History 3470/ Fall 2013 Wars and Revolutions in 19th Century Africa Instructor: Philip S. Zachernuk 3169 McCain Bldg 494-3682 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays Noon -1:00 or by appointment African societies had revolutions. Popular understanding has rendered this notion surprising, because Africa is often imagined as stable and traditional until European invaders brought destructive change. But wars and revolutions during the nineteenth century in particular reshaped many societies, often leaving deep and lasting legacies which continue to echo in our post-colonial era. This class will study three notable revolutions of the pre-colonial era in depth: the founding of the Zulu empire, the creation of the Sokoto Caliphate, and the civil wars in Buganda. After becoming familiar with each event, we will examine competing explanations of why they happened. We will also examine how they are remembered and debated in the contemporary cultures of, respectively, South Africa, Nigeria, and Uganda. These studies will help us reimagine the history of modern Africa history as something determined by African as well as outside forces. Understanding these revolutions shows how Africa’s pre-colonial past is potently connected to its present predicaments. Class Format The class will be divided up into four or five permanent groups for purposes of organization. After the initial introductory lectures, each class will usually start with a member of a certain group presenting a precis of a particular reading, followed by critiques of this presentation by members of other groups. Discussions will then follow based on questions provided in advance, or raised in class. Everyone will be expected to do all the readings each week, and to join in the general discussion. You will be assessed individually, not by group. After the discussion, presenters will be asked to revise and submit to me electronic copies of each precis, to be distributed to the class. Presentations are to be based on a precis of the reading. They should be less than 2 minutes long, and focus on answering these questions for the article at hand: Why did the author bother to write this? What is the issue being addressed? What is the argument being made? Critiques are intended to correct or improve the precis offered by your classmate. They should be based on a thorough familiarity, and speak to gaps between your assessment of the article and the presenter's assessment. Critics may choose also to present questions or initiate discussions, esp. when the precis needs no enhancement. Part way through the term the Critique function might shift to one in which discussion-starting questions are posed to the class. Course Assessment Class participation Short Essay Research Paper Proposal Research Paper Final exam

20% 20% 5% 35% 20%

every day Oct 9 Oct 16 Nov 20 Dec 5

2

HISTORY 3470 FALL/13

Class Participation (20%) History is best pursued through active discussion based on careful reading; the class participation mark will be an assessment of your general contribution to this process, NOT ONLY when your group's number comes up to presenter, critique, or question. Presenters will also be asked to submit a copy of each precis, to be compiled into a resource for the class. Short Essay (20%. Due Oct 9, in class) Use the relevant course material to answer this question in a well-formed, essay: Should historians continue to use the idea of an mfecane as part of early 19th century South African history? This essay will be about 8 pages/ 2000 words, DOUBLE SPACED, in typeface. LATE PENALTIES WILL APPLY! Research Paper Proposal (5%. Due October 16 in class) You must design your topic in consultation with me, after reviewing my “Research Paper Start Kit” handout. As we will discuss, I will encourage papers on the themes and case studies of the course, but will accept some other topics. After we have discussed your interests, you must submit a description of your topic as a question, in writing, for my written approval. This short (1 to 2 page) description should include enough of your bibliography to indicate that you are on the right track, and an account of the approach you intend to take in answering your question. NB: Submitting this description is mandatory; no essay will be accepted which has not been approved in writing by me. Research Paper (35%. Due November 20) The length may vary slightly according to topics, but the target should be about 15-18 doublespaced, typed pages, or about 3500-4500 words. THE TERM PAPER IS DUE AS INDICATED. LATE PENALTIES WILL APPLY TO LATE PAPERS. NO PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE FINAL EXAM DATE, EXCEPT FOR EXCEPTIONAL REASONS AND BY PRIOR ARRANGEMENT. Take Home Exam (20%. Due December 5) Study questions will be provided some just before the end of term. Books The only book to buy is the course reader, available at Julia’s Photocopy Shop (1525 Lemarchant, 425-1679, cash or cheque only), published under Access Canada licence. Readings available online are NOT in the reader.

