Jacob Tropp

History of Modern Africa
We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis. (formerly HIST 0226) 2 hrs. lect., 1 hr. disc.

South Africa in the World
Despite the unique trajectory of the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa, scholars have increasingly moved away from viewing the country’s past as exceptional or isolated from broader world historical developments. Taking up this challenge, our course will explore some of the significant global and transnational dimensions of the making of modern South Africa over the past few centuries. Some of the major topics will include: the expansion of different strands of European colonialism and missionary work; Africans’ engagement with transnational imperial networks; the wider international influences behind the state’s creation and implementation of apartheid; and popular resistance against apartheid and how it intersected with global activist movements. 3 hrs. lect./disc

Everyday Life in South Africa, Apartheid and Beyond
In this course we will explore some of the social worlds of South Africans amid the country’s recent decades of turbulent and dramatic change. We will look at how different groups within the nation’s diverse population have understood and experienced the rise of the apartheid system, its demise, and its legacies in their “everyday” lives and interactions. The course will draw from various sources – non-fiction, fiction, film, and other forms of popular culture -- to interpret these social dynamics and their ongoing significance in a post-apartheid society.

Struggles for Change in Southern Africa
In this course we will examine the tumultuous period of social struggle in southern Africa in the decades following World War II. Major topics to be covered include the rise of apartheid and the mobilization of anti-apartheid resistance in South Africa and Namibia; the liberation struggle against white settler rule in Zimbabwe; the fight for freedom from Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique; and Mozambique's protracted civil war following independence. A central purpose of this course is to explore how these different arenas of struggle transformed individual lives and social relations in complex and diverse ways, generating enduring impacts and challenges within the region.

African Environmental Histories
In this seminar we will explore the complex histories of human-environmental interaction on the African continent. Through a variety of interdisciplinary readings – incorporating anthropology, geography, ecology, and cultural and literary studies – we will grapple with the diverse interpretive and methodological challenges of interpreting Africans’ linked social and environmental histories. We will start with a look at how scholars have begun to unravel dominant historical understandings of African pre-colonial ecologies, economies, and cultures. We will then explore how colonial relations shaped conflicts over environmental control and rural ecological change in the 19th and 20th centuries and the legacies of such dynamics in the post-colonial era. Additional readings will touch on such topics as gender relations, rural social networks, landscape memories, and the contested histories of conservation and development interventions. (Counts for HSMT credit) 3 hrs. sem.

Readings in African History: Women and Gender in Africa
This course takes up the challenge of understanding women's experiences and the role of gender in Africa's past. We will read from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives and literary forms, including ethnographies, life histories, and fiction, in order to explore different methodological and interpretive approaches to these subjects. Themes will include: changes in the structure of patriarchy and women's status in the pre-colonial period, the gendered impact of colonial rule on African economies and ecologies, historical identities of masculinity and femininity, and gendered experience of postcolonial "development." Prior experience in African history is not required. 3 hrs. seminar