HIST 1106

FWS: The Prize and the Peril: African Nations at Fifty

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

The recent Jubilee celebrations of fifty years of African independence offer an apt moment to assess the legacy of the nationalist movements that brought about independence and the nations they spawned. One observer has argued that even in countries with "nothing to celebrate," all jubilee nations eventually featured "some form of official commemoration." Why were these commemorations so important to Africans? Why does nationalism continue to catalyze such heated debate, in Africa as around the world?  What does "independence" mean anyway? This course examines the tension over who gets to define "the nation" in Africa and why. The goal will be to analyze historical debates on "the nation" in Africa and to write persuasive arguments assessing them.

When Offered Fall, spring.

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