13177eHU

SoSe 18: African Migrations in Global Perspective

Marcia Schenck

Comments

This course is designed to introduce students to key themes in African and global history through the lens of African migrations. Students are encouraged to discover Africa’s multidimensional past through examining how Africa’s history has been and continues to be shaped by voluntary and forced, large and small, long and short, in and out migration movements. In so doing, the course bridges periods including precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa. Themes include African migrations prior to European contact, slave trades, colonial conquest, colonial rule (labor migrancy; forced labor), decolonization, and post-independence history (migration and development). It also covers much of the continent from East to West, and North to South Africa and traces global connections of African migrants through time. The course proceeds roughly chronologically from the origins of humanity to present day debates about migration for development. It is mindful to introduce various drivers of migration ranging from the environment to economic, political, and social push and pull factors.

Some of the questions that motivate this course are: Do we all come from Africa? How do African migrations influence the continent’s history prior to the onset of colonialism? How did slavery influence Africa and the world beyond? How does forced labor relate to migration? How do migrations motivated by other than wage labor considerations fit into this picture? How does migration relate to development? And how does migration bring Africa into global history? close