African Studies

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.

This is a special studies course with projects arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific topics of study vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. The number of units varies with the student's project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student's special study project form.

This course explores the geopolitical past, present, and future of African foreign policy and international relations. Through the complex analysis of African's geopolitical policy regime, it considers how the country's geography supports and complicates its political role and status in the global community. Furthermore, through analyzing international development policy in the region, the course explores how exploitation, war, and regional instability continue to lead to unfortunate political, economic, and social consequences.

The course explores debates and approaches to the study of economic history in Africa, placing South Africa's economic history within the context of the continent as a