Africa Unity Day and the Decline of Pan-Africanism

Tomorrow is Africa Unity Day. But, the university has scheduled my exam on that morning. I know that the university would not schedule an exam on certain other holidays such as Christmas. Indeed my lecture on Good Friday was cancelled due to the holiday. So I am wondering if the fact that my exam is on Africa Unity Day is indicative of the general decline in recent decades of Pan-Africanism as an ideology with an actual goal rather than just something people give lip service to?

Given the success of the European Union, a lot of aspects of Pan-Africanism would appear to be quite beneficial not only to Africans, but other people as well. An African version of a Schengen visa for instance would make travel easier for people from outside Africa as well as increasing tourist revenue for African countries. The costs of goods would also decrease within Africa as it became cheaper to move them within Africa due to the elimination of trade barriers. Yet, despite the benefits of greater economic cooperation, the ideology of Pan-Africanism seems to have declined in direct proportion to the rise of Pan-Europeanism in the form of the EU during the last fifty years.

I do not think political unification of Africa was ever a realistic goal. The continent is too large and diverse. But, there certainly could be a lot more unity than there is currently. A lot of artificial barriers to the movement of people and goods still exist in Africa. A greater commitment to actually realizing Pan-African goals could substantially reduce these barriers.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow my students take their final exam. I hope I can get all 85 of them graded before Monday. Then I am officially done with the semester. I do not teach again until August.

Gender, Geography, and Genre

I have noticed that a lot of the mystery writers I have been reading lately are both women and write about the US South. The success of women mystery writers using the South as a setting seems to have taken off some time in the 1990s. But, it does seem odd that so many mysteries written in the last two decades take place in the former Confederate states. The Midwest in contrast is greatly underrepresented.

Progress

I finally feel I have made real head way in taking care of what should be rather routine matters, but caused me great difficulty. Now that those problems are solved, I can look forward to grading final exams on Wednesday. After I finish grading the exams I will be done for the semester.

Daily Life in Ghana

To be honest I never thought until recently that I would live and work in Africa. But, as I have noted the experience has been very positive in a number of ways. I will say that life here in Ghana is a lot more similar to that in the US than I would have thought several years ago. Globalization has made the technological basis of life similar across formerly very dissimilar countries. When combined with the fact the official language here is English, Ghana has not been a really great culture shock for me. I have not encountered anything that strikes me as really strange here. Mostly the people here are polite, friendly and helpful. That is not always the case in the US.  But,daily life here is not radically different from that in the US.

My Day

Today was hectic despite being a Saturday. On the plus side I found my bank account had more money in it than I thought. I also did get to walk through Accra today. On the negative side I dropped my phone and the thing finally died. Then I locked myself out of my house. After getting back into my house I decided to buy another phone rather than try and get the old one repaired again. Had I known how little a new mobile phone actually costs I would have gotten a new one a while ago. The phone was 42 cedi to replace. Getting the old one repaired had taken me days and cost 27 cedi. The new phone works fine.

Giving Thanks

It looks like some major problems I have recently encountered are almost solved. I would like to thank all those people who have helped me recently. I am truly grateful and hope that some day I will be able to pay it forward.

Weekend Plans

Tomorrow I am hoping that it does not rain all morning like it did last Saturday. I would like to see a little bit more of Accra before I have to grade 85 final exams on Wednesday. I am hoping a long walk in the city will help me relax.

On Human Rights

It seems to me that if human rights are to mean anything they have to be universal. Winning the war does not make all of ones actions moral. Hence I am very disturbed by the recent rehabilitation of Stalin in Russia on the basis that all his crimes are justified by the victory over the Nazis. This is one of the reasons why I have always been puzzled about why do people who otherwise oppose discrimination and human rights violations in places like South Africa during apartheid support similar Israeli practices against the Palestinians? This seems to be based upon judging people on the basis of their identity rather than on the basis of their actions. Just because a government calls itself democratic does not give it the right to engage in ethnic cleansing, torture and other human rights violations.

Looking on the Bright Side

The more academic blogs out of the US I read the better my own situation looks. I have a job teaching university students, my students are overall quite good,  I have time to do research, and I have medical coverage. Ghana is politically stable and violent crime seems to be quite rare. I certainly could do a lot worse.

More on Colonialism

Like most of my opinions, my belief that colonialism refers primarily to a system of political domination rather than economic exploitation of less prosperous nations by more prosperous ones appears to be a minority in the scholarly world. To me it seems that there are four distinguishing features of colonialism and not all of them have to be present for a colonial relationship to exist. For instance point four was largely absent in the Gold Coast during colonial rule. The features of colonialism are listed below.

1. Political control of an ethnically distinct territory by a state dominated by a different ethnicity.

2. Widespread articulated and often violent resistance to that political control by the dominated people.

3. Economic exploitation of the the dominated territory by the dominating power resulting in a net economic loss for the controlled territory and a net economic gain for the controlling power.

4. The settlement of the ethnically dominant group from the controlling power into the controlled territory.

For some reason it appears most people emphasize point number three as being most important. This was the Soviet regime's argument for why Central Asia was not under colonial rule even though points one and four did apply. It is an argument that a lot of non-communists seem to support as well. But, it should be noted that this does not get the USSR off the hook for being an empire. All four of these points applied to the Baltic States and Ukraine, especially western Ukraine. The situation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the years after World War II until the restoration of independence fit the classical colonial model in all aspects.

Today there are not too many cases that fit all four points. Tibet and East Turkestan seem to fit points one, two, and four, but not point three. Since for some reason most scholars think point three is the most important feature of colonialism this makes the status of China as a colonial power ambiguous. Israel's control over the West Bank meets all four criteria, but it may be the only such case left. However, there are a number of cases such as Tibet where points one and four and even two are all met. If these cases are not colonialism, then what term should be used to describe them?

More on the Crimean Tatars

Last year the International Committee for Crimea published my paper, "The False Charges of Treason Against the Crimean Tatars." You can read the article in PDF form here.

Update: The link should work now. If not the address is listed below.

www.iccrimea.org/scholarly/pohl20100518.pdf

If that does not work you can find it under the title "The False Charges of Treason Against the Crimean Tatars" on a Google search.

67th Anniversary of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars

This is a follow up to my last post. One nationality in the USSR that lost all semblance of the right to national self-determination were the Crimean Tatars. The Soviet government attempted to forcibly liquidate the Crimean Tatars as a national entity on 18 May 1944. The Stalin regime ruthlessly deported them from their homeland in Crimea to special settlement restrictions in Uzbekistan and the Urals. They lost the right to live in their ancestral homeland, their national-state formation in the form of the Crimean ASSR, almost all of their collective and private property, all institutions in their native language, and tens of thousands of lives as a result of this act of ethnic cleansing. I have a lot more detailed posts from years pasts remembering this horrible tragedy. If you look up posts made on 17 May 2009,  18 May2007, and 18 May 2006  you can get a more detailed summary of the deportations and their horrific aftermath.

Questions on Colonialism

There is a an old debate as to whether the USSR was an empire and ruled Central Asia and other areas outside the ethnic Russian core as colonies. One of the main arguments made against the USSR being a colonial empire was that the less developed areas of the USSR such as Central Asia received far more in economic terms than they lost. This argument seems strange to me. It seems to argue that colonialism is primarily an economic rather than a political relationship. I am not sure if this is the case. If a larger power bribes the population of a smaller territory with an increased standard of living in exchange for giving up its political independence what is it called? The USSR was not unique in this policy, so I am not so sure it is not a type of colonial rule based upon carrots rather sticks.

