Required Readings (on Talis)

Derek Peterson &Giacomo Macola. Recasting the Past: History Writing and Political Work in Modern Africa (eBook): Read: Introduction: Homespun historiography and the Academic profession

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo. Decolonising the mind: the politics of language in African literature. (eBook):Read: Introduction and chapter 1.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo. Penpoints, Gunpoints, and Dreams: towards a critical theory of the arts and the state in Africa (eBook)Read Introduction and chapter 1: Art War with the state: Writers and Guardians of a post-colonial Society.

Further Readings (on Talis)

Seminar Questions

1. what was the impact of precolonial intellectual traditions on African nationalism?

2. What role did 'homespun' historians play in crafting and codifying 'customary' law?

3. What was African Writers’ (literary intellectuals) understanding of African Independence?

Primary Source

Poem: Building the Nation (Christopher Henry Muwanga Barlow)