This course is designed to engage students in conversations about particular perspectives on the history of a selected nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon as specified by the respective instructor. By taking this course, students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for, some combination of: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may also explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the complex political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors and subject will vary.

This course explores the economy, broadly defined, across the African continent from ca. 1700 to today. We will explore themes connected to the development of long-distance trade networks, the impact of the Atlantic slave trade in Africa, the consequences of Africa’s integration into Global capitalism, colonialism, post-colonial development and the role of international institutions. We will introduce different theoretical approaches to African economic history, and use a number of case studies to test these ideas. Among other big questions the course will seek to address is why Africa has been a site of weak economic performance relative to other parts of the world, and what Africa’s contemporary economic performance tells us about its future.

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Requirements class fulfills