Course descriptions (2002) |
NB: this shows the course descriptions as drawn up at the time of semesterization in 2002. As time has passed, courses have naturally evolved. In particular, textbooks may no longer be the same as given here.
List of Undergraduate Courses
Course Title Type Credits
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Note: Odd-numbered courses are taught in 1st Semester, even-numbered courses in 2nd Semester. Courses have no Pre-requisites or Co-requisites except where marked below.
Undergraduate Level 1
ARC 101 Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory(Core Course: 2 Credits)
Introduction to the nature of archaeological data its analysis and the state of knowledge of the subject in Botswana through, and discussion of case studies from Botswana in particular and southern and eastern Africa in general. 2 lecture hours per week. FOR FULLER COURSE DESCRIPTION SEE UNDER ARCHAEOLOGY COURSES BELOW, p.36.
HIS 102 Introduction to the Study of History (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
The course aims to give students: (a) an introduction to the study of history at university level, including sources and interpretation of evidence; (b) basic knowledge and understanding of the history of Botswana from pre-colonial times to the present. The course contrasts the skills and methods of the university historian with the History taught in schools and popularized by the “public history” of monuments and memorials, popular literature and the media.
Rationale for teaching this course
The course is a foundation course for other history courses at university level, enabling students to appreciate their own historical and cultural heritage before studying the history of the rest of Africa and other parts of the world. As such, it contributes to the realization of aspects of “Vision 2016”, approved by the National Assembly of Botswana to guide the future development of the nation, which emphasizes the need for citizens of Botswana to know their history and culture.
Course synopsis
The course applies the skills and methods of university historians to selected aspects of the history of Botswana and neighbouring areas. Topics and themes are selected from the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. The course begins by raising questions of individual identity, gender, class, language and ethnicity, inheritance and heritage. It then relates these questions to historical reconstruction of the peopling of the area of Botswana over the ages, and the reconstruction of social, economic and environmental change, as well as of the growth of forms of political organisation.
Undergraduate Level 2
HIS 201 African Cultures & Civilisations to c.1500(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 101, HIS 102
Aims and learning objectives
Students should be able to understand and evaluate Africa’s distinctive cultural and historical heritage up to about 1500, and to relate that understanding to a wide range of scholarly disciplines.
Rationale for teaching this course
HIS 201 build on the insights of ARC 101 and HIS 102, encouraging critical thinking and use of historical sources. It provides essential background on Africa before 1500 for courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education, and is essential for the further study of History and Archaeology.
Course synopsis
A survey of pre-colonial Africa discussing selected themes in prehistory, state formation, trade, and small-scale societies. Including the origin and spread of modern humans, their languages and cultures, Nile civilizations, Christianity and Islam, Sudanic states, early trade on the East Coast, and the rise and fall of Great Zimbabwe.
Prescribed text
Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa (16,000 BCE to 1800 CE). University Press of Virginia, May 2002. ISBN 081392085-X
HIS 202 Africa in the Era of the Atlantic Slave Trade c.1500-c.1800(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 201
Aims and learning objectives
Students should be able to understand and evaluate Africa’s distinctive cultural and historical heritage c.1500 to c.1800, with emphasis on the region around Botswana, and to relate their understanding to a wide range of scholarly disciplines.
Rationale for teaching this course
HIS 202 builds on the insights of HIS 201, and forms a basis for 300 and 400 level History courses on African regions since 1800. It provides essential background for other courses in Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education. Emphasis on the Botswana region fits in with the preparation of teachers with the Botswana Senior Secondary History syllabus.
Course synopsis
The course begins by discussing later Islamic and Christian history in North Africa, and surveys the growth of coastal and interior trading states, and slave trading from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It then goes into greater depth on south-eastern Africa and the region around Botswana.
Prescribed text
Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa (16,000 BCE to 1800 CE). University Press of Virginia, May 2002. ISBN 081392085-X
HIS 211 The Rise of Europe to World Dominance(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 101, HIS 102
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the history of Europe to c.1900 as a background to European and world history. Students who complete this course should be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues concerning this subject.
Rationale for teaching this course
Europe has been central to modern world history, and its culture has greatly affected the rest of the world. In order to understand these influences, students need to have some understanding of the origins and development of European civilization.
Course synopsis
The course will cover, on a broad scale, the rise of Europe to its position of world dominance in the late 19th century. This will include themes of world history, but will also look at the origins and nature of the distinctive societies that arose in Europe from the Middle Ages onward. Themes will include different political and economic systems, religion, social and cultural change, science and technology, witchcraft and deviance, and Europe's changing relations with other civilizations.
Prescribed text
The Penguin History of the World J.M. Roberts, Penguin Books; ISBN: 0140154957
HIS 212 Catastrophe & Survival in 20th Century Europe(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC101, HIS102
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the history of 20th Century Europe as a background to European and world history. Students who complete this course should be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues concerning this subject.
Rationale for teaching this course
Conflicts in Europe have been central to world history in the 20th century, and some understanding of them is therefore necessary for the study of world history. 20th century Europe is a part of the new Botswana secondary school curriculum and it is therefore desirable to cover this area for Education students.
Course synopsis
This course deals with the period in which Europe went from world dominance to near self-destruction, and then recovery. The course will be taught mainly in chronological sequence. The starting point is Europe before the First World War; the end is the fall of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the post-Cold-War world. In terms of events, the century can be seen in terms of three major cycles: the two world wars; the era of Fascism; and the era of Communism. The main themes are "catastrophe", including war, extremism, economic collapse and the Nazi Holocaust, and "survival", European attempts to counter, survive and recover from these experiences. The use of film resources will be a feature of this course.
Prescribed text
J.M. Roberts, Europe, 1880-1945 Longman. ISBN: 0582357454
HIS 213 Poverty, Economic Growth and Affluence in Western Europe and America (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
The case of Europe will be used to illustrate three sets of problems: (a) how to identify, understand, and interpret long run economic change. In what significant ways has economic life changed over long periods of time? What features of economic life today are the same as those faced by early man? How much scope is there for economic change?, (b) how to compare key differences between economies in their long-term economic development. Why at any point in time are some nations more prosperous than others? and (c) what has been the comparative contributions of technological advance and institutional/organizational change to economic progress?
Rationale for teaching this course
The course is intended to teach skills through intensive reading, writing and discussion. Economic history students need to develop awareness and understanding of long run economic changes. Students must also appreciate that what happened in history is subject to constant revision and re-interpretation. Economic historians recognize that answers are provisional, and that sometimes the questions themselves are not properly formulated, or they even presume "facts" in evidence which is just not there.
Course synopsis
This course examines the transformation of Western European and American economies from ones in which Malthusian pressures on population were a dominant historical fact to contemporary welfarist societies. Its scope can be described as "From Caveman to Skyscrapers". Intermediate phases to be considered include the development of trade in medieval Europe, the organization and evolution of feudal economies, the development of commerce and international markets during the renaissance and early modern times, and the industrialization of Western Europe and North America.
Prescribed texts
Rondo E Cameron, A Concise Economic History of the World: From the Paleolithic Times to the Present Oxford University Press ISBN 0195046773
Jeremy Atack and Peter Passell A New Economic View of American History, W.W. Norton. 2nd Edition 1994 ISBN 0393-96315-2.
HIS 214 Agriculture and Industrialisation in the World Economy to 1945 (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
The methods of economics are used to explore historical issues, and historical examples are used to understand the process of economic development. First, the course will make students aware of the historical dynamics that propelled the contemporary economic system to its present position. Second, it will illustrate how the main body of economic knowledge can be enriched by the study of history. Third, it will highlight the importance of markets in the allocation of societies’ resources throughout the last five hundred, or so, years of European economic development.
Rationale for teaching this course
Development specialists and practitioners, international opinion formers, bureaucrats and many academics now acknowledge that there are many problems in economics for which history is the only true source of data. There are few courses in which the student gets the opportunity to sharpen his/her analytical skills on a greater variety of problems than in economic history. A course which includes Russian and Japanese economic history, as well as Western Europe and North America, invites students interested in today's economic and social problems to take a fresh look at the past.
Course synopsis
The course takes a topical approach to economic development, focusing on the collapse of medieval economies and the rise of industrial capitalism in Britain, France, Germany, Russia and parts of southern and eastern Europe, with comparisons being made with Japan and North America. There is considerable emphasis on agrarian transition, the commercial revolutions, institution capacity building and industrialization processes, international trade in the modern age, war economies in the early 20th century, and subsequent mid-century economic crisis and recovery.
Prescribed text
Immanuel Wallerstein Capitalist agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy, 1600-1750 Vol. 1 Academic Press ISBN: 0127859233
Frank Ellis Agricultural Policies in Developing Countries Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0521395844
Ralph Austen African Economic History James Currey ISBN: 0852550081
Undergraduate Level 3
HIS 301 Historical Research Methods (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses HIS 201, HIS 202
Co-requisite courses HIS 303
Aims and learning objectives
The aim of this course is to indicate how historians go about their work of studying the past: the stages, processes and techniques involved, the problems encountered and the possible ways of dealing with the problems. The purpose or objective of such a study is twofold: first to sensitise students to the complexities involved in the study of history; and second to impart to students the skills needed for research and writing in history.
