Course Atlas for Spring 2009

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AFS 221: The Making of Modern Africa

SAME AS HIST 221

TR, 10:00 - 11:15 am, McCullers

Content: This course traces the incorporation of Africa into an expanding world economy from the middle of the 19th century to the present. It examines the impact of this incorporation on the development of African societies and modern nation states and the important trends and events in the past 150 years. The course is designed to provide an understanding of the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that have shaped Africa in the modern period and continue to affect the lives of people throughout the continent. During the semester we will examine a variety of sources, which will enable us to draw our own conclusions regarding the nature of the African past.

Texts: 1. Amadhu Boahen, African Perspectives on Colonialism 2. Frederick Cooper, Africa Since 1940 3. Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth 4. Peter Godwin, Mukiwa: White Boy in Africa 5.Philip Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow that We will be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda 6. Adam Hochschild; King Leopold's Ghost 7. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Devil on the Cross

Particulars: There will be two in-class exams, a midterm and a final. There will be three map quizzes and four one page response papers. Students will also write one 8-page paper on a historical novel or memoir.

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AFS 367: The Making of South Africa

SAME AS HIST 367

TR, 1:00 - 2:15 pm, Crais

Content: South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 marked one of the most momentous historical watersheds in the twentieth century. Just a few years earlier, amidst widespread resistance and state repression, few imagined that Nelson Mandela would become president. South Africans now enjoy one of the world's most progressive constitutions, racist apartheid legislation has been consigned to the dustbin of history, and all South Africans are now citizens of their own country. At the same time, South Africa faces a catastrophic HIV/AID pandemic, extraordinary poverty and inequality, and persistent patterns of violence. South Africa's political miracle seems increasingly in question. This course offers an introductory but in-depth history of this complex part of the world. In addition to lectures and films, we will read selected primary sources and secondary materials.

Texts: 1. Ashford, Madumo: Man Bewitched 2. Biko, I Write What I Like 3. Mandela, No Easy Walk to Freedom 4. Mda, Heart of Redness 5. Wicomb, David's Story 6. Worden, Making of Modern South Africa

Particulars: Mid-Term, Final, short responses, one paper.

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AFS 389: Special Topics in African Studies : African Art & Architecture After 1500

TR, 10:00 - 11:15 am, Kasfir

Content: This course introduces students to the visual and performative arts of West Africa with primary emphasis on sculpture, leadership arts, vernacular architecture and arts of the body. The time frame extends from the 9th c ACE to the present, though most of the forms we will study originated prior to the 20th c and have undergone varying degrees of transformation under colonialism . The first part of the course will examine the development of artisanship in iron, terracotta and bronze in Nigeria from 500 BCE to the end of the nineteenth century. The second part will consist of five case studies of art in contrasting cultural and environmental settings in Nigeria, Mali, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone/Liberia . We will see several films or videotapes of performances, enactments or processes (eg, forging iron, brasscasting) There will be a Blackboard website of representative images for study purposes and a discussion board.

Texts: Library and online readings, others TBA.

Particulars: TBA

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AFS 389: Special Topics in African Studies : Slavery in Western History

SAME AS HIST 285 , ANT 385

MWF, 9:35 - 10:25 am, Domingues da Silva

Content: Slavery was one of the most enduring social relationships in human history. It took several forms in different places and across time. However, slavery played a crucial role in western history, helping shape thereby the past of many societies today. This course will explore the development of slavery in the Western World up to the dawn of the 21st century. It will survey current knowledge about slavery, and introduce students to new perspectives on this contentious subject.

Texts: Readings for this course will consist in a variety of texts, mostly on E-Reserves, including illustrations, letters, narratives of slaves' experiences, and historians'analyzes of past events, people or societies. Students will purchase at least one book.

Particulars: Participation is crucial, facilitated by debates and discussions in class, in addition to four reaction papers to the course's topics. The course also includes a mid-term exam and a final essay. Participation will count for 30% of the final grade; the reaction papers 20%; and the mid-term exam and the final essay, 25% each.

