Postgraduate Course: African Borderlands (PGSP11344)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | ***Please note this course is under review and there may be changes.***
This course is grounded in the so-called spatial turn in African studies and more specifically in the revitalisation of African borderland studies as a sub-field. It will critically revisit the notion that African boundaries were colonial in origin and hence purely arbitrary and artificial in nature - a suit of clothes made by many tailors arguing with each other, which may not fit well, but which has to be worn for lack of a viable alternative in the post-colonial era. The course addresses what goes on in, and passes through, borderlands, and the wider social effects in terms of the constitution of power relations, subjectivity, territoriality (in the absence very often of natural borders), everyday forms of governance and postcolonial statehood in Africa. The extent to which the geographical margins have shaped African states and wider social processes is a central concern as is the daily life, culture and vitality of borderlands.
This course offers a critical engagement with current research on various aspects of borderlands in Africa and puts this in the context of wider debates about governance, politics (from below and above) and the postcolonial state in Africa. Specifically, the course will examine a series of thematic issues including colonial boundary-making, cross-border trade, migration, border cultures and secessionism - within their historical and socio-political context. The topics are approached through a variety of materials: including borderlands theory, the latest academic research on African borderlands, policy documents, popular accounts and films/documentary sources. In each session, detailed case-studies will be presented and discussed in order to provide greater contextualization and to deliver the empirical depth needed to sustain larger comparative statements. The course is cross-disciplinary and will draw especially on literature from the fields of anthropology, political science, history and geography.
The course builds on our School's long-term expertise in the field of borderland studies, including the role of our staff as founding members of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) in 2007. |
| Course description |
The course runs for 10 weeks (2 hours per week). A weekly lecture (1 hour, delivered by the course organizer and guest lecturers showcasing fresh research and diverse disciplinary approaches) is followed by a seminar (1 hour).
The weekly sessions will cover the following themes:
- key theories and concepts,
- colonial legacies and comparative histories,
- cartography and other technologies of representation,
- border infrastructure and architecture,
- border urbanism,
- border security,
- mobilities and migration,
- border economies, cross-border trade, and smuggling,
- border cultures
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 10 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Students are assessed by an essay of 4,000 words length. All essays are based on comparative work linking larger bodies of literature with case-study material. Students can either decide to suggest an essay topic within the overall course theme or be given one by the course convenors, who will be available for individual consultation. By the session in week 5 (date tbc) students must submit (by e-mail to the convenors) an essay plan containing a title, a research question, a short outline (max. 300 words), a draft structure in chapters and a preliminary literature list with at least 5 references to academic publications relevant for the essay topic. All students will receive individual written feedback on their essay plan from the course convenors by week 7.
The final essay must be submitted as a hard copy AND electronically. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
The learning outcomes comply with the descriptions for level 11 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). More specifically, these include:
- A comprehensive overview and critical understanding of theories and concepts used in the current debate on boundaries in Africa.
- A topically and geographically diverse range of detailed case studies organised around clearly defined sub-topics will give students a critical awareness of current issues in this field, but with enough specific facts to appreciate the wide diversity within it.
- The course will offer students not merely a rigorous entree into academic debates, but will also address issues of specific reference to policy debates and implementation.
- The compulsory preparation of group presentations will require students to self-organize in small teams to address a specific scientific and empirical question and finally communicate their results to their peers and the course convenors in a coherent manner and within limited time, making use of (audio-)visual technology.
- The compulsory essay will require students to practice their skills in scientific writing and literature-based research, to plan and execute what will amount to a significant project of research, and thereby to demonstrate creativity in the application of the knowledge they have gathered from the course.
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Reading List
The course selection of readings draws on a mixture of classic contributions and cutting-edge research from disciplines ranging from anthropology and geography to history, political science, science and technology studies, and development studies.
A good place to start to gain familiarity with a broad range of influential borders and borderlands scholarship is
- Wilson, T. M., and H. Donnan (2012) A Companion to Border Studies. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Select titles by authors whose work will be showcased in the course are the following
- Anzaldua, G. (2021 [1987]) Borderlands-La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute.
- Asiwaju, A. (1976) Western Yorubaland under European Rule, 1889-1945: A Comparative Analysis of French and British Colonialism. London: Longman.
- Billé, F., and C. Humphrey (2021) On the Edge: Life Along the Russia-China Border. Cambridge: Harvard UP.¿
- Jusionyte, I. (2016) Savage Frontier: Making News and Security on the Argentine Border. Oakland: University of California Press.
- Nugent, P. (2019) Boundaries, Communities, and State-Making in West Africa: The Centrality of the Margins. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
- Thompson, D. (2025) Smugglers, Speculators, and the City in the Ethiopia-Somalia Borderlands. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jose Munoz Martin
Tel: (0131 6)51 5678
Email: J.Munoz@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Celia Atherton
Tel:
Email: cathert2@ed.ac.uk |
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