Africa’s history was for centuries shaped by the relative abundance of land and a shortage of labor, but that relationship is changing radically. This is only one of many major transformations that took place on the African continent since World War II. This presentation offers some thoughts on how Africa’s history was shaped by a combination of local factors and global trends. It argues that one has to look not only at major economic, political and social issues but also at the way Africa is talked about and the way the people that it has given to the rest of the world are talked about in order to grasp these transformations.
Andreas Eckert is Professor of African History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and has been leading the IKG Work and Human Life Cycle in Global History (re:work) research center since 2009.