Rationale for teaching this course
Research Methods are central to any academic discipline. They distinguish and characterize each discipline and give it its peculiar or distinctive character. For this reason a course in historical methods is a sine qua non for all history students.
Course synopsis
The course deals with the various stages and processes in the research and writing of history. It covers such issues as topic selection, data collection, evaluation, dating analysis and interpretation of data, and the systematic presentation of the data as a coherent meaningful account of (an aspect of) the past.
Prescribed text
Marwick, Arthur. The Nature of History, 3rd edition, London: Macmillan, 1989.
HIS 302 Introduction to the Philosophy of History (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses HIS 301, HIS 303
Co-requisite courses HIS 304
Aims and learning objectives
This course introduces students to the very foundations of the historical discipline: the nature of historians’ knowledge of the past and the theories developed by scholars to find meaning and purpose in human history as a whole. The objective of such a study is to expose students to basic features of historical knowledge, which marks it out from other forms of knowledge.
Rationale for teaching this course
There has been a long-standing debate as to whether historical knowledge is scientific objective and accurate/true reflection of the past as it actually was. It is important that students of history should have an idea of the nature of this debate, the strengths and weaknesses of the various positions in the debate.
Course synopsis
The course discusses the issues relating to the scientific or non-scientific, objective or non-objective nature of historical knowledge, and the various theories advanced to explain the entire course of the human past.
Prescribed text
Tosh,John. The Pursuit of History, 3rd edition, Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1999
HIS 303 Historiography of Botswana (Core Course: 1 Credit)
Co-requisite courses HIS 302
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to familiarize students with the state of historical research in Botswana history. In particular it is intended that this course will prepare students who are going to undertake independent research in the Research Project (duration: 10 months) course with a sufficient knowledge to identify important topics for research and how they should be approached. Students who complete this course will be familiar with the main issues in Botswana historiography and the current state of knowledge and research.
Rationale for teaching this course
It is very important that history graduates should be familiar with the state of historical knowledge and research in their own country, so that they can contribute meaningfully to debate and further research. All advanced study in history requires a knowledge of historiography--the ways in which historians have, over time, documented or studied history, and their changing attitudes to issues and problems.
Course synopsis
The course will be taught by a number of different members of staff who will lecture on the historiography of Botswana and closely related areas in their own fields of expertise. These fields will cover a broad range of periods, territories and ethnicities within Botswana and across its borders, and of themes including ecology and environment, material and non-material culture, family life and social welfare, political and administrative institutions, economic and technological change, trade and production, labour and industrial relations, urban and rural development, elite formation, migration and settlement, travel and recreation, religion and medicine, education and intellectual life, etc. Special attention will be given to scholarly debates and the lacunae of previous research.
HIS 304 Research Project Proposal(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses HIS 301, HIS 303
Co-requisite courses HIS 302
Aims and learning objectives
To test the student’s initiative in choosing and preparing a Research Project proposal for the HIS470 Research Project (duration: 10 months) which would add to the existing historical literature on Botswana and immediately neighbouring areas. Students who complete this course will have made progress in identifying historical issues and problems and in identifying research strategies to address them.
Rationale for teaching this course
The writing of a Research Project proposal is an essential practical skill needed by the historian. This course provides a focus for skills imparted in previous and other History courses. The acceptance of a Research Project proposal by the History Department Board is the essential pre-requisite for entering the HIS470 Research Project course
Course synopsis
The course will be structured in seminar classes in which possible issues and problems for research are discussed.
HIS 331 African Diaspora in the Islamic World & Asia (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to familiarize students with the history of African people who have migrated across the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans in the earlier period, and with the subsequent history of black people in the Islamic world and Asia. Students who complete this course should be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues in this field of the African Diaspora.
Rationale for teaching this course
An understanding of the African Diaspora is important to African history because of the close links which have existed between political, cultural, artistic and other movements in the Diaspora and those in Africa.
Course synopsis
The first part of the course will outline the chronological sequence, putting the African Diaspora in the context of the Saharan and Indian Ocean slave trade. The rest of the course will contrast the experiences of mining and plantation labour with domestic labour and military employment in the Mediterranean and the Near East, Arabia and Persia, and the islands of the Oceans.
Prescribed texts
Mario Azevedo (ed.), Africana Studies: A Survey of Africa and the African Diaspora (2nd edn, Durham, North Carolina, Carolina Academic Press, 1998) ISBN 0-89089655-0
Joseph E. Harris (ed.), Global Dimensions of African Diaspora (Washington D.C., Howard University Press, 1993) ISBN 0-88258149-X
HIS 332 African Diaspora in the Caribbean & the Americas (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to familiarize students with the history of black people of the African Diaspora across the Atlantic Ocean. Students who complete this course should be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues in the field of the African Diaspora in Latin America, the Caribbean islands, and North America.
Rationale for teaching this course
An understanding of the African Diaspora, particularly in Portuguese, English and French speaking areas of the Americas, is important to African history because of the close links which have existed between political, cultural, artistic and other movements in the Diaspora and those in Africa.
Course synopsis
The course will follow a mainly regional sequence, with a first part focused in Brazil and the Caribbean, and a second part focused on black history in the United States. Themes will include why Africans rather than native Americans became slaves, African cultural survivals, changing regimes of slavery within mercantile and industrial economies, debates about the social and political effects of emancipation, subsequent systems of racial segregation, and the contribution of black political and intellectual movements.
Prescribed texts
John Hope Franklin & Alfred A. Moss, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (New York, McGraw Hill, 1994).
Herbert Klein, African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (New York, 1986) ISBN 019503838-x
HIS 333 Introduction to Foreign Policy Diplomacy and International Relations, 1800 to 1945 (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and objectives
This course aims at introducing to and equipping students with concepts and knowledge of diplomacy, foreign policy and international relations, as well as their historical evolution. After completing the course, students will have a thorough understanding of the operation of the international system and role of big powers thereon.
Rationale for teaching this course
Understanding the structure of the international system and the concepts upon which it is built is a must for students of history and political science. This course will be taught to equip the beneficiaries with such knowledge and the capacity to operate within the system.
HIS 334 Superpowers in the 20th Century (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims at providing students with conceptual frameworks for analysing the international system as well as knowledge about the history of the superpowers from 1945 to the present. Students who take this course should be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues concerning this subject.
Rationale for teaching this course
Knowledge of today’s world system and the role of the big powers in it is a must for purposes of survival, especially for small states. This course provides an opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge to operate effectively within the international system.
HIS 335 Colonial Latin America to 1830 (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives:
The aim of this course is to provide student with a basic understanding of early Latin American history. The crucial events which moulded early Latin American history are essential to the understanding of the current issues in Latin America and in relating that continent to the outside world.
Rationale for teaching this course
Major issues in Latin American history include the history of indigenous people (Indians), conquest and colonization. An appreciation of these events is desirable, especially for comparative purposes with Africa and Asia, continents that experienced similar phenomenon. Also, in appreciating the present topical issues of Third World Latin America, it is essential to grasp their historical origin and draw comparisons with other developing continents. The course shall enable our students to develop a broad global understanding of historical issues and discard the narrow view of history.
Course synopsis
This course begins by discussing the historical background to the conquest and establishment of colonial rule by Spain and Portugal. It proceeds on to discuss four major issues: the indigenous people of Latin America, conquest and its impact, the establishment of colonial rule and anti-colonial struggles.
Prescribed texts
James Lockhart a& Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America: A History of Colonial Spanish America and Brazil (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1983) ISBN 0-521-29929-2
Benjamin Keen, A History of Latin America, 5th edition (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1996). ISBN 0-395-74455-5
HIS 336 Modern Latin America (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives:
This course introduces students to the crucial historical episodes of Latin American societies since independence. Throughout this course, the emergent societies and their socioeconomic and political developments are emphasized. The types of government, authoritarian, military, populist, leading to the recent emerging democratic experiences are our main focus. A comparative analysis between different countries and some comparison to other third world countries are drawn as well as attempts to grapple with development.
Rationale for teaching this course
A course on modern Latin American history is highly desirable for history students in Third World countries. Although we are separated from Latin America by a large ocean, our past experiences and the quest for socioeconomic and political developments are comparable. Latin America, just like Africa, has been grappling with problems of poverty, unemployment and political instability. This course offers scope for a comparative perspective. The course is also in line with the new revised BGCSE syllabus and "Vision 2016" which call for a well informed nation capable of playing a crucial role in international affairs.
Course synopsis
The course offers a broad range of issues beginning with independence and the failure of Pan Americanism. It explores various forms of governments in twentieth century Latin America ranging military dictatorships to bureaucratic-authoritarianism. It discusses revolutions in Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua and the rise of modern Latin American democratic states.
Prescribed texts
B. Keen & Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, 6th edition (Boston, Houghton MIfflin Co. 2000). ISBN 0-395-97712-6
Thomas E. Skidmore, Modern Latin America, 4th edition (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997). ISBN 0-19-510017-4
HIS 341 From Slavery to Colonialism in West Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims at introducing students to the history of West African societies, from the time of their contact with Islam, the nature growth of their states, their economic and social organisations and the impact of the slave trade as well as the Scramble for and colonisation of Africa. After completing this course, students will be familiar with the basic data and main historiographical issues on this subject.
