Department of History
Historical Fields Taught
African History
Stirling has been associated with African history teaching and research almost from the founding of the university in the late 1960s. In our African history modules we offer students two survey courses (on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), in semesters 4 and 5, and more specialised topics in semesters 6 to 8. The latter vary according to staff availability, but currently modules are offered at semester 6 on environment in colonial Africa, and in the final year on West Africa and the Atlantic slave trade. A major focus of our survey courses is the changes that Africa and the Africans underwent during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to European economic penetration and political interference, Christian missionary enterprise, and colonisation, and the ways in which these interacted with indigenous process of social, economic and political change. The module on the environment in colonial Africa examines the colonial era through the lense of environmental history, focusing on issues such as hunting, nature conservation, colonial science and environmental management. The module on West Africa and the Atlantic slave trade, on the other hand, explores the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on pre-colonial West African societies, with particular emphasis on the kingdom of Dahomey. Our modules are designed to give students the opportunity to study African history during the pre-colonial, colonial and independent eras, and seek to foster greater understanding of the complex nature of the African past and present, and to cultivate an interest in Africa and its people amongst our students.
MODULE HIS9E4: Africa in the Nineteenth Century
Module Content: The module focuses on the impact of European economic penetration, political interference and Christian missionary enterprise upon African societies during the nineteenth century, and the ways in which these interacted with indigenous process of social and political change, with a view to explaining the ultimate establishment of European colonial rule over most of the continent.
Learning Outcomes: The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the impact of European economic penetration, political interference and Christian missionary enterprise upon African societies during the nineteenth century. It seeks to deepen history-specific skills already acquired and to help extend further a range of transferable skills. A full description of the learning outcomes of the module is provided in the module handout.
Module Literature:
- John Iliffe, Africans. The History of a Continent.
- P. D. Curtin, S. Feierman, L. Thompson and J. Vansina, African History (Longman).
- R. Oliver and A. Atmore, Africa since 1800 (Cambridge U.P.).
- Ralph Austen, African Economic History (Heinemann).
- A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (Longman).
| HIS9E4 | Africa in the Nineteenth Century |
|---|---|
| Module Structure: | The module is taught through a lecture and a one-hour tutorial per week. Attendance at tutorials is compulsory and preparation essential. All tutorials are prescribed classes since students are assessed for their oral performance at them. |
| Pre-requisite: | Two History modules at level 8. Not available to students who have taken HIS99E. |
| Assessment: | The grade is based on an essay of 2500 words (40%), a two-hour examination (50%) and oral work (10%). |
MODULE HIS9E5: Africa in the Twentieth Century
Module Content: This module examines some of the major themes in twentieth-century African history, starting with a discussion of the impact of colonial rule on African societies, the creation of peasant, settler and mining economies, and ethnic identity and colonial rule. The emergence of various forms of nationalism and the end of colonialism are considered, before turning attention to politics, economics and conflict in post-colonial Africa. Examples are drawn from a limited number of states in Africa, mainly sub-Saharan Africa, including Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Learning Outcomes:
The module aims to familiarise students with some of the key themes on twentieth-century African history. It seeks to deepen history-specific skills already acquired and to help extend further a range of transferable skills. A full description of the learning outcomes of the module is provided in the module handout.
Module Literature: Students are advised to purchase some of the following books:
- John Iliffe, Africans. The History of a Continent.
- R. Oliver and A. Atmore, Africa since 1800.
- Ralph Austen, African Economic History.
- A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa.
- J. F. A. Ajayi and M. Crowder, History of West Africa, vol. 2.
- D. Birmingham and P. M. Martin, History of Central Africa, vol. 2.
- Leroy Vail, The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa.
- Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1945.
| HIS9E5 | Africa in the Twentieth Century |
|---|---|
| Module Structure: | There is a supplementary set of targeted lectures in extra-European history, but the module is predominantly taught through a series of two-hour weekly seminars. Attendance at seminars is compulsory and preparation essential. All seminars are prescribed classes since students are assessed for their oral performance at them. |
| Pre-requisite: | One History module at level 9. Not available to students who have taken HIS99D. |
| Assessment: | The grade is based on an essay of 2500 words (45%), a two-hour seen class test (45%) and oral work (10%). |
MODULE HIS9W6: Environment, politics and people in colonial Africa
Module Content: The module will focus on both human interaction with the African environment and intra-human interaction on environmental issues during the colonial era. Particular attention will be paid to African interaction with, and knowledge, consumption and management of natural resources and the environmental impact of colonial rule. Themes addressed in the module will include ecological imperialism, the European hunting ethos, wildlife conservation and the creation of game reserves, colonial science and natural resource management, natural resource exploitation, and the environmental impact of colonial rule on the human and natural environments in Africa.
Learning Outcomes: This module seeks to challenge perceptions of Western intellectual and scientific superiority at the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, by focusing on the environmental impact of colonial policies that aimed at regulating the African environment and the interaction of African peoples with this environment. It seeks to deepen history-specific skills already acquired and to help extend further a range of transferable skills. A full description of the learning outcomes of the module is provided in the module handout.
Module Literature: The following books will serve as a useful introduction to the module and the issues to be examined:
- M. Leach and R. Mearns (eds), The lie of the land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment, Oxford: James Currey, 1996.
- D. Anderson and R. Grove (eds), Conservation in Africa: people, politics and practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
- G. Maddox, J.L. Giblin and I.N. Kimambo (eds), Custodians of the land: ecology and culture in the history of Tanzania, London: James Currey, 1996.
