readings: Elizabeth Isichei, “Selections”, A History of the , London: Macmillan Press 1976 E. J. Alagoa, ‘The Delta states and their neighbours, 1600-1800’, in Ajayi and Crowther, History of West Africa, Vol. I.

October 7th: 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,

Week VII , Abolition and the Emergence of a Christian Elite October 12th: The 19th Century Crisis in – The Fulani Jihad MID TERM EXAM DISTRIBUTED Readings Bolanle Awe, ‘Militarism and Economic Development in 19th Century Yoruba Country: The Example’, in Journal of African History, 14, 1 (1973) 65-77. J.F.A. Ajayi, ‘Samuel Ajayi Crowther of Oyo’, in Africa Remembered. Robinson, Chapter 10 Shillington 188-192

October 14th: : The ending of the slave trade & Loss of African Sovereignty Readings: Shillington. Chapter 16 , Film: Davidson ‘The Beautiful African Cake’ Optional 4

J.F.A. Ajayi ‘Professional Warriors in 19th Century Yoruba politics’, in Tarikh, I:1.

Week VIII The Loss of Sovereignty – The Conquest October 19th Mid-Term Examination Due Readings: Shillington, Chapter 20, 21

October 21st : The Ingenuity of Samori Toure Readings: Yves Person, ‘Samori and Resistance to the French’, in Rotberg and Mazrui, Protest and Power in Black Africa Robinson, Chapter 13

Week IX Colonial Society – Its Contradictions and Theories October 26th: Readings: Frederick Lugard, “The Dual Mandate in British : Methods of Ruling Native Races” in Roy Grinker and Christopher Steiner, Perspectives on Africa: a Reader in Culture, History and Representation (Boston: Blackwell, 1997):574-584. Robinson, Chapter 6

October 28th Colonial Rule – The status of African women Readings: Kristin Mann, ‘The Dangers of Dependence: Christian marriage among elite women in 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 , Indiana U. Press.

Week X Colonial Society, I and the New Internationalisms DISCUSSION November 2nd: Towards an African Internationalism Readings: Hakim Adi, ‘Pan Africanism and West in Britain’, African Studies Review, 43:1 (April 2000) pp. 69-82.

November 4th: L. Matory, “The English Professors of : on the Diasporic of the Yoruba Nation” Comparative Studies in Society and History Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1999), pp. 72-103

Week XI The Inter-war Years – Nationalists Grumblings November 9th: Protest and Grumblings Readings: R. Okonkwo, ‘The Garvey Movement in ’ Journal of African History, 21:1 (1980), pp 105-117.”

Optional 5

Barbara Bair, “Pan-Africanism as Process: Adelaide Casely Hayford, Garveyism and the Cultural Roots of Nationlaism” in Sidney Lemelle and Robin D. G. Kelley, eds, Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African (New York: Verso, 1994)

November 11th: Readings: Misty Bastian, “Vultures of the ”: Southeastern Nigerian Women and Discourses of the Ogu Umunwaayi (Women’s War) of 1929” in Susan Geiger, Nakanyike Musisi, Jean Ma. Allman (eds.) Women in Colonial African History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), Chap. 11

Week XII The Nationalist Movement – World War II November 16th: World War II and the rise of African nationalism Readings: Crowder, ‘The 1939-45 War in West Africa’, in Ajayi and Crowder, West African History, V.II.

November 18th: West African Troops in the Theaters of War Film: Basil Davidson “The Rise of Nationalism” Readings: E. E. Sabben-Clare, ‘African Troops in ’, African Affairs, V, 44 (1945), no. 177. Optional: Myron Echenburg, , ‘Morts pour la ’: The African Soldier in France During the Second World War”, Journal of African History, 26 (1985), 363-80.

Week XIII To Independence – Victories and Crisis Second Essay Due November 23rd: The French West African Railway Strike Readings: Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood Selections

November 25th NO CLASS THANKSGIVING RECESS

Week XIV The Perils of Independence: War and Religious Crisis November 30th The Biafran Chibuike Uche, “Oil, British Interests and the ”, Journal of African History, Vol. 49, No. 1 (2008):111-135. December 2nd: DISCUSSION Film: Half a Yellow Sun (watch on your own)

Week VI Final Class IS THERE A NEW –CHINA IN AFRICA December 7th : DISCUSSION Readings: Adichie, The Thing Around Your Neck (selections) Howard French, China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. Introduction, Part II

December 9th – Review Session Prognosis for the Future?

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