Rationale for teaching this course
The understanding of African cultures and history at a continental level and factors which shaped and impacted them is key to appreciating the future. This is more so for students of African history in Africa. This course provides an opportunity to students to understand West African history from that perspective.
Course synopsis
The course will be taught in a chronological sequence, identifying periods and themes (notably slavery and slave trade, and the similarities and differences between French and British colonial conquest and systems of rule) and then analysing the changes between them.
HIS 342 Modern Anglophone, Francophone & Lusophone West Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims at providing students with in-depth knowledge of the political and socioeconomic changes in West Africa from the outbreak of the Second World War. The course also deals with post independence socioeconomic and political issues. After completing this course, students will be able to understand the current situation in West Africa.
Rationale for teaching this course
West Africa has had a long history of contact with Europe. Understanding how that contact shaped the developments in West Africa is critical to appreciating the culture and history of the African continent.
Course synopsis
The course will be taught in a chronological sequence from the Second World War onwards and will be divided into three parts. The first part will consider themes of late colonial economic development and constitutional changes in response to nationalist movements. The second part will consider the early period of independence and its schemes of popular betterment, and the alienation of politicians from populace resulting in a series of military-bureaucratic coups. The third part will consider the age of economic structural adjustment enforced by the World Bank/IMF and concomitant moves towards multiparty democracy.
HIS 343 Trade & Politics in Central African Kingdoms (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
Students should be able understand the main historical developments of production, trade and political development in Central African societies before the coming of Europeans. They should be able to relate and evaluate the impact of the major economic, social, cultural and religious factors emanating from contact with Europeans and the establishment of colonial rule.
Rationale for teaching this course
Central African societies from the Congo Basin to the Zambezi were productive in agriculture, metallurgy and handicrafts, developing complex societies and distinctive forms of political organisation, and were heavily impacted by slave-trading from both west and east. The course offers students the opportunity to compare and contrast major historical developments within this region and between regions of Africa. This course is crucial for those students who are going to be teachers because the new BGSCE history syllabus has a component on Central Africa
Course synopsis
The course begins with a review of major historical developments before 1800. The course then surveys the socio-economic and political organization of African societies before contact with Europeans, contact with Europeans and its impact, imposition of colonial rule, and African reaction to colonial policies up to the early 20th century.
Prescribed texts
Terence Ranger (ed.), Aspects of Central African History, London, Heinemann, 1968). ISBN 0-435-94800-8
David Birmingham, Central Africa to 1870; Zambezia, Zaire and the South Atlantic: Chapters from the Cambridge History of Africa (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981) ISBN 0-52-12411-2
HIS 344 The Roots of Crisis in Modern Central Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
Students should be able to evaluate and appreciate the major historical episodes which have shaped modern Central Africa. They should be able to relate these events to a broader environment including comparable historical events in different regions of Africa and to the wider world in general. (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Rationale for teaching this course
Colonial Central Africa, with its copper mines and settler estates, reached unprecedented prosperity in the 1950s, but rapidly declined with civil wars in Angola and Congo and economic decline elsewhere from the mid-1970s. This course investigates the reasons for such crisis in the context of world economic trends. Students should appreciate debates on these issues as Central Africa forms a component of the BGCSE history syllabus and thus it is essential for future teachers.
Course synopsis
This course covers a variety of issues starting with comparison of colonial administrations and settler economies, resistance to colonialism and the roles of industrial workers. It focuses on the rise of modern forms of nationalism and the formation of nationalist movements and political parties, and contrasts colonial and post-colonial armed struggles in Angola and Congo with more peaceful evolution in Zambia and Malawi. The course ends with consideration of ‘structural adjustment’ and recent issues of multi-party democratisation, and of the political and territorial viability of these states and their membership in the SADC regional grouping.
Prescribed texts
P. Duignan and Robert Jackson, eds. Politics and Government in African States 1960-1985, London, Croom Helm, Hoover Institution Press, 1986).
L.H. Gann, Central Africa: The Former British States, (New Jersey, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 1971) ISBN 01312234-0
David Birmingham & Phyllis M. Martin, History of Central Africa: The Contemporary Years. Longman, 1998. ISBN 0-582-27607-1
Undergraduate Level 4
HIS 401 Mfecane & the Settler Scramble for Southern Africa (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses HIS 301,HIS 302,HIS 303,HIS 304
Aims and learning objectives
To familiarize course participants with the historical developments of 19th century Southern Africa so that they can be able to appreciate and understand not only the past but later history up to the present. Course participants will be able to learn these historical developments through independent and guided reading, tutorials, visual materials, presentations, debates and lectures.
Rationale for teaching this course
Course participants largely come from within the Southern African region. It is therefore essential to know the past of their region in order to understand more recent history. It is also important to equip students who are going to be future teachers in secondary schools to be knowledgeable about the core region considered in BGCSE History and Social Studies.
Course synopsis
The course begins with consideration of the overlapping frontiers of African peoples and coastal colonial powers south the Zambezi and Kunene rivers in the 18th century. It then considers the growth of African polities trading with the coast, and raises historical debate about the rise of military-states during the Mfecane/ Difaqane wars. Settler penetration of the interior from the south is considered in the context of these wars and commercial and missionary frontier expansion. The final part of the course investigates the political and economic effects of the revolution in diamond and gold mining on migrant labour and on the rise and fall of African states, Boer republics, and British, German and Portuguese colonies in Southern Africa.
Prescribed texts
N. Etherington, The Great Treks Longman, 2001. ISBN 0582-1567-0
R. Ross, A Concise History of South Africa Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0521-57578-8
N. Worden, The Making of Modern South Africa Oxford: Blackwell, 2000. ISBN 0-63121661-8
HIS 412 Twentieth Century South Africa(Alternative Core Course: 3 Credits)
History Majors & Minors must take at least ONE from HIS 412, HIS 414, HIS 416
Pre-requisite courses HIS 401
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce course participants to the major historical developments in 20th century South Africa during and after its consolidation as a union. Course participants will be able to gain knowledge of this course by engaging in independent and guided reading, visual materials, tutorials, debates and lectures.
Rationale for teaching this course
South Africa has great influence on other Southern African countries. It is therefore important to understand its political, economic and social development over the past century, in order to fully understand its position within Southern Africa today.
Course synopsis
The course begins in the 20th century with the South African War as its benchmark. It considers the success of white Afrikaner nationalism, over black African nationalism, in gaining political power in a united South Africa. The course investigates how racial segregation was erected to protect white agricultural and industrial interests, and of how when this system began to deteriorate it was reinforced by the system known as apartheid. Questions are raised about the nature and effectiveness of African nationalist and worker resistance, and about the adaptiveness of segregation and apartheid to cater for African aspirations through Native Reserves and ‘Bantustans’. The final part of the course considers how the liberation struggle from 1976 can be considered in the context of contemporary achievements since 1994.
Prescribed texts:
W. Beinart,Twentieth Century South Africa Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0192893181.
T.R.H. Davenport, South Africa Palgrave Macmillan, 2000 edn., ISBN 0-333-79223-8
N.R. Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom Abacus Books edn., 1995. ISBN 034910653-3
HIS 414 Chiefs, Commoners & the Impact of Colonial Rule in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland(Alternative Core Course: 3 Credits)
History Majors & Minors must take at least ONE from HIS 412, HIS 414, HIS 416
Pre-requisite courses HIS401
Aims and learning objectives
Through this course participants will be able to understand and contrast similar conditions and varying outcomes in the three countries formerly linked together as the High Commission Territories. Course participants will be informed through lectures and visual presentations, and will engage in independent and guided reading, debates and presentations of papers at tutorials.
Rationale for teaching this course
This course builds on knowledge and understanding of courses HIS401 and HIS303. It is predicated on the usefulness of comparative study as the only kind of ‘laboratory’ available to historians for comparing outcomes from similar conditions. It should deepen students’ understanding of their own country, and enable them both to teach its history to others more meaningfully and to engage in fruitful debate and discussion on its past, present and future.
Course synopsis
The course begins by considering common administrative arrangements through the High Commission Territories civil service, and by contrasting forms of ‘parallel rule’ through paramount chieftainship in the three ‘Protectorates’. The second theme is that of economic and political relations with the Union of South Africa (and Southern Rhodesia) in the colonial period, including labour migration and attempts to incorporate the territories. The third theme is the contrasting forms of political development, including the formation of political parties, from the Second World War onwards of what became two independent kingdoms and one republic.The fourth theme is that of post-colonial economic and political development, and how that was affected by civil insurrections in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Prescribed texts:
S. Gill, A Short History of Lesotho Morija Musuem & Archives, 1993. ISBN 99911-793-6-4
J.S.M. Matsebula, History of Swaziland Longman Swaziland, 1987. ISBN 0-582-03167-2
T.Tlou & A. Campbell, History of Botswana Macmillan Botswana, 1997 edn. ISBN 99912-78-08-7
Thomas Tlou, Neil Parsons, & Willie Henderson, Seretse Khama 1921-1980. Botswana Society/ Macmillan Botswana, 1995. ISBN 99912-60-31-5.
