History 10
Africa
since 1500
Abena Dove Osseo-Asare
Assistant Professor, Dept of History, UC-Berkeley
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This survey course is
an introduction to the study of Africa’s past. It begins with an
overview of African societies around 1500—a time of increasing human
migration and global trade. It considers the
diversity of early African religion, agriculture, politics, and art
through regional case studies. Special attention is afforded the social
upheaval that came in the wake of the intercontinental slave trade.
The
second
half
of the course addresses Africa in the modern period, focusing on the
advent of European colonialism in the 1800s and its aftermath. Major
themes include: everyday life under imperial rule, healing and
religion, African nationalism, and development theories. The course
concludes with historical dilemmas in contemporary Africa including
immigration, the AIDS crisis, and transitions to democratic rule.
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