History and Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa

Through the analysis of Africanist and African literature, the course aims to provide students with the keys to interpreting the role of socio-economic, political, and cultural pressures, between the challenges of sustainability and the heavy legacies of colonialism also by evaluating the controversial knot of the link of traditional communities with the natural heritage and the land, and the citizens' expectations in term of social and economic justice, in the frequent imbalances between the reasons underlying the economic sustainability of States and the protection of their communities, with their values, and the environment, in regions rich in resources coveted by the rest of the world.

At the end of the course, in engaging in specific case studies, which the students themselves will choose and share with the class, it is hoped that they will be able to articulate informed and coherent topics about the aforementioned drivers, between tensions, conflicts, and creative solutions, adopted by the protagonists of contemporary African history and regional institutions, too often neglected by mainstream literature and the media, proving to be able to mediate, in good balance, between a critical approach to Africanist literature, the media, and their own opinion.