Course Overview
This masterclass aims to familiarise students with insights of the recent, burgeoning literature on the impact of Africa’s history on contemporary development. Despite Africa’s recent growth miracle, there are vast regional - as well as ethnic and religious - inequalities that are linked to Africa’s dark past: slavery, colonial extraction, violence, cold-war-fueled conflict. This masterclass covers recent contributions in economic history that, using geospatial data from anthropological maps, colonial archives, secondary sources, and other sources, uncover the legacies of these phenomena. The course is interdisciplinary aiming to provide a forum of dialogue between economics, history, political science, cultural anthropology, even psychology.
There are ten 90-minute main lectures covering precolonial social and political organisation, Africa’s slave trades, the Scramble for Africa, colonisation, independence movements, the Cold War, and the Third Wave of Democratisation. The lectures are accompanied by eleven 75-minute supplementary special lectures, where guests present interdisciplinary research. These special sessions zoom in on issues including prison labour, the role of private concessionary companies during colonisation, Christian Missions, colonial tax policies, and delve into some country cases. There are also three plenary sessions, where guests join the teaching team discussing the controversy regarding foreign aid’s impact, the psychology of Africans in comparison to other continents, and the future of Africa.
The course syllabus and reading list can be found here. The course website can be found here.
Schedule of Lectures & Accompanying Resources:
Week 1: African Development. Contemporary and Historical
- Introduction with Elias Papaioannou, Leonard Wantchekon, Nathan Nunn and Stelios Michalopoulos - Recording
- Main Lecture 1: African Development and History with Christopher Ehret - Lecture Slides (C. Ehret) | Recording | Q&A (Week 1)
- Special Lecture 1: Long-run trends of development in Africa with Morten Jerven, Ewout Frankema, and Marlous van Waijenburg - Lecture Slides (M. Jerven) | Lecture Slides (E. Frankema) | Lecture Slides (M. Waijenburg) | Recording | Q&A (Week 1)
Week 2: Precolonial Africa. Political Organization and Mode of Subsistence Economy
- Main Lecture 2: Precolonial Africa. Political Organization with Stelios Michalopoulos, and Warren Whatley - Lecture Slides (S. Michalopoulos) | Lecture Slides (W. Whatley) | Recording | Q&A (Week 2)
- Special Lecture 2: On Origins of African States with James Fenske, and Marcella Alsan - Lecture Slides (J. Fenske) | Lecture Slides (M. Alsan) | Recording | Q&A (Week 2)
- Special Lecture 3: Mapping Contemporary African Development with Tanner Regan and Elias Papaioannou - Lecture Slides (T. Regan) | Recording | Q&A (Week 2)
Week 3: Social Structure
- Main Lecture 3: Social Structure [kinship, family, social relations] with Nathan Nunn - Lecture Slides (N. Nunn) | Recording | Q&A (Week 3)
- Special Lecture 4: Understanding African Studies with Awa Ambra Seck and Amma Panin - Lecture Slides (A. Seck) | Lecture Slides (A. Pannin) | Recording | Q&A (Week 3)
- Special Lecture 5: African History through the life of Leonard Wantchekon with Nathan Nunn and Leonard Wantchekon - Lecture Slides (L. Wantchekon) | Lecture Slides (Memoir) | Recording | Video (Amazones) | Q&A (Week 3)
Week 4: The Slave Trades
- Main Lecture 4: The Slave Trades with Nathan Nunn Lecture Slides (N. Nunn) | Recording. | Q&A (Week 4)
- Special Lecture 6: The Slave Trades' Impact on Population and Africans with Patrick Manning, and Ugo Nwokeji Lecture Slides (P. Manning) | Lecture Slides (G. Ugo ) | Recording | Q&A (Week 4)
Week 5: The Scramble for Africa
- Main Lecture 5: The Scramble for Africa with Stelios Michalopoulos and Jeffrey Herbst Lecture Slides (J. Herbst) | Lecture Slides (S. Michalopoulos) | Recording | Q&A (Week 5)
- Special Lecture 7: A Closer Look at South Africa and Nigeria from Colonization with Nonso Obikili, and Johan Fourie Lecture Slides (J. Fourier) | Lecture Slides (N. Obikili) | Recording | (Q&A Week 5)
Week 6: Colonization I. Introduction & Human Capital
- Main Lecture 6: Colonization I. Introduction. Human Capital and Infrastructure with Elias Papaioannou and Leonard Wantchekon Lecture Slides (E. Papaioannou) | Lecture Slides (L. Wantchekon) | Recording | Q&A (Week 6)
- Special Lecture 8: On the Legacy of Christian Missions with Etienne Le Rossignol, Catherine Guirkinger and Dozie Okoye Lecture Slides (E. Le Rossignol) | Lecture Slides (C. Guirkinger) | Lecture Slides (D. Okoye) | Recording | Q&A (Week 6)
Week 7: Colonization II. Infrastructure & Extractive Institutions
- Main Lecture 7: Colonization II. Infrastructure and Extraction with Elias Papaioannou Lecture Slides (E. Papaioannou) | Recording | Q&A (Week 7)
- Special Lecture 9: Colonial Infrastructure and Repression with Roland Pongou and Belinda Archibong Lecture Slides (B. Archibong) | Lecture Slides (R. Pongou) | Recording | Q&A (Week 7)
Week 8: Colonization III. Decolonization and Early Independence
- Main Lecture 8: Colonization III. Decolonization and Early Independence with Leonard Wantchekon Lecture Slides (L. Wantchekon) | Recording | Q&A (Week 8)
- Special Lecture 10: Local Government and Tax Capacity with Jutta Bolt, and Leigh Gardner Lecture Slides (Bolt. J) | Lecture Slides (Gardner. L) | Recording | Q&A (Week 8)
Week 9: Cold War, Third Wave of Democratization, and Recent Progress
- Main Lecture 9: 31st Annual Kuznets Memorial Lecture: Political Distortions and Economic Development with Leonard Wantchekon. Hosted at Yale by Economic Growth Center Lecture Slides (Wantchekon. L) | Recording | Q& A (Week 9)
- Special Lecture 11: Colonial Concessions with Giorgio Chiovelli, and Sara Lowes Lecture Slides (Lowes. S) | Lecture Slides (Chiovelli. G) | Recording | Q& A (Week 9)
Week 10: Persistence. Challenges & Opportunity
- Main Lecture 10: Educational and Social Mobility in Africa with David Laitin, Gábor Nyéki, Leonard Wantchekon and Elias Papaioannou Lecture Slides (Laitin. D) | Lecture Slides (Papaioannou. E) | Lecture Slides (Wantchekon. L) | Recording | Q&A (Week 10)
- Plenary Session 1: Foreign Aid with Bill Easterly, and Celestin Monga and Dr Mo Ibrahim Lecture Slides (Easterly. W) | Lecture Slides (Monga. C) | Recording | Q&A (Week 10)
Week 11: Farewell & Conclusion. Looking Forward
- Plenary Session 2: Africa's Latent Assets and the Future with Chima J. Korieh, and James Robinson Lecture Slides | Recording | Q&A (Week 11)
- Plenary Session 3: Conclusion and Africa; WEIRD or Not? with Joe Henrich and full teaching team Lecture Slides (J. Henrich) | Recording | Q&A (Week 11)