Global Interaction and the Transformation of South African Society

Course outline:
Over the last thousand years, trade, population movements and exploratory settlement led to massive impacts on indigenous economies in southern Africa. In AGE3012S we look at these transformations from both foreign and local viewpoints. The archaeological record of Indian and Atlantic Ocean expansions record events of great significance and drama, including the process of colonization, slavery, genocide and eventually apartheid. Material culture, historic written records and excavated artefacts all inform our understanding of these events, many of them the major determinants of current conflicts and differences. We trace the history of interactions, the roots of inequalities and the course of differentiation through the archaeological record.