HISTORY 2550:/AFRICANA 2306

 The Past and Present of Pre-colonial Africa

Department of History

Cornell University

Spring Semester 2009

MWF- 11:15-12:05

 

Instructor:  Prof. Sandra  E. Greene                                           Office Hours: 1:45-2:30 M&W & by appt.

Office:  303 McGraw Hall                                                         Phone: 5-4124

 

E-mail:  SEG6@cornell.edu

Course Description

 

What can Africa’s pre-colonial past tell us that about Africa today?  To answer this question, this course explores the pre-19th century history of the African continent, focusing especially on eight different regions and topics: Ancient Egypt,  the savannah and forest  regions of West Africa,  coastal East Africa and southern Africa,  inland East Africa,  South Africa and the issue of reparations for Africa as a result of the Atlantic slave trade. In studying these areas, we link the early histories of these regions to current debates about the role of history in contemporary politics, and current understandings of Africa’s history and in world affairs.

 

Texts

 

1.       John Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent (1997:  Vintage Books, New York)

2.       John Hunwick and Eve Troutt Powell, The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (2002)

3.       Liisa H. Malkki, Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania

4.        Reserve Readings  (Uris Library)

 

On Reserve:

 

All texts listed above

Films: Basil Davidson, Africa: The Story of a Continent, by Basil Davidson (Program 1 and 3)

Africana Library, Video #9

            Michael Jackson’s Remember the Time  on his video, Dangerous (Personal copy)

            Black Athena, Africana Library, Video #4

            Forsaken Cries:  The Story of Rwanda, Africana Library, Video #425

            In Rwanda We Say, Africana Video #233

 

Course Requirements

 

Attendance……….Mandatory (absences excused only with a doctor’s note)

Map Quiz ...............Mandatory to pass with the grade of "A" to pass the course

 

                                                            PLUS

 

Four Essays, 6-8 pages on one of the seven sections below.…(at 20% each)…..……..80%

TWO OF THESE PAPERS ARE DUE ON OR BEFORE MARCH 13

Attendance and participation…………………………………………………………...20%

 

 

NOTE: 

  1. All students must submit both an electronic and hard copy of their papers.
  2. Late papers will not be accepted/graded.
  3. All students will be expected to help lead a discussion. 

 

Weekly Schedule of Topics, Readings,  Discussions and Film Showings

 

INTRODUCTION TO COURSE

 

Week One (Jan. 19-21-23):

           

Jan. 19:             Lecture:  Introduction to course syllabus- Setting the Terms/HANDOUT:  “Talking about Tribe.” 

Jan. 21:             Discussion: “Taking About ‘Tribe’:  Moving from Stereotypes to Analysis,”  Africa Policy Information Center, Background Paper 010 (November 1997).

Jan. 23:             Film:  Africa, Program 1

 

Readings:         

1.  Reader, Africa:  Preface,

 

SECTION I: AFRICA ORIGINS- UNCOVERING HIDDEN HISTORIES/ CONTEMPORARY CONTROVERSIES

 

Week Two (Jan 26-28-Jan 30):

 

Jan. 26-28:        Lecture:  The Origins of Humankind: Why Africa- How do we Know?

Jan. 28:             Lecture/Film (Motherland: A Genetic Journey): Genetics and African History today

Jan. 30:             Discussion

 

            Readings:

1.       Reader, Prologue, Part One and  Part Two (i.e . pp. 3-95.)

2.       Reserve Readings: 

a.       Jared Diamond, “Geography and Skin Colour,”  Nature, 435 (2005) 283-284.

b.       Paul Brodwin, “Genetics, Identity and the Anthropology of Essentialism,”  Anthropological Quarterly, 75, 2 (2002) 323-330.

c.       Tudor Parfitt and Yulia Egorova, Genetics, Mass Media and Identity (2006) 1-9, 51-70.

d.       Denice Caruso, “Someone (Other Than You) May Own Your Genes,”  NYTimes, 28 Janurary 2007.

e.       Amy Harmon, “DNA Gatherers His Snag: Tribes Don’t Trust Them,” NY Times, !0 December 2006.