First, while Central Asia and the Caucasus had a far higher material standard of living as a result of being part of the USSR than they would have otherwise this was not true of all areas under Soviet rule. The Baltic States, particularly Estonia and Latvia had a far lower material standard of living as a result of being occupied by the USSR than they would have had otherwise. Were Latvia and Estonia colonies as a result of this economic relationship in addition to being illegally occupied? While the Central Asian republics were not colonies as well as being legally part of the USSR? Must the colonized territory be a net loser and the colonial power a net beneficiary economically for a colonial relationship to exist?

Second, the Soviet definition of national self determination seems odd here. For the most part Central Asians were satisfied with the political and economic situation under Soviet rule. There was very little dissent among these nationalities. National dissent in the USSR was largely limited to Germans, Jews, Crimean Tatars, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Georgians and Armenians. But, surely lack of opposition and satisfaction due to receiving a high standard of living as a result of the transfer of wealth from other regions of the USSR is not the same as popular participation. Central Asians, particularly the Communist Party elite who benefited most from being part of the USSR viewed their political participation and economic benefits from the system as satisfactory, but they did not have any real control over most important issues of policy making. Did this satisfaction with the status-quo in fact translate into national self-determination? It seems that the Soviet policy towards Central Asia had a lot in common with US policy towards Puerto Rico and other territories. The economic benefits of remaining under the control of a larger power far outweigh the benefits of political independence.  Is Puerto Rico not a colony because most of the population consents to being a Commonwealth of the US?

I think part of the problem is the negative connotations of the word colonialism. But, not all colonial relationships were alike. Traditionally colonialism has involved an economic transfer from the dominated to the dominant power and popular opposition by the colonized people. However, are these the defining definitions of colonial rule? It seems to me that political rule not just the direction of economic transfer should be a consideration in whether a colonial relationship exists. This would mean, however,admitting to the existence of relatively benign forms of colonial rule such as the US currently exercises over places like Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Somoa.

Why I work in Africa and not the US

Russell Arben Fox has a recent post up on the path he has travelled since getting his PhD. My own path has also required a lot of physical moving. On the perennial question of whether one should get a PhD especially in a field like history, my own personal view is that you should not expect to work in the US as an academic. But, if you are willing to work in a place like Ghana then it is possible to get a good academic job.

Teaching university students is great. However, the job market has been bad in the US for a long time and it does not look like it is getting better any time soon. So if you want to work as a history lecturer then go ahead and get the PhD. But, be prepared to work in Africa or someplace outside of North America or Europe. It will definitely be a number of years before you get back to the US permanently. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that you need to consider. I did not initially intend to work first in Kyrgyzstan and then Ghana. However, during the first three years after I received my PhD I found it impossible to find an academic job even as an adjunct in the US. Below I speculate on the reasons for this failure.

My experience is probably different than other peoples, but a lot of the common wisdom is bunk. Publications do not seem to help at all  in applying for jobs in the US. What American universities are looking for is teaching experience not published monographs or peer reviewed journal articles. I had two scholarly books and several journal articles published at the time I started looking for a university of job and applied to hundreds of jobs without receiving any interviews. I was told on a number of occasions that they would not even consider me because I had no teaching experience. On a number of occasions these institutions ended up hiring people who not only had no publications, but were ABD. One would think that having a PhD, not being a TA was the minimal requirement for being an assistant professor, but one would be wrong. It was only after teaching in Central Asia that any US universities even suggested that they were interested in interviewing me. So the claim that publications are the most important element in hiring at US universities is largely a lie. Publications are of little importance when applying to the vast majority of university positions in the US compared to teaching experience and where you did your degree. I did my PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Having a British degree from any place other than Oxford, Cambridge or LSE is a serious disadvantage in the US job market. So I had two strikes against me in the US. On the other hand having a degree from SOAS helped me get my present job. The institution is as respected here as it is unknown in the US.

That said, working abroad has advantages. The students here at the University of Ghana appear to be much better than what I read about on American academic blogs. They work hard and are respectful. I am also in a much better position in every respect than I would be working as an adjunct in the US. I work less for more than appears to be the case with American adjuncts. My compensation and benefits are actually quite good here.

My feeling is that my own path will become more common in the future. Academia will increasingly become more migratory. In many ways this is good. I think Americans including academics are far too isolated from the rest of the world. But, the dream of being able to work as an academic in your home country is going to be increasingly difficult for newly minted American PhDs to obtain. The options may very well be working abroad in places like Ghana or working outside of academia.

University Benefits

My job has some nice benefits. One of which I just discovered is free computer repair. Well it is not totally free, I have to pay for the parts. But, the university provides the labor to fix my personal lap top. Since I use the lap top for work this makes good sense, but a lot of other universities seem to be totally lacking in any sense when it comes to accomadating faculty. At any rate the fan in my lap top needs to be replaced and it is nice not to have to run all over Accra looking for a reliable and affordable repair shop.

Another nice benefit is health care. I understand a lot of people lecturing at US universities do not have health coverage provided by their employer. Certainly there was no such thing where I worked in Bishkek. The University Hospital serves Legon  and gives me free access to doctors and most lab work. The exceptions are X-rays and EKGs which cost 15 cedis ($10) each. The quality of the medical care is comparable to what I have experienced in the UK and US. That is the doctors are quite good. Today I had to go get a prescription changed. I left my house a little after ten and got back a little before one. So the total time at the hospital including all the wait time was less than two hours. I think that is pretty good for a busy Monday morning. Unfortunately, medicine is not covered and is not that cheap. There are no $4 generics like you can get at Wallmart. I paid 10 cedis ($6.50) for three weeks of pills. But, still overall the system here is a lot better than what a lot of people have in the US.

My job is easy. It is the rest of life that is hard

Right now I have no academic work to do. Instead I am overwhelmed with taking care of things that are causing me far more stress than they should. I hope I can get most of the important items on my agenda done this week. If I am persistent and do not freak out too much I think I will be okay. Trust me people, first world problems are a lot easier to handle than third world problems.

Blog Direction

It appears I do have some readers other than my mother. This blog is in a transition period like everything else in my life. My academic writing is still focused on the former Soviet Union, but now it appears I may be living and working in Africa for some time. So for the last six months or so the blog has become a mixture of observations of life in Ghana based upon very little background knowledge and a few posts on Russian-Germans during the Stalin era. It will probably continue in this direction for a while. But, ultimately I would like to be able to write more in depth about some issues of African history, particularly as they intersect with other issues I have researched. I am going to start trying to move a little bit in this direction soon.

Again any advice on teaching very large classes?

This semester I only taught one class and I was told it was a small one by local standards. It had 85 students. Next semester I will teach two sections each of three classes. Two of the classes or four sections will probably be much, much larger than anything I have taught before. They are going to introduce a cap of 300 students per a class soon, but for me anything over 100 is simply huge. Does anybody have any advice for managing class sections this large? In particular how do you grade tests? We have to grade the final exams ourselves without TA assistance.

Invitation to Delurk

If you are reading this blog and not directly related to me by blood please let me know. I am thinking I must have some readers other than my family. But, I have no idea who other than my family actually reads this thing.

A few more days to the clock

Well it looks like I am not as close to being finished as I thought. My final exam has been moved from May 12 at 7:30 am to May 25 at 11:30 am. At least I do not have to wake up as early.

Final countdown

The semester is almost completely over. My final exam is on Thursday morning. Then I just have to grade the exams. I am going to try and finish grading before Monday.

The Kids are Allright

For the last couple of days I have had students coming to my office to ask questions before they take the final exam next week. Even though it is technically work I really enjoy talking to students. I am pretty sure that I am accomplishing some small measure of information transfer. My general impression of the students that took my class is that they are very good. I do not feel that my teaching is being wasted on people too lazy to take advantage of it. Reading blogs by lecturers based in the US I often get the sense that many American students fall into this category. On the contrary I feel that many of my students are very motivated, hard working, young men and women with very good study habits. I am not sure if this is something that can be generalized to university students in Ghana or is more specific to the University of Ghana or even more narrowly to the history department or even just my class. There is a certain degree of self selection here and I did make it clear to the students that the class would have a lot of reading and not be easy. It appears that most of them have risen to the challenge. I will know for certain after they take the final exam next Thursday.

