History 611 – Spring 2011
History of Modern Africa
Dr. Trevor Getz
African prophetesses, queen mothers, and women warriors
Yaa Asantewa, Nongqawuse and Nombanda,
Abina Mansah, Beatrice of Kimpa Vita
History 611 – 3 Units
---- Spring 2011 ---
Dr. Trevor Getz
Science 220
Office Hours: Because I serve as Director of General Education, I am almost always on
campus but rarely in my office. I am available to meet immediately after class on
Tuesday. Otherwise, make an appointment by e-mailing me.
415.338.7561
[email protected]
Cluster/Segment III rules
This course is part of the General Education Segment III cluster: African Contributions to
World Culture. All Segment III courses must are required to include a minimum of 10
pages of corrected writing. Segment III rules are described in the Class Schedule and
Bulletin, and include the requirement that the student must have earned 60 units by the
end of the semester in which they take the course.
The Cluster co-ordinator is Dr. Aguibou Yansane. He can be reached at
[email protected] or 338.2495.
Course Description
History of Modern Africa focuses on three defining moments in Africa’s history: the
advent of global capitalism in Africa, the imposition of colonialism, and the struggle for
independence. Throughout, the stress is on African agency and the African voice. Thus
from 1700-1890 we ask the question “what were African efforts to develop strategies to
maintain their independence as alternatives to colonialism?”. When addressing the
struggle for independence we seek to understand how the multitude of African cultural
and political perspectives, as tempered by world event as well as by the experiences of
the early 20th century, led to the development of unique modes of liberation. This year,
there will be something of a focus on four African women as vehicles for discussing
deeper topics.
Throughout these periods we will also develop a view of Africans as actors on the world
scene – victims and agents of globalization, actors in geopolitics, cultural contributors,
and vital participants in the world economic cycle.
Learning Objects
Students will be asked to critically and rigorously analyze:
 The conflicting trends of state-building and foreign intervention in African affairs
that culminated in a continental crossroads in the nineteenth century.
 The factors leading to the occupation of Africa by Europeans
 Trends of continuity and transformation in African cultures during the colonial
period
 African strategies of collaboration, resistance, evasion, infiltration, negotiation,
and survival under colonialism.
 The factors behind the rise of nationalist movements and independence of Africa
states in the period 1957-1990
 Sources for the study of African pasts, and best practices for using them. The
relationships Africans have with their pasts.
H611 History of Modern Africa
Professor Getz
Reversing the gaze
T, Jan 25
Introduction/ how do we „do‟ African history
Th, Jan 27
The world from Beatrice Kimpa Vita’s view, 1706
T, Feb 1
Student discussion
The industrial system and Africa
Th, Feb 3
Africa at the crossroads : the early 18th Century African setting
T, Feb 8
Africa and the Industrial Revolution
Th, Feb 10
No class
T, Feb 15
Economic transformation: From slaves to oilseeds in West
Africa & West African state and societies 19th century
Th, Feb 17
The world from Abina Mansah‟s view
T, Feb 22
West African state and societies in the 19th Century & South
African state and societies in the 19th Century
Th, Feb 24
South African state and societies in the 19th Century
Focus: Two stories of the coming of colonialism in Southern Africa
T, Mar1
The Great Cattle Massacre: 1st telling
The Great Cattle Massacre: the debate and the world from
Th, Mar 3
Nongqawuse’s view
T, Mar 8
The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom: 1st telling
Th, Mar 10
The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom: the debate
Colonialism: policy, practice, perspective
Midterm exam
T, March 15
Th, March 17 Conquest and partition
4 responses to colonial rule in Ghana
T, March 22
Th, March 24 The world from Yaa Asantewa’s view
Colonial rule, resistance, and accommodation/the economics of
T, Apr 5
colonialism
World War 1 in Africa and colonial rule between the wars
Th, Apr 7
The Islamic states of North Africa; Islam and colonial
T, Apr 12
rule/Christianity in colonial Africa
South Africa from unification to apartheid
Th, Apr 14
World War II and Africa/Prep for Sembene
T, Apr 19
Discussion and debate: Ousmane Sembene and “God‟s Bits of
Th, Apr 21
Wood”, Senegal, 1940s
Decolonization and nationalism
T, April 26
Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
Th, April 28
Post-colonial Africa
South Africa 1948-1994 (apartheid and its end)
T, May 3
Legacies of colonialism: political and economic
Th, May 5
Language, literature, gender, religion & music
T, May 10
T, May 11
Th, May 12
Africa‟s World War: Central Africa in the 1990s
The architecture and meaning of the Constitutional Court of
South Africa
http://worldhistoryconnected.press.uiuc.edu/2
.1/reynolds.html
Student response to lecture and reading
due (1-2 pages, required or student will be
dropped from course).
Getz, Abina Mansah (available on iLearn)
Have Oliver and Atmore 1-8 completed
Gqoba‟s oral histories (available on iLearn).
Midterm
Falola 1 & 6, Oliver and Atmore 9 & 10
Falola 2, Oliver and Atmore 11
Falola 3, 4, 5, Oliver and Atmore 13
Falola 8, 9, 10, 21, Oliver and Atmore 12 &
14
Falola 16, Oliver and Atmore 15
Oliver and Atmore 16
Sembene Ousmane, God’s Bits of Wood
Falola 14, 15, Oliver and Atmore 17-19
Falola 17-20, Sembene assignment due
Oliver and Atmore 20,
Oliver and Atmore 22
Falola 11, Oliver and Atmore 21
Texts
Textbooks



Falola, Toyin, ed., Africa: Volume III, Colonial Africa 1885-1939, Carolina Academic Press,
2000.
Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore, Africa since 1800, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood (any version).
Online sources:
The course iLearn site will be operational. You will receive instructions on using it.
Can be viewed on-line;
 Excerpts from Trevor Getz, Abina and the Important Men, forthcoming 2011,
Oxford University Press.
 Oral traditions collected by Gqoba.
 Also online: Mark S. Kende, “The South African Constitutional Court's Embrace
of Socio-economic Rights: a Comparative Perspective”, 6 Chapman Law Review
137 (Spring 2003) at
http://academic.udayton.edu/Race/06hrights/GeoRegions/Africa/Safrica03.htm
 Also online: Jonathan Reynolds
http://worldhistoryconnected.press.uiuc.edu/2.1/reynolds.html

Assignments and grading
I will be grading on a simple non-curve model with 90% being the cut-off for an A, 80%
for a B etc. Having said that, I‟ve given A‟s to students with 88%s before, due to
participation and extra credit.
I REQUIRE attendance at all discussions of novels and classroom simulations. Your
fellow students rely upon you, and you cannot let them down.
One written assignment (Sembene)
Midterm
Final
30%
30%
40%
Exams You will be informed of all of the questions on the midterm and final prior to the
exam. The exams will consist of identifications and essay questions, covering course
content, methodology, and theory.
Office hours
I take pride in my close relationship with many former students and I look forward to
having you visit me. I also understand that many of you have children (as I do) and jobs
and may encounter problems – talk to me about them and I‟ll help you solve them.
General rules
1. Instructor reserves the right not to admit students more than 10 minutes after class
officially starts.
2. Instructor will periodically take roll, and reserves the right to penalize students up
to 10% of Final grade for missing classes. Student will normally be given a
warning first.
3. Instructor does not normally accept late papers or assignments, unless an
agreement is individually reached with instructor PRIOR TO submission of
materials.
4. Testing and evaluation will be conducted on the basis of materials from text and
lecture. Failure to complete readings or to attend lectures will probably cause low
grades!
5. This is a sensitive topic and students are advised to show sensitivity to their
classmates.