Professor Chris Saunders, Emeritus Professor, Department of Historical Studies University of Cape Town
The course will range from c.1960 to the present and will focus on the Southern African region, with particular attention to South Africa, the most important country in the region, and neighbouring Namibia. Students will learn how the region moved from the era of colonialism and apartheid to that of independence and majority rule, and we will explore what that transition has meant. Though the orientation of the course will be primarily political, there will be scope for essays to be written on economic aspects of the region in this period.
The course will include some discussion of: the various forms of colonialism and apartheid in the region; the different liberation struggles; the outcomes of those struggles in the countries of the region; the transition from apartheid to democracy in Namibia and South Africa; South Africa and its relations with its neighbours after the transfer of power in 1994; the development of the Southern African Development Community and the challenges that have faced it and the region in recent decades; and the present political situation in South Africa and the region.
Full course outline|
Professor Chris Saunders is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town.
He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town, and his doctorate at the University of Oxford then taught in at UCT for many years.
He is particularly interested in the recent political history of South Africa and its neighbours and has written widely on the history and historiography of southern Africa, including authoring The Making of the South African Past (1988) and South Africa: A Modern History (2000), and co-editing the recent Southern African Liberation Struggles (2012)
He is an Associate of the Africa International Affairs Programme at LSE.