HIS 416 Land, Labour & Liberation in Mozambique, Namibia & Zimbabwe(Alternative Core Course: 3 Credits)
History Majors & Minors must take at least ONE from HIS 412, HIS 414, HIS 416
Pre-requisite courses HIS401
Aims and learning objectives
This course will enable students to compare and contrast the experiences of Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe countries under the three themes of land alienation (and subsequent reclamation), inducement of labour supplies, and armed liberation struggle. Course participants wiill engage in independent and guided reading, tutorials and debates, and through lectures and visual presentations.
Rationale for teaching this course
The three former white settler colonies experienced similar conditions under three very different colonial regimes. The course will promote deeper understanding of similarities and differences in colonial heritage, within the context of South African regional domination, and of post-colonial movements for land reclamation.
Course synopsis
The course begins by comparing and contrasting the late 19th century colonial conquest of the three countries, and continues with the theme of white settler and company land alienation. The inducement of labour is considered in the context of alienated farms and estates, local mines and towns, and long-distance migration to South Africa. The third theme is that of how far the educated elite, rural peasants and urban workers were represented in armed liberation movements. The final part of the country brings the themes together to consider post-colonial trends in the three countries, including renewed insurgence and expropriation of land.
Prescribed texts:
P.H. Katjavivi, A History of Resistance in Namibia James Currey, 1998. ISBN 0-852-55320-X
J.M. Penvenne, African Workers and Colonial Racism: Mozambican Struggles in Lourenco Marques, 1877-1962 James Currey, 1995. ISBN 0852-55614-4
M.O. West, The Rise of an African Middle Class: Colonial Zimbabwe 1898-1965 Indiana University Press, 2002. ISBN 025321524-2
HIS 421 Political Ideas during the Ancient and Medieval Periods (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims at introducing students to the evolution of the philosophy and theory of the State from the Ancient to Medieval periods. After completing the course, students will be familiar with the thoughts, cultures and theories which informed the developments those societies.
Rationale for teaching this course
To understand modern political thought and theories it is critical to have a thorough grounding on their development and changes that have taken place in them. This course provides such an opportunity to be exposed to the development of political thought and theories.
Course synopsis
The course will be taught in a chronological sequence, covering three main themes. These are: concepts and definitions; the Ancient period; and the Medieval period.
HIS 422 Political ideas during the Modern and Contemporary Periods (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims at building on background provided by course HIS 421 and exposing students to further developments in the philosophy and theory of the State and the organisations of societies.
Rationale for teaching this course
To understand and survive as well as participate effectively, modern societies and the world system require a broad exposure to political theory and ideas. This will equip students with such a broad range of ideas.
Course synopsis
The course will be divided into two logical parts. Coverage will focus on the main ideas in first the Modern and then the Contemporary period.
HIS 431 Natives & Settlers in Early North America (NOT OFFERED 2002-2003)
Dispossession of native North Americans by European settlers between the Arctic and the Caribbean; frontier penetration and settlement by free Europeans and slave Africans, native-settler contact, and land alienation through the 19th century.
HIS 432 Industrialisation & Expansion in Modern North America (NOT OFFERED 2002-2003) Themes from the American Revolution to the present day: extensive use of intensive agriculture; rapid development of extractive and manufacturing industries, markets, settlement and urbanisation; origins of the Information Age.
HIS 433 Civilization and Modernization in China & Japan (NOT OFFERED 2002-2003)
Contrasting two ancient cultures and paths to modernization: Japan's conversion into a world power with consumer-based capitalism, and China's convulsions, socialist experimentation, and subsequent political and economic developments.
HIS 435 Modern Britain: Nation, Class, Gender, Race, Religion, Culture, Power (NOT OFFERED 2002-2003) Complementary approaches to analysis of power in British history: top-down analysis of elites and power structures and bottom-up analysis, especially in terms of class, gender and ideas of 'race'.
HIS 436 The British Empire & Commonwealth in World History (NOT OFFERED 2002-2003) From 16th century rise to 20th century decline of British world power: constitutional development of settler colonies into Dominions, contrasted with non-settler colonies; Commonwealth issues and membership crises since the 1950s.
HIS 437 Civilisations of the Ancient Near East & Mediterranean (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to give students a basic knowledge and understanding of the history of the cultures of the civilisations of the Ancient Near East & Mediterranean, emphasising advances in science and technology, but also acknowledging the reliance of societies on slave labour. The course will also note achievements in construction and the arts, law, philosophy and political institutions.
Rationale for teaching this course
Ancient Near East and Mediterranean cultures are recognized as important sources for later Islamic and modern Western civilizations. Ancient Egypt is of particular relevance for students of African history. Ancient Roman law is still the basis of modern Botswana law. Roman slavery served both as a major precedent and a model for the much later Atlantic slave trade conducted by western Europeans, while ancient Roman imperialism provided models for European colonial empires. ‘The Ancient World’ is taught at Junior Certificate and BGCSE levels and it is desirable to provide an introduction to the subject for future teachers.
Course synopsis
The course will follow a mainly regional pattern, focussing on the themes of science and technology, and ancient slavery, but also identifying the major achievements of each major ancient civilisation. The civilisations in question range from the ‘hydraulic societies’ of ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Egypt, through the real or supposed ‘democracy’ of ancient Greece, to the end of the Roman and Byzantine empires.
Prescribed text:
L. de Blois & R.J. van der Spek, An Introduction to the Ancient World Routledge. ISBN: 0415127742
HIS 441 Slave Trade & Colonial Conquest in East Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
Students should be able to understand and evaluate Eastern Africa’s distinctive cultural, religious and historical heritage, emphasising 19th century Zanzibari slave trading and European colonial conquest, and to relate such understanding to other scholarly disciplines.
Rationale for teaching this course
The course provides necessary background to other courses in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education, and offers a comparative angle for other courses focussed on slavery and slave-trading (HIS 202, HIS 331, HIS 335, HIS 341, HIS 343, HIS 421, HIS 431 & HIS 437). It will be based on intensive reading, writing and discussion which should enable students to reinterpret and critically analyse complex historical problems.
Course synopsis
The course begins with an environmental, cultural and chronological survey of places, peoples and events to c.1900. The next theme is the variety of political and social organisation ranging from hunting-gathering and pastoralism on the plains to settled agricultural kingdoms between Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria. The third theme is the expansion of commerce in ivory and slaves along the coast by Portuguese and French, and Zanzibari-Swahili trade penetrating deep into the interior of Eastern Africa as far as the Congo Basin. The fourth theme is the successful intervention of British and German traders and colonists into these existing patterns, and the subsequent colonial partition of Eastern Africa.
HIS 442 Ecology & Empire, Conservation & Politics in Eastern Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses HIS 201,HIS 202
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to introduce students to historical reconstruction and debate on the impact of the competition between African peasant societies and European commercial farming, betweeen ‘native reserves’ and state wildlife reserves, and of land partition and ‘betterment’ schemes on the environment of Eastern Africa.
Rationale for teaching this course
HIS 442 is concerned with recent exciting historical and ecological research on ‘environmental imperialism’, which can also be applied to other areas of Africa and the world. The course will be taught by intensive reading, writing and discussion, enabling students to reinterpret and critically analyse complex historical problems.
Course synopsis
The course begins with a broad outline of the ecology and chronology of colonial and post-colonial rule in the savanna area from Ethiopia through the Great Lakes to Lake Malawi. The first major theme is that of human population and settlement, its relationship to the natural environment, and the effects of political intervention and land partition: case studies will include the impact of tsetse-fly and malaria and may be drawn from as far south as the Limpopo. The second major theme will be the differential impact on peasant farmers and the natural environment of German and British imperial intervention and white settlement on the three East African territories of Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika. The third major theme will be the impact of wildlife conservation schemes and peasant ‘betterment’ schemes on savanna environments from Kenya and Uganda to as far south as the Kalahari.
HIS 443 Islam, Imperialism & the Military in the Making of Modern Egypt (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
By the end of the course students should be able to discuss and write about the historical inheritance, problems and prospects of modern Egypt and the Nile valley in the context of African and Middle-Eastern history.
Rationale for teaching this course
The course is aimed at History Majors but will also be useful for students in Political & Administrative Studies, and in Theology & Religious Studies. The course should enhance the understanding of contemporary current affairs and religious tensions in North Africa and the Middle-East.
Course synopsis
The first part of the course covers the Islamization and Arabization of the Nile valley and the coast as far as Cyrenaica. The second part of the course continues with the rise and decline of Ottoman Turkish imperial rule, and the competition of France and Britain for control of Egypt. The third part considers the rise of Egyptian nationalism centred in the army, and its containment by British ‘protection’ and the Sudan condominium until regained independence. The fourth part considers the career of Nasser in Egypt, and the place of Nasserism in the Arab world. The fifth part covers post-Nasserite developments, including Egypt’s role in the Palestine question, its relationship with Sudan, and the roots of contemporary problems notably Islamic fundamentalism.
Prescribed texts:
A. L.A. Marsot, A Short History of Modern Egypt. Cambridge University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-521-272234-3.
