HI277-30 Africa and the Cold War
Introductory description
This 30 CATS second-year option module introduces students to major debates in the history of the Cold War in Africa, aiming to set these issues within their historical, social and cultural contexts over the period from 1945 to the 1990s.
Module aims
After the opening weeks set up the context of decoloniation and superpower rivalry in Africa, the rest of the course takes a roughly chronological approach to explore various case studies and thematic issues. We will look in depth at upheavals in Congo and Zanzibar which demonstrated the fragile state of the continent immediately after decolonisation, the wars in Angola and the Horn of Africa, and the attempts of the white minority regimes in Rhodesia, South Africa, and the Portuguese colonies to retain power. While the course pays close attention to the policies of the United States and the Soviet Union, it also highlights the role played by other Cold War actors, like China and Cuba. Moreover, we will uncover the agency exercised by Africans in the global Cold War: were they simply superpower proxies or did they turn the Cold War order to their own advantage? Finally, the course will consider the aftermath of the Cold War in Africa: did the fall of the Berlin Wall bring a new dawn to the continent or did it reignite frozen conflicts in the 1990s?
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
- From Berlin to Berlin: the division of Africa, the division of the world
- The rise of African nationalism
- The Cold War dimensions of decolonisation
- Searching for alternatives: Bandung, pan-Africanism, and non-alignment
- Crisis in Congo, 1959-65
- Reading Week - no lectures or seminars
- Revolution in Zanzibar, 1964
- Capitalism, Socialism or African Socialism? Struggles over Economic Growth
- The Other Cold War: the Sino-Soviet rivalry
- Educating Africa: students in the Eastern Bloc
- The end of the dream: coups, dictators, and military rule
- Superpower rivalry and revolution in the Horn of Africa
- Proxy war? The Ethiopia-Somalia conflict, 1977-78
- A luta continua! Liberating southern Africa
- Defending white minority rule
- Reading Week - no lectures or seminars
- Cuba, South Africa, and the struggle for Angola, 1974-89
- The Cold War and the end of Apartheid
- New Dawns? Africa after the Cold War
- Looking back: themes, perspectives, periodisations [Revision session]
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of historical and theoretical interpretations of Africa in the Cold War.
- Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
- Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material for the study of Africa in the Cold War, including electronic resources.
- Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
- Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
Indicative reading list
Key textbooks
- Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005) [e-book].
- Elizabeth Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013) [e-book].
Modern Africa
- Richard Reid, A History of Modern Africa, 1800 to the Present (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) [e-book]. - Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence (London: The Free Press, 2008).
- Paul Nugent, Africa since Independence: A Comparative History, 2nd edn (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
- Keith Somerville, Africa’s Long Road since Independence: The Many Histories of a Continent (London: Hurst, 2015).
The Cold War
- John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War (London: Allen Lane, 2005).
- Martin Walker, The Cold War: A History (New York: H. Holt, 1995).
- Perry Anderson, American Foreign Policy and its Thinkers (London: Verso, 2013) [for a narrative of the Cold War from the 'Left']
The Third World
- Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World (New York: The New Press, 2007).
Reference works
- Richard H. Immerman and Petra Goedde (eds), The Oxford Handbook on the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) [e-book].
- Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (eds), The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vols I-III (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) [e-book].
Journals
- Those after the very latest scholarship may wish to keep an eye on Diplomatic History, Cold War History, Journal of Cold War Studies, International History Review, Journal of African History, and International Journal of African Historical Studies.
View reading list on Talis Aspire
Subject specific skills
See learning outcomes.
Transferable skills
See learning outcomes.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
| Seminars | 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
| Tutorials | 2 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
| Other activity | 2 hours (1%) |
| Private study | 256 hours (85%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.
Other activity description
Revision seminar
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Seminar contribution | 10% | No | |
Reassessment component |
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| 1000 word reflective essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
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| 1500 word essay | 10% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Assessment component |
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| 3000 word essay | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| 7 day take-home essay with citations and a bibliography | 40% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
- written feedback on essay and exam cover sheets\r\n- student/tutor dialogues in one-to-one tutorials\r\n
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list C for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
This module is Option list G for:
- Year 3 of USX2-Y202 Undergraduate Social Studies [2 + 2]