 

Week Three (Feb. 2-4-6):

 

Feb. 2:              Lecture:  Peopling the Continent: Migration and the Emergence of Cultural Diversity– How do we Know all This?

Feb. 4:              Lecture:  Linguistics Diversity and the Challenges of Language Policy Today

Feb. 6:               Discussion/Map quiz

 

            Readings: 

1.       Reader, Part Three: Chapters 11 through 19. 

2.    Reserve Readings: 

a. “Languages,” The New Encyclopedia of Africa, Vol. 3:  pp.  218, 209-214

b. Zaline Makini Roy-Campbell, “The State of African Languages and Global Language Politics,”  (2006)

c.  Jabal al-Lughat, “Climbing the Mountain of Languages,”  (2006)

d.  Emmanuel Mgqwashu, “The South African Language Policy,”  (?2004)

 

 

MAP QUIZ (FEB. 6th )

 

PAPER ON AFRICAN ORIGINS (with a focus on either genetics or language):  DUE FEB. 13.

 

 

SECTION II: ANCIENT EGYPT

 

Week Four (Feb. 9-11-13):

           

Feb. 9:              Lecture:  Cities and States/:  Where, Why and How

Feb. 11:            Lecture:  Ancient Egypt- Past and Present: An Overview- Of Pyramids and Mummies

Feb. 13:            Film: King Tut

 

            Readings:         

1.       Reader, Part 4:  Chapters 21 through 23.

2.       Reserve Readings:

a.       Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs, Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians- Introduction to p. 74

b.       Piotr Scholz, Ancient Egypt (1997) 160-175.

 

Week Five (Feb. 16-18-20):

 

Feb. 16:            Lecture:  Ancient Egypt:  Controversies Old and New

Feb. 18:            Films:    Black Athena

                                    Michael Jackson’s Remember the Time

Feb. 20:            Discussion

 

Readings:

1.       Reserve Readings: 

a.       Sanders,

b.       Bard,

c.       Diop,

d.       Mauny,

e.       Van Sertima (1986),

f.        Haslip-Viera,

g.       Van Sertima (2000)

h.       Bernal,

i.         Coleman.

 

PAPER ON EGYPT: THE CONTROVERSIES (with focus on Egyptian influences on Greece or Meso-America):   DUE  Feb. 27

 

SECTION III: THE WEST AFRICA:   SAVANNAH, SAHARA AND  FOREST: Peoples in Motion (Past and Present)

 

Week Six (Feb 23-25-Feb. 27):

 

Feb. 23:            Lecture:  Ecologies and Polities in West Africa: An Overview

Feb. 25:            Lecture:  The Savannah, the Sahara and the Mediterranean: Politics and Trade

Feb. 27:                        Discussion

 

            Readings:         

1.        Reader, Chapter 23- Chapter 25 (up to page 255), Chapters 26 and 28.

2.        Hunwick and Powell,  The African Diaspora. Chapters: Intro. ,  Chapts. 1V-VIII, X.

           

Week  Seven (Mar. 2-4-6-):

                                   

Mar. 2:             Lecture: The Savannah, the Forest and the Atlantic: Politics and Trade,  Past & Present

Mar. 4:             Lecture:  Into the Forest

Mar. 6:             Discussion  (TO BE RESCHEDULED –INSTRUCTOR OUT OF TOWN)

 

Readings:

1.       Reserve Readings: 

a.  Ivor Wilks, Forests of Gold, 41-42, 64-66, 72-82.

b.  Joel Quirk, Unfinished Business (2005) 51-55.

c.  American Anti-Slavery Group Country Reports:  France, UAE, Benin

           

PAPER ON WEST AFRICANS IN MOTION:  PAST AND PRESENT: MARCH 13

 

MARCH 13:  DEADLINE TO SUBMIT TWO OF THE FOUR REQUIRED PAPERS

 

SECTION IV: EASTERN AFRICA: HISTORY AND HISTORIC SITES

 

Week Eight (Mar. 9-11-13):

 

Mar. 9;             Lecture:   Axum History, Culture and Historiography

Mar. 11:            Lecture:  The Swahili Coast: History, Culture and Historiography

Mar. 13:            Film: TBA

 

Readings:       

            1. Reader, pp. 205-221.

            2.  Reserve Reading: 

a.                   Graham Connah, African Civilizations (1987) Chapter Seven (on the Swahili coast).

