ID:
509574
Duration (hours):
40
CFU:
6
SSD:
STORIA E ISTITUZIONI DELL'AFRICA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Primo Semestre (29/09/2025 - 12/12/2025)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course includes a discussion of topics relating to the processes of globalization in the modern age, with particular attention to the levels of politics, culture and social relations.
Course Prerequisites
The course and exam assume a general knowledge of modern history. Students lacking this knowledge should carefully read the following textbook:
Francesco Benigno, L’età moderna: dalla scoperta dell’America alla Restaurazione., Editori Laterza, Bari 2005:
Francesco Benigno, L’età moderna: dalla scoperta dell’America alla Restaurazione., Editori Laterza, Bari 2005:
Teaching Methods
Lectures with exercises on sources in class. The course includes two seminar sessions
Assessment Methods
oral examination
Texts
Readings for all
Ames, Glenn J., L’età delle scoperte geografiche, 1500-1700, Bologna, il Mulino, 2020.
Curtin, Philip D., The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex, Second edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998 [1990].
Monographic - a free choice between paths A, B, C, D, E, F*
A. Mediterranean
Galloway, J.H., ‘The Mediterranean Sugar Industry’, Geographical Review, 67, 2, 1977, 177-194.
Phillips Jr., William D., ‘Sugar in Iberia’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 27-41.
B. Atlantic - Islands
Vieira, Alberto, ‘Sugar Islands: The Sugar Economy of Madeira and the Canaries, 1450-1650’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 42-84.
Caldeira, Arlindo Manuel, ‘Learning the Ropes in the Tropics: Slavery and the Plantation System on the Island of São Tomé’, African Economic History, 39, 2011, 35-71.
C. Atlantic - Brazil
Schwartz, Stuart B., ‘A Commonwealth within Itself: The Early Brazilian Sugar Industry, 1550-1670’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 158-200.
Anderson, Robert Nelson, ‘The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of A Maroon State in Seventeenth-Century Brazil’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 28, 3, 1996, 345-566.
D. British Caribbean
McCusker, John J., Russel R. Menard, ‘The Sugar Industry in the Seventeenth Century: A New Perspective on the Barbadian “Sugar Revolution”’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 289-330.
Thompson, Peter, ‘Henry Drax’s Instructions on the Management of a Seventeenth-Century Barbadian Sugar Plantation’, The William and Mary Quarterly, 66, 3, 2009, 565-604.
E. French Caribbean
Eddins, Crystal Nicole, ‘Runaways, Repertoires, and Repression: Maronnage and the Haitian Revolution, 1766-1791’, The Journal of Haitian Studies, 25, 1, 2019, 4-38 or Girard, Philippe, ‘Le Marronage et la révolte de 1791’, Journal of Haitian Studies, 28, 2, 2022, 98-121.
Girard, Philippe R., ‘Toussaint before Louverture: New Archival Findings on the Early Life of Toussaint Louverture’, The William and Mary Quarterly, 70. 1, 2013, 41-78.
F. Western Africa
Lovejoy, Paul E., ‘Plantations in the Economy of the Sokoto Caliphate’, The Journal of African History, 19, 3, 1978, 341-368;
Salau, Mohammed Bashir, ‘Ribats and the Development of Plantations in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Case Study of Fanisau’, African Economic History, 34, 2006, 23-43.
* Choose a text from those indicated (two out of two courses for non-attending students) and communicate your choice in a short interview in person or online
Ames, Glenn J., L’età delle scoperte geografiche, 1500-1700, Bologna, il Mulino, 2020.
Curtin, Philip D., The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex, Second edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998 [1990].
Monographic - a free choice between paths A, B, C, D, E, F*
A. Mediterranean
Galloway, J.H., ‘The Mediterranean Sugar Industry’, Geographical Review, 67, 2, 1977, 177-194.
Phillips Jr., William D., ‘Sugar in Iberia’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 27-41.
B. Atlantic - Islands
Vieira, Alberto, ‘Sugar Islands: The Sugar Economy of Madeira and the Canaries, 1450-1650’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 42-84.
Caldeira, Arlindo Manuel, ‘Learning the Ropes in the Tropics: Slavery and the Plantation System on the Island of São Tomé’, African Economic History, 39, 2011, 35-71.
C. Atlantic - Brazil
Schwartz, Stuart B., ‘A Commonwealth within Itself: The Early Brazilian Sugar Industry, 1550-1670’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 158-200.
