African Studies (research)

Programme

Year 1

After an introduction to current debates on African Studies through two interdisciplinary courses in the fall semester, during spring semester you will start to specialise in two areas of expertise: a research theme, combined within a particular region.
The different options are listed below. Parallel to the thematic and regional courses, you attend a methodological course and prepare a research proposal

Regions

Southern Africa

This research area concentrates on Southern Africa—defined here as the area from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Cape of Good Hope. Your study will focus on the following main themes:

• The irrelevance of boundaries today and historically
• The variable length of colonial domination and its consequences for politics in Rhodesia/Zambia and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe
• The prime importance of extractive industries for the economy of the region
• Social movements against Apartheid, and South Africa post-Apartheid.

West Africa

West Africa is defined here as the region stretching from Senegal to Chad and from the Sahara to the River Congo. Central themes that you will look at include:

• The way mobility has shaped West African societies and their livelihoods
• The specific histories of the trade-economy (Trans-Saharan, slave-trade)
• Colonial regimes (French and English)
• The spread of Islam and political violence

Eastern Africa

East Africa is defined here as the region stretching from Eritrea to Tanzania, and from the coast to the Western Rift and the borders of Sudan. The central themes you will cover include:

• The shaping effect of slavery on the region’s history
• The Nile question
• The influence of religious ideologies on gender relations
• The features of pastoralism
• The dissolution of socialist regimes into ethnic politics

Research themes

Patterns of Power

You will concentrate on the way in which people in Africa have developed ideas and mechanisms of power over time. You will address the issue of whether—and if so, to what extent—colonial-type administrations came to assimilate older, indigenous techniques of domination, or whether in fact the reverse process has taken place.

Culture and Modernity

This research theme will introduce you to the notions—and critical approach—of modernity and tradition in Africa. The theme Culture and Modernity will be elaborated upon on the basis of two important foci characterising this field of study in the Netherlands and Belgium:

• The study of global religion in Africa
• Art, popular culture and the mass media

Development and Social Change

You will focus on the complex relationships between development and processes of social change and differentiation in Africa. It is concerned with development as a history of ideas about social change (labelled, for example, as modernisation and technological innovations). Two issues are given particular consideration:

• The effects of development-related practices on forms of political, economic and social inequality
• Policy and academic work pursued in the context of current practices of crisis and vulnerability management in Africa (linked to ecological disasters, violent conflicts, and HIV/AIDS)

Year 2

This is a research year. You will work under the supervision of a senior researcher from your chosen field and will have access to specialist international academic connections. Your research project will be carried out in collaboration with a university in Africa, an organisation – such as an NGO or ministry -, a museum or a specialised archive. You will conclude your research by producing a thesis in the form of an article, policy document or Ph.D. research proposal. Hands-on research seminars will guide you through the writing-up phase.

For the most up to date course overview, see the e-Prospectus.