Faculty Profile
Jeremy Ball
(he/him/his)Associate Professor of History (2005)
Contact Information
Denny Hall Room 109
717-254-8191
Bio
He teaches courses in African political and ecological history, apartheid, the Atlantic slave trade, and human rights. His research focuses on the labor and business history of Angola, Portuguese colonialism, and oral history.
Education
- B.A., Boston College, 1994
- M.A., Yale University, 1998
- Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 2003
2025-2026 Academic Year
Fall 2025
AFST 170 African Civilizations to 1850
Cross-listed with HIST 170-01.
HIST 170 African Civilizations to 1850
Cross-listed with AFST 170-01.
AFST 220 The Rise and Fall of Apartheid
Cross-listed with HIST 274-01.
The peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s was widely hailed as the "South African Miracle." This course asks why such a transition should be considered miraculous. In order to answer our question, we will begin with South African independence from Britain in 1910 and study the evolution of legalized segregation and the introduction in 1948 of apartheid. After reviewing opposition movements we will move to a discussion of the demise of apartheid and the negotiated political order that took its place. We will examine the machinery and the deliberations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and debate its accomplishments. The course ends with an examination of memory and history.
HIST 274 The Rise and Fall of Apartheid
Cross-listed with HIST 274-01.