African Studies

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program in History and Oriental Studies. The course is intended for advanced levels students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course focuses on neoliberal political economy and its social impacts on local contexts. Emphasis is placed on a critical approach to the aid industry as a key issue for understanding global governance processes. Students create a research project and bibliography autonomously on a topic related to the course. Since the end of the cold war and the triumph of a neoliberal order, Africa has faced a huge number of conflicts and devastating social effects. Starting with the analysis of selected ethnographic cases (Congo, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leon, etc.), the first part of the course explores the etiology of contemporary African wars focusing on the link between local violence and global economic and political processes. Special attention is placed on the relationship between youth and war and the social imaginary. The course explores topics including neoliberalism and inequality, the African State, globalization in Africa, African conflicts, war economy, young people and children in Africa, witchcraft in contemporary Africa, and development enterprise. The course includes traditional lectures and group discussions. The instructor focuses on the general topics in order to introduce the various scholarly debates. Specific examples are discussed in order to give a concrete idea of the different topics. Students are encouraged to work autonomously, comment, and ask questions. The course includes visual resources (i.e. documentaries, maps and photos).

The course is designed to equip students with experience, knowledge, and skills for succeeding in globally interdependent and culturally diverse workplaces. During the course, students are challenged to question, reflect upon, and respond thoughtfully to the issues they observe and encounter in the internship setting and local host environment. Professional and personal development skills as defined by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), such as critical thinking, teamwork, and diversity are cultivated. Assignments focus on building a portfolio that highlights those competencies and their application to workplace skills. The hybrid nature of the course allows students to develop their skills in a self-paced environment with face-to-face meetings and check-ins to frame their intercultural internship experience. Students complete 45 hours of in-person and asynchronous online learning activities and 225-300 hours at the internship placement.

This course offers rich insights on important issues in international politics: threats to international peace and security, humanitarian crises, and armed conflict prevention and management. Beyond these particular crises, the course examines the changing power relations among states at the global scale. It considers complex forms of political decision-making and social monitoring, involving a diverse group of actors: politicians, national and international bureaucrats, diplomats, militaries, rebels, investors, business(wo)men, consultants, activists, scientists, artists, journalists, etc. The course examines how the multidimensional interactions these actors entertain locally or in faraway headquarters blur the divide between the intervenors on one side and local actors and host governments on the other.

This course explores cultures of the French-speaking countries of the south (Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa), in their plural identities and their universes of reference, in order to better understand them. It studies literary texts and the analysis of films and audiovisual documentaries. Writers from these French-speaking countries accompany readers in discovering the other through literary strategies that prepare for the reception of difference. The course offers readings that will be like intercultural adventures in which the literary technique of the child narrator-character is decisive.

The course provides an overview of Africa's historical, cultural, and societal development. Themes like precolonial societies and livelihoods, the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism, independence, and postcolonial transformations are described with the help of anthropological, archaeological, and historical approaches and insights. Teaching is composed of lectures, seminars, group exercises, film screenings, and study visits.

This course overviews the challenges and opportunities for the international community in contemporary Africa. Taught by a former ambassador with wide Africa experience, the course exposes students to the major themes in the world’s interactions with Africa, including humanitarian intervention, economic opportunity, struggles against terrorism and instability, and great power competition. The course is intended for future practitioners in diplomacy, business, or media with an interest in Africa, and more widely for those seeking to understand global engagement with a great continent.