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Africa and Africans
in the Atlantic World
Dr. Nemata Blyden
George Washington University
Spring 2004
Course Outline and format
This course will look at the role of Africa and Africans in the Atlantic
world, exploring themes linking peoples of Africa to Europe and the Americas.
Topics to be explored include Africa before European contact, the transatlantic
slave trade; comparative slavery; Western representations and images of
Africa, African cultures and African survivals and the creation of new
identities in Europe and the Americas; New World blacks and Africa. The
course will be weighted in favor of West Africa and the period during the
slave trade, though other areas and time periods will be explored. Emphasis
will be placed on ways in which Africa has interacted with the outside
world (particularly Europe and the Americas), and the cultural and political
influences Africans had and continue to have on the Atlantic world.
Course Requirements and Expectations
Each student will be required to do all readings for the course and will
be expected to participate in class discussions. Attendance (which is mandatory)
(10%), quizzes (30%), midterm paper/exam (30%), and final paper/exam (30%)
will make up the course grade. There will be no make-ups without a valid
excuse (death or documented illness). Late assignments will not be accepted
without a valid reason.
Class participation requires students to attend each class, do all the readings
and have something to say about them in the discussion sessions. Students
are expected to read critically, comparing and contrasting the perspectives
of the various authors/readings. On time attendance is key, as is regard
for fellow students. To that extent, students are expected to be in class
no later than 15 minutes after the beginning of class. Cell phones and beepers
should be turned off. Talking, unless it is a contribution to the class,
is inconsiderate and unfair to fellow students. Please do not engage in private
conversations during class time.
Course Readings
Davidson, Basil West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850
Curtin, Philip The Tropical Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade
Olaudah Equiano The Life of Olaudah Equiano
Joseph Inikori and Stanley Engerman (eds.) The Atlantic Slave Trade
Northrup, David Africa’s Discovery of Europe
Reynolds, Edward Stand the Storm: A history of the Atlantic slave trade
Thornton, John Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800
COURSE SYLLABUS
September 3: Introductions and introduction to course
African history and historiography
September 8: The Atlantic world: approaches to study discussion
John Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World,
1400-1800,
Introduction and
Ch. 1
September 10: The African Background
Basil Davidson,West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850, Ch.
1 & 2
September 15
Davidson, Chapter 3, 4 & 5
September 17:
Davidson, pp. 71-77, 79-81, 84-90, Ch. 7 & 8
Film: Africa, Part 3: "Caravans of Gold"
September 22: QUIZ 1(map quiz- countries of Africa)
Davidson, Ch. 9, 10 & 11
September 24:
Edward Reynolds, Stand the Storm: A history of the Atlantic slave trade,
Ch. 1
September 29: Slavery in Africa
Thornton, Ch. 3
October 1: The coming of Europe discussion
Thornton, Ch. 2
October 6: First encounters
David Northrup,Africa’s Discovery of Europe Ch. 1 & 2
October 8: Trading partners
Northrup, Ch. 3 & 4
October 13: The Atlantic Slave Trade discussion Give out midterm topics
Reynolds, Ch. 2
Thornton, Ch. 4
October 15:
Chapter 1 in Inikori and Engerman (eds.) The Atlantic Slave Trade
Martin Klein, “The impact of the Atlantic slave trade on societies
of the Western Sudan” ”( Ch. 2) in Inikori and Engerman (eds.)
The Atlantic Slave Trade
October 20 Middle Passage QUIZ 2
Reynolds, Ch. 3
Northrup, pp. 107-122
Thornton, pp. 153-162
October 22 discussion
Kenneth Kiple and Brian Higgins, “Mortality caused by dehydration during
the Middle Passage”( Ch. 12) in Inikori and Engerman (eds.) The Atlantic
Slave Trade
October 27 MID-TERM EXAM/PAPER DUE
Johannes Postma, “The dispersal of African slaves in the West by Dutch
slave traders, 1630-1803” ”( Ch. 10) in Inikori and Engerman
(eds.) The Atlantic Slave Trade
October 29:Economics of the slave trade
Reynolds, Ch. 4
November 3: QUIZ 3
Philip Curtin, The Tropical Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade (entire
book)
November 5: discussion
Joseph Miller, “The numbers, origins, and destinations of slaves in
the Eighteenth-century Angolan slave trade”( Ch. 4) in Inikori and
Engerman (eds.) The Atlantic Slave Trade
November 10: Africans in the Atlantic world
Olaudah Equiano The Life of Olaudah Equiano
Film: Olaudah Equiano
November 12: discussion QUIZ 4
Olaudah Equiano The Life of Olaudah Equiano
Northrup, Ch. 6
November 17 Trans-Atlantic connections
Thornton, Ch. 5
November 19
Thornton, pp. 152-153, 162-182 & Ch. 7
November 24: Creating New identities QUIZ 5
Northrup, 122- 140
Thornton, Ch. 8 & pp. 317-334
November 26
Thornton, Ch. 9
November 27-28: Thanksgiving Break
December 1 Impact and Legacy
Give out final topics
Reynolds, Ch. 5 & 6
December 3 QUIZ 6
Seymour Drescher “The ending of the slave trade and the evolution of
European Scientific Racism”(Ch.14)
in Inikori and Engerman (eds.) The Atlantic Slave Trade
December 8
Davidson, Ch. 16
Reynolds, Ch. 7
December 9 Makeup day (if necessary)
December 14: FINAL PAPER/EXAM DUE
© 2001 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Created November 2002.