James Jankowski, Egypt: A Short History. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2000. ISBN 1-85168-240-6. Price UK#9.99
Peter Mansfield, The Arabs. Penguin Books, 1992. ISBN 0-1401-4768-3. Prive UK#10.99
HIS 444 French Colonialism & its Aftermath in North Africa(NOT OFFERED 2002-2003) Ottoman imperial rule but Morocco independent; imposition of French colonial rule, alienation of land, white settlement; rise of nationalism and socialism, anti-colonial insurgence; post-colonial developments and contemporary problems.
HIS 445 Globalisation and Third World Economies in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
The major aim of this course is to accord students the opportunity to advance their historical knowledge and understanding of African developmental issues in the context of other Third World economies. The course uses economic tools of analysis to capture economic past and current impact of globalization. Students are encouraged to critically explore long run trends in economic development in such a way that they may be intellectually better placed to appreciate the contemporary economic problems facing the continent.
Rationale for teaching this course
It is assumed that a knowledge of the economic past of Third World economies will help young scholars to actively participate in the continuing search for an internally directed social science discourse. The current crop of African economic history students are potential key opinion-makers, and as such need deep exposure to African economic problems in world perspective. They should be able to analytically assist in ensuring that critical developmental questions are properly posed.
Course synopsis
The major concern of this course is how Africa found and followed its path to the 20th century, by comparison with Latin America and South-East Asia. The course takes a topical approach to economic development, focusing on the origins of ‘African capitalism’ and industrialization in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and comparing them with developments elsewhere. There is considerable emphasis on the following themes: the political economy of agriculture and agrarian transition, mining and manufacturing, technological innovations and productivity, incorporation into the international economy and implication for internal development, and on controversies and debates in the economic history literature and continental historiography.
Prescribed texts:
Barry R J Jones Globalisation and Interdependence in the International Political Economy: Rhetoric or Reality Pinter, London ISBN: 1855670577
HIS 446 Growth, Policy and Poverty in Africa, Latin America, South & South-East Asia (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives:
Using case study approaches, the course aims to provide both an historical perspective and an opportunity for students of economic history to apply current economic perspectives and analysis to issues of economic growth, questions of economic policy, and problems of poverty alleviation. Case studies are used to address a number of problematic historical issues and events. For example: What is the relevance of past achievements in addressing contemporary economic crises?
Rationale for teaching this course
Knowledge of the economic past helps young scholars to appreciate the need for better theoretical and policy regimes and schemes of poverty alleviation in Africa, and thus facilitates their future participation in the emerging African development discourse. Students are obviously not in a position to recommend solutions to current economic problems, but trained economic historians can help to ensure that developmental questions are properly posed.
Course synopsis
The topics to be covered compare pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Africa with examples from Latin America, South Asia and South-East Asia, paying particular attention paid to the institutional settings that influenced economic growth and the rise of capitalist development. Through a critical examination of contending rationalities in the agricultural sector the course explores important areas like shifting entitlements over the last hundred years, institutional rigidities and the political economy of famines, hunger, and starvation. There is emphasis on the persistence of poverty and the economics of social exclusion.
Prescribed texts:
Frank Ellis Peasant Economics Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0521310083
Amartya Sen The Political Economy of Hunger Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198288832
HIS 471 Research Project: Fieldwork & Preliminary Report (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
To equip students with the skills of research and presentation, oral and written, which will enable to students to either proceed in further historical studies or to advance in any profession requiring highly developed skills of investigation, synthesis, reportage and reasoning.
Rationale for teaching this course
The advancement of historical research and understanding, in and of Botswana, depends upon the development of new cadres of scholarship. The supervision of such research by established scholars enhances their teaching and research, and broadens the production of specialist studies.
Course synopsis
If the HIS 304 proposal has been accepted by the History Department Board, the student is allocated a supervisor and conducts fieldwork during the winter period. The preliminary draft report is presented at a seminar during Semester I.
HIS 472 Research Project: Intermediate & Final Reports (Optional Course: 9 Credits)
If the HIS 471 fieldwork and preliminary report has been judged satisfactory by the History Department Board, the student presents an intermediary draft report to a seminar and then submits a final report at the end of Semester II.
HIS 473 Special Seminar I (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
Students should develop advanced knowledge and understanding of a topic in depth, guided by the specialist expertise of teaching staff. The seminar discusses essays written presented and critiqued by students on the basis of extensive reading of secondary literature and selected documents.
Rationale for teaching this course
Special Seminars are designed to immerse students in recent advanced scholarship, in topics that match the areas of expertise of current departmental staff. They contribute to the research training of students, and raise questions and debates for the development of historical studies in the universities of Botswana and the Southern African region.
Course synopsis
Special seminar topics shall normally be notified to students by the end of the preceding semester, and shall be subject to a maximum pre-registration enrollment of 16 students. Each topic option is based on reading and resources identified at the beginning of the course and on additional sources subsequently recommended by the expert staff member. The course begins with an historiographical introduction by the staff member. Each seminar thereafter consists of an essay presentation of an essay by a student, a critique of the essay by another student, and discussion chaired by the staff member. Topics currently approved by the History Department Board are:
? Prehistory of Southern Africa
? Comparative Nationalism in Southern Africa
? The Missionary Factor in Southern African History
? Labour Migration in Southern Africa
? Selected Themes in North American History
? East Africa under German and British overrule to 1918
? French-speaking Tropical Africa c.1870-1900
? Historiography of Race and Politics in South Africa 1910-1976
? History of Missionary, Tribal and Colonial Education in Botswana
? Impact of the Two World Wars on Botswana
? Seretse Khama and the Independence of Botswana, 1949-1980
? British South Africa Company and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1888-1913
? History of Museums and Museum Displays in Southern Africa
? History of Films and Film-Making, with Special Reference to Africa
? Historical Films with Special Reference to Africa
HIS 474 Special Seminar II (as HIS 473)
Graduate Level 6
[abbreviated course descriptions]
HIS 601 History Research Methodology
The nature of History and the techniques utilized for research and writing in the discipline--collection, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of data, and the presentation of the data in a coherent meaningful account in support of a point of view. 3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed texts
Tosh, J. The Pursuit of History, 3rd edition, Longman,Harlow Essex, England, 1999
Burke, Peter, New Perspectives on Historical Writing, Polity Press, London,1994
Jenkins, Keith, On "What is History"? From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White. Routledge, London & New York, 1995.
Fogel, R.W.& Elton, G.R. Which Road to the Past: Two Views of History. Yale, Yale University Press, 1983
HIS 602 Philosophy of History
The course deals with the theoretical and philosophical aspects of historical studies. It focuses on theory of knowledge or epistemology of history as a discipline, and the reflections of scholars on the course of human history as a whole. 3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed texts
Marwick, Arthur, The Nature of History, 3rd edition, Macmillan, Basingstone & London, 1989.
Dray, W.H. Philosophy of History, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs,1993.
Stanford, Michael, The Nature of Historical Knowledge, Blackwell, Oxford,UK & Cambridge USA,1995
Southgate, Beverley, History: What and Why? Ancient, Modern and Postmodern Perspectives. Routledge, London & New York, 1996.
HIS 603 Historiographical Issues in Precolonial Southern Africa
The course commences by considering the major “schools” of historical writing about Southern Africa, and then examines debates among historians, mainly in the 19th century, ending with colonization and African responses to it. 3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed texts
K. Smith, The Changing Past: trends in South African historical writing, Southern Book Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1 86812 1OO 3;
N. Worden, The Making of Modern South Africa, Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid, Blackwell 2000. ISBN 0-63121661-8.