3

HISTORY 3470 FALL/13

ON ACCOMMODATION, PLAGIARISM, LATENESS (AND OTHER ADVICE) On Accommodation. Students may request accommodation as a result of barriers related to disability, religious obligation, or any characteristic under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Students who require academic accommodation for either classroom participation or the writing of tests and exams should make their request to the Advising and Access Services Center (AASC) prior to or at the outset of the regular academic year. Please visit www.dal.ca/access for more information and to obtain the Request for Accommodation – Form A. A note taker may be required as part of a student’s accommodation. There is an honorarium of $75/course/term (with some exceptions). If you are interested, please contact AASC at 494-2836 for more information. Please note that your classroom may contain specialized accessible furniture and equipment. It is important that these items remain in the classroom, untouched, so that students who require their usage will be able to participate in the class. On Academic Integrity. All students in this class are to read and understand the policies on academic integrity and plagiarism referenced in the Policies and Student Resources sections of the academicintegrity.dal.ca website. Ignorance of such policies is no excuse for violations. Any paper submitted by a student at Dalhousie University may be checked for originality to confirm that the student has not plagiarized from other sources. Plagiarism is considered a serious academic offence which may lead to loss of credit, suspension or expulsion from the University, or even to the revocation of a degree. It is essential that there be correct attribution of authorities from which facts and opinions have been derived. At Dalhousie there are University Regulations which deal with plagiarism and, prior to submitting any paper in a course, students should read the Policy on Intellectual Honesty contained in the Calendar or on the Online Dalhousie website. The Senate has affirmed the right of any instructor to require that student papers be submitted in both written and computer-readable format, and to submit any paper to be checked electronically for originality. As a student in this class, you are to keep an electronic copy of any paper you submit, and the course instructor may require you to submit that electronic copy on demand. If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism consult a writing manual or ask me. A good and available guide is M. Northey's Making Sense. Even handier is the Academic Integrity student resources page, where you can test your understanding of the concept! On lateness: Subject to my discretion there will be penalties for late papers, and no essays will be accepted after the dates noted above without a valid and documented reason. On losing papers: It is best to submit papers to me in class. The next best option is to use my History Department essay box in the McCain main lobby, #94 (NOT my mailbox in the Department). In all cases, it is now required that you keep at least an electronic copy of your paper (see the plagiarism section above).

4

HISTORY 3470 FALL/13

Schedule of Topics We will move through an extended series of readings on each topic, and round off each section with a general discussion about competing accounts and our assessment of them. The weekly schedule will be defined as we go, but we should cover 2 to 4 articles per week. NB:

The notations in the left margin refer to the assignments for the precis and critique functions. Thus under P1/C3 someone from group 1 provides the precis, someone from group 4 provides the critique. Readings marked * are available online (and sometimes on Killam shelves), but not in the reader. ✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥ Study I: What’s an Mfecane?: A Study in Historians’ Warfare The nationalist thesis P1/C3: J.D. Omer-Cooper,“Introduction,” and “The Zulu Kingdom,” from The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa (London, 1966) The attack P2/C4: *Julian Cobbing, "The Mfecane as Alibi," Journal of African History 29 (1988): 487-519 P3/C1: *John Wright, “ Political Mythology and the Making of Natal’s Mfecane,” Canadian Journal of African Studies 23 (1989): 272-91 The response P4/C2: *Elizabeth Eldridge, "Sources of Conflict in Southern Africa, c. 1800-30: the 'Mfecane' Reconsidered," Journal of African History 33 (1992): 1-35 P1/C3: *Carolyn Hamilton, "'The Character and Objects of Chaka': A Reconsideration of the Making of Shaka as 'Mfecane' Motor," Journal of African History 33 (1992): 37-63 Mfecane and Materialism P2/C4: *J. B. Peires, “Paradigm Deleted: the Materialist Interpretation of the Mfecane,” Journal of Southern African Studies 19, 2(1993): 295-313. The counter-response P3/C1: John Wright, “Political Transformations in the Thukela-Mzimkhulu Region,” in C. Hamilton, ed., The Mfecane Aftermath (Johannesburg, 1995), pp. 163-81 The first shall be last (unless his map is wrong) P4/C2: *J.D. Omer-Cooper, “Has the Mfecane a future? A response to the Cobbing critique,” Journal of Southern African Studies 19, 2(June 1993): 273-94. P1/C3: *Norman Etherington, “A False Emptiness: How Historians May Have Been Misled by Early Nineteenth Century Maps of South-Eastern Africa,” Imago Mundi 56, 1(2004): 6786.

