Module HIST57530: A Social History of Alcohol in Africa, 1850-1990

Department: History

HIST57530: A Social History of Alcohol in Africa, 1850-1990

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To enable students to study at an advanced level, the history of social and economic change in Africa, through the subject of alcohol which will enable students to acquire specific learning outcomes of the programmes as whole including:
• a specialist knowledge of imperial history
• bibliographic skills
• an understanding of historical debates
• advanced skills in writing history
• general skills of the historian

Content

• This module will cover selected aspects of the history of alcohol in Africa reflecting current debate on the subject, and the particular interests of the student. Topics may include the following: alcohol as a discursive resource which people use to talk about authority and proper behaviour and as an economic resource for those involved and for states which tax it; background literature on alcohol and society; and the making and drinking of alcohol in African societies in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and the changes in the use of alcohol in the context of social, political and economic transformation, and how and why ordinary people have been involved in making such changes.

Learning Outcomes

• Students should build up critical understanding of this aspect of African history and should become aware of other boundaries of current knowledge relating to the subject.
• Students should acquire detailed knowledge and critical understanding of one topic chosen in conjunction with the supervisor.

• Students should be able to undertake a programme of intensive reading directed at a number of topics.
• Students should be able to participate in regular discussion of issues arising from the reading with their supervisor.
• Students should then be able to produce an extensive piece of writing on this agreed subject.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Discussion of work in progress. Written or oral comments on any other agreed written assignment, such as a book review or exploratory essay. In addition, supervisors will normally read and provide written comments on not more than one draft of work being prepared for summative assessment.