HIS 604 Historiographical Issues in Modern South Africa
The focus is on continual discourse and debate among historians concerning topics mainly in the 20th century, to give students a good grasp of the main historiographical trends and enable them to be more
analytical and critical in their own research. 3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed texts
N. Worden, The Making of Modern South Africa: Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid, Blackwell, 2000. ISBN 0-63121661-8
L. Vail (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, James Currey, 1989. ISBN 0-85255-043-X
HIS 611 Introduction to Economic History of Africa
The course takes a topical approach to economic development in Africa, focusing on the origins of "African capitalism" and industrialization in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, and on controversies and debates in the economic history literature. 3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed text
Tiyambe Zeleza A Modern Economic History of Africa East African Educational Publishers Ltd. ISBN: 9966 46 025 X
HIS 612 Case Studies in the Economic History of Africa
Topics range from the economy of pre-colonial Africa, through critical examination of contending rationalities in agriculture, institutional rigidities and the political economy of famines, hunger, and starvation, persistence of poverty and economics of social exclusion.3 seminar hours per week
Prescribed texts:
A G Hopkins An Economic History of Western Africa Addison Wesley Longman Limited. ISBN: 0-582-64521-2
Ralph Austen African Economic History James Currey ISBN: 0-85255-008-1
HIS 613 Political and Economic Aspects of Imperialism
European imperialism has had a profound impact on recent world history, and yet it is surprisingly hard to explain satisfactorily. This course reviews the main political and economic explanations for the phenomenon. 3 seminar hours per week
HIS 614 Cultural and Environmental Approaches to the History of Imperialism
The course considers scholarly issues and approaches in the relationship between culture and imperialism, including "post-colonial" theory, on the topics of empire, race and gender; the Orientalism debate; and environmental and scientific imperialism. 3 seminar hours per week
HIS 615 History of Religion in Africa
An overview of the historical study of religion in Africa, including introduction to the main theoretical issues. Students completing this course should be familiar with and able to discuss the main ideas current in the historical study of African religion. 3 seminar hours per week
HIS 616 Religion and Power in Botswana
The course surveys relations between religion and power, including “traditional religion” and chieftainship, impact of missionaries and traders, "church and state", conflicts over medicine, rise of independent churches, and impact of post-colonial secularism. 3 seminar hours per week
HIS 627 Archaeology for Teachers
Designed for secondary school teachers to update and expand their knowledge of three archaeological modules: human evolution, the origins of food production, and the origins of civilization, including current theories and case studies. 3 seminar hours per week
HIS 651 Special Topic I
Topics vary from year to year, but are designed to immerse students in recent advanced scholarship in areas of expertise of current staff. The course begins with a historiographical introduction by the staff member, and proceeds as a seminar under his/her guidance. 3 seminar hours per week
Topics currently approved by the History Department Board are:
? Historiography of Conquest & Response in Africa
? Historiography of the African Diaspora
? Historiography of Labour Migration in Southern Africa
? Khoesan History in Southern Africa
? Impact of the Two World Wars on Botswana
? History of Film with Special Reference to Africa
? The British South Africa Company and the Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1888-1913
? Seretse Khama and the Independence of Botswana, 1949-1980
HIS 652 Special Topic II; HIS 653 Special Topic III; HIS 654 Special Topic IV
As HIS 651
HIS 662 Research Proposal for Dissertation
This course provides a structure in which students taking the MA by course-work and dissertation to prepare their research proposals. Students will meet regularly with assigned staff members, and will be required to make periodic reports. 2 credits/ tutorial hours per week
List of Courses
Course Title Type Credits
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Note: Odd-numbered courses are taught in 1st Semester, even-numbered courses in 2nd Semester. Courses have no Pre-requisites or Co-requisites except where marked below.
Undergraduate Level 1
ARC 101 Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the Archaeology and Prehistory of Botswana as an introduction to the study of archaeology. The students will be introduced to archaeological methods of data collection and analysis.
Rationale for teaching this course
The purpose of teaching this course will be to equip students with general but adequate techniques of recognizing and appreciating archaeological information in its synthesised form.
Course synopsis
Arc 101 presents in an introductory fashion the nature of archaeological data its analysis and the state of knowledge of the subject in Botswana through and discussion of case studies from Botswana in particular and southern and eastern Africa in general.
Prescribed texts:
P. Lane, A. Reid & A. Segobye (eds.) Ditswa Mmung: The Archaeology of Botswana. Botswana Society/ Pula Press. 99912-60-39-0/999-61-58-3
T. Tlou & A. Campbell, History of Botswana Macmillan Botswana 99912-78-08-7,
HIS 102 Introduction to the Study of History (Core Course: 2 Credits)
The course applies the skills and methods of university historians to selected aspects of the history of Botswana and neighbouring areas, raising questions of individual identity, gender, class, language and ethnicity, inheritance and heritage. 2 lecture hours per week. FOR FULLER COURSE DESCRIPTION SEE UNDER HISTORY COURSES ABOVE, p.18
Undergraduate Level 2
ARC 201 Introduction to Archaeological Theory (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 101
Aims and learning objectives
The course presents to students archaeological theories in an introductory manner. The course also discusses the history of the discipline, its aims goals and its development as a discipline.
Rationale for teaching this course
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to archaeological theories and analytical techniques general employed in the study of archaeological phenomena.
Course synopsis
The course is an introduction to archaeological theory.
Prescribed text:
C. Renfrew & P. Bahn, Archaeology: Theory, Methods and Practice. Thames & Hudson. 0-500-27867-9
ARC 202 Introduction to Archaeological Method (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 101
Aims and learning objectives
The course introduces students to archaeological methods and the handling of archaeological data, its organisation, curation and interpretation. The variety of archaeological data and the methods appropriate to each will be discoursed.
Rationale for teaching this course
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to archaeological Historical Research Methods and it is hoped that at the end of this course students will be adequately equipped to recognize archaeological methods and appreciate knowledge generated via these methods.
Course synopsis
The course is an introduction to archaeological Historical Research Methods, including reconnaissance methods, environmental reconstruction, excavation techniques, principles of stratigraphy, and analysis of finds
(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201
Additional information: 5-day field trip will be undertaken during the short-break vacation to Ngamiland and Makgadikgadi area to see archaeological sites which are a result of environmental changes on the landscape.
Aims and learning objectives:
* To examine the nature of the palaeoenvironmental record within which archaeological data is observed and interpreted.
* To examine the nature of the processes, which lead to the formation of archaeological stratigraphy and the past environments within which sites and stratigraphy form, and are now located.
* To look at the theoretical principles employed to interpret the palaeoenvironmental record in terms of past human ecology.
Rationale for teaching this course
This course provides a fuller understanding of social and economic change that took place in prehistory, therefore helps to reconstruct the dialogue between peoples and their environment. It provides theoretical background in ecology, geology and other related fields which are useful to develop competence in the archaeological research process.
Course synopsis
The physical environment acts as a source of influences that must be looked at in detail in any study dealing with the nature of culture, cultural processes or cultural change. In order to conceptualise the environmental context of the past human populations, ecology and archaeological record, various disciplines and techniques, especially those of the earth sciences will be explored and used in conjunction with archaeology.
Prescribed texts:
Reitz, J.R., Newsom, L.E., and Scudder, S.E. (1996) Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology. Plenum Press. ISBN 030645253-7
Holiday, V.T. (ed) (1992) Soils in Archaeology: Landscape Evolution and Human Occupation. Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 156098308-6
Undergraduate Level 3
ARC 301 History of Archaeology (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201, ARC 202
Aims and learning objectives
This course introduces students to the history of the discipline archaeology and highlights some of the contemporary thinking and writing of archaeologists on the subject of archaeological theory and explanation. It is hoped that at the end of the course students will be adequately equipped to point to explanations and theories whose content is respectable, valid and whose form is methodologically sound
Rationale for teaching this course
The purpose of teaching this course will be to equip students with adequate knowledge to allow them to engage archaeological knowledge and reasoning with relative ease.
Course synopsis
Introduction to development of archaeology as an academic discipline, highlighting contemporary writing on archaeological theory and explanation--to equip students to engage with archaeological knowledge and reasoning.
Prescribed texts:
B. Trigger, History of Archaeological Thought. Cambridge University Press.. 0-521-33818-2
ARC 302 Quantitative Techniques (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce students to techniques and concepts useful in the analysis and interpretation of varied archaeological collections.
Rationale for teaching this course
Archaeological samples occur in many different forms, and so does its data analysis. Furthermore, many aspects of archaeological information are numerical, e.g. measurements of lengths of scrapers, diameters of house floors or post-holes, etc., and archaeological analysis therefore has an unavoidable quantitative component.
Course synopsis
Quantitative methods are central to archaeology. To discuss the relevance of sampling theory to archaeological interpretation and explain its importance in fieldwork and post excavation analysis there is need for strong background in basic statistical techniques. This course intends to equip students with tools and concepts for working with such varied archaeological samples. It would act as an introduction to basic quantitative or statistical principles and techniques, which have to be applied in the field and laboratory practices as well as in research data analysis.
Prescribed text:
Shennan, S. (1997) Quantifying Archaeology. Edinburgh University Press. 2nd Edition ISBN 0748607919
ARC 313 Stone Tools (Lithics) (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce the student to stone tool technology and to teach them the basic principles of stone tool classification using southern African examples.
Rationale for teaching this course
students who wish to be employed as field archaeologists or museum curators need at least a basic minimum knowledge of stone tool technology and typology.
Course synopsis
For over 99% of human history, people used stone as their primary tool. Stone tools are a major component of most archaeological sites in southern Africa. This course will introduce students to the basics of stone tool technology and typology. This includes learning how to make stone tools, how to identify and describe them, and how others in the region have classified stone tools into various types.
ARC 314 Ceramic Analysis (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce the student to ceramic technology and to teach them the basic principles of pottery classification using southern African examples.
Rationale for teaching this course
students who wish to be employed as field archaeologists or museum curators need at least a basic minimum knowledge of ceramic technology and typology.
Course synopsis
Potsherds are a major component of most archaeological sites of the last two thousand years in southern Africa. In the past, ceramic vessels have been used as the basis for reconstructing Iron Age migrations into southern Africa. They are a significant source of information for reconstructing Botswana’s past. This course will introduce students to the basics of ceramic technology and typology. This includes learning how to make pots, how to identify and describe whole vessels and potsherds, and how others in the region have classified archaeological ceramics into various types.
ARC 315 Field Techniques (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Semester in which taught Mid-winter vacation period (including two weeks fieldwork)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Additional information: The location of the field school will vary from year to year depending on the instructor’s choice. In general we will aim for a location not far from Gaborone.
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce students to the field techniques used in archaeological survey, excavation and analysis. The course is primarily for single majors in archaeology who need to have some field training as part of their degree requirement. It can also be useful for students who are double majoring with Environmental Science, Geology, or other disciplines which involve fieldwork.