Anderson, Robert Nelson, ‘The Quilombo of Palmares: A New Overview of A Maroon State in Seventeenth-Century Brazil’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 28, 3, 1996, 345-566.
D. British Caribbean
McCusker, John J., Russel R. Menard, ‘The Sugar Industry in the Seventeenth Century: A New Perspective on the Barbadian “Sugar Revolution”’, in Schwartz, Stuart B., ed., Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680, Chapel Hill and London, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004, 289-330.
Thompson, Peter, ‘Henry Drax’s Instructions on the Management of a Seventeenth-Century Barbadian Sugar Plantation’, The William and Mary Quarterly, 66, 3, 2009, 565-604.
E. French Caribbean
Eddins, Crystal Nicole, ‘Runaways, Repertoires, and Repression: Maronnage and the Haitian Revolution, 1766-1791’, The Journal of Haitian Studies, 25, 1, 2019, 4-38 or Girard, Philippe, ‘Le Marronage et la révolte de 1791’, Journal of Haitian Studies, 28, 2, 2022, 98-121.
Girard, Philippe R., ‘Toussaint before Louverture: New Archival Findings on the Early Life of Toussaint Louverture’, The William and Mary Quarterly, 70. 1, 2013, 41-78.
F. Western Africa
Lovejoy, Paul E., ‘Plantations in the Economy of the Sokoto Caliphate’, The Journal of African History, 19, 3, 1978, 341-368;
Salau, Mohammed Bashir, ‘Ribats and the Development of Plantations in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Case Study of Fanisau’, African Economic History, 34, 2006, 23-43.
* Choose a text from those indicated (two out of two courses for non-attending students) and communicate your choice in a short interview in person or online
Contents
The course will examine the networks of commercial, political, religious, and cultural relationships that were established or strengthened starting in the 15th century, outlining a geography of the process of globalization and its actors and protagonists in various regions of the globe, critically reconsidering traditional historiographical interpretations regarding the role of the European side. The course is divided into a first 20-hour general section and a 20-hour specialization that will focus on the plantation complex, one of the cornerstones of the development of a global system in the modern age. The specialization will focus primarily on the Atlantic setting, paying specific attention to the places on both sides where the slave plantation was developed and perfected, up to its peak and collapse in the late 18th century.
Lesson Plan
General Component: The Global System
1. Introduction. The Global System Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
2. World Geography and Antipodes at the Dawn of the Modern Age
3. Driven by the Monsoon: Malagasy, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Swahili
4. The Great Maritime Expeditions of the Celestial Empire
5. Christians and Spices in the Indian Ocean
6. The Conquest of America and the Partition of the World
7. The Empires of the Atlantic – and the Pacific
8. From the Estado da India to the VOC
9. The Global System and the Slave Trade
10. The Age of Revolutions
Monographic Component. The Plantation
11. Sugar and Other Plants
12. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
13. São Tomé or the Plantation in the Tropics
14. Brazil of the Mill Lords
15. The Dutch Era and the Atlantic Trade
16. The 'Sugar Revolution' and Why It's Called a Plantation
17. The Rebels: Palenques, Marrons, and Quilombos
18. Research Project: Class Exercise
19. Research Project: Class Discussion
20. The Slave Revolution
* The choice of monographic exam path must be communicated through an in-person or online interview by the last lesson of the course.
Lesson Plan
General Component: The Global System
1. Introduction. The Global System Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
2. World Geography and Antipodes at the Dawn of the Modern Age
3. Driven by the Monsoon: Malagasy, Arabs, Persians, Indians, Swahili
4. The Great Maritime Expeditions of the Celestial Empire
5. Christians and Spices in the Indian Ocean
6. The Conquest of America and the Partition of the World
7. The Empires of the Atlantic – and the Pacific
8. From the Estado da India to the VOC
9. The Global System and the Slave Trade
10. The Age of Revolutions
Monographic Component. The Plantation
11. Sugar and Other Plants
12. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
13. São Tomé or the Plantation in the Tropics
14. Brazil of the Mill Lords
15. The Dutch Era and the Atlantic Trade
16. The 'Sugar Revolution' and Why It's Called a Plantation
17. The Rebels: Palenques, Marrons, and Quilombos
18. Research Project: Class Exercise
19. Research Project: Class Discussion
20. The Slave Revolution
* The choice of monographic exam path must be communicated through an in-person or online interview by the last lesson of the course.
Course Language
Italian
Degrees
Degrees
AFRICAN AND ASIAN STUDIES
Master’s Degree
2 years
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