AADS5529 · African and African Diaspora Studies

Visions of Freedom: African Decolonization and its Afterlives

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This seminar is an introduction to the history of decolonization in Africa. We will study the underpinnings of anti-colonial thoughtparticularly Pan-Africanism, Garveyism, and African nationalismbefore engaging with the historical process of decolonization on the continent focusing on southern and eastern Africa. 1960 is remembered as the "year of Africa," the year when seventeen African nations won their independence. The years after 1960 brought a tumult of activity for the continent as independence movements and newly free nations dealt with the traumas of the past and the continuing struggles of the contemporary period. Moving thematically, we will analyze the different visions of freedom held by leaders of newly independent nations and of liberation movements, to discuss these and other critical questions: How did nations take part in a wider cultural and political Third World? What role would women and families be expected to play in developing new nations? And, how can histories of decolonization inform contemporary African realities?