Writing Progress

This week is revision week. That is students have one week between the end of classes and final exams to study. This also means apart from office hours from ten in the morning until noon that I do not have any class related work this week. So I have instead started again seriously working on my book manuscript regarding the Russian-Germans in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Last night I cranked out five pages double spaced and the current draft is currently up to around 46,000 words. That is 170 pages double spaced. I am aiming for a completed manuscript of around 80,000 words which seems to be the length many academic publishers now want for monographs. I still wish there was some median between the very short 8,000 word journal article and the fairly lengthy 80,000 word book. It seems to me that something between 20,000 to 50,000 words would fill a much needed gap between these two extremes.

Review of the Semester

Friday I taught my last class of the semester. I think I accomplished my primary teaching goal of transferring some knowledge to some students. How much knowledge and how many students I do not know for certain yet. But, judging on the basis of the mid-term exam I believe that most students should be able to demonstrate evidence of learning on the final exam. I am also very happy that I did not have any problems with students using cell phones or laptops in class.

Some Stories are Lost Forever

I have been thinking about this for a while, but it only recently really clicked. Despite all the excitement about the partial declassification of Soviet archives in the 1990s, the type of information they provide is quite limited in regards to the deported peoples. Yes, we now know the mechanisms and legal structures of the instruments of repression from the inside. We also have much, much better, although far from complete or perfect statistical data on the numbers of people subjected to various forms of repression, their geographical distribution, and their use as an involuntary labor force. What we do not have is much contemporary material from the deported peoples themselves. The archives contain some letters written to officials complaining about their material conditions. They also contain police reports on the "subversive" political opinions of the special settlers. However, overall material from the point of view of the deportees themselves is lacking. There are almost no surviving diaries and other written documents outside of official state, party and police archives that would provide an insight into their lives at the time. There are some exceptions such as letters written by Russian-Germans deported as kulaks in the 1930s to relatives in the US and Canada. But, after 1937, such sources are very rare. Lots of information was simply not recorded by the authorities or was destroyed. The official archives that exist today have very little on the human lives and relationships of the special settlers.

Memoirs written after the events exist, but most of these were written long after the events when many survivors had already died and memories had faded. Oral history has the same problems as memoir literature. It would have been much better to collect this information in the 1950s and 1960s rather than have to wait until the 1990s before conditions allowed such activity without criminal penalties. Now a lot of information has gone to the grave without ever being recorded.

Ironically, it appears that despite the paucity of archival access at the time it was written that Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago remains one of the best works on Stalinist repression. Yes, he did not have accurate information on the population statistics of the labor camps and special settlements. But, he did have access to a lot of sources that no historian can tap into today. He had access to a lot of memoirs that have since been destroyed in order to protect the writers from persecution by the KGB. He could also talk to a lot of camp survivors who have since perished. This combined with his own experience in the camps and in internal exile allowed him to provide a history from the point of view of the victims rather than the repressive apparatus. This is something that nobody can do as well today.

Random Scenes from my Life

Today I turned in my final exam questions. Tomorrow I will have my final lecture of the semester before the exam. Then I will be done for the semester except for adminstering and grading the final exam.

I finally purchased an electric kettle the other day so I can make tea. I found a South African made one on sale for 21 cedis at Game in the Accra Mall. Actually I think most things at the Game store are made in South Africa. It is after all a South African chain. The kettle still had a South African plug which customer service changed to a Ghanaian plug for me free of charge.

Today for lunch I had some really good banku served with tillapia fish. I have decided I like banku a lot better than kenkey. It is a lot less dense. As always the best thing about banku or kenkey was the chili sauce they serve with it. The worst thing is that it is a sticky mess that you eat with your hand. I am still not fully on board with the Ghanaian habit of eating almost everything including soup with your hand rather than with utensils.

I have been rapidly reading all of Patricia Cornwell's novel's recently. I especially like her Kay Scarpetta series. The focus on the morgue as the site of investigation makes her novels considerably different from most other mysteries I have read.

Syllabus for Aspects of World History 1914-1945

Aspects of World History 1914-1945
HIST 417
Fall 2011
Department of History
University of Ghana
J. Otto Pohl, Ph.D.

Course Description: This course focuses on the great ideological and military conflict between Nazi Germany and the USSR. It traces the origins and development of both the Nazi and Soviet regimes during the years after World War One up until the Allied Victory over Berlin on 9 May 1945. In particular it compares and contrasts the ideologies and practices of these two regimes both internally and externally during the 1930s and 1940s. A special emphasis is given to their dictatorial nature and their use of mass violence against certain defined social and ethnic groups.

Requirements: The purpose of this class is to provide a comparative understanding of the two great dictatorships of the early 20th century and their relationship to each other. In particular the class will look at World War II primarily as a conflict between Nazi Germany and the USSR. Students need to attend class regularly and do the assigned readings. Material from both the readings and the lectures will appear on the final exam. No mobile phones are to be visible during class. They are to be out of sight and turned off. Finally, I have a significant hearing loss and may have to ask people to repeat their questions or statements from time to time. You can minimize this by speaking loudly and clearly. This syllabus is tentative and subject to change.

Readings: The main text used for this class is Robert Gellately, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (London: Vintage Books, 2008). In addition there are four short supplementary readings which are listed below.

Elza-Bair Guchinova, “Deportation of the Kalmyks (1943-1956): Stigmatized Ethnicity” in Uyama Tomohiko, ed., Empire, Islam, and Politics in Central Eurasia, Slavic Eurasian Studies, no. 14 (Sapporo, Japan: Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, 2007), pp. 187-221.

Katherine R. Jolluck, “’You Can’t Even Call Them Women’: Poles and ‘Others’ in Soviet Exile during the Second World War,” Contemporary European History, vol. 10, no. 3, (Nov. 2001), pp. 463-480.

James Morris, “The Polish Terror: Spy Mania and Ethnic Cleansing in the Great Terror,” Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 56, no. 5, (July 2004), pp. 751-766.

J. Otto Pohl, Eric J. Schmaltz and Ronald J. Vossler, “’In Our Hearts We Felt the Sentence of Death’: Ethnic German Recollections of Mass Violence in the USSR, 1928-1948,” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 11, nos. 2-3, (June-Sep. 2009), pp. 323-354.

Grading: The grade for the class will be based upon a mid-term exam and a comprehensive final essay exam at the end of the semester. The mid-term will be worth 30% of the final grade and the final exam will constitute the remaining 70% of the grade.

Class Schedule:

Week one: Introduction and Review of Syllabus

Week two: World War One, the Bolshevik Revolution and Lenin’s Reign

Read pp. 1-77 in Gellately.

Week three: The Roots and Early Development of Naziism

Read pp. 81-127 in Gellately.

Week four: The Creation of the Stalinist Regime

Read pp. 131-182 in Gellately and Pohl, Schmaltz, and Vossler pp. 323-354.

During this week I would like to show the movie Through the Red Gate

Week five: The Nazis come to Power

Read pp. 185-223 in Gellately.

Week six: Mid-term examination. The exam is worth 30% of the total grade.

Week seven: Stalin’s Reign of Terror

Read pp. 225-281 in Gellately and Morris, pp. 751-766.

Week eight: Creation of the Nazi Dictatorship

Read pp. 285-341 in Gellately.

Week nine: The Partition of Poland and the Start of World War II

Read pp. 345-410 in Gellately and Jolluck, pp. 463-480.

Week ten: The Nazi Attack on the USSR and the Holocaust

Read pp. 413-468 in Gellately.

Week eleven: The Soviet Union takes the Offensive

Read pp. 471-522 in Gellately and Guchinova, pp. 187-220.

