International Relations in Africa

The goal of seminar is to familiarize participants with basic information about the status of African countries in the network of international relations. The seminar has interdisciplinary character, not limiting lectures to political relations of African countries in international communities, but will take into account cultural factors that are decisive for creation of interstate relations or inter-ethnic relations. It will cover also a citizen-to-state relations in the continent. The particular emphasis will be laid to engagement of external participants of international community in solving the humanitarian crises, peace building, including humanitarian and developmental aid. The participants will learn also about challenges connected to the dynamics of young, fast-growing African societies and opportunities that African countries are opened to in the new type of international relations with the others in the World.

1. Introduction to the seminar matter:

Knowledge about the continent, stereotypes, image of Africa and Africans in the Western societies.

Assigned Readings:

• J. Kościółek, Africa - the Land of Poverty. The Media's Distorted View on the Continent, [in:] Images (II). Images of the Poor, Vienna 2012.

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 4 – Africa and Other Civilizations: Conquest and Counter-Conquest.

Audiovisual materials:

• “The Black Girl”, dir. Ousmane Sembene

2. Africa in the World history

Assigned Readings:

• S. Ellis, Season of Rain. Africa in the World, Chicago 2012: Chapter 9 – Africa in Time.

• R. Lemarchand (ed.), Forgotten Genocides: Oblivion, Denial, and Memory, Philadelphia 2011: Chapter 3 – “Every Herero Will Be Shot”: Genocide, Concentration Camps, and Slave Labor in German South-West Africa.

3. Colonialism, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism

Case study: The Growth of China in Africa

Assigned Readings:

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 2 – The Heritage of Colonialism.

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 13 - The Growth of China in Africa

4. African countries position in the international relations.

Assigned Readings:

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 5 – Democracy, Autocracy, and Sub-Saharan African State.

• E. Twineyo-Kamugisha, Why Africa Fails. The Case for Growth before Democracy, Cape Town 2012: Chapter 2 – Colonisation: No longer an excuse for Africa’s current poor economic performance.

5. The development challenges of sub-Saharan Africa

Assigned Readings:

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 3 – Reflections on Africa’s Rocky Love-Hate Relationship.

6. (2 classes) Armed conflicts in Africa.

Preventing of the genocide and ethnic cleansing R2P Mechanism – possibility of security systema and crime prevention development.

Case study: Darfur

Assigned Readings:

• Agnieszka Nieńczyk-Missala, Sławomir Dębski (eds.), Rafał Lemkin: a Hero of Humankind: Chapter 4 – Lemkin’s Passion: Origin and Fulfillment.

• J. Kościółek, The Use of R2P Mechanism by International Community in Cases of serious Human Rights Infringements in Africa, "Politeja" 5 (56) , 2018.

• A. J. Bellamy, Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect, London-New York 2011: Chapter 1 – From idea to norm.

• J. Kościółek, The Condition of Development of Anti-Genocide Movement in the USA in the Context of the Prevention of Genocide in Africa, "Hungarian Journal of African Studies" Vol 12 No 4, 2018.

• G. Prunier, Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, Ithaca 2007: Chapter 5 – The World and the Darfur Crisis.

7. (2 classes) The position of African continent in the World’s cultural circulation: art., cinematography, literature

Assigned Readings:

• D. Murphy, P. Williams (eds.), Postcolonial African cinema. Ten directors, Manchester-New York 2007: Chapter 2 – Ousmane Sembene.

• S. Littlefield Kasfir, Contemporary African Art, London 1999: Introduction, Chapter 1 – New Genres: Inventing African Popular Culture.

• T. Ojaide, Contemporary African Literature: New Approaches, Durham 2012: Chapter 1 – Examining Canonization in Modern African Literature.

Audiovisual materials:

• “Timbuktu”, dir. A. Sissako

8. Race, gender and exclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa

Assigned Readings:

• Marc Epprecht, Sexuality and social justice in Africa: Rethinking homophobia and forging resistance, London-New York 2013: Chapter 1 – Introduction.

9. Religions in Africa and its impact on international relations.

Case study: Ethiopia

Assigned Readings:

• T. Longman, Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda, Cambridge 2010: Chapter 3 – The Churches and the Politics of Ethnicity.

10. Humanitarian and development aid.

Assigned Readings:

• D. Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid is not Working and how there is a Better Way for Africa, New York 2009: Chapter 4 – The Silent Killer of Growth.

• E. Twineyo-Kamugisha, Why Africa Fails. The Case for Growth before Democracy, Cape Town 2012: Chapter 10 – Are international NGOs promoting Africa’s economic growth?

• W. Maathai, The Challenge for Africa, London 2009: Chapter 4 – Aid and the Dependency Syndrome.

11. Democratization in Africa – chances and challenges.

Assigned Readings:

• M. Mbeki, Architects of Poverty. Why African Capitalism Needs Changing, Johannesburg 2009: Chapter 6 – Africa Needs a New Democracy.

12. The place of Africa in international/transnational and regional organizations

Case study: The growth and position of African Union

Assigned Readings:

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013: Chapter 9 - The Changing Role of the AU Commission in Inter-African Relations.

Obligatory literature:

• J. W. Harbeson, D. Rothchild (eds.), Africa in World Politics: Engaging a Changing Global Order, Boulder 2013.

• J. Illife, Africans: The History of a Continent, various editions.

Supplementary literature:

• M. Meredith, The State of Africa. A History of Fifty Years of Independence, London 2005.

• U. Iweala, Our Kind of People: A Continent’s Challenge, A Country’s Hope, New York 2012.

• L. Gbowee, Mighty be Our Powers. How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, New York 2011.

• M. Barnett, Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda, Ithaca 2002.

• O. Owomoyela (ed.), A History of Twentieth-century African Literatures, Lincoln 1993.

• N. Hoad, African Intimacies: Race, Homosexuality, and Globalization, Minneapolis 2007.