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Semester 2

Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa (AFRI10003)

Subject

African Studies

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed at least 4 Social Sciences courses (i.e. Sociology, Politics, Social Policy, Social Anthropology, African Studies, American Studies, Gender/Queer Studies) at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses.

Course Summary

Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa takes a recent topic, one emerging in the news or in the academic literature, and provides students with the tools to situate it within the larger academic literature on contemporary Africa, the political context and methods of analysis.

Course Description

The learning aims of this course are to develop a wide and deep understanding of contemporary Africa, drawing on the multi-disciplinary approach of African Studies. Students will learn about the historical roots of modern phenomenon on the continent and situate these within a wider global context. Students will develop expertise about particular countries and regions as well as on particular themes, depending on the focus of the course for the year. The substantive content of the course will change each year depending on topical issues and will be taught by experts on the issue itself or on particular approaches/methods from amongst permanent and postdoctoral staff. For example, around a particular set of approaches, contemporary events, regions or countries. In each case, students will learn substantive information about the topic itself but perhaps more importantly they will acquire the generic skills to analyse social phenomena in contemporary Africa: how to place it within a larger context, where to look for information about context, the types of variables (whether social, economic, cultural, or political) to consider when analysing the phenomenon, how to identify wider theories and concepts to analyse the phenomenon and how to acquire evidence that would support one theoretical interpretation over another. In 2023/24 the course focuses on Money & Finance in Africa & Beyond. Moving beyond merely asking questions about why some parts of the world are rich and others are poor, this course asks what exactly is money? Is credit always a good thing? Is debt necessarily a bad thing? How does finance work, actually? How have financial systems been made historically and how might they be remade today? We draw on anthropological, historical, and political economy perspectives to look at the role of money and finance in making an unequal but interconnected world. While African case studies predominate, the course foregrounds connections to the wider world and develops an approach to money & finance from the global South. Topics we will cover include: Digital finance, FinTech (i.e., financial technology), and the possibility of a cashless economy; Colonialism and taxation; International financial institutions, 'debt diplomacy' and sovereign borrowing; 'Informal' economies and the social life of money; Money and its relations to other types of wealth (from cattle and cowrie shells to capital); Economic crimes (such as counterfeiting and smuggling) and regulations; The politics of US dollar dominance and the rise of China; Central banking and 'high finance'.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 40%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 10%

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