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Department of History

Conflict and Memory in Post-Colonial Africa (HI31N)

AfricaPlease note that this module has been
temporarily withdrawn and is therefore
not available to students in 2016/17.

Tutor: Professor Daniel Branch
Email: D.P.Branch@warwick.ac.uk
Office: H304, third floor of the Humanities Building
Office Hours: tba
Seminar Times: tba

This 30 CATS undergraduate final-year Advanced Option module will examine the causes and effects of conflict upon African states and societies in the period since independence. Using a multidisciplinary approach, drawing in literature from international relations, political science, economics, anthropology and development studies, it will examine a series of case studies in order to demonstrate that what is often presented as irrational barbarity is an explainable historical phenomenon. The module will also stress the profound transformative effect of violence upon class, gender and ethnicity.

Case studies are drawn from across the continent and from throughout the postcolonial period. The focus of the module is as much upon the local level and everyday lives of "ordinary" people as it as upon states, the international community or global economy.