Introduction to African History

Spring 2019
Instructor: Beth Ann Williams
University of Illinois

bawilli2@illinois.edu
Greg Hall 435C
Office hours: Mondays 10-11am, Wednesday 12-1pm, and by appointment

In contrast to stereotypes of a parochial, isolated continent, African civilizations and

peoples have been integrated into global systems and networks since before recorded
history. In this course we focus our attention on an array of African civilizations, cultures,
strategies, and peoples. Moving from early African civilizations through the slave trade,
global empires, and postcolonial transformations to current geopolitics, we will explore
Africa as a key site within global history and place of extreme creative production
throughout human history. You will leave this course with a greater appreciation for the
diversity and social contributions of Africans and African descended people as well as the
ability to position specific African places, peoples, and events within their historical
contexts.

Learning Objectives
- Increase content knowledge of African places, languages, and cultures, including
important historical processes that affected large regions of the continent
- Understand the role Africa has played in global historical trends, including
international religions, global trade, colonialism, and Pan-Africanism
- Interrogate and challenge common narratives and stories about the African
continent
- Develop reading, writing, presentation, and discussion skills through regular short
exercises with appropriate feedback

Grades
Participation – 20%
Homework & Quizzes- 20%
Papers (3 at 10% each)- 30%
Midterm- 15%
Final- 15%

Attendance is required for this class. Please be respectful to all of us who try our
best to be on time and do not disrupt the flow of the class by arriving late. That
said, being late is better than not being there at all. If you are late please come in
quietly.

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You have three free absences in the course of the semester. You do not need to inform me
or follow up about these misses. Do not email me to explain why you are not in class. Any
absences beyond your three freebies will result in one point deduction from your final
grade per class missed.

Being physically present in the classroom is not sufficient to count as participation.

Participation means meaningfully contributing to our class discussions by answering
questions, raising your own questions, bringing in evidence from the readings, expanding
our discussion with knowledge from outside the class readings, etc… I know that talking in
class can be intimidating, but expressing yourself publicly is an extremely important skill. It
will also be important to your grade in this course.

There will be two map quizzes in the course of the semester as well as periodic homework
assignments. I will communicate all assignments clearly via email or Compass, but it is
ultimately your responsibility to make sure you have completed all your assignments. If
you are absent then consult with your classmates about work missed.

Email Etiquette
We live in an email-driven world. I am happy to answer questions and set up meetings
through email. But I also am human. Do not expect email replies outside of working hours
(8am to 5pm). Please take time to proof read your emails, follow professional norms, and
send messages well before you develop a true emergency.

Plagiarism
I have a zero tolerance of plagiarism. Anyone caught plagiarizing will be subject to
disciplinary action including possible failure in the course. Not knowing what constitutes
plagiarism cannot be used as an excuse for violating the trust between a professor and a
student. I define plagiarism as representing the words or ideas of another as one’s own.
Submitting papers not written by the student is only the most blatant form of plagiarism.
Plagiarism also includes, but is not limited to: copying another student’s work in exams,
papers, or other exercises; inappropriate collaboration with another student; verbatim
copying, close paraphrasing, pasting in, or recombining published materials, including
materials from the internet, without appropriate citation. For further consultation see:
https://history.illinois.edu/resources/student-resources/plagiarism-policy

Required books:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Modern Critical Interpretations. Philadelphia: Chelsea
House Publishers, 2002.

Getz, Trevor R., and Liz Clarke. Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. 1st ed. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

All other readings will be posted on compass as PDFs or accessible online. The readings
listed on the syllabus may change as the semester progresses. If there are additions,
substitutions, or other revisions I will give you notice and edit Compass.

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Week 1: Introductions and Foundations
Wainaina, Binyavanga. “How to Write about Africa.” Granta Magazine (blog), January 19,
2006. https://granta.com/how-to-write-about-africa/.

Wright, Donald R. “What Do You Mean There Were No Tribes in Africa?": Thoughts on
Boundaries: And Related Matters: In Precolonial Africa.” History in Africa 26 (1999): 409–
26.

Week 2: Africa’s Deep Histories

1/21: No class- MLK Day

No readings. Read for next week and prepare for your map quiz.

Week 3: Religion, Global Conflict, and Family Life in Ethiopia

Galawdewos. The Life of Walatta-Petros: A Seventeenth-Century Biography of an African
Woman, Concise Edition. Translated by Wendy Laura Belcher and Michael Kleiner. Concise
edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. Introduction & selected pages.

