Ethnicity Nationalism:Africa

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The borders created by European colonialism have great significance to African states and politicians, but somewhat less meaning to citizens, who somewhat regularly cross them for both personal and business reasons. These same borders were drawn around diverse groups of people who do not necessarily feel an affinity to one another. Fifty years after independence, modern African states and their citizens struggle to balance nation-building challenges with democratization and economic development. In the context of tremendous ethnic, linguistic, racial and religious diversity, and faced with poverty and low levels of human capacity, the goals of equal and universal citizenship have rarely been met, though progress has been noted in some places. Recent political reforms such as elections and constitution-writing processes have become intertwined with questions of citizenship, ethnic and racial minorities, and language rights, to name just a few. In this course we will consider African nationalism in the context of broad theoretical understandings of the nation and the state. The course will address theories of nationalism and the specific experience of select countries, including Somalia, South Africa, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Senegal.