Courses in African Studies
FR 016 My (Hi)Story, Myself: (Post)Colonial Perspectives in Film
In this course we will analyze the impact of French colonization on the
peoples of Africa and North Africa during the colonial and the post-colonial
eras through films made by French, "Beur", North African, and
African filmmakers. We will discuss the different ways in which colonization
is denounced, colonial and post-colonial subjects are represented, and
identities are (re)constructed. Specific issues may include: the colonizer
vs. the colonized; images of war; memory vs. reality; past vs. present;
tradition versus modernity; males vs. females.Taught in French. ( FR 205).
OTH (Ms. Crouzières)
FR 392 Denunciation and Literature: the Awakening of the Maghreb
This course will focus
on main works wrtten by Maghrebian writers from Algeria, Morocco, and
France. We will analyze the ways in which these authors denounce and even
attack the fundamental valuesof Arabo-Muslim societies by criticizing
their fathers from familial, political, religious, and spiritual points
of view.We will place the various denounciation processes and the different
literary mechanisms in a historical, colonial, and post-colonial context.
(Ms. Crouzières)
FR/WG 395 Women's Voices from the Francophone World
This course will study
women’s discourse in novels and short stories from the Francophone world:
North-Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Québec. We will examine
the emergence of a literary corpus by Francophone writers outside Europe
and their writing processes. We will consider the ways in which gender
is constructed and presented in analyzed texts. Specific issues that will
be addressed include: marriage, family, polygamy, love, confinement, education,
politics, social class, and identity.
(Ms. Crouzières)
FR 396 (Re)Constructing Identities: Francophone Colonial and Postcolonial Fiction
This course will focus
on major works written in French by writers from North Africa, sub-Saharan
Africa, and the Caribbean. We will explore the complex (re)construction
of identities through fiction writing as it evolves from traditional folktale
to political criticism, and as it shifts from colonial alienation to post-colonial
disillusionment. We will also examine the emergence of cultural blending
or "métissage". (FR 220 or FR 221)
OTH (Ms. Crouzières)
HI 0xx Proposed
January-term course
(Mr. Tropp)
HI 225History of Africa to 1800
This course offers
an introductory survey of African history from earliest times to 1800.Through
lectures, discussions, readings, and films, we will explore Africa's complex
and diverse pre-colonial past.Themes examined in the course include the
development of long-distance trade networks, linkages between ecological
change and social dynamics, the formation of large pre-colonial states,
and the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on social and economic
relations within Africa.A broader concern in the course is how we have
come to understand the meaning of "Africa" itself and what is
at stake in interpreting Africa's pre-colonial history.
(Mr. Tropp)
HI 226 Modern Africa
We begin looking at
revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding
the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent,
exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects
on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations,
ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After
exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices
and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition
to independence and the post-colonial era, including the experience of
neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.
HIS SOC OTH (Mr. Tropp)
HI 420 Women and Gender in African History
This course will look
at the challenges of understanding women's experiences and the role of
gender in Africa's past.As the course explores theoretical, methodological,
and intrepretive dimensions of these subjects, we will read from a wide
variety of disciplinary perspectives and literary forms, including ethnographies,
life histories, and fiction.Some of the themes to be covered are changes
in patriarchy and women's status in the pre-colonial period, the gendered
impact of colonial rule on local African economies and ecologies, historical
identities of masculinity and femininity, post-colonial "development"
and its gendered experience, and the complexities of utlizing oral and
written historical sources.Prior experience in African history is not
required.
(Mr. Tropp)
HI 419 Readings in African History
This seminar will
explore the history of human-environmental interaction on the African
continent. The course examines how scholars have begun unraveling dominant
historical understandings of African landscapes, cultures, and precolonial
ecologies. A major portion of the course looks at how colonial relations
shaped conflicts over environmental control and ecological change and
the legacies of such dynamics in the postcolonial era. Readings on gender
relations, urban environmental change, and the evolution of development
thinking will be the focus of class discussions on new ways of interpreting
African social and environmental change.
(Mr. Tropp)
HI 456 Writing and Research: African History
This seminar is designed
to serve the needs of students interested in pursuing research topics
that deal with Africa.The course emphasizes methodological strategies,
the interpretation of source materials, historiographical trends, and
research and writing techniques.After consulting with the instructor,
students will write and submit a research paper on a topic of their choice
concerning the African past.