Week twelve: The Destruction of Nazi Germany and the Triumph of the USSR

Read pp. 525-594 in Gellately.

One Syllabus done

So far I have finished one syllabus for next semester. I wrote it last night. I will post it tomorrow.  I decided to center the course Aspects of World History 1914-1945 around Nazi Germany and the USSR. I am assigning Robert Gellately's Lenin, Stalin and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (London: Vintage, 2008) as the main text for the class. I think centering the class around the two major dictatorships in Europe during the early 20th century gives the class a central focus. I would be curious if anybody else has ever taught a class that essentially compared and contrasted the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and what were the results?

The semester is almost over

I have one more lecture this week then there are final exams and then the semester ends. Next semester I am teaching Aspects of World History 1914-1945, History of Early Modern Europe, and Historiography. I will put the syllabi up when I finish them.

Strategy for progress

My current plan is to try and accomplish a little bit each day. I am not going to try and finish any big projects in a single day. I figure if I can keep moving forward even if it is not super fast then at least I will have made some progress after a while.

More on food in Ghana

I had a request by e-mail from a friend of mine in the US to provide a better description of Ghanaian foods. Fortunately, the standard Ghanaian menu is pretty short. So I will attempt to provide some description of various food items here. First, there is fried chicken and jollof rice. Fried chicken is the same here as everywhere else in the world. Jollof rice is a spicy red rice that is similar to Spanish rice or dirty rice. Then there is red red served with either fried chicken or fried rice. Red red is beans cooked in palm oil and plantains. The following three items are I think unique to West Africa. The first is fufu, a mixture of cassava and plantains that has a very jelly like texture and is served with various soups. The second is kenkey, a mixture of cassava and maize that is fermented and then steamed in banana leaves. It is eaten with pepper sauce and fried fish. The final item is banku which is similar to kenkey, but is cooked in plastic bags rather than banana leaves and does not have as dense a consistency. It is often served with okra stew.

Coen Brothers Petition

A good friend of mine, Abdulhadi Ayyad, has asked me to help circulate this petition to the Coen Brothers to not go to Tel Aviv. If the Coen Brothers were to refuse to travel to Israel as a protest against the ongoing human rights violations against the Palestinians it would indeed send a strong signal. At any rate as a favor to my friend and in the hope of spurring a productive cultural dialogue I am forwarding this petition.

www.petitiononline.com/coenbros/petition.html

Lunch

One of the graduate students here took me to a new  place to eat lunch today. It has the advantage of being very close to the history department and fairly cheap. I paid four cedis for light soup with two pieces of goat meat and two fufus. I liked the fact that the soup was quite spicy.

Wrapping up the semester

I only have one more lecture this semester before final exams. Overall I think the class went well. Officially the class had over 80 students. Which I think is quite large for a 400 level class. Of course not every student showed up every week. I would prefer to have smaller classes, but I think I succeeded in teaching some students some historical knowledge.

Inflation in Ghana

Since I have arrived here the cost of a 1.5 litre bottle of water has gone up from 1.20 GH to 1.30 GH. I figure that is a rate of inflation of almost 25% a year. I have not noticed a steep increase in the cost of other goods, however. So it is likely that other goods are increasing in price at a slower rate. Nevertheless, water is absolutely vital to life. It is not something like chocolate or Coca Cola I can do without. I may have to start buying water in bags like most people here instead of the more expensive plastic bottles.

Another Source Question

I am trying to track down a reliable source regarding ethnic Chinese serving in the Cheka in Ukraine during the Civil War. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Toads

I think Legon has as many toads this time of year as Arivaca does during the monsoon season. The toads here are smaller, but they are just as loud. There is a pool filled with lilly pads in front of Balme Library and at night the sound of the toads croaking is deafening.

Stabbing People in the Back is an Old Soviet Trick

The official Soviet decision to deport the Volga Germans came from the Council of Peoples Commissars and the Central Committee of the Communist Party on 26 August 1941. This document which was secret at the time starts out with "The Council of Peoples Commissars Union of SSRs and C[entral] C[ommittee] of the A[ll Russian] C[ommunist] P[arty] (b[olshevik]) resolves:

1: To resettle all Germans from the Republic of Germans of the Volga and from the oblasts of Saratov and Stalingrad to the following krais and oblasts:"

It then lists Krasnoiarsk Krai, Altai Krai, Omsk Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, and a number of oblasts in Kazakhstan (German, Ilarionova, and Pleve, doc. 8.31., pp. 254-257). This resolution was followed up on 28 August 1941 with a public decree decree by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet with the title "On Resettling Germans Living in the Region of the Volga." This decree unlike the one two days earlier which had no justification listed accused the Volga Germans of harboring "thousands and tens of thousands of saboteurs and spies" awaiting orders from Germany (German, Ilarionova, and Pleve, doc. 8.3.2, pp. 257-258).

What is interesting about these two decrees that I just really noticed is their very sudden timing in relation to the official Soviet line regarding the Volga Germans. It is true that the NKVD had already forcibly evacuated the Crimean Germans. But, the Volga Germans were still an official Soviet nationality with their own territory and administrative structures. They were also still being promoted as a loyal part of the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany just days before the Stalin regime ordered their deportation.

On 21 August 1941, the Communist Party leadership of the Volga German ASSR had passed a resolution recommending a number of Volga German communists for political work in the Red Army. The list included thirty men for organizational work, twenty men for editorial work, and three men to be held in reserve if needed (German, Ilarionova, and Pleve, doc. 8.21., pp. 249-252). So a mere five days before the official decision to deport the Volga Germans was made the Soviet government was still soliciting their assistance in its fight against Nazi Germany.

Even more shocking is the article run in Komsomol'skaia Pravda on 24 August 1941, two days before the decision. This article was devoted to the heroism of Heinrich Hoffmann, a  twenty year old Volga German Komsomol member who had been tortured to death by the Nazis. This article stresses the heroism of Hoffmann and highlights both his German nationality and Soviet patriotism in fighting against the Nazis (German, Ilarionova, and Pleve, doc. 8.2.2., pp. 252-253). Unlike other Soviet martyrs in the struggle against Nazi Germany, Hoffmann quickly became forgotten after the Soviet government ordered the deportation of his entire nationality two days after Komsomol'skaia Pravda praised his bravery.

The rapid change in the public official Soviet line towards the Volga Germans between 24 August 1941 and 28 August 1941, leads me to believe that the actual decision was made long before 21 August 1941. But, that in order to maintain the element of surprise the Soviet government continued to pretend to treat the Volga Germans as fully equal Soviet citizens until the eve of the deportation. Hence the one day trumpeting of Hoffmann's martyrdom just days before forcibly dispersing the entire Volga German population across Siberia and Kazakhstan.

Source: A.A. German, T.S. Ilariovona, I.R. Pleve, eds., Istoriia nemtsev Rossii: Khrestomatiia (Moscow: "MSNK-Press", 2005).

American food in Legon

Saturday I found a decent burger off campus. The Chicken Inn which is I believe part of a South African based chain has a burger meal combo for 8.50 cedis. The bun on the burger is really good and they serve it with tomato, onion, and steak sauce. The meat is okay, but not fantastic. Overall it is better than McDonalds, but not nearly as good as In and Out. However, at over $5.00 it is not something I can afford to eat very often.

This morning I found a breakfest and coffee place on campus. Decent coffee is hard to find in Ghana. For 3.90 cedis or about $3.00 I got two pancakes with maple syrup, two egg sandwiches, and a giant mug of iced coffee. The egg sandwiches consisted of little omlettes made with green onions and pressed between two slices of toasted bread. It was quite good. I do not think I need to eat lunch today.

