Regional specialisation in West Africa (MA/RMA)

West Africa, from Senegal to Chad and from the Sahara to the River Congo, is in many aspects a unique region. For the uninformed outsider West Africa’s culture stands clearly out in cultural expression through cloths, music, cultural heritage, compared to East and Southern Africa. Historically the Mali empire, Ghana, Songhay, diverse Fulbe empires, Oyo, Asante and Dahomey have formed and unified certain parts of West Africa, demarcating various cultural areas (Mande, Fulani, Diula, etc), and developing, or straddling, the division between the more Islamic parts of West Africa and the Christian/animistic southern parts. These frontiers are at the same time arbitrary as migration and mobility is an essential element of West African cultures Furthermore West Africa is marked by a typical ecology of gradual transition from humid to (semi)-arid, which on it turn defines to a certain extend the livelihood systems of these areas. Mobility for many reasons, i.e. trade, spread of religion, displacement, has shaped the West African society and geography. Colonization of the typical West African “trade-economy” type had a heavy impact on social formations and formed the prelude to today’s political situation, though not exclusively. Also the consequences of pre-colonial history are still present today. A comparison between Anglophone (British colonized) and francophone (French colonized) countries gives a unique perspective on the influence of colonial politics on these countries. Each country in West Africa as formed after the colonial period has its own typical features, and one could situate them on a continuum from Arabized to African, from Anglophone to Francophone, from dry Sahel to dense forest countries.

Onderwijsvorm

The course consists of six lectures. The lectures deal with central themes in the study of this region. The lectures provide students with basic knowledge and give an overview of canonical studies and topics. Students will read 100 pp. per week

Leerdoelen

The course provides basic knowledge about the region in terms topics, historical processes, current events, canonical studies and recent trends in research agenda’s.

Literatuur

will be given during the course

Toetsing

paper

Overzicht

• 1. West African mobilities: How mobility has shaped West African societies
     In this lecture mobility is considered as one of the shaping forces of West African economies, societies and ideologies. By a historical review of Sahelian cultures, the concept of travelling cultures will be explored in the explanation of forms of societies. In contemporary Africa these translate into migration, international and national, urban-rural linkages, and travelling ideologies, and a very modern form : tourism. With the intensification of the process of globalisation we see an acceleration in these flows, but also an intensification of contacts between these mobile spaces. This new configuration is built upon old traditions, leading to the transformation of social hierarchies. Also, the current mobility over national and continental borders leads to new forms of inclusion and exclusion in these societies. The consequences and dynamics of these social transformations in past and present should be understood to study contemporary Africa.
• 2. Trade in West African economies’
     In 1973, A.G. Hopkins published his now classic An Economic History of West Africa, the first comprehensive study of West African economies, their history, characteristics, and interdependency. Hopkins’ work provides us with a helpful framework and a typology for the analysis of the development of trade in West Africa over time and space. In this seminar we use Hopkins’ typology to investigate and analyse patterns of continuity and discontinuity in African trade, going beyond the dichotomies that often dominate thinking about the African economy (e.g. slave-trade – legitimate commerce; internal trade – external trade; pre-colonial – colonial; French – English).
• 3. Hidden dimension of (many) West African oral traditions’
     On the basis of a critical analysis of source material that has hitherto been used to construct an image of a medieval Empire called Mali, this workshop aims to demonstrate that historians on West-African history – in this workshop represented by Yves Person – tend to overlook methodological issues like ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’. Moreover, the workshop attempts to challenge students to reflect on the uses (and abuses) of oral history as well as on the desirability of studying oral history from an academic perspective. The interpretation of these oral tradition will also be discussed in relation to the theme as set out in the first lecture of this series: the analysis of these oral traditions invites historians to review their analysis around the concept of space and mobility.
• 4. Ecology, agriculture and development
     Agricultural development is a contemporary nor a post-colonial phenomenon only. From the early days of colonization, both French and British colonial administrations actively intervened in the rural areas in order to promote specific types of agricultural production. These interventions not only concerned export-oriented production like cotton, groundnuts and cacao, but also occurred in the domain of forestry, livestock, cereals and mixed farming. Post-colonial rural development policies are strongly influenced by these colonial policies and to a certain extend even a continuation of them.
• 5. War in West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire from 1989 to today
     The aim of this seminar is to explain the background and perspectives of the conflict in West Africa that occupies the three neighouring countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. It is a complex story that will reveal the dynamics of conflict that is also relevant to understand conflicts in other parts of Africa. First is explained the way in which this conflict, or these conflicts, evolved. Then it is considered how to interpret them. In some ways they are three separate wars, but it is most instructive to consider them together, as they are interconnected by people, by power, and by markets, for example in weapons, in agricultural products, and in diamonds or other minerals.