Agenda Thursday July 21

1. AgendaThursday July 21 • Final essay: Monday Aug. 1 • 2% bonus if submitted Friday July 29 • Course evaluation, round 1. • Discussion: West and Heap. • Course conclusions. • Exam preparation. • Course evaluation, round 2, and peer evaluation.

2. Course conclusions • Independence: transferred political power to Africa, but retained the structures of the colonial state through the nation-state. • Balandier: provides a framework for viewing the totality of the colonial situation. • The colonial state is European, while the colonial situation is a more inclusive approach, and views the actions of Africans.

3. …cont’d • Violence: underlies colonial power, and should never be taken for granted. • But by itself, it fails to account for the development of the colonial state/situation. • Why study the colonial situation? • To understand how African actions shaped the development of the colonial state. • Understand the rise of nationalists, the system that they inherited. • Begin to approach post-colonial Africa.

4. …cont’d • Problematic modern images of Africa. • Underdevelopment akin to 19th century images of ‘savage’ Africa.

5. Course Goals • Understand ideas which facilitated, promoted, critiqued and challenged European control in Africa. • Assess and judge evidence, and use it to support ideas and conclusions. • Compare contrasting arguments, critique their merits and flaws, and offer analysis towards their applicability and usefulness. • Identify the thesis of an argument, and place it within the African historiography. • Connect historical patterns between pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial contexts.