(Mr. Tropp)
MU 238 Music and Performance in Africa
This course will introduce
students to the diverse musical traditions of sub-Saharan Africa. Using
recent literature in ethnomusicology, we will study examples of musical
performance in specific cultural groups, including the Zulu, Shona, Venda,
BaAka, Mande, and Yoruba. We will explore the diversity in performance
practice, style and aesthetics, and examine issues that affect rural and
urban residents today, such as the role and status of musicians in society,
and the impact of nationalism on local music. Sources for information
will include ethnographic literature, audio and video recordings, visiting
performers, and performance workshops.
ART SOC OTH (Ms. Post)
RE 049 Egypt:
The Search for Identity
Egypt, the first country to embark on modernization in the Middle East,
continues to exert a huge cultural influence on the Arabic and Islamic
worlds.Studying the cultural and religious developments in Egypt will
thus greatly enhance our understanding of the debates in Arabo-Islamic
countries.After a brief survey of Egyptian political history, the course
will concentrate on the intellectual and religious debates that have raged
among prominent Egyptian thinkers.Topics to be covered include: the liberal
movement, nationalism and colonization, reform ulama, the Society of Muslim
Brothers, radical Muslim movements, and development and democratization.
PHL OTH(Mr. Saleh)
SA 0xx (January
term 2002)Introduction to Swahili
(Mr. Sheridan)
SA 332 Peoples
and Cultures of Africa
A comparative introduction to contemporary Africa from an anthropological
and ethnographic perspective. Through case studies, we will consider practices
of the body and self in which judgment is founded and through which social
relations are experienced and understood. We will examine how these shape
and express changing systems of exchange and forms of community and society.
We will situate voices at the center of social life, studying oral performance,
music and dance, and the printed or digitized word as cultural commentary.
Finally, we will explore emergent domains of politics, studying local
and geopolitical dimensions of social movements in contexts of ethnic
fluidity and diversity, transnational migration, ecological stress, violence,
and reconciliation.
SOC OTH (Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Eaton)
SA & IS/ES
xxxAfrica: environment and society
(proposed for fall 2002)
How do African societies
create, define, and resolve environmental problems?How do contrasting
imaginations of the natural world, varying modes of production and governance,
and diverse sciences combine to shape African environmental issues at
local, national, and international levels?To answer these questions, case
studies in this course will consider social histories of environmental
practice, changing ecological dimensions of health and affliction, stakes
and dilemmas of conservation, and a range of struggles over natural resources.By
situating these in long-term trends in transformations of African environments,
we will identify problems of natural orders which are emerging as vital
to sustainable communities in the first decades of the twenty-first century
(Mr. Eaton)
Other related courses
EC 031The Economics of War and Famine (J term)
This
course will focus on the strategies for generating and sustaining economic
development in developing countries in the context of two major crises:
wars and famines. The first part of the course will focus on an economic
analysis of famines. We will examine economic explanations for famine,
theories on the prevention of famine, and strategies for famine recovery.The
second part of the course will focus on the unique challenges associated
with achieving economic recovery in societies emerging from military conflict.
We will examine the economic distortions caused by war and the emerging
body of literature on the challenges of reconstruction and economic reform
in post-conflict societies.
(Mr. Kelly)
A significant proportion of course materials refer to African societies.
EC xxx Environment and Development
This course will examine
the relationship between economic development and the environment in developing
countries.The course will use rigorous economic and environmental analysis,
as well as insights from political science and anthropology, to examine
a number of the key environmental issues which confront policy makers
in the regions.Topics to be covered include: sustainability, biodiversity
loss, trade and the environment, population and the environment, poverty
and the environment, and deforestation.: normal'>Course materials to focus
on Africa and Latin America.
(Mr. Kelly)
EC 465 Special
Topics in Environmental Economics
This seminar explores
in detail selected topics that involve critical environmental and economic
decision-making. Methods of environmental economics and environmental
valuation are examined in order to facilitate this in-depth study. The
current course looks at three topics that lie at the center of current
environmental policy debates, including global warming, trade and the
environment, and sustainable development. Each topic is considered from
a theoretical and policy perspective and from the standpoint of both developing
and developed countries. Within each topic area, the role that economics
can play in informing and designing environmental policy is investigated.
