History 341DE - Topics in African History: 'Development in Africa: A Critical History'

How and why has Africa become synonymous with "development"? This class traces the historical construction of an idea so pervasive that it has become almost invisible. Moving through 200 years of history, we interrogate the ways that different projects for "developing" Africa have been envisioned, challenged, planned, implemented and lived. Throughout, we return to key questions. Why and how have the lives of African people become entangled with various ideologies of "progress"? What visions of African "development" have been articulated-in the West, in the African diaspora, on the continent itself? And, fundamentally, is "development" still a useful concept today?

Prereq: 8 credits in History.