- J. Carruthers, A political history of the Kruger National Park. Pietermaritzburgh: Natal University Press, 1995
- W. Beinart and P. Coates, Environment and history: the taming of nature in the USA and Africa, London: Routledge, 1995.
- W. Beinart, Putting a plough into the ground: accumulation and disposession in rural South Africa, 1850-1930, Johannesburg: Raven Press.
- T. Griffiths and L. Robin (eds), Ecology and Empire. Edinburgh: Keele University Press, 1996.
| HIS9W6 | Environment, politics and people in colonial Africa |
|---|---|
| Module Structure: | The module is taught through a series of two-hour weekly seminars. Attendance at seminars is compulsory and preparation essential. All seminars are prescribed classes since students are assessed for their oral performance at them. |
| Pre-requisite: | One History module at level 9 or 10. ENH9X2 also advisable. Not available to students who have completed HIS9V4. |
| Assessment: | The grade is based on an essay of 3000 words (45%), a two-hour examination (45%) and oral work (10%). |
MODULE HIS9E7: Apartheid in South Africa, 1948-1994
Module Content: The module focuses on the rise, functioning and decline of apartheid in South Africa, resistance to the apartheid state from groups such as the ANC and the PAC, the way in which various ethnic religious, cultural and political groups interacted with the apartheid state (either in opposition or in support), and the impact of apartheid on South African society.
Learning Outcomes: The module aims to provide students with an understanding in depth of the policy of apartheid in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, the impact this policy had on the country and its people, and resistance to apartheid from South African anti-apartheid organisations, and to enable them to assume intellectual responsibility in the definition of questions, the formulation of arguments and the identification of sources.
Module Literature:
Beinart, William and Saul Dubow (eds), Segregation and apartheid in twentieth century South Africa, London: Routledge, 1995.
Giliomee, H. The Afrikaners: the biography of a people, Hurst, 2003.
Guelke, Adrian, Rethinking the rise and fall of apartheid: South Africa and world politics, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Krog, Antjie, Country of my skull: guilt, sorrow, and the limits of forgiveness in the new South Africa, New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, 2000.
Mandela, Nelson, Long walk to freedom: the autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, 1995.
Meli, Francis, A history of the ANC: South Africa belongs to us, London: James Currey, 1989.
O'Meara, Dan, Forty lost years: the apartheid state and the politics of the National Party, 1948-1994, Randburg: Ravan Press, 1996.
Walshe, Peter, The rise of African nationalism in South Africa: the African National Congress, 1912-1952. London: C. Hurst, 1970.
Worden, Nigel, The making of modern South Africa: conquest, segregation and apartheid, 3rd ed., Oxford, 2000.
Note: Not available in Autumn 2008/Spring 2009
| HIS9E7 | Apartheid in South Africa, 1948-1994 |
|---|---|
| Module Structure: | There are no formal lectures. There will be a weekly three-hour seminar which will involve a combination of student presentations, discussions and examination of primary source materials. Individual reading assignments will be allocated for each seminar though students will be expected to do independent background reading in addition to the specific allocations. Attendance is compulsory and preparation essential. All seminars are prescribed classes since students are assessed for their oral performance at them. |
| Pre-requisite: | The module is restricted to 4th-year Honours students. |
| Assessment: | The grade is based on three essays of up to 4000 words (together 50%), two two-hour examinations (together 40%) and oral work (10%). |
MODULE HIS9R7: West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade
Module Content: The module examines the impact of the Atlantic slave trade upon West Africa, including the reasons why Africans participated in the trade; the demographic, economic, social and political effects of their participation; and the consequences for them of the ending of the trade in the mid-nineteenth century. Although account is taken of the general West African context, detailed attention is concentrated on the cases of the kingdom of Dahomey (in modern Bénin). Study of Dahomey will be substantially based on original source material, comprising principally contemporary European documents, but also including published versions of indigenous oral traditions.
Learning Outcomes: The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade upon West Africa, with special emphasis on the consequences for Africans of participation in the trade, and to enable them to assume personal responsibility in the definition of problems, the formulation of arguments, and the identification of sources.
Module Literature:
For the slave trade in general:
Herbert S. Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade (Cambridge UP, paperback).
For general West African context, see:
Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life (Cambridge UP, paperback).
Paul Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: a history of slavery in Africa (Cambridge UP, paperback).
A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (Longman, paperback).
Detailed studies:
I. A. Akinjogbin, Dahomey and its Neighbours 1708-1818 (Cambridge UP/out of print).
Edna G. Bay, Wives of the Leopard: gender politics and culture in the kingdom of Dahomey (University of Virginia Press).
Robin Law, The Slave Coast of West Africa 1550-1750 (Clarendon Press/out of print).
Robin Law, Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving 'Port', 1727-1892 (James Currey).
Historical novels:
Bruce Chatwin, The Viceroy of Ouidah (Pan Books, paperback).
Frank Yerby, The Man from Dahomey (Mayflower Books/out of print).
Paul Hazoumé, Doguicimi (Three Continents Press, Washington).
Note: Not available in Autumn 2008/Spring 2009
| HIS9R7 | West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade |
|---|---|
| Module Structure: | There are no formal lectures. There will be a weekly three-hour seminar which will involve a combination of student presentations, discussions and examination of primary source materials. Individual reading assignments will be allocated for each seminar though students will be expected to do independent background reading in addition to the specific allocations. Attendance is compulsory and preparation essential. All seminars are prescribed classes since students are assessed for their oral performance at them. |
| Pre-requisite: | The module is restricted to 4th-year Honours students. |
| Assessment: | The grade is based on three essays of up to 4000 words (together 50%), two two-hour examinations (together 40%) and oral work (10%). |