5

HISTORY 3470 FALL/13

✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥ Study II: The Sokoto Jihad: A Struggle of Faith, Ethnicity, or Class? Introducing the Caliphate P1/C3 *Marilyn Waldman, “The Fulani Jihad: A Reassessment,” Journal of African History 6, 3(1965): 333-55. P2/C4 J.B. Webster and Adu Boahen, “The jihad of Uthman dan Fodio and establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate,” in Webster and Boahen, The Growth of African Civilisation: The Revolutionary Years West Africa since 1800 (London: 1967), pp. 3-17 Interpretations: ethnic conquest, political community, faith and heroes. P3/C1 J. Spencer Trimingham, A History of Islam in West Africa (London: 1962), pp. 193-206 P4/C2 Yusufu Bala Usman, “The Transformation of Political Communities: Some Notes on the Perception of a Significant Dimension of the Sokoto Jihad,” in Y.B. Usman, ed., Studies in the History of the Sokoto Caliphate: The Sokoto Seminar Papers (Zaria: 1979), pp. 3455 P1/C3 M. O. Junaid, “19th Century Reforms in Hausaland: an Appraisal of Conflicting Hypotheses,” Hamdard Islamicus 13 (1990): 33-38. P2/C4 Ibraheem Sulaiman, “The Shehu’s Legacy,” in Sulaiman, A Revolution in History: The Jihad of Usman dan Fodio (London: 1986), pp. 167-84. Legacies: history and politics P3/C1 *Jonathan Reynolds, “The Politics of History: The Legacy of the Sokoto Caliphate in Nigeria,” Journal of Asian and African Studies 32, 1-2 (1997): 50-65 P4/C2 Mahmud Tukur, “The Historian, the Jurist and the Sokoto Jihad,” in Tanimu Abubakar, ed., The Essential Mahmud: Selected Writings of Mahmud Modibbo Tukur (Zaria: 1990), pp. 3-31. Investigations: historians and political meaning P1/C3 Abdullahi Rafi Augi, “The Legacy of Gobir in the Sokoto Caliphate,” Odu: A Journal of West African Studies 1987 (32): 3-29. P2/C4 Ibrahim M. Jumare, “The Ideology of Slavery in the Context of Islam and the Sokoto Jihad,” Islamic Quarterly 40 (1996): 31-38. P3/C1 *Jean Boyd and Murray Last, “The Role of Women as ‘Agents Religieux’ in Sokoto,” Canadian Journal of African Studies 19, 2(1985): 283-300.

6

HISTORY 3470 FALL/13

✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥✥ Study III: The Baganda Revolutions: Imperialisms, Faiths, and Politics The Revolutions Introduced P4/C2 J. A. Rowe, “The Baganda Revolutionaries,” Tarikh 3 (1970): 34-46. P1/C3 Henry M. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent (London: [1878, 1899]), pp. 233-55 Views of Mutesa P2/C4 M.S.M. Kiwanuka, Muteesa of Uganda (Kampala: 1967), pp. 14-22, 74-82. P3/C1 *John Yoder, “The Quest for Kintu and the Search for Peace: Mythology and Morality in Nineteenth-century Buganda,” History in Africa 15 (1988): 363-376. P4/C2 *Richard Reid, “Images of an African Ruler: Kabaka Mutesa of Buganda, ca. 18571884,” History in Africa 26 (1999): 269-298. Explanations of the Revolutionaries P1/C3 *Christopher Wrigley, “The Christian Revolution in Buganda,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 2 , 1(1959): 33-48. P2/C4 David Low, “Conversion, Revolution and the New Regime in Buganda, 1860-1900,” in Low, Buganda in Modern History (Los Angeles: 1971), pp. 13-54. P3/C1 *Jean Brierly and Thomas Spear, “Mutesa, the Missionaries, and Christian Conversion in Buganda,” International Journal of African Historical Studies 21, 4 (1988): 601-618. P4/C2 Holly Hanson, “Chiefship in the Dissolution and Restoration of Civil Disorder, 18571899,” in her Landed Obligation: the Practice of Power in Buganda (2003). Political Legacies P1/C3 *J. Oloko-Onyango, “The Question of Buganda in contemporary Ugandan Politics,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 15, 2(1997) 173-89. P2/C4 *Pierre Englebert, “Born-Again Buganda, or the limits of traditional resurgence in Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies 40, 3(2002): 345-68.