HIS 263 - Development and Dissent in Africa

Instructor
Wiemers

In this course, we will examine a variety of projects for economic and social transformation in twentieth-century Africa. The guiding principle of this course is to consider development not as a pre-determined trajectory (from “traditional” to “modern” or “developing” to “developed”), but instead as a deeply contested set of ideas and practices that has shaped interactions among African people, African governments, and international and diasporic actors for over a century. The course will introduce students to the writings of pan-Africanist thinkers, architects of colonial rule, and theorists of development and underdevelopment. To develop our understanding and facility with historical analysis, we will then examine particular cases in which these theories were put into (messy) practice, using a variety of sources from print media, planning documents, scholarly publications, and records of oral historical research. As historians, we will grapple with the choices we face in reconstructing contested visions and exploring the sizable gap between theory and reality.

Satisfies a requirement in the History major.
Satisfies a requirement in the History minor.
Satisfies a requirement in the Historical & Geographical Investigations category of the Africana Studies major (Region: Africa).
Satisfies the Historical Thought requirement.
Satisfies the Justice, Equality and Community requirement.

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