War&Displacement:ModernAfrica

Catalog description

Warfare and displacement have significantly shaped African history since the nineteenth century, whether in the form of expanding states, proselytizing religions, migrating refugees or the development of novel cultures and forms of specialized knowledge. At the same time, the past two centuries have seen an increasing number of internal and external military interventions on the continent, which have been marked by different degrees of success. In this course, students survey the history of the resulting engagements and conflicts from the conquests of Shaka Zulu in nineteenth-century southern Africa and the international campaign against the horrors of the rubber economy in Belgian King Leopold’s Congo to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and debates over the world community’s “Responsibility to Protect” after 2000. By understanding the changing nature of warfare as well as the evolving experience of refugees in Africa, students will familiarize themselves with key strands in modern African history and gain the necessary knowledge to critically interpret contemporary debates regarding the ethics and politics of humanitarian intervention on-and beyond-the continent. Drawing on literature in history, international relations, and anthropology, the course will thereby equip you to evaluate the limits and potential of one of the major mechanisms for mass atrocity prevention.