HST 304 - Africa and World War II

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirements HU and DE.
Africa and Africans greatly shaped and were shaped by World War II, and yet narratives of the worldwide conflict largely erase Africa. Historians of Africa have recently begun to address this issue anew, showing the importance of understanding the role of the approximately one million sub-Saharan African soldiers in the war as well as the vital role that Africans played in supplying materials and production for the Allied war effort. Africans performed this work as colonial subjects to European powers and their participation also raised vital questions about the ideals of self-determination and the defeat of tyranny for which the Allied effort fought. Moreover, the experience of the war brought great change in African societies, catalyzing new arrangements of economies, gender relations, political aspirations, and anti-colonial activism. This course examines these themes by drawing on new scholarship by historians, as well as primary sources and films. We will explore the question of how a focus on Africa can enhance historical understanding of World War II and, in turn, how a focus on World War II can enhance our historical understanding of Africa.