Postgraduate Course: Southern Africa: History, Politics and Society (PGSP11282)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The region of southern Africa exists as much, or more, in terms of its interconnected politics and identity as in terms of geography. Southern Africa presents a paradox: institutionally, it is perhaps the most articulated and developed region of Africa; but in its historical legacies and cultural fragmentation, it is also perhaps the most diverse. This diversity is reflected in different colonial legacies (principally Portuguese and British) but also in different levels of postcolonial political stability (ranging from the very stable Botswana, Malawi and Zambia to the more conflict-ridden Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe). Thus the course will explore this paradox by analyzing the history, culture, and politics of southern African states. These include colonial legacies and postcolonial dynamics; the nature of the African state; regime change and democratization; the political economy of extraction; ecology and environmental change; politics of health and welfare; and old and new regionalisms. |
| Course description |
The course will be delivered through a combination of lectures, discussion and student presentations on particular case studies. The lecture topics are as follows:
1. The making of the region: common themes and issues
2. Historical and ethnographic background: pre-colonial, colonial, postcolonial
3. Nationalist movements, guerilla wars, and liberation movements
4. Apartheid's rise, fall, and post-apartheid society
5. Chiefs, subjects and citizens
6. Ideologies, worldviews and beliefs
7. Extractive industries and business-state relations
8. Historical ecology and environmental change
9. Politics of health and welfare
10. Old and new regionalisms
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
This course aims to provide a solid knowledge of the history, politics, and societies of southern Africa. By the end of the course students should have:
- Systematic understanding of knowledge of southern African history, politics and society
- familiarity with current insights into and debates about the nature of southern African states
- in-depth and systematic knowledge about the relationships and interconnections among specific countries, current policies, problems, and themes
- critical, theoretical, and comparative analytical skills
- enhanced oral, writing, analytical and research skills
|
Reading List
Indicative Bibliography
Peter Batchelor, Kees Kingma, and Guy Lamb, Demilitarisation and Peace-Building in Southern Africa: Concepts and Processes
Gretchen Bauer and Scott D. Taylor, 2005. Politics in Southern Africa: State and Society in Transition
Deborah Brautigam, "Institutions, Economic Reform, and Democratic Consolidation in Mauritius." Comparative Politics, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Oct., 1997), pp. 45-62
Deborah Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa
Patrick Chabal et al., 2005. Is Violence Inevitable in Africa?: Theories of Conflict and Approaches to Conflict Prevention
Naomi Chazan et al, Politics and Society in Contemporary Africa
Peter Draper and Philip Alves, Trade Reform in Southern Africa: Vision 2014?
Jonathan Farley, Southern Africa (The Making of the Contemporary World)
David Francis, Uniting Africa: Building Regional Peace and Security Systems
Gisela Geisler, 2004. Women and the Remaking of Politics in Southern Africa
Graham Harrison, Issues in the Contemporary Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa
Barbara Harriss-White and Judith Heyer, The Comparative Political Economy of Development: Africa and South Asia
Nancy Howell, Life Histories of the Dobe !Kung: Food, Fatness, and Well-being over the Life-span
Anna Lawrence, Taking Stock of Nature: Participatory Biodiversity Assessment for Policy, Planning and Practice
Donna Lee, Ian Taylor, and Paul D. Williams, eds., 2006. The New Multilateralism in South African Diplomacy
Peter Limb, Grappling With the Beast: Indigenous Southern African Responses to Colonialism, 1840-1930
Janice Love, Southern Africa in World Politics: Local Aspirations and Global Entanglements
Khabele Matlosa, 1998. "Democracy and Conflict in Post-Apartheid Southern Africa: Dilemmas of Social Change in Small States." International Affairs, 74, 2 (Apr., 1998): 319-337
John McAleer, Representing Africa: Landscape, Exploration and Empire in Southern Africa, 1780-1870
J. D. Omer-Cooper, History of Southern Africa
Amy S. Patterson, 2006. The Politics of AIDS in Africa
A. Seidman, R. Seidman, and P. Mbana, eds., 2007. Africa's Challenge: Using Law for Good Governance and Development
C. M. Shackleton, Livelihoods and Vulnerability in the Arid and Semi-arid Lands of Southern Africa
Lesley A. Sharp, The sacrificed generation: youth, history, and the colonized mind in Madagascar
F. Soderbaum, The Political Economy of Regionalism
Julia C. Strauss, and Martha Saavedra, China and Africa: Volume 9: Emerging Patterns in Globalization and Development
Ivan Strenski, Why Politics Can't Be Freed From Religion, ch. 3
Ida Susser, AIDS, Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa
Scott D. Taylor, 2007. Business and the State in Southern Africa: The Politics of Economic Reform
Alex Thomson, An introduction to African Politics
William Tordoff, Government and politics in Africa
Immanuel Wallerstein et al., eds., 1992. How Fast the Wind?: Southern Africa, 1975-2000
Gavin Williams, "Africa in Retrospect or Prospect," Africa South of the Sahara
Crawford Young, The African colonial state in comparative perspective
Tom Young, ed. Readings in African Politics |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Lawrence
Tel: (0131 6)50 8427
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Lindsay Hunter
Tel: (0131 6)51 1587
Email: |
|
|
University Homepage