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74570-01 - Proseminar: Reconstruction and Development: Examining the Entangled History of Europe and Africa after WWII (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Danelle Van Zyl-Hermann (danelle.vanzyl-hermann@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In the wake of the Second World War, European imperial powers such as Britain, France and Belgium looked to their African colonies with new expectations: as sources of raw materials to restore their war-damaged economies and infrastructures, and as sources of prestige to restore their wounded international standing, particularly as their Asian territories gained independence. For Africans, meanwhile, wartime demands had intensified the contradictions of colonialism, and the postwar years witnessed a crescendo of political awareness and anticolonial mobilisation across the continent. Colonial powers responded to metropolitan needs and African demands with the doctrine of ‘development’: existing scholarship routinely states that the years following 1945 witnessed unprecedented investment in colonial economies and societies in order to elevate African standards of living and productivity, and that such efforts to legitimise imperial rule ultimately failed, culminating, instead, in the decolonisation of most colonies around 1960. This Proseminar explores the uncertainties and possibilities of the postwar years, ca 1945-1955, as they manifested in various relationships, connections, exchanges and imaginings between and of colonial Africa and metropolitan Europe. We will work closely with primary sources produced by, amongst others, colonial policy-makers, African politicians, labour movements, and students to understand this period when the future of Europe and Africa alike was unpredictable and malleable. |
| Bibliography | Elizabeth Buettner, Europe after Empire: Decolonization, Society, and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. |
| Admission requirements | Für Studierende des BSF Geschichte im Grundstudium mit abgeschlossenem Einführungskurs Geschichte. Teilnahme an der ersten Sitzung ist obligatorisch. Die Teilnehmer:innenzahl ist auf 25 beschränkt. Bei Überbelegung werden Studierende des BSF Geschichte, die noch kein Proseminar in dem Modul absolviert haben, bevorzugt zugelassen. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 19.02.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 26.02.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 05.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 12.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Fasnachstferien |
| Wednesday 19.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 26.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 02.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 09.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 16.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 23.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 30.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 07.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 14.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 21.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Wednesday 28.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Modules |
Modul: Basis Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Bachelor's degree subject: History) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Aktive Teilnahme. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |