History and Geography of Africa

Code:

MAF003

Acronym:

HGA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	History and Geography

Instance: 2022/2023 - 2S

Active?	Yes
E-learning page:	https://moodle.up.pt/
Responsible unit:	Department of History, Political and International Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in African Studies

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MAF	5	MAF Study Plan	1	-	6	54	162

Teaching language

Portuguese
Obs.: Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Aims:

The UC aims to provide master's students with basic contextual knowledge about the geography and history of Africa.

Specific objectives:

Geography:
- description of the main constituent areas of African spaces at different levels: physical, historical-cultural, socio-economic, and systematize them according to similarities and contrasts. To interpret the structural level ('longue-durée') of the organization of space

History
- understanding, in general terms, the historical evolution of the continent
- information on specific processes that historically involved the African continent, with emphasis on the Atlantic slave trade and colonial administrations;
- problematization of the main evolutionary trends following decolonization.
-training for the analysis of African regional processes.

Learning outcomes and competences

The program aims to provide knowledge about African historical regions and societies in a comparative perspective.

Geography:
The combination of modalities of acquisition of systematic content and its interpretation in 'local' or 'regional' morphologies - accompanied by a complementary cartographic materialization - allows students to have an integrated mastery of the analytical and synthetic aspects of geographical knowledge of African spaces as well as modalities textual and cartographic of its expression

History
1) A comparative view of African historical processes is privileged so that students know and evaluate African contribution to world history.

2) Understanding the broad lines of historical evolution is seen as fundamental to understanding contemporary African conjunctures.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Basic knowledge of History and Geography.

Program

Geography

African spaces - a geographical perspective:

• 1. The natural environment


• 2. Human geography and cultural landscapes


• 3. Socio-economic patterns and territorial dynamics


• 4. Regional profiles

History

• The idea of Africa: history and memory, sources and discourses


• Africa and the World (12th-18th centuries)


• Black Africa, Black Atlantic: The Transatlantic slave trade


• The Centrality of Africa in the World Political Reconfiguration (1885-1989)


• Global Pathways of Resistance in Africa - Learning, Composition and Global Influence of Liberation Struggles in Africa


• From the imagination of the nation-state to the imagination of "development" - Current Contradictions and Challenges

Mandatory literature

Hertbert S. Klein; The^Atlantic slave trade. ISBN: 978-0-521-18250-8

Complementary Bibliography

Clifford N et al; Key methods in Geography, Sage, 2015
Scheyvens R, Storey D; Development Fieldwork, Sage, 2007
David Birmingham; History of Central Africa. ISBN: 0-582-64676-6
Toby Green; The^rise of the trans-atlantic slave trade in Western Africa. ISBN: 978-1-107-63471-8
Peet R, M Watts; ; Liberation Ecologies, Routledge, 2004

Comments from the literature

More specific bibliography will be made available to students throughout the semester.

Teaching methods and learning activities

- Lectures to provide students with concepts and problems;

- Reading and commenting on primary sources, as well as maps, tables and graphs, aims to systematize contents;

- Reading and comment of critical literature aims to contextualize, deepen and criticize the contents;

- Sessions will be organized on a seminar basis and may include conferences by professors and experts from outside the institution.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	40,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Trabalho laboratorial	10,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	6,00
Estudo autónomo	50,00
Frequência das aulas	46,00
Trabalho de investigação	10,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Attendance at least 75% of classes, except students with special status.

Positive evaluation (minimum grade of 10) under the terms of FLUP's evaluation rules.

Calculation formula of final grade

Geography (50%)
- Presentation/discussion of a scientific work (20%)
- Written work (20%)
- Laboratory work (10%)

History (50%)
- Presentation/discussion of a scientific work (20%)
- Written work (30%)

Observations

Teaching sessions, both theoretical-practical and Laboratory Practices, will take place in Portuguese.
However, the monitoring of research and evaluation work can be done in another language understood by the teachers.
International students whose mother tongue is not Portuguese, and who show clear deficiencies in their understanding, should contact the professors at the beginning of the semester.