EH413 Half Unit
African Economic Development in Historical Perspective
This information is for the 2009/10 session.
Teacher responsible
Availability
Optional half-unit course for MSc Economic History, MSc Economic History (Research), MSc Global History, MSc Political Economy of Late Development, LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Development Economics and Economic History, LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History and MA Global Studies: A European Perspective. Other students require the permission of the course teacher and their own tutor. Course content
The course provides a concise introduction to Africa's economic development from the Atlantic slave trade to the present.
The course will examine approaches to African economic history: theories and historiography. Precolonial era: resources and technology, culture and economic behaviour, markets and states, slavery and slave trading. Colonial era: political economy of colonial rule and decolonization; 'peasant' colonies: dynamics and developmental limitations of the cash-crop 'revolution'; settler colonies: the 'rise and fall of the African peasantry' debate, and ramifications for manufacturing. Post-1939 and post-independence: the rise and fall of 'state-led' development policies (from marketing boards to Structural Adjustment); economic performance and distributional coalitions. C.1900-present: capitalism and apartheid in South Africa; poverty, welfare and inequality in tropical Africa.
Teaching
MT only: 2-hour meetings weekly, with a flexible combination of lectures and seminars. Formative coursework
Students are required to make one class presentation and submit one paper during the term.
Indicative reading
J. Iliffe, Africans: The History of a Continent (2nd edition, 2007); F. Cooper, Africa Since 1940 (2002); A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (1973); R. H. Bates, Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa (1983); R. Austen, African Economic History (1987); J. Sender & S. Smith, The Development of Capitalism in Africa (1986); M. Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (1996); J. Herbst, States and Power in Africa (2000); C. H. Feinstein, An Economic History of South Africa (2005); R. H. Bates, When Things Fell Apart (2008).
Assessment
Two-hour written examination in the ST.
^
|