(EC 255) (Mr. Isham)
Includes significant course materials on questions of trade, environment,
and commons management and governance in African societies.Open possibilities
for student focus and research on African issues.Professor Isham served
as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin before his recent work with the World
Bank and doctoral research on social capital and development in Tanzania.
GG 210 Geography of Development
The focus of this
course is Third World development. We will examine why there has been
a need for "development;" what is the relationship of "development"
to "underdevelopment;" and whether this relationship has resulted
in dependence, independence, or interdependence. We will focus on the
contribution of development to progress of the LDCs, on the one hand,
and to its stagnation, on the other. We will examine specific issues like
food, population, the environment, the rural scene, the urban scene, and
the general political and economic scenes. We will question the underlying
assumptions of development, examine the role and the possibilities of
development from within, and maintain a critical view of Westerndevelopment.
SOC OTH (Tamar Mayer)
Many of the readings for this course address Africa specifically. There
is also a research paper the topic of which student's are free to choose
for themselves.
GG 410 Seminar in Geography of Development:Women in Development
This course includes significant African materials.
HI 105 The Atlantic
World: 1492-1900
Linking the Americas
with Europe and Africa, the Atlantic has been a major conduit for the
movement of peoples, goods, diseases, and cultures. This course will explore
specific examples of transatlantic interchange, from imperialism and the
slave trade to religious movements, consumerism and the rise of national
consciousness. It will adopt a broad comparative perspective, ranging
across regional, national, and ethnic boundaries. We will consider the
varied experiences of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans as they
struggled to establish their own identities within a rapidly changing
Atlantic world.
HIS SOC OTH(Mr. Monod, Mr. Davis)
HI222Historical Approaches to Environmental Studies(working title)
A core course for
Environmental Studies students which will rely heavily on materials from
Africa, as well as from Asia and the Americas.To be taught every other
year.
(Mr. Tropp)
HI 371 African American History* spring 2001 *
This course will explore
the history of the African American people from the slave trade to the
present. It will examine the process of enslavement, the nature of American
slavery, the meaning of emancipation, the response to the rise of legalized
segregation, and the modern struggle for equality. Special attention will
be given to placing the African American story within the context of the
developing American nation, its institutions, and its culture.
HIS USA (Mr. Hart)
MU 066 The History of The American Negro Spiritual and Its Influence On Western Civilization (J term)
This course will survey in broad terms the gathering of indigenous African
peoples from numerous tribes and countries for the New World 'Slave trade'
and its impact on the burgeoning economies. We will discuss the role of
religion and music in controlling and focusing the slave population in
the agrarian economy. Influences, changes and trends will be discussed
and compared to modern technologies. The role of universities and churches
will be discussed. (Specifically the Fisk Jubilee Singers and other university
choirs.) Further development will center on how gospel music came out
of this tradition and how the two are inter-involved in today's church.
The lives of abolitionists and their legacy will be reviewed. Singers
and non-singer will be welcome. During the month of January, participants
will be encouraged to attend the regular Tuesday and Thursday evening
chorus rehearsals to put our classroom theory into practice.
ART USA (Mr. Clemmons)
MU 105Introduction to World Music
This is an introductory ethnomusicology course designed to introduce you
to music in selected world cultures. We will focus on the role that music
plays in the lives of musicians and their supporting communities in four
geographic regions: South Asia, Africa (and the African diaspora), Australia,
and New England. You will also have opportunities to explore music of
other cultures through class assignments. To gain the broadest possible
view of how and why people make music in each culture, our sources will
include readings, audio and video recordings, web resources, in-class
performances, concerts, and fieldwork. (Open to first-year students and
sophomores.)
ART SOC OTH (Ms. Post)
Includes four weeks of study of west, central and southern Africa and
the African diaspora.
MU 280Music, Gender and Performance
This
course will devote a large portion of the curriculum (more than half the
class) to gender issues and representation ofwomen and men in the music
of African Americans (specifically with focus on the blues and hip hop),
West Africa (especially Mali), and North Africa (Algeria and possibly
Egypt).
