Africa Since 1940

The Past of the Present

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by Frederick Cooper

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published October 2002, 200 pages, paper

ISBN 0521776007

Frederick Cooper's latest book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa helps students understand the historical process from which Africa's current position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it shows what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.

Contents

1. Introduction: From colonies to third world; 2. Workers, peasants, and the crisis of colonialism; 3. Citizenship, self-government, and development: The possibilities of the post-war moment; 4. Ending empire and imagining the future; Interlude: rhythms of change in the post-war world; 5. Development and disappointment: social and economic change in an unequal world; 6. The late decolonizations: Southern Africa, 1975,1979, 1994; 7. The recurrent crises of the gatekeeper state; 8. Africa at the century's turn: Rwanda, South Africa, and beyond.