Give brief accounts of Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter

Give brief accounts of Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter.

Give brief accounts of Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter. What insights did you gain from it concerning developments in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s? Please pay particular attention to the following themes: corruption, religion, and social class, the position of women, politics, and education. Be sure to illustrate your points with specific examples from the novel.

Give brief accounts of Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter

1. Give brief accounts of Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter. What insights did you gain from it concerning developments in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s? Please pay particular attention to the following themes: corruption, religion, and social class, the position of women, politics, and education. Be sure to illustrate your points with specific examples from the novel.

2. What do you understand to have been the main features of apartheid as it was developed in South Africa? Discuss some of the main laws which were its legal foundation. Why did it eventually fail? What are the key events and dates in the history of resistance to apartheid?

3. Discuss the main developments in Africa since independence (1960). What impact had international politics (the Cold War) on the continent? How do you explain Africa’s blocked development, conflicts, and authoritarianism in the era of independence?

Part II: Comprehensive Essay (40 points)

Choose only ONE [1] of the following two [2] questions and write a comprehensive essay that synthesizes ideas and information gleaned from lectures, discussion, and your reading for this entire course. You must provide ample evidence and examples to support your argument. Your essay must be at least 500 words. But there is no page limitation and if you get excited about the topics, you can write as many pages as you want. Direct quotation from the assigned readings or the lectures is absolutely forbidden.

1. In his concluding lecture to History of Modern Africa II, Professor Bigview ended the course with the following conclusion: “The history of Africa for the past 150 years has been one of spectacular progress and improvement. The greatest hopes of European Christian missionaries and colonizers to civilize Africa have been fully realized.”

Discuss the extent to which the major political, social, cultural and economic developments in Africa over the past 150 years support or challenge Bigview’s statement.

2. How did the coming of colonialism change the course of Africa’s history? What were the main political, economic, and cultural effects of colonialism on the peoples and kingdoms of Africa? How did colonialism continue to affect Africa after the gaining of independence?