(Ms. Post)
MU 282 Songs and Social Movements
This
course focuses for at least two weeks on the civil rights movement, two
weeks on apartheid in South Africa and a week on the liberation movement
in Zimbabwe.
(Ms. Post)
PS 103 Introduction to Comparative Politics
An introduction to the comparative study of political systems and to the
logic of comparative inquiry. How are different political systems created
and organized? How do they change? Why are some democratic and others
authoritarian? Why are some rich and others poor? Other topics covered
in this course include nationalism and political ideologies, forms of
representation, the relationship between state institutions and civil
society, and development strategies. In this course students will also
learn how to describe, classify, compare, and evaluate governments using
modern library and computer-based research methods.
SOC (Mr. Rosenberg, Mr. Bleich)
PS 230Comparative Development Strategies
Why
have some countries developed more rapidly than others?What do we mean
by "development"?How can government help or hinder development
prospects?These broad questions are addressed by analyzing the development
experiences of Asian, Latin American, and African countries.The course
focuses particularly on what governments have done to try to accelerate
the development process.To gain a historical perspective, the course begins
with a brief consideration of the experiences of the now 'developed' countries,
followed by an examination of how different countries have confronted
the dilemmas of development of the 20th century.
SOC OTH (Mr. Cason)
RE 150 The Islamic Tradition
A
historical and thematic introduction to the Islamic tradition and the
worldwide Muslim community. Stressing sources, doctrines, practices, institutions,
and modes of expression, topics will include: the life and times of Prophet
Muhammad; the Qur'an, Islam's scripture; the division between the two
major sects, Sunni and Shi'a; the formation of the traditions of Hadith
and Shariah; Sunni schools of law and theology; diversity in Islamic faith
and practice; and Islam in the West.
PHL OTH (Mr. Saleh)
RE/WG 259 Women in Islam
This
course offers a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective on the lives
of women in Muslim countries. It starts with an examination of the status
and rights of women in the classical tradition: the Qur'an, prophetic
tradition, literature, and the Shari'ah. The course then traces the history
of the modern feminist movement in Muslim countries and the current debate
on women's rights in Islam. The issues covered include: sex segregation
and veiling, education and work, legal reforms and their (in)effectiveness,
and fundamentalism and the rise of Islamic feminism. The material for
discussion includes novels, films, and documentaries.
PHL OTH (Mr. Saleh)
SA 355 Race and Ethnicity
Ethnicity
and race are social phenomena that influence group relations, as well
as personal identity in many areas of the world. But what is "ethnicity"
and what is "race"? This course introduces students to the varied
approaches that have been utilized to understand racial and ethnic phenomena.
No single approach to ethnicity is all-inclusive, for ethnic phenomena
are multifaceted. We will explore several approaches in this course, including
analyses of conflict and competition between groups; examinations of the
connections among ethnicity, gender, and class; and considerations of
the relationships between personal identity and ethnic role.
SOC (Mr. Levy)
SA 360 Development and Globalization: 1944-1998
This
course analyzes the rise of the "development" and "globalization"
projects in the post-war era. In the 1950s, "development" emerged
as a code-word for building modern industrial societies and states in
the former western colonies of the "Third World" and in the
former agrarian empires of Russia and Asia. Since the 1980s, however,
the project of developing the new states along national lines has been
largely abandoned in favor of the project of "globalization,"
which aims to create an administrative, legal and political framework
for further integrating and managing the world-system as a single economic
entity. We will examine this shift by comparing processes of social change
in several regions of the non-Western world, including East Asia, Sub-Saharan
Africa, and the former Soviet Union. Particular attention will be paid
to how changes in the "Western core" of the world system have
interacted with regional processes of social change, such as the decline
and collapse of Soviet socialism, to shape the emergence of the globalization
project. We will conclude with a critical survey of the many social, economic,
political and ecological problems plaguing the globalization project on
the eve of the twenty-first century.3 hrs. lect./disc. (SA 105 or SA 103
or any Economics course of any Geography course; GG 210 recommended.)
Limited places available for students to satisfy the College writing requirement.
(Mr. Garcelon)
Last updated 05/28/01