African Studies

This course offers an introduction to key thinkers, moments, and movements from Francophone Africa and the African diaspora (including the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and France). It provides a diachronic survey focusing on selective figures and their main texts which have been shaping the cultural, social, and political imagination of/on Africa and the African diaspora until today. Focal points include the Négritude movement; anti-colonialism, Pan-Africanism, and independence; and contemporary postcolonial critique as well as current emancipatory thinking, comprising notions such as "Postcolony", "Necropolitics", "Afropolitanism", "Afrotopia", "Afrodystopia", and "Universality". These mostly Africa-centered conceptualizations will be read alongside influential thought produced in the larger African diaspora and Afro-descendant context outside the Continent, addressing three geographical and cultural contexts: the Francophone Caribbean, with "Antillanité", "Créolité" and "Relation"; the Francophone Indian Ocean Islands with "Creolization" and "Liquid Africa"; and France with critical debates around "Francophonie", "Afropeanism", and "heritage restoration". DP requirements: At least 80% of attendance at lectures and tutorials; completion and timeous submission of all assignments. Assessment: Continuous assessment (essays, projects, tests, etc.) counts 100%.

The course enables students with no prior knowledge of Afrikaans to develop a basic competency in the language, which is required for basic daily interactions. Afrikaans grammar is taught within context, appropriate vocabulary is systematically expanded, and a variety of relevant written and oral activities are provided to facilitate comprehension. DP requirements: At least 75% attendance at lectures; completion of all assignments and tests. Assessment: One two-hour examination in June or October/November counts for 40% of the final mark; an oral examination counts for 20%; the semester coursework counts for the remaining 40%.

This course increases awareness of the relevance of gender issues to their lives and developing a critical understanding of the multiple and contested meanings of gender in contemporary African and international contexts. It introduces key concepts concerning gender and sexuality, culture and identity, context and the dynamics of masculinity and femininity. It explores connections between gender, ‘race’, class, generation, and location and draws on a number of different resource materials: including visual materials such as documentaries, film and media, art. DP requirements: Students are expected to attend all classes, and to submit all required assignments by deadlines identified in the course curriculum. Assessment: Continuous assessment (essays, projects, tests, etc.) counts 100%.

This course provides students with an overview of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as it affected societies in West Africa and the New World, from the 16th century to the early 19th century. The course is taught thematically, so that major themes are interrelated in both social and political history on both sides of the Atlantic. In Africa we look especially at Angola, Dahomey, the Gold Coast, Kongo and Senegambia while in the New World there is a focus on Barbados, Brazil, Haiti, and Jamaica. Finally, the course will also consider the impact of this history in Europe through discussions of the rise of consumer societies and the relationship between this and the Abolition movement. By the end of the course, students will have enhanced their critical understanding of this major historical event and will have developed detailed knowledge of specific case studies which sharpen this knowledge.