Rationale for teaching this course
Field technique is an important part of any archaeologist’s training. The skills obtained in this course will help the students with their Research Projects as well as making them employable in the planned Contract Archaeology Unit.
Course synopsis
This course introduces students to basic archaeological field skills. These include map reading, orienteering, basic map making, survey, excavation, sorting and cataloguing the finds. The students will spend two weeks under intensive field training conditions under the supervision of one of the Unit’s staff members.
ARC 316 Archaeological Interpretation (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201, ARC 202
Aims and learning objectives
Too present students with simulated archaeological data for interpretation. This is problem-based learning giving students practice in recognizing and interpreting the patterns in an archaeological data-base.
Rationale for teaching this course
Problem solving is a general skill useful far beyond the confines of archaeology. This course will also be particularly useful to students taking the fourth year Research and Dissertation course (H 403): it will help them to find ways to interpret their own data.
Course synopsis
Archaeology includes lots of memorization: dates, cultures, phases and periods, pottery types, stone tool reduction sequences, etc. These are not an end, but a means to an end. The ultimate objective is to interpret the past. This course teaches students how archaeologists go about interpreting the past. It does so through a series of simulated archaeological problems that the students solve. The problems closely resemble actual archaeological evidence, but the skills learnt are applicable far beyond archaeology.
ARC 318 Palaeoecology of Southern Africa (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC307
Aims and learning objectives
* To examine the spatial and temporal patterning of archaeological data over Southern Africa
* To look at the theoretical principles employed to interpret the archaeological record in terms of past human ecology with particular relevance to Southern Africa
Rationale for teaching this course
This course provides an understanding of the distribution of archaeological sites in their different settings in the region.
Course synopsis
This course intends to apply theories and practices explored in ARC 324 in the Southern African perspective. To make it specific it will draw examples from the region.
Prescribed text:
Klein, R.G. and Cruz-Uribe (1984)The Analysis of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226-43958-5
ARC 321 Introduction to Ethnoarchaeology (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201
Aims and learning objectives
This course will introduce learners to basic concepts in ethnoarchaeology. It will focus on the principles and development of the sub-discipline within the broad discipline of archaeology. At the end of the course learners should be able to: (i) demonstrate understanding of the theoretical and methodological contributions of ethnoarchaeology to archaeology; (ii) outline the development of ethnoarchaeology within the discipline; (iii) list the key contributors to ethnoarchaeology and their work; (iv) attain basic research skills in ethnoarchaeology
Rationale for teaching this course
This course is an important component of theoretical and methodological discourse in archaeology. Ethnoarchaeological research has aided archaeologists to make advances in the study of prehistoric cultures and students will benefit from the background provided by this course.
Course synopsis
The development of ethnoarchaeology in archaeology can be traced to the 1 960s. This development is situated in the period of the ‘New Archaeology’ and the rejection of classificatory historical approaches. The period was marked by increased research in traditionally ‘anthropological’ and ‘ethnological’ fields and a focus on contemporary societies and their cultures by archaeologists. This reflected a desire to explain human behaviour and culture change in addition to studies of material culture. Ethnoarchaeological research was principally carried out in places such as Africa where the wealth of data was noted by researchers such as Lewis Binford, Ian Hodder among others.
Prescribed text
L.R. Binford, In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record Thames & Hudson. 0-500-32327494-0
ARC 322 Case Studies in Ethnoarchaeology (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201, ARC321
Aims and learning objectives
This course is aimed at introducing students to research in the area of ethnoarchaeology. Research focusing on Africa will be explored particularly work in southern Africa. Broad thematic issues such as settlement studies, rock art and metallurgy will be covered. At the end of the course the students will: (i) be able to critique the work of at least two scholars; (ii) demonstrate knowledge of several themes in ethnoarchaeological studies; (iii) write a synthesis of an ethnoarchaeological research report; (iv) prepare a case study using a Botswana example.
Rationale for teaching this course
The students of archaeology need a broad based knowledge base with concise examples of field research results. This course will equip students who will work in research oriented fields to understand the importance of research by learning to critique the work of other scholars.
Course synopsis
The course will present students with a variety of case studies in ethnoarchaeological research. The students will be expected to read widely and to review the work of scholars such as Schmidt, Hodder, Phillipson, Huffman, Mbae, Kent, and Hitchcock among others. Work by local researchers such as Baloi, Mokobi, Noko and Baitseseng among others will be core readings for the course. The students will be expected to critically assess the methods and interpretations of researchers carrying out ethno-archaeological research. Too often the limitation of analogy is brought out in attempts to apply theory in ethonarchaeological field research.
Prescribed text:
C. Kramer (ed.), Ethnoarcheology: Implications of Ethnography for Archeology. Columbia University Press. 0-231-04183-7
ARC 323 Reading Material Culture in Archaeology (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC201
Co-requisite courses ARC321
Aims and learning objectives
The course is aimed at introducing students to studies of material culture using the disciplines of ethnology and anthropology. It will focus on the importance of ethnography as a research tool for data collection for cultural research. At the end of the course students will: (i) be able to define the disciplines of anthropology, ethnology and principles of ethnography; (ii) display familiarity with research in material culture studies; (iii) demonstrate ability to use ethnological and ethnographic sources m reconstructing the past.
Rationale for teaching this course
Many students who will pursue careers in cultural research sectors including museums need basic skills in ethnographic research. In particular, they need to be able to read material culture particularly the significance of institutions in society. This course will impart these skills and provide a knowledge base for the discerning reader to pursue a variety of multi-disciplinary careers. It will be invaluable for teachers of social studies, cultural studies and environmental studies.
Course synopsis
The course is designed to introduce students to ethnological and ethnographical studies form an archaeological perspective. The course will focus on how archaeologists use material culture in interpretations particularly how they reconstruct institutions in the past. The course will start by examining the use of ethnology and ethnography and other techniques of anthropological studies in recording culture. It will further explore ways in which archaeologists become anthropologists in their reading of material culture and interpretation of meaning from artifacts and features in the archaeological record.
Prescribed text
G. Pwiti & R. Soper (eds.), Aspects of African Archaeology. University of Zimbabwe Publications. 0-908307-55-1
Undergraduate Level 4
ARC 401 Archaeology of Botswana (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC101, HIS101, ARC201
Aims and learning objectives
The course is aimed at introducing students to archaeological research in Botswana. It will provide historiographical details and conclude by highlighting current research in Botswana. At the end of the course the students will: (i) know the history of archaeological research in Botswana; (ii) be able to list key figures in Archaeological research in Botswana; (iii) be able to identify contributions to archaeological research made by researchers in Botswana; (iv) be able to summarise current trends in archaeological research in Botswana
Rationale for teaching this course
People interested in pursuing careers in archaeology as a profession in Botswana need to understand the origins and development of the discipline in the country. This course is a core subject for archaeological researchers and others interested in the prehistory of Africa at large. It is particularly intended for students majoring in archaeology who will serve as teachers, heritage managers or museum professionals in Botswana and the region.
Course synopsis
The course will trace the history of archaeological research in Botswana from earliest times to the present. It will highlight major influences on directions in research, contributions to scholarship made by researchers and the impact of archaeological research on the reconstruction of Botswana’s history. The course will note the constraints on the growth of the discipline and the impact of research on museum development in Botswana.
Prescribed text
P. Lane, A. Reid & A. Segobye (eds.) Ditswa Mmung: The Archaeology of Botswana. Botswana Society/ Pula Press. 99912-60-39-0/999-61-58-3
ARC 402 Advanced Archaeological Theory(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC 201,ARC 311
Aims and learning objectives
This course is intended to build on the foundations introduced at 2nd and 3rd level courses.
It will develop critical thinking in archaeological theory focusing on trends in archaeological theory from the 1960s to the present. At the end of the course the students should be able to: (i) identify key scholars in archaeological theory; (ii) list and review the work of at least four theorists in archaeology; (iii) outline trends in archaeological theory; (iv) apply theoretical discourse to archaeological practice and interpretations.
Course synopsis
This course will develop students’ understanding of archaeological theory focusing on work from the 1960s when major theory building archaeology led to the coining of the concept ‘New Archaeology’. The course will focus on the influence of Euro-American researchers on theoretical archaeology and conclude by reviewing contributions of researchers in other parts of the world. The shift towards a world archaeology and identification of African archaeology as an important area of archaeological research will be discussed.
Prescribed text:
B. Fagan, People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory. Harper Collins College Publishers 0-673-52394-2
ARC 412 Human Origins (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce the student to the concepts of evolution and human origins.
Rationale for teaching this course
Evolution matters: it is a central concept in many disciplines besides archaeology. Human origins and evolution are now part of the secondary schools social studies syllabus. As many of our students become teachers themselves, this course can help prepare them for teaching this complex and sensitive issue.
Course synopsis
There are diverse views on the origins of humanity. This course presents the naturalist’s point of view. It covers what we know of human origins around 5 million years ago until mankind settled down to farm about 10,000 years ago. Along the way we discuss the origins of our upright posture, the tools we make, our languages, and extraordinary brains. Another course, H403 N, picks up the story where this course leaves off.
