Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course aims to provide the knowledge and the methodological and theoretical skills necessary to interpret the social, political and economic transformations that have crossed Africa during the 20th century. By focusing on the contemporary history of sub-Saharan Africa (from the late nineteenth century to the present day), concepts and methodological tools developed within African studies will be presented in order to demonstrate their relevance for making historical, geographical and cultural connections between Africa and the rest of the world.

The course is divided in three parts: the first part offers a general introduction to the most important methodological and theoretical issues of the Africanist debate (historiographical and anthropological); the second part deals with the main historical processes that took place on the continent in contemporary times; the third part proposes to observe the events that characterized the continent in the 20th century from a historical-ethnographic perspective, taking into consideration the case study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

• learning of basic skills to evaluate the 'historicity' of African peoples and societies;
• acquisition of knowledge to challenge and analyze critically stereotypes about societies and cultures of the continent;
• learning of the methodological and theoretical knowledge and skills necessary to interpret social, political and economic transformations that have crossed the African continent and determine its current position in the broader global economic and political context;
• acquisition of knowledge and skills to think on how concepts and tools developed within African studies can be used in various fields of work and social contexts;

INDEPENDENT JUDGEMENT

• developing skills to make autonomous assessment and to strength communication skills;

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• acquisition of skills in reading, writing, and analyzing oral, photographic, audiovisual and musical sources;
• acquisition of skills in the construction of research paths and in-depth bibliography of concepts and themes addressed within the course.

Due to the ongoing pandemic emergency, the course will be delivered in remote teaching. Lectures will be delivered in a mixed e-learning format with live and recorded lectures. Lectures in streaming will be broadcasted on the Webex platform (link avalaible in the course's Moodle website).

In both ways (live and recorded) lectures will consist of a part of teaching and a part of individual e-learning activities (the reading of a text or a comment on a reading materials provided by the teacher).

For attending students, the assessment procedure includes an online presentation of an essay agreed with the teacher during the course (25% of the final grade) and a written exam (open-ended questions) in which the student will have to answer to three of the six proposed questions (75% of the final grade). For non-attending students, final evaluation will consist of a written exam in which four of the six proposed questions will have to be answered (100% of the final grade).

1. General introduction.

General introduction to the course and to the most important methodological and theoretical issues of the Africanist debate (historiographical and anthropological). Presentation of historiographical sources of various kinds and identification of theoretical methodologies and frameworks necessary to understand the long-term impact of historical processes:

• Oral History (J. Vansina);
• Immediate History (B. Veraghean);
• Postcolonial critic (V. Mudimbe; A. Mbembe);
• Perspectives “from below” (J.-F. Bayart);

2. First part: main historical processes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:

• slave trade;
• European imperialism;
• colonialism;
• liberation struggles;
• decolonization processes;
• post-independence development policies;
• impact of structural adjustment policies;
• contemporary processes of neoliberalization;

3. Second part: analysis of a case study. The Democratic Republic of the Congo:

• The time of loots (The Congo Free State / 1885-1908);
• Urbanization and industrialization of Katanga (1908-1960);
• Salesian missions and educational system in the 20th century (1911-1970);
• Pentecostal "awakening" and "economies of the occult" (1990 - our days);

The final exam will be based on the following reading materials:

• J. Reid, A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons, 2011 (part II, chaps. 5, 6, 7 excluded).
• A collection of essays prepared by the teacher, which will be made available online:

1. Law, “Introduction”, in R. Law (eds), From slave trade to “legitimate” commerce. The commercial transition in nineteenth century West Africa, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 1-31.
2. Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa. Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington-Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, London, James Currey, 1988, chap. I: “Discourse of Power and Knowledge of Otherness”, pp. 1-36.
3. Comaroff, J. Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution . Christianinty, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa, vol. I, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 1991, in part. chap. V “Through the looking glass. Heroic journeys, First Encounters”, pp. 170-197.
4. Fanon F., The Wretched of the Earth, New York, Grove Press, 2004 [1961], chap. III “The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness”, pp. 97-144.
5. F. Bayart, S. Ellis, B. Hibou, “From kleptocracy to the felonius state?”, in
The Criminalization of the State in Africa, Oxford, James Currey, 1999, pp. 1-31.
6. J. B. Riddell, “Things fall apart again: structural adjustment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 30, n. 1, 1992.

Until further notice, students reception will be guaranteed online. Therefore, you can contact the teacher by email (edoardo.quaretta@unito.it) and, if necessary, we will fix a meeting on Webex.