85494 - CITIZENSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

This course unit aims at forming the student skills in analysing the relationship between social and political belonging, the formation of the nation-state and current and past development challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, this course unit will examine the historical trajectory from the modernization paradigm linked to the development of the nation-state after independencies (1960s) to the good governance reforms and democratization processes of the post-cold war context. In this regard, the course unit will point to the different visions about citizenship developed over the years, and to their relationships with local, national and transnational forms of belonging in sub-Saharan Africa.

Contenuti

This course is organized in four sections: first, we will examine the global historical context of the colonization of Africa by European powers, how it modified the integration of Africa within the global division of labour, and the path-dependency constraints it imposed on newly independent countries in the second half of the 20th Century. This section closes with an overview of the decolonization process in selected and representative countries. Second, we turn to the 1960s, the development project and the African contribution to the Third World as an alternative global political and economic project. This part examines how the modernization project meant a concomittant transformation of the economy and citizenship, with the co-construction of a national community and economy. The third section analyzes the failure of the Third World project in Africa (and elsewhere) and the rise of neoliberal globalization in the 1970s and particularly in the “lost decade” of the 1980s. Economic difficulties, the explosion of African debt and the immposition of Structural Adjustment Programs, were compounded by social and political ones, with a rise of tensions and violence, both within and between countries. The final section turns to African development today, with its promises and challenges.

I. African Development in Historical Perspective. Colonization and Decolonization

II. Africa in the Third World project. National community and national economy

III. Africa in Neoliberal Globalization. De-Development?

IV. African Development Today and Conclusions.

Testi/Bibliografia

Frankema, Ewout, Hillbom, Ellen, Kufakurinani, Ushehwedu and Meier zu Selhausen, Felix (Eds.) (2023). The History of African Development. A Textbook for a New Generation of African Students and Teachers. African Economic History Network.

Alex Thomson (2023). An Introduction to African Politics. Routledge.

Additional readings tbd.

Metodi didattici

Seminars: lectures and discussions

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

For attending students:
- An intermediate written test (at the end of the second part) consisting of an essay (3 hours - 40%).
- A final essay to be written in the examination room (4 hours - 60%).

For non-attending students:
- A final essay to be written in the examination room (4 hours - 100%)

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The ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed by the course, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the course's contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A low level of knowledge of the course’s contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will be considered as ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20) or result in a failing grade (F).

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

All readings will be available on "Virtuale." All official communication outside of the classroom will be sent to students' unibo email accounts.

Students with a form of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the instructor in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Antoine Pierre Charles Dolcerocca