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HST3204 Red Continent: Socialism in Twentieth Century Africa |
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Aims/Description: When we think about the history of 'socialism', we might first consider Marx and Mao, Lenin and the Soviet Union, even Castro and Cuba. Africa rarely features in these conversations. Yet no fewer than 35 African countries claimed to be 'socialist' at some point in the late twentieth century. There was little consensus as to what 'socialism' meant in Africa, however. To some, it was a homegrown ideology, with its origins in 'traditional' village life. To others, it was a set of imported theories that could propel anticolonial liberation struggles. Critics alleged that Africa's socialists were simply pawns of Cold War superpowers. Socialism's proponents responded that they were building a new future after empire - a vision which had evaporated by the end of the century, but increasingly of interest to historians today. Rather than seek an encyclopaedic understanding of socialism in every African country, this special subject module combines in-depth studies of key cases with the study of broader, transnational themes. We will examine the political thought of major thinkers, including pan-Africanists among the diaspora, anticolonial leaders, and public intellectuals. We will assess the 'African socialist' project in Tanzania and the military dictatorship in Ethiopia which preached Marxist revolution. Yet no leader or government controlled the meaning of socialism, as their visions were challenged by students, workers, and women's activists. Locating African socialism in a global context, we will follow the transnational journeys of these figures as they forged relationships with Cold War actors and contributed to the radical project of the Third World. The thematic classes will trace connections and divergences between these socialist experiences in Africa. We will investigate the role that the media played in communicating socialism. We will understand how artists, directors, and novelists all engaged with the ideas of socialism. The module will take us into the villages, to see how rural communities responded to state-making projects which were imposed from national capitals. Then we will explore the concrete design of Africa's 'socialist cities' and the livelihoods of the men and women who lived among them. Finally, we will gain an understanding of life in post-socialist Africa and ask 'what's left of the African left?' In this module, students will work with a wide range of primary source material. This includes excerpts from the work of major African intellectuals, like Kwame Nkrumah, Léopold Senghor, and Julius Nyerere. Students will examine how these ideas were put into practice (or not) through material drawn from government archives and diplomatic cables. Moving beyond the vision of the state, we will also analyse student magazines, film, poetry, fiction, street photography and architecture. All source material and secondary reading will be provided in English, either as original or in translation.
Restrictions on availability: Students must have taken at least 40 credits of HST modules at Level 2
Information on the department responsible for this unit (History):
URLs used in these pages are subject to year-on-year change. For this reason we recommend that you do not bookmark these pages or set them as favourites. Teaching methods and assessment displayed on this page are indicative for 2025-26.
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