You do not need NCAA teams to have problems

The big story recently at the University of Ghana is the alleged stripping and molestation of a girl accused of stealing by a group of male students at one of the dorms here in Legon. It made the front page of the papers last Saturday. At the weekly history seminar on Wednesday all the graduate students were heatedly discussing the issue. But, the women graduate students seemed more passionate about it.  I am not sure of all the details, evidently there is a video of the event on the Internet that I have not watched nor do I intend to watch it. However, the allegations against the male students should be taken seriously and investigated by the proper authorities. The University administration has publicly said that they are taking appropriate action regarding the incident. This is the kind of story one hears a lot about in the US, but I had honestly expected better of the students in Ghana.

The Book Store

Yesterday, I went to the book store to pick up some more used mysteries. They range in price from 1.5 cedis to 2.5 cedis each. I purchased three for 6.5 cedis. I got one by Alex Kava, one by Tamar Meyers, and one by Patricia Cornwell. It seems that American and other foreign travellers leave a lot of paperbacks here.

Quoted in Lonely Planet

I just found out through the magic of Google Books that page 138 of the Lonely Planet guide to Ukraine (2005) by Sara Johnstone quotes my second book. Go look it up yourself to see what it says. I must say that being quoted in a Lonely Planet guide is supremely cool.

I made it to the Ocean

On Saturday I finally made it to the Gulf of Guinea. I took a tro-tro to Nkrumah Circle with Carl and we walked through Makola Market to Jamestown. We met some Ghanaians who took us around the beach where they were building fishing boats and the pier where they were fixing fishing nets. They then took us to the palace of the king of Jamestown. I probably learned more about Ghana in that one morning than I have in the rest of the three months I have been here.

Everything is calm in Ghana

Despite the recent events in neighboring Ivory Coast everything is calm in Ghana. Neither the media nor people at the university seem much interested in what is happening in the country next door.

Emancipation in the Gold Coast

Yesterday a PhD student from Germany gave a talk on the discussion regarding the abolition of slavery in the Gold Coast by native elite in contemorary newspapers. The British formally emancipated all slaves in the colony in 1874 without compensation to the owners. This action was strongly contested by some of the Gold Coast elite who thought that failure to compensate native slave owners was unjust. In the discussion that followed one of the items that came up was the definition of a slave. The British evidently defined a number of types of subordinate status as slavery even though they often fell far short of chattel slavery. Like many other colonized territories the Gold Coast had a rather complex and differentiated  native society. Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with Ghanaian history to grasp the local distinctions made between the various groups all lumped together as slaves by the British for purposes of emancipation. Nevertheless, the talk was interesting and the responses by other faculty who are experts on the subject did increase my limited knowledge of African history a little bit.

Who exactly reads this blog?

Recently this blog has gotten a lot of hits according to my stat counter, but nobody has left any comments. A very large number of hits seem to be coming from France for some reason. I would be interested in knowing who is reading this blog and why they are reading it. So once again I am asking my readers to please comment and let me know who they are what they like or dislike about this blog. It can not improve without feedback.

Hidden Bazaar

Yesterday, I came across a secluded bazaar behind the theatre department. It had a number of places to eat, get your hair cut and buy beverages. I had fried rice and chicken from one of the vendors for 2 cedis.

Weekend

My weekend was rather uneventful. A work crew was supposed to install security doors on the house on Friday. But, when I called the foreman on Friday morning he said they could not make it  until Saturday morning. They arrived Saturday morning and did not leave until late afternoon. They finished installing all, but one of the security doors. They still have one more to do. So my plan to march to the ocean on Saturday was shot.

Across the way from the house there was a bunch of stalls set up on the field during the weekend. They sold a variety of goods including food and beverages. They also played loud music all weekend. So on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night I wandered over there to eat. On Friday I got a pizza and the next two evenings I got ice cream followed by popcorn.

Vandal City

Today I ate lunch in the dining hall of Commonwealth Hall also known as Vandal City. The name stems from the activities of some of the hall's residents during the 1960s. It is the only all male residence hall at the University of Ghana. It is also the largest hall and has a spectacular view as it is built on a hill and has a series of staircases both in front of it and within it.

Yesterday

Yesterday I got quite a bit accomplished. I e-mailed off an article to a journal based in the UK. Then I attended a presentation by a history Ph.D. student here. Finally, I spent some time at the library reading up on German colonialism in Togoland. Unfortunately, I could not find much published after 1967.

Source Question

Does anybody know any good works on German colonialism in West Africa?

Makola Market

Saturday I took a tro-tro to Nkrumah Circle and then walked down Nkrumah Avenue, but failed to get as far as Nkrumah Memorial Park. I did, however, get to Makola Market and walked down its winding, often unpaved roads observing women hawking various wares. Among the items for sale that I did not buy were live crabs and giant snails. Next Saturday I intend to walk all the way down to the ocean.

Race as Culture in the USSR and South Africa

I have recently been reading about the ideological justification of apartheid in South Africa post-1948. It is almost identical to the ideological justification of Soviet nationality policies under Stalin. Never is there reference to genetics or biology rather instead both the South Africans and Soviets both always referred to ethnicity or nationality and culture. But, both viewed the concepts in ways that were completely essentialist. Primordial ethnicity and social-cultural categories rather than genetics or biology formed the basis of both systems. Somebody of German heritage in the USSR could never become Russian and after 1941 could never get the same civil rights as an ethnic Russian. He belonged to a racialized category just as much as Blacks did in South Africa. The lack of reference and even rejection of genetics and biological justifications for this policy were not unique to the Soviet Union. The apartheid regime in South Africa also rejected such language in favor of references to Volk (narod or natsional'nost), national groups and cultural identity. If somebody came from Mars and read  the Soviet and South African ideological justifications for their respective nationality policies side by side he would conclude they were almost identical projects. We only call one racial and one not because the USSR still has many defenders in Western academia. If one looks at the treatment of certain nationalities by Stalin during World War II in the light of these similarities it is apparent that the Soviet policies of deporting the Russian-Germans and others were in fact racist policies.

Mid-term grades and grading philosophy

The students did quite well on the mid-term exam. Out of 74 that took the test half got an A or an A-.Which brings me to grading philosophy. My basic feeling is that if a student meets all the requirements I lay out for an assignment they should get an A. Ideally since I make the requirements for all the assignments clear beforehand all my students should be getting As. The fact that only a quarter of my students got an A on the mid-term shows that there is a gap between my ideal and reality. But, I have never understood grading philosophies that are done on a curve or that limits the number of As given out. Yes, I know people complain about grade inflation, but I think the concern is misplaced. First, students are better at gaming assignments today than they were several decades ago. That is they are better at taking tests even if they are not smarter or more knowledgeable. So on the basis of merit alone the grades should be higher. Second, I do not feel any obligation to provide a differentiated scale for judging students to future employers. If the fact that a quarter of my students having As makes it difficult for them to choose the one or two best candidates for a job that is their problem not mine.

Today's Accomplishments

Today I finished marking mid-term exams, filled out forms for the university listing my publications for the last three years, and again failed to eat all of my second kenkey at Legon Hall.

Grading Mid-Terms

In the last two days I have graded 59 mid-term exams. I now only have 16 left to finish before Friday. Fortunately, I only have one class to teach this semester. Next semester's grading burden will be considerably greater. So far most of the students have done fairly well.

Ivory Coast

As I mentioned in the comments to the post below I have not seen any coverage of the recent violence next door on Ghanaian television. I have also not heard it brought up much as a topic of conversation here at the university. This is kind of surprising because the violence in Mexico is a topic of discussion in the US and is covered extensively in the news. If there were violence similar to that in Ivory Coast in Canada I think it would also be a concern for the US. But, I have seen very little evidence of much interest or concern in Ghana over the recent events in the Ivory Coast. I think maybe it is because I am on a university campus and people here are preoccupied with things other than international events.

