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CS92PROD
Atomic Africa: A Technological History of the Cold War

HIST 262
Fall 2022
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: SISP 263
Course Cluster and Certificates: African Studies, African Studies Minor

"Atomic Power Programme Moves Ahead: NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR GHANA" In 1962 the Ghanaian Times proclaimed Ghana's atomic ambitions. Strikingly, it was only two years after the West African nation raised the international alarm against France's nuclear testing in the Sahara. In the midst of the global Cold War, African activists, politicians and scientists called for an end to nuclear imperialism and struggled for political and scientific sovereignty. It was an era marked by the struggle for decolonization but also by the promise of a new technological age. As African politicians planned for an Africa of the future, they faced intense political pressures from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. They also formed partnerships with China and Cuba, reshaping the international lines of Cold War cooperation and the nature of "development." Over the course of the semester, we will examine Cold War stories across the continent including the mining of uranium, the international Congo Crisis, the development of African radiation experts, the use of radio by liberation forces in Angola, the emergence of an African Jet Age, and the building of the Freedom Railway in Tanzania. In addition, we will examine how students, workers, and scientists negotiated the currents of the Cold War and responded in creative ways to produce their own Atomic Africa.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (AFST-MN)(HIST-MN)(HIST)(STS)
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89%

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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