 

Week Ten (March 16-18-20)  SPRING BREAK

 

Week Eleven:  (Mar. 23-25-27)

 

Mar. 23:            Lecture: Great Zimbabwe: Historiography

Mar. 25:            Lecture:  Great Zimbabwe: What We Know/What We Don’t Know

Mar. 27:            Discussion                  

 

            Readings:         

1.       Reader, pp. 311-322.

2.       Reserve Readings: 

a.       Maynard W. Swanson, “Colonizing the Past:  Origin Myths of the Great Zimbabwe Ruins,” 291-323.

 

PAPER ON THE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF EAST AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE:   DUE APRIL 3

 

SECTION V: RWANDA and BURUNDI– PAST AND PRESENT

 

Week Twelve  (Mar. 30- Apr 1-3):

 

Mar. 30:            Lecture:            Rwanda-The Colonial Period to the Present

Apr. 1:              Film:                 Forsaken Cries

Apr. 3:              Lecture:            Burundi: The Colonial Period to the Present

 

            Readings:          Reader, Chapter 29

 

Week Thirteen (Apr. 6-8-10):

 

Apr. 6;              Film:  In Rwanda We Say 

Apr. 8:              Rwanda and Burundi: The Pre-colonial Past

Apr. 10:            Discussion

 

            Readings:

                        Malkki, Intro. (1-4), Chapters One through Three           

Reserve Readings:

 a.  David Newbury, Pre-colonial Burundi and Rwanda: Local Loyalties, Regional Royalties,”  International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34, 2 (2001) 255-314.. 

                                   

PAPER ON RWANDA/- PAST AND PRESENT:   DUE APRIL 17

 

SECTION VI:  AFRICA AND EUROPE

 

Week Fourteen (Apr. 13-15-17):

 

Apr. 13:            Lecture:  An Overview of the History of European Contact with Africa:

Apr. 15:            Lecture:  From Mutual Misunderstandings to Sex, Religion and Trade

Apr. 17:            Lecture: Africa and Europeans: Focus on South Africa

 

            Readings:

1.       Reader, pp. 325-375; 449-459.

2.       Reserve Readings: 

a.  George Fredrickson, White Supremacy, 3-40.

 

Week Fifteen (Apr. 20-22-24):

 

Apr. 20:            Film: Sara Baartman

April 22:            Lecture:  Africans and Others on Display: Past and Present

Apr. 24:            Discussion 

 

            Readings:

Reserve Readings: 

a.       Bernth Lindfors, Africans on Stage, pp. vii-40

b.       “Colonial Cliches in a German Zoo?, Deutsche Welle

c.       “On a Neglected Aspect of Western Racsim,”  MIGS

d.       “In Detroit and London: More African Villages in the Zoo,”  and “African village life as attraction at Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle.”

 

PAPER ON AFRICA AND EUROPE DUE MAY 1

 

SECTION VII:  THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS

 

Week Sixteen (April 27-Apr 29-May 1)

 

Apr. 27:            Lecture:            The Atlantic Slave Trade Reviewed

Apr. 29:            Lecture:            The Issue of Reparations

May 1:              Discussion

 

            Readings:         

1.       Reader, Part 5 (Chapters 36 through 40)

2.       Reserve Readings: 

a. Abuja Declaration,

b. History of Reparations,

c. Emeagwali,

d.  Mazrui.

e.  Howard-Hassman and Lombardi.

 

PAPER ON AFRICA, THE SLAVE TRADE AND REPARATIONS DUE: MAY 8