ARC 413 Farmers and State Formation (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce the student to the concept of cultural evolution and the origins of food production, sedentary life, politically and economically complex societies.
Rationale for teaching this course
Cultural evolution is an important concept. The foundations of the modern world were laid down when people settled down to a life of farming. This revolutionary change led to all the other changes that have made humans all but the masters of this planet. The origins of food production and civilization is also a topic in the secondary schools social studies syllabus. As many of our students become teachers themselves, this course can help prepare them for teaching this complex issue.
Course synopsis
For well over a million years people were hunters and gatherers. Then about 10,000 years ago they began to produce their own food by farming and herding. This led to village life, differences in wealth, the creation of rulers and followers, chiefdoms, states and empires. Food production was thus the first step towards our modern world. This course examines the question why people turned to food production after more than a million years of successful hunting and gathering. Case studies cover the Near East, Africa and Central America.
Prescribed text
S.K. McIntosh (ed.), Beyond Chiefdoms: Pathways to Complexity in Africa. Cambridge University Press. 0-521-63074-6
ARC 414 Introduction to African Archaeology (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC101, ARC311
Aims and learning objectives
This course is aimed at introducing students to issues and debates in African archaeology. It will be a seminar based course aimed principally at developing students’ research skills in reading African prehistory. At the end of the course the students will: (i) be able to discuss major issues in African prehistory such as palaeontological research on the continent; (ii) List key figures who contributed to African archaeology and cite their work; (iii) Write a long essay on a topic on the prehistory of Africa.
Rationale for teaching this course
This course introduces students to issues such as Hominid research, experimental and ethnoarchaeological research in Africa and in Heritage Management Studies. The course will equip students with skills necessary for working in archaeology and related fields. The course will also be of benefit to teachers of history who will teach a component of African prehistory.
Course synopsis
The origins of Archaeology in Africa. Theoretical and methodological developments in African Archaeology. Palaeontological research 19th century to the 1960s. Paleontological research 1960s to current. Ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology: case examples. The development of Heritage Management in Africa. Archaeology and the public. Case studies: Rock art research, settlement archaeology, ceramic archaeology and historical archaeology.
Prescribed text
M. Hall (ed.), Archaeology Africa. David Philip/ James Currey. 86486-302-0/0-85255-735-3
ARC 416 Experimental Archaeology (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC202
Aims and learning objectives
To introduce students to the use of experimentation in interpreting archaeological evidence. The objective is to familiarize students with a range of case studies to demonstrate how good experiments are set up.
Rationale for teaching this course
The ability to assess and even conduct scientific experiments is valuable far beyond archaeology. For humanities students, this course can provide a valuable introduction to the scientific investigation.
Course synopsis
Archaeologists determine how objects were used in the past through experimentation. This course presents a variety of case studies in experimental archaeology. Students will critically review the case studies and will design their own experiments to understand some aspect of the archaeological record.
ARC 417 Introduction to Heritage Management(Core Course: 3 Credits)
Aims and learning objectives
This course examines the philosophy, policies and the practice of Cultural resource management. The course is designed in a way that should enable students to be on a position to make informed choices as to the techniques appropriate to management of cultural and natural resources. It is expected that at the end of the course students will have a concise comprehension of the theoretical aspects of CRM.
Rationale for teaching this course
The purpose of teaching this course will be enable students to have a concise comprehension of the evolution of the course and a clear understanding of the theoretical aspects of CRM.
Course synopsis
The course is a survey of cultural and natural resources management theory and it also a discourse on management strategies and techniques appropriate heritage and natural resources management.
ARC 418 Case studies in Cultural Resource Management (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC301
Aims and learning objectives
At the end of the course students should be able to recognise different values, interests and concerns involved in managing cultural heritage sites.
Rationale
The course is designed in such a way as to present to students various types of management entitlements beyond the ones legally recognised, for example private property and government mandate, seeks equity in cultural resource management and allows the civil society to assume ever more important roles and responsibilities in the management of their cultural heritage.
Course synopsis
The course begins with an introduction to participatory management of cultural heritage and examines the various roles played by different departments/institutions involved in the management of cultural heritage in Botswana and international organisations such UNESCO, ICAHM, and ICOMOS, etc.
ARC 421 Geoarchaeology (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC301
Aims and learning objectives
To assess landscapes within which archaeological data is observed and interpreted. To look at the theoretical objectives, methods, and interpretive approaches, which are derived from other interdisciplinary areas of Geography, Geomorphology, Palaeoecology, Soil and Geology, classified as Earth Sciences.
Rationale for teaching this course
This course drives a research interest in exploration of the past, and particularly the human past, with contextual approaches setting these notions of the human past(s) into contexts of landscape, resources, human origins and cultural pathways over time.
Course synopsis
The course will focus mainly on--Methods relating the spatial and temporal distributions of archaeological sites to landscape topography, geomorphology and subsurface stratigraphy. Practicals on terrain units evaluation though the integration of sites and monuments records to subsurface mapping of unconsolidated deposits. Site contexts formation theory and geomorphological and sedimentological processes responsible for site formation, assemblage modification, burial and subsequent diagenesis and pedogenesis. For interpretation purposes, practical classes on identification and description of site formation deposits will be conducted both in the field and laboratory. Issues and themes that are woven throughout the course include: (i) the recognition of the instability of landscapes over time; (ii) the problem of the human interaction with the environment; (iii) the relationship between sites and settings;(iv) the relationship between process and form and (v) interpretation of archaeological remains found in such environments.
Prescribed text
Rapp G., and Hill C.L (1998) Geoarchaeology: The Earth-Science Approach to Archaeological Interpretation. Yale University Press. 030-007076-4
ARC 422 Faunal and Floral Analysis (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Pre-requisite courses ARC301
Aims and learning objectives
To establish the relationship between humans and their natural and social environments. To reconstruct past environments, vegetations and animal populations and their contributions and/or response to environmental change as evident from the archaeological record.
Rationale for teaching this course
To integrate data from botanical and faunal remains to understand the use of resources by past human communities and the reasons underlying the diverse adaptations found in different environments. This course would be important in providing basic knowledge on the two disciplines and could develop and enhance interest in research at postgraduate level and beyond.
Course synopsis
The faunal and floral analysis can provide useful information prehistoric lifestyles, palaeoenvironments and past animal and plant management strategies. This course will explore the processes leading to the formation of fossil records and their importance in archaeological interpretation. It will examine the methodologies and techniques of extracting, analyzing and interpreting plant and animal micro and macrofossil material from the archaeological stratigraphies. The problems of quantification and inference will also be looked at.
Prescribed texts
Behrensmeyer, A et al (1994) Terrestrial Ecosystems through Time: Evolutionary Palaeoecology of Terrestrial Plants and Animals. University of Chigago Press. 0226-041557
Reitz, E.J. and Wing, E.S. (1999) Zooarchaeology. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology.. Cambridge University Press ISBN 052-148529-0
List of courses
Course Title Type Credits
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS [abbreviated]
Note: Odd-numbered courses are taught in 1st Semester, even-numbered courses in 2nd Semester.
Graduate Level 6
MUS 601 Museology (Core Course: 3 Credits)
This introductory course provides students with an understanding of the history of museums and their purpose, with special emphasis on the African situation. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Burcaw, G 1997 Introduction to Museum Work. (3rd edit) Altamira, London
MUS 602 Museum Education (Core Course: 3 Credits)
This course will promote skills in running a museum education division and designing museum education programmes for schools, life-long learning, disadvantaged communities and other sectors of society. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Hooper-Greenhill, E 1991 Museum and Gallery Education. Leicester University Press
MUS 603 Museum management (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Good management is the basis of a successful museum. The course will expose students to current trends in the museum profession, including planning, funding, staffing and marketing as well as ethical issues. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Moore, K 1994 Museum Management. Routledge, London
MUS 604 Museum Exhibition (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Museums communicate primarily through exhibitions and this course looks at the critical role of a museum designer, display theory, the exhibition process and evaluation. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Belcher, M 1991 Exhibition in Museums. Routledge, London
MUS 605 Collection management (Core Course: 3 Credits)
This course is designed to give practical training in museum collection care and documentation, a key part of museum work, and address issues such as disaster management, disposal and loans. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Ambrose, T & Paine, C 1993 Museum Basics. ICOM, Paris
MUS 606 Material conservation (Core Course: 3 Credits)
Museum collections should be forever and so need proper care. This course looks at caring for material (preventive conservation) and introduces remedial conservation. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text
Knell, S 1994 Care of Collections. Routledge, London
MUS 612 Material Culture and Research (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
Material culture is very much the extrasomatic extension of our physical and intellectual well-being. This course aims to explore the nature and meaning of both objects and collections. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text:
Pearce, S 1989 Museum studies in material culture. Leicester University Press
MUS 614 African Art (Optional Course: 3 Credits)
This course is intended to give an understanding of the theoretical aspects of visual art and design, as well as the commercial aspect of art, including authenticity and the issue of value. It covers rock art as well as portable art and crafts. 3 lecture hours per week.
Prescribed text:
Duncan, C 1995 Civilising Rituals: Insid