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AFS 389: Special Topics in African Studies : Political Economy of African Development

SAME AS POLS 385

TR, 11:30 am - 12:45 pm, Streeb

Content: A discussion of development in Sub-Saharan Africa frequently begins with the question: Why has Africa fallen behind? Too often the critics of African development fail to address questions such as: Which other regions in the world suffered the ravages of the slave trade? or, chafed under colonial rule well into the 20th Century? or, witnessed their natural resources extracted by the developed powers? This course will seek to address these and questions regarding development in Sub-Saharan Africa by examining the ways in which African economies have evolved from their colonial legacy, only to be buffeted again by the Cold War. While Africa's current situation cannot be properly understood outside the historical perspective, most of the semester will be devoted to contemporary issues in Africa (HIV/AIDS, growth of cities, education reforms, drought, democratic governance). The basic question: Why are some countries succeeding and others failing? will be addressed through the study of the experience of selected countries with differing colonial legacies and representative of the several geographic/political regions of Africa. The instructor will provide practical examples from his thirty years of experience in the Foreign Service, which included tours in Mexico, India, and the United Nations and as US ambassador to Zambia. In addition he served ten years at The Carter Center as the first director of the Global Development Initiative and then as director of peace programs.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Two quizzes (20% each), Final Exam (30%), 10-page term paper (20%) and attendance and classroom participation (10%)

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AFS 389: Special Topics in African Studies : Violent Transformations in African States

TR, 10:00 - 11:15 am, Kabamba

Content: Key debates have shaped the study of Africa in the post-colonial scholarship. The class will give inside views of these debates. Many of these debates are ignored by the conventional Eurocentric narratives on Africa. The course will cover the following debates: (1) history before external impact; (2) agency and responsibility in different kinds of slave trade; (3) state formation (long distance trade, slavery, colonialism); (4) colonialism; (5) undervedelopment (colonialism, Pan-Africanism and globalization); (6) nationalism and the anti-colonial struggle; (7) citizenship and political violence in the post-colony.

Texts: W.E.B. Du Bois, The World and Africa, Cheik Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization, Samir Amin, Eurocentrism, Edward Said, Orientalism, J.F. Ade Ajayi, Tradition and Change in Africa, J.H. Speke, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, Patrick Manning, Themes in West Africa s History, Ehud R. Toledano, The Ottoman Slave Trade and Its Suppression, J.F. Inikori, Forced Migration, Carolyn Hamilton, The Mfecane Aftermath&, Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject, Ifi Amadiume, Male Daughters, Female Husbands, Oyeronke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women, Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers

Particulars: Students will be required to write two essays, each 8 to 10 pages length, in the course of the semester. Students will also be required to lead discussion at least once during the semester. Every student will be expected to write a full page on the readings every week and e-mail it to the instructor a day before the class meets. Grades: Two written essays (2 x 30% = 60), participation (15%), Weekly posting (10%), class presentation (15%)

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AFS 389S: Special Topics in African Studies : Gender & Human Rights in Post-Conflict Societies

SAME AS WS 475S

W, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, Scully

Content: This upper-level seminar will focus on societies in conflict and post-conflict through attention to the experiences of women and men. We will focus on contemporary Africa. We will analyze what a gendered analysis of violence and justice does to our understanding of conflict/post-conflict and reconstruction after civil war. We will also look at how men and women understand security and politics, and how this might help us develop new ways to build peace. We will read articles, books, and UN documents attending to peace and security.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: TBA

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AFS 389SWR: Special Topics in African Studies : Junior Seminar: Development Issues in Africa

SAME AS ECON 390SWR

TR, 2:30 - 3:45 pm, Streeb

Content: The course is designed to provide students the opportunity to explore issues in economic development viewed from the perspective of Sub-Saharan Africa; a central theme is the search for the answer to the frequently asked question:  Is Africa being 'left behind'? Classes will be a mixture of the basics of economic development and discussion of contemporary issues as presented in the readings. The context for both will be the similarities and diversities in the country experiences with economic, political and social change in Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Botswana's record of growth to Nigeria's failure to improve human development despite its riches in oil and gas. The course is conducted in a seminar setting; accordingly, students will be expected to read the material listed in the syllabus, and, as needed, research specific topics in greater depth. Audio/video materials drawn from African media and documentary films will supplement classroom discussions. The instructor will provide practical examples from his thirty years of experience in the Foreign Service, which included tours in Mexico, India, and the United Nations and as ambassador to Zambia. In addition he served ten years at The Carter Center as the first director of the Global Development Initiative and then as director of peace programs with an extensive portfolio of programs throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: Prerequisites - Economics 101 and Economics 112, or consent of instructor.

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AFS 490SWR: Senior Seminar in African Studies

F, 11:00am - 2:00 pm, Bay

Content: The Senior Seminar is required of African Studies majors and open by permission to students with deep backgrounds and strong interests in African studies. It is a problem/theme-oriented course that approaches a question from multiple disciplinary viewpoints. The question considered in spring 2009 will be food, which will be our focus for the first several weeks of the semester. Students will read and discuss the research theme, analyze treatments and approaches to it, and then develop an individual research project based on their own interests, not necessarily associated with the theme of the semester. The final product will be a major paper based on research, ideally in primary materials.

Texts: TBA

Particulars: TBA

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