UGA Bulletin

Course Description

Economic and cultural history of East Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Food, trade, commodification, slavery, rage, missionary and colonial interests, nationalisms, independence, art and literature.

Athena Title

19th and 20th Centur E Africa

Prerequisite

Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S

Semester Course Offered

Offered every year.

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the modern history of East Africa by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of modern East Africa has shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race, colonialism, and resistance, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.

Topical Outline

Week One: Introduction Introduction to the course and African History Introduction to African History
Week Two: Kenya and the Kikuyu Kenya as a Place in the European Imagination: distributed reading from Out of Africa Mau Mau Historiography: Unhappy Valley 265-302 on NetLibrary
Week Three: Conquest and Ethnography European Conquest in Kenya: Unhappy Valley, 13- 71 Kenyatta, the Gikuyu and Anthropology: Facing Mount Kenya, Intro, Preface and Ch. 1
Week Four: The Gikuyu and the Politics of Representation The Gikuyu Economy: Facing Mount Kenya, Chs. 2-4 (Micro Essay #1) The Gikuyu Culture and Society: Facing Mount Kenya, Chs 5-9
Week Five: European Colonialism and African Ethnicity Gikuyu Religion: Facing Mount Kenya, Chs. 10- 13 (1st Essay due) The Colonial State in a Settler Colony: Unhappy Valley, 75- 95
Week Six: The Colonial State, Settlers, and the Dispossessed The Early Squatters: Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau, 1- 34, Unhappy Valley, 101-22 Settlers and ‘Squatters’: Roots of Mau Mau, 35- 68
Week Seven: Settlers and ‘Squatters’ Squatter Society and Politics: The Roots of Mau Mau, 74-124 (Micro Essay #2) Squatter Resistance: The Roots of Mau Mau, 125- 161
Week Eight: Squatter Resistance and Mau Mau Politics after Mau Mau: The Roots of Mau Mau, 162- 181 (2nd Essay due) Imperial Strategies: Imperial Reckoning Chs. 1-2
Week Nine: The Empire Strikes Back Screening and Rehabilitation: Imperial Reckoning Chs. 3-4 Britain’s ‘Gulag’: Imperial Reckoning Chs. 5-6
Week Ten: Imperialism and Nationalism Hard Core Mau Mau: Imperial Reckoning Chs. 7-8 The Aftermath: Imperial Reckoning Chs. 9-10 and Epilogue (Micro Essay #3)
Week Eleven: Imperialism and Resistance Starting the Rebellion: Histories of the Hanged, Chs. 1 & 2 Race and Rebellion: Histories of the Hanged, Ch. 3
Week Twelve: Resistance and Retribution Struggles Within the Rebellion: Histories of the Hanged, Chs. 4 & 5 Imperial Crimes and Punishment: Histories of the Hanged, Chs. 6 & 7
Week Thirteen: Interpreting Histories Remembering Mau Mau: Histories of the Hanged, Ch. 8 (3rd Essay due) The History of Oral History: Voices from Mutira, 1- 49
Week Fourteen: Oral History, Gender and Colonialism Wanjiku and Wamutira: Voices from Mutira, 51- 107 Watoro and Wangeci: Voices from Mutira, 109- 160
Week Fifteen: Gender, Colonialism, and Religion Wanoi and Nyambura: Voices from Mutira, 161- 212 Wanja and Retrospective: Voices from Mutira, 213- 253 (Micro Essay #4)

Syllabus

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East Africa in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries