Program Overview

Department of Historical Studies

The Department of Historical Studies offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Staff

The department is comprised of the following academic staff:

• Professor Adam Mendelsohn
• Associate Professor Sean Field
• Associate Professor Shamil Jeppie
• Associate Professor Bodhisattva Kar
• Associate Professor Mandisa Mbali
• Associate Professor Lance van Sittert
• Dr Athambile Masola
• Dr Camalita Naicker
• Dr Natasha Shivji
• Dr Anandaroop Sen
• Dr Lebogang Mokwena
  • Adjunct Lecturers
    • Dr Ashley Eva Millar
    • Dr Nompilo Ndlovu
• Administrative staff
• Emeritus staff
  • Emeritus Associate Professor Mohamed Adhikari
  • Emeritus Professor Vivian Bickford-Smith
  • Emeritus Professor Anne Mager
  • Emeritus Associate Professor Richard Mendelsohn
  • Emeritus Professor Howard Phillips
  • Professor Nigel Penn
  • Emeritus Professor Christopher Saunders
  • Emeritus Professor Milton Shain
  • Emeritus Professor Nigel Worden

Our Degrees

The department offers various degree programs for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Undergraduate Studies

Undergraduate studies in the Department of Historical Studies include:

• All Undergraduate Courses
• Gender and History
• Genocide: African Experiences
• Africa: Colonial & Post-Colonial
• Africa in Question: Ancient & Pre-colonial Africa between the Past & Present
• Memory, Identity and History
• Debates in Modern African Intellectual History
• Subjects to Citizens?: South Africa since 1900
• Conflict and Conquest: South Africa to 1900
• The Holocaust
• Empires and Modernities
• Connections and Interruptions
• Historical Methods
• African Economic History
• Africa since 1800: From Colonial Rule to Independence

Postgraduate Studies

Postgraduate studies in the Department of Historical Studies include:

• Honours
  • HST4001H Research Essay/Project
  • HST4021H Advanced Historical Methods and Approaches
  • HST4034F Oral History: Method, Practice and Theory
  • HST4040F A History of Violence: Perspectives from the Global South
  • HST4041F Histories of Land and Labour Struggles in South Africa
  • HST4042F Theory and Method in Histories of Medicine, Health and Healing
  • HST4043S Writing and History
  • HST4056S Themes in Everyday History
  • HST4058F/S Themes in Contemporary South African Rural History
  • HST4063F/S Debates in the History of the Indian Ocean World
  • HST4064F Materiality and Power
• Coursework Master's
  • HST5014S Traumatic Traces: History, Memory and Beyond
  • HST5034F Oral History: Method, Practice and Theory
  • HST5040F A History of Violence: Perspectives from the Global South
  • HST5041F Histories of Land and Labour Struggles in South Africa
  • HST5042F Theory and Method in Histories of Medicine, Health and Healing
  • HST5043S Writing and History
  • HST5044S Migrants, Diasporas and Minorities in the Modern World
  • HST5056S Themes in Everyday History
  • HST5060F History in Public Life
  • HST5061H Advanced Historical Methods and Approaches
  • HST5046F Materiality and Power
  • HST5063S Debates in the History of the Indian Ocean World
• Research Masters
• PhD

African Economic History

HST3045S

• Convener: Associate Professor L van Sittert
• Course entry requirements: At least two courses in historical, social science or cultural studies offered by the Faculty of Humanities, or by permission of the Head of Department.

The course explores debates and approaches to the study of economic history in Africa, placing South Africa's economic history within the context of the continent as a whole. It introduces new perspectives on African economic and social history developed in the global south. It examines the economic legacies of colonialism (including the differences between settler and non-settler colonies), and the place of institutions in the growth and development of the continent. Using comparisons between different regions and countries, this course investigates why countries which are resource rich have not been able to use these resources to improve living standards and encourage broad-based economic development. It also examines the roles international business and labour have played in the economic history of individual countries. Finally, the course tracks the changing place of Africa in the global economy.