**MAP QUIZ 1**

Week 4: Slavery in West Africa

Getz, Trevor R., and Liz Clarke. Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2012. Pages 5-131 (I would suggest reading the History Context
first).

Week 5: Slavery in West Africa

Getz, Trevor R., and Liz Clarke. Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2012. Pages 135-184.

**Paper 1 due Friday**

Week 6: Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Modern Critical Interpretations. Philadelphia: Chelsea
House Publishers, 2002. Part 1.

Week 7: Midterm- Feb 27

Week 8: Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Modern Critical Interpretations. Philadelphia: Chelsea
House Publishers, 2002. Parts 2 & 3.

Week 9: Missionaries and Community Life under Colonialism

Mutongi, Kenda. Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2007. Select readings.

**Paper 2 due Friday**

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 Week 10: Spring Break (March 18-22)

Week 11: Decolonization: Possibilities and Promise

Cooper, Frederick. Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge
University Press, 2002. Selected Readings.

Nyerere, Julius. The Arusha Declaration, Tanzania, 1967

Week 12: Gender, Media, and Modernity in Postcolonial Africa

4/1: No class

Odhiambo, Tom. “Inventing Africa in the Twentieth Century: Cultural Imagination, Politics
and Transnationalism in Drum Magazine.” African Studies 65, no. 2 (December 2006): 157–
74.

Newell, Stephanie, ed. selections from DRUM Magazine in Readings in African Popular
Fiction. London: International African Institute, 2002.

**MAP QUIZ 2** African countries (as of 2019)

Week 13: Apartheid, the Cold War, and daily life in South Africa
Ginsburg, Rebecca. At Home with Apartheid: The Hidden Landscapes of Domestic Service in
Johannesburg. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011. Select readings.

Macmillan, Harold. “Winds of change” speech (http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/wind-

change-speech-made-south-africa-parliament-3-february-1960-harold-macmillan)

Week 14: Pan-Africanism in Africa and the Diaspora

Ewing, Adam. The Age of Garvey: How a Jamaican Activist Created a Mass Movement and
Changed Global Black Politics. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2014.
Selected readings.

Nkrumah, Kwame. "I speak of Freedom"

(https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1961nkrumah.asp)

Week 15: Africa in Global Imaginations

Barnes, Teresa. “Product Red: The Marketing of African Misery.” Journal of Pan African
Studies 2, no. 6 (September 2008): 71–76.

Monson, Sarah. “Ebola as African: American Media Discourses of Panic and Otherization.”
Africa Today 63, no. 3 (May 13, 2017): 2–27.

Week 16: Reflection, Review, Conclusions

Mama, Amina. “Is It Ethical to Study Africa? Preliminary Thoughts on Scholarship and
Freedom.” African Studies Review 50, no. 1 (April 2007): 1–26.

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**Paper 3- due May 1**

**Final exam- TBD**

Extra Credit
I am happy to distribute extra credit to students who demonstrate that they are
thoughtfully engaging with the content and aims of this class outside of the classroom. I
will, therefore, honor three methods for extra credit, detailed below. You do not need to get
my approval beforehand for events. But you will need to prove the validity of your
engagement in your writing. You can turn in extra credit (except for event-related
assignments) anytime until April 19, 2019. For each extra credit you submit that meets my
standards you will receive .5 towards your overall course grade. You can acquire a
maximum of 3 extra credit points total throughout the semester.

1) Throughout the semester there are many fantastic lectures and events on campus.
To encourage you to take advantage of these resources I will give 1 extra credit
point on a paper or exam of your choice each time you attend an event that ties to
the themes of our course and submit a one paragraph of analysis to me. You should
include:
- what was the topic
- who was the speaker
- what did you hope to get out of attending
- how do you see the lecture/event linking to themes and questions we are exploring
in our course
- one question it provoked for you
You must submit your analysis to me within one week of the event in question to receive
your extra credit.

2) Read a local news article (campus or community) and write 2-3 paragraphs
critically linking that piece to a question, theme, place, or event we are working in
class. Please attach the piece in question and a full citation along with your analysis.

3) Volunteer for a local nonprofit or community group whose work is connected with
one of our class themes (gender/women, race, economic inequality, cultural
difference, labor, and imperialism- if you want to argue for another theme and its
associated organization feel free). Compose a paragraph or more reflecting on your
experience- What did you do? How did you feel? What was different than you
expected? What did you learn? Be sure to CONNECT your reflection to the questions
we are raising together in this course. How might the local issues you witnessed link
to our global questions in this course?