Ghanaian Independence Day

This Sunday is 6 March or Ghana's Independence Day. Modern Ghana has existed as an independent state now for 54 years. This is longer than any other former colony in Africa south of the Sahara

A small list of Russian-German victims of Stalin from 1938

A lot of people have contacted me over the years trying to track down individual victims of Stalin's murderous repression. I do not have a lot of lists of names, but I have come across some. Below is a list of 15 Russian-Germans from Stalindorf raion in Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine sentenced to death on political charges. The information comes from the summary (protocol) of a meeting of troikas for the UNKVD (Administration of the Peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs) for Dnepropetrovsk Oblast on 25 March 1938. I have transliterated the names directly from Cyrillic so Heinrich is Genrikh, Wilhelm is Vilgelm and so forth.

1) Genrikh Ivanovich Penner

2) Genrikh Genrikhovich Penner

3) Ivan Petrovich Tissen

4) Egor Yakovlevich Funk

5) Anna Davidova Leven

6) Petr Yakovlevich Tissen

7) Kornei Borisovich Penner

8) Ivan Isaakovich Bergen

9) Ivan Borisovich Bergen

10) Vilgelm Aronovich Funk

11) Ivan Aronovich Funk

12) Genrikh Genrikhovich Pankrats

13) Ivan Davidovich Penner

14) Ekaterina Ivanova Penner

15) Anna Genrikhova Shapansky

Source: A.A. German, T.S. Ilariovonova, I.R. Pleve, Istoriia nemtsev Rossii: Khrestomatiia (Moscow: "MSNK-Press", 2005), doc. 7.5.8, pp. 227-228 reproducing V.V. Chentsov, Tragicheskie sud'by (Moscow, 1998), pp. 172-173.

Academic Question

Has anything been published on internal colonialism as conceived of by Robert Blauner as opposed to the Michael Hechter version since 1986? Because I can not find anything. It seems the concept just vanished from the scholarly literature somewhere around 1987. I have no idea why. Any answers would be much appreciated.

Country Music in Ghana

Ghana is a country where music is playing everywhere. Popular styles include High Life, Hip Life, R & B, Reggae, Gospel, and surprisingly Country. When my department chair picked me up at the airport the radio in the van was tuned to a Country station. I asked him if this style of music was popular in Ghana and he said that it was. I have noticed many times eating at Taco Bell that the music playing was American Country. I expected the other styles of music listed above, but Country was not a musical genre I would have ever associated with Africa.

It is humid in Ghana today

Walking the short distance to work this morning my shirt became soaked with sweat. I hear that it will get even more humid in the upcoming months. I would prefer more moderate weather, but if the choice is between freezing cold or hot and humid then I can take the humidity.

Advice on Journal Submissions?

I have two journal articles that were rejected last year by one journal. I am wondering now that I have some extra time whether I should extensively revise them in accordance with the peer review reports or only do minor editing before sending them out to other journals for consideration. My feeling is that in each case the first peer review report was merely a hostile or dismissive attempt to prevent publication. However, the second peer report in each case does appear to actually contain some constructive criticism. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Our House

Yesterday Carl and I got the keys to our bungalow. Carl is another foreign faculty member here at the university. The house has four bedrooms, three toilets,a shower, a kitchen, a dining area, a huge living room, and a giant courtyard. Today we are going to be moving furniture into its proper place.

Citation Bibliography Update

I spent a little bit of time today updating my citation bibliography. This is a list of academic works that cite my publications. It is up to 138 different academic sources right now. This list is divided between 75 books and 63 journal articles and book chapters. The number of journal articles and book chapters that cite me is actually much higher, but I can not properly cite many of them given the limited information provided by Google Books. I am happy to note that works published as recently as this year still cite my first book which was published in 1997.

Ghanaian Birds

I am not a bird watcher like my good friend Chris and many other people I knew in Arivaca. However, the birds here on campus are absolutely stunning. Their feathers have really brilliant colors. I know Arivaca had a lot of beautiful birds, but I think the ones in Ghana are even more beautiful.

A Note of Caution on Democratic Revolutions

CNN has gone from covering Egypt to Bahrain to Libya now. I honestly do not know whether the outcome of these revolutions will result in long term improvements for the people of North Africa and the Middle East. Often democratic revolutions go astray and bring about worse regimes or brutal mob violence against segments of the population. So far it looks like Egypt's new government will be better than its previous one, but it is still too soon to tell. What will happen in Libya is even more difficult to predict. Currently, it looks like there will be a significant amount of bloodshed in Libya in the near future, however.

One thing that needs to be born in mind is that democracy and majority rule are not synonomous with tolerance and human rights. Indeed in many places the majority of the population has had no problems using the instrument of democratically elected governments to deny all human rights to ethnic, national, racial, or religious minorities. I have not seen this manifested by the current movements in North Africa and the Middle East. But, the democratically elected government of Iraq has not exactly had a perfect track record regarding the civil rights of the country's Sunni minority. So such sentiments are not absent from the democrats of the Arab world. 

In other places in the Middle East the situation is far worse. After all Israel is often tauted as the only democracy in the Middle East. This is not true in that the Turkish Republic has just as good a claim to being a democracy as Israel. However, Israel does demonstrate that democratic regimes often repress minorities not in spite of being democratic, but because they are democratic.  The systematic violation of the civil and human rights of the Palestinians living under Israeli rule is supported by the majority of the Israeli population. Technically I believe this is still a slight majority of the total number of people governed by the State of Israel. Of course democracies in which 51% of the population use democratically elected governments to confiscate all the property and deny fundamental rights to the other 49% are generally far worse than most dictatorships. But, the US and EU do not seem to realize this and believe that the mouthing of democratic slogans and holding of elections justifies the most brutal repression of people who are not part of the 51% or more majority.

Accra Mall

Saturday I went to Accra Mall. It is very modern, very clean, very well stocked, and very expensive. There were lots of white people milling about and buying things at over inflated prices. So I do not think I will be doing much shopping there.

Madina

Today I was driven all over Madina, the town next to Legon. It has a big bazaar and lots of little shops.  But, they did not have the item I needed. I did notice that there seemed to be quite a few Mosques in Madina interspersed among an even larger number of Pentecostal churches. I am wondering if Madina is named after Medina in Arabia.

Some Random Observations about Ghana

Highway Vendors

Yesterday I had to go to Accra and got to see some of the city. Like most large cities traffic is congested. But, Accra has something I have not seen before. While you are stuck in traffic a myriad of vendors selling a wide variety of items including mobile phone cards, drinks, snacks, maps, books, cds, clothes and stuff I did not recognize will come up to your vehicle. I suppose if you are stuck in traffic and you run out of phone credit this would allow you to call your destination and tell them you are going to be late. It would also allow you to get some water and avoid dehydration.

Tropical Fruits

Ghana has the best pineapples and mangoes I have ever eaten. They are very sweet and juicy. Unfortunately, the oranges are not so good. They seem a little green. I wonder if they are still not ripe yet.

The US Embassy

We drove by the US Embassy. It is huge and fortress like with lots of guards and razor wire. It is much larger and looks more like a military installation than the US Embassy in Bishkek.

Question - Sources on Theories of National Resistance?

Does anybody know of any good sources regarding theories of political resistance, particularly nationally based resistance? My keyword searches do not seem to be unearthing anything interesting in the Balme Library, but there must be a wealth of literature on the subject. I must just be looking under the wrong terms. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ties Between Ghana and Denmark

The history conference was quite interesting and well worth attending. It turns out that both Ghanaian and Danish historians believe that the general public of their respective countries are woefully ignorant of history. They also lamented the low levels of interest shown by students in studying history. These problems,  however, seem to be universal rather than specific to Denmark and Ghana. The encouraging note is that there is a segment of people with real influence in both countries that do think history education is very important.

I was not fully aware of just how strong the ties between Ghana and Denmark were before I arrived in Legon. I knew that Denmark was involved in the slave trade in the Gold Coast and that they had built Christensborg (Osu) Castle along the coast. But, the present day level of cooperation and friendly relationships between Danes and Ghanaians on a variety of levels is not something I really anticipated. For instance there is a Denmark House on campus and Danes are constantly coming here to work on various joint projects. The initial seed money to physically construct the Kwame Nkrumah Complex which houses the Institute of African Studies came from the Danish embassy. These are just two examples on the campus of the University of Ghana. Denmark has been a major contributor of development assistance in almost all spheres since Ghana got its independence in 1957. I had expected there to be much stronger ties to Great Britain, the former colonial ruler of Ghana in the years before independence.

History Conference

I have not gotten most of what I intended to do today  done because when I showed up at the office at 9:20 this morning I was told there was a history conference at the Institute of African Studies that I should attend. The conference is on the theme "Our Shared History and Heritage: Teaching, Researching and Advocacy in Contemporary Ghana and Denmark." The conference was organized by the Historical Society of Ghana and the Danish History Teachers Association and Culture, Education and Technology Network. It is sponsored by the Royal Danish Embassy. Among the speakers this morning were the Danish ambassador and the former Ghanaian ambassador to Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. Unlike in many countries it appears that important people do value history in Ghana and Denmark. Two countries is at least a start. I have to get back to the conference now.

Taco Bell

There is a restaurant on the campus of the University of Ghana called Taco Bell. But, it does not serve any Mexican food. Instead it serves quite good Ghanaian food. Today I had their red red with chicken. The beans are spicier at Taco Bell than the other places I have eaten red red. Taco Bell is quite spacious and was playing Showtime on the television hanging above the door. They were showing some British crime drama. Without a doubt it was better than any Taco Bell I have been to in the US

Tropical Rain Storm

Right now I am trapped in my office due to a huge tropical rainstorm. This is the first rain I have seen in Ghana. It has been pouring down rain for a while and I am not sure when it is going to stop. I hope it stops soon because I am hungry and would like to go to lunch.

Progress

This semester I am only teaching one class, Aspects of World History since 1945. The syllabus has already been posted on this blog. The rest of my time I have been filling so far with the task of getting established at the University of Ghana including the necessary paperwork. I feel like I am making a little bit of progress each day which is good.

The Balme Library

Today I got my letter of introduction to the library and explored the halls of Balme for the first time. The library is quite large and has a lot of open space. The collection is geared towards African subjects, but there is a wing of books on Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas.

Syllabus for Aspects of World History since 1945

Aspects of World History since 1945

HIST 418

Spring 2011

Department of History

University of Ghana

J. Otto Pohl, Ph.D.

Office Number: 9

Meeting Time: Friday 3:30-5:25 Jones Quartey Building 09

Course Description:

 This course is a survey course of world history since the end of World War II in 1945. It examines the history of the world from 1945 to 1991 in the context of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. The course will focus on the foreign policies of the US and USSR and their effect on other regions of the world. Among other events the course will cover the reconstruction of Europe after World War II, the Arab-Israeli wars, the Vietnam War, and the emergence of newly independent states in Africa. Within the Soviet – US conflict the course will pay special attention to the socialist emphasis on the collectivization of agriculture versus traditional forms of agriculture. The course will look at the extension of collectivized agriculture influenced by the Soviet model to the Baltic States and Western Ukraine, North Korea, and parts of Africa. The course will also deal extensively with the displacement of large numbers of people due to war and ethnic cleansing and the long term ramifications of such forced migration. In particular the course will look at forced migration in Europe and the Middle East. Other themes we will touch on are economic development, the emergence of international organizations, and the collapse of European colonialism in Asia and Africa.

Requirements:

 The goal of this class is to give students a general frame work of the history of the conflict between the US and USSR and other major international events from 1945 to 1991. Students need to attend class regularly and do the assigned readings. Material from both the readings and the lectures will appear on the final exam. No mobile phones are to be visible during class. They are to be out of sight and turned off. Finally, I have a significant hearing loss and may have to ask people to repeat their questions or statements from time to time. You can minimize this by speaking loudly and clearly. This syllabus is tentative and subject to change.

Readings:

 The readings are taken mainly from two books. These books are Geoffry Hosking, The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Enlarged Edition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993) and Martin Walker, The Cold War: A History (NY: Henry Holt and company, 1993). There are also a number of shorter readings, mostly journal articles. The instructor has copies of all the assigned readings and will make them available to the students. The shorter readings are listed below.

Chong Sik-Lee, “Land Reform, Collectivization and the Peasants in North Korea,” The China Quarterly, No. 14 (April-June 1963), pp. 65-81.

Esber, Rosemarie, “Rewriting the History of 1948: The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Question Revisited,” Holy Land Studies, vol. 4, no. 1 (2005), pp. 55-72).

Hayden, Robert M., “Schindler’s Fate: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and Population Transfers,” Slavic Review, vol. 55, No. 4 (Winter 1996), pp. 727-748.

Khalidi, Rashid, “Observations on the Right of Return,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter 1992), pp. 29-40.

Scott, James C., Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1998).

Statiev, Alexander, “Motivations and Goals of Soviet Deportations in the Western Borderlands,” The Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 28, No. 6 (December 2005), pp. 977-1003.

Ther, Philip, “The Integration of Expellees in Germany and Poland after World War II: A Historical Reassessment,” Slavic Review, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Winter 1996), pp. 779-805.

Grading: The grade for the class will be based upon a mid-term exam and a comprehensive final essay exam at the end of the semester. The mid-term will be worth 30% of the final grade and the final exam will constitute the remaining 70% of the grade.

Class Schedule:


Week one: Introduction and Review of Syllabus


Week two: The US and USSR after World War II and the Start of the Cold War

Read: Hosking, pp. 296-325; Statiev, pp. 977-1003; Walker, pp. 1-28

If possible this week I would like to show the movie Red Terror on the Amber Coast: Soviet Occupation – Lithuanian Resistance 1939-1993 since it covers much of the material in the Hosking and especially the Statiev.

Week three: Europe in the wake of World War II

Read: Hayden, pp. 727-748; Ther 779-805; Walker, pp. 28-58

Week four: Asia and the Middle East in the wake of World War II

Read: Chong Sik-Lee, pp. 65-81; Esber, pp. 55-72; Khalidi, pp. 29-40; Walker, pp. 59-82

Week five: The 1950s: Khrushchev vs. Eisenhower

Read: Hosking, pp. 326-362; Walker, pp. 83-135

Week six: Mid-term examination. The exam is worth 30% of the total grade.

Week seven: The 1960s: Cuba, Vietnam and other Conflict Zones

Read: Walker, pp. 136-206.

Week eight: The USSR during the Era of Stagnation

Read: Hosking, pp. 364-445.

Week nine: The Twilight of the Cold War

Read: Walker, pp. 207-277.

Week ten: “Socialism” and Development in Africa

Read: Scott, pp. 223-261.

Week eleven: The End of the Cold War

Read: Walker, pp. 278-357.

Week twelve: The End of the USSR

Read: Hosking, pp. 446-501.

We are living in the future now I guess

Today I got a University of Ghana e-mail account. This involved a trip to a building that looked normal from the outside, but appeared to be something out of a science fiction movie inside. I was not expecting steam punk, but I was not expecting the 22nd century either. Sometimes I forget that I am now living in what was the distant future when I was a child.

I am back in the classroom again

After a hiatus of ten months I am back in front of a university classroom. I am not sure which song would be better for my victory march, Aerosmith's Back in the Saddle Again or should I be like Megamind and go for AC/DC's Back in Black. The dozen or so readers of this blog can vote for which song they think would be better in the comments below. At any rate my first day teaching at the University of Ghana went well. The students were much more disciplined than most of those I have taught in the past. I did not have any students disturb class by using mobile phones, talking, or engaging in other disruptive behavior. I am told my class has 90 students registered for it, but only about twenty showed up today. My two TAs are absolutely fantastic and have been a great help to me both in assisting my class preparation and adjusting to life in Ghana.

Getting a new sim card

Yesterday I went with one of my TAs outside of campus to get my mobile phone set up for Ghana. I had to get another sim card and register my phone, both of which were free and took only a few minutes. Then I had to buy some time and a new charger. I left my old charger in Kyrgyzstan since it had a Soviet plug and Ghana uses a British plug. I can now call outside Ghana. The market area was about what I expected. Lots of small vendors selling a wide variety of electronics, foods, and other goods. I am going to wander through the market sometime this weekend just to get a feel for it.

A Tale of Two Africas

Watching the news on CNN it is difficult to believe that Egypt and Ghana are on the same planet yet alone the same continent. Of course Africa is a very large, populous and diverse continent so I should not be surprised at radical regional differences. Needless to say I am very happy to be working in Ghana and not Egypt, Tunisia, or Sudan. I have had enough political upheaval for one life time.

Animals in Ghana

I have not been outside of Legon so I have not seen too much wildlife. But, I have observed some large geckos outside my room. Last night I also saw two toads hopping down the path on my way to dinner. Finally, on Friday I noticed that one of the faculty members had a monkey tied up to a tree in front of his house. I am told this is unusual even for eccentric professors.

Egypt and CNN

CNN International has been devoted almost exclusively to the protests in Egypt all week. Despite 24 hour coverage the pundits on CNN have managed to completely avoid any type of real in depth examination of the situation. Missing almost entirely from the news is any serious consideration of the history of modern Egypt. As an historian I would like to think this means there are unexploited job opportunities for the profession. But, I fear all it means is that nobody working at CNN knows or cares about what happened in the past.

Foods of Ghana

I have found the local cuisine in Ghana to be quite tasty. Among the staples are fufu and goat in ground nut soup, okra stew with banku, fried fish with kenkey, and red red. Fufu is made from cassava and plantains and banku  and kenkey are made from fermented maize and cassava. Kenkey is served with a wickedly spicy green sauce. Red red is a dish of beans cooked in palm oil and fried plantains. It is usually served with either fried fish or chicken.

The University of Ghana

The University of Ghana is huge. It takes up the entire city of Legon. I have walked miles and miles past endless white colonial era style buildings without reaching the perimeter of the campus. Fortunately, my current and future lodgings are both near the history department and the library. The history department has a small two story building located next to the English department,  not too far away from the much larger sociology department. My office is on the first floor.

Now in Ghana

I am now in Ghana. I arrived two days ago after a 15 hour flight to Dubai followed by a 12 hour layover and then another 9 hour flight to Accra. It is  hot and humid here, but other than that things are great. I really like the food which is hot and spicy.

Down to the Wire

I finished typing up my two syllabi. I have also got most of my packing done. In a few days I will be in Ghana. Given the continuing litany of horror stories about the academic job market in North America I am very glad to have a job at the University of Ghana. When I get the chance I will record my observations about living and working in Legon on this blog.

Syllabi

Today I am going to try and get my syllabi for Ghana finished. After that I should be ready to start teaching once I get to Legon. Again any suggestions regarding the teaching of world history, teaching big classes or living in Ghana would be greatly appreciated.

Packing

I am now packing for my trip to Ghana in a couple of days. I have never been to Africa before so if anybody has any advice about living in the region please let me know. Also if anybody knows of any blogs dealing with Ghana let me know. In the very near future this blog is going to have a lot more on West Africa and Ghana in particular than it has in the past.

Any Advice on Teaching Large Classes?

Most of the classes I have taught in the past were fairly small. Usually they averaged between 15 and 30 students. The largest class I taught was under 50 students. Next semester I have two classes to teach. One of them will be significantly larger than what I have taught in the past. Does anybody have any advice on teaching large classes? Are there any specific techniques that are better geared towards large classes? Any advice anybody could give me on effectively teaching a large class would be greatly appreciated.

It is warm and sunny

Southern California has been unseasonably warm and sunny the last couple of days. It is hard to believe it is January when it is 80 F outside. I hear it is quite cold right now in Kyrgyzstan.

A Return to Malaise?

Maybe I am just getting old, but it seems like there were a lot more more political leaders in the world with vision in the 1980s than there are today. Back then there was Reagan, Gorbachev, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Kohl, and Pope John Paul II. Today it seems like most world leaders are rather mediocre and lack any type of larger vision. There do not even seem to be any type of visionary opposition figures today. Back in the 1980s there was Walesa, Havel, and Mandela. Who is there today? Sometimes I think we are returning to the malaise of the 1970s. I hope I can regain my optimism about humanity once I get to Africa. Does anybody else feel there is a general lack of political leadership in the world or is it just me?

Last Week in the US

This is my last week in the US before going to Ghana. I have finished most of my preparations for the trip. Yesterday I got my anti-malaria drugs from the pharmacy. I still have to go buy mosquito repellent.

I got a little bit more written on my book manuscript last night. It is now up to 140 pages double spaced. I am thinking of a provisional title of Russian-Germans in Kazakhstan and Central Asia: A Century of Prosperity, Persecution and Perseverance. But, I am open to suggestions that would point to its emphasis on the life of the nationality in Kyrgyzstan.

I have two syllabi on world history to write up this week. I have been working on them since I arrived in California. But, I still have to type them up.

The food in California is definitely different than in Bishkek. Despite an absence of two years, the best fast food burger both in quality and value for the money is still In and Out Burger. I have yet to find anything comparable in any foreign country.

Getting Ready to Go to Ghana

I now have all my immunizations, my visa, and my airplane ticket for Ghana. I also have classes to teach. I am very excited about starting this new job.

Teaching History

If everything goes as planned I will start teaching history as opposed to politics at the end of January. One of the many advantages history has over disciplines like IR and various "studies" is that its basic methodology lends itself to clarity rather than obfuscation. Instead of focusing on abstract theories history anchors itself in a coherent narrative of what we think happened in the past on the basis of the best available evidence. This also makes history generally less pretentious than a lot of other academic subjects. We do not pretend to be a science like political science, sociology or economics. History is instead a craft like fine cooking or boat building.

Invitation to my Readers

I do not get very many comments so I am not exactly sure who reads this blog. It would be interesting to know something about my small audience. So now is an opportunity to introduce yourself in the comments in order to improve my blogging in 2011. Please introduce or reintroduce yourself and tell me what you would like to see more of in this blog.

Happy New Year

I am hoping that 2011 is less stressful for me than 2010. I am also hoping that my academic career can now flourish at my new place of employment, the University of Ghana. Getting the job in Ghana is the second best thing that happened to me in an otherwise very bad 2010. The best thing to happen to me in 2010 of course was the birth of my daughter Mary Lynn. It is actually the best thing to ever happen to me. Unfortunately, I will be physically separated from her and her mother for the time being. I hope to be able to rectify this sooner rather than later.

Imagination and Emancipation

Among other things I am currently reading John Lewis Gaddis The Cold War: A Short History (NY: Penguin, 2005). He notes that both Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan had been actors and that their ability to imagine and dramatize an alternative to the status quo helped lead to the end of the Cold War (pp. 192-197). This is close to an idea I have been mulling over for a while. But, one which is certainly not new with me. I have become convinced that the most important step in the successful construction of civil society is for citizens to view themselves as free men responsible for their own future. Unfortunately, I do not think that this emancipation from mental slavery has yet occurred in much of the former Soviet Union. In fact I believe it is actually historically too late for a number of former republics of the USSR to ever develop this mind set. The struggle for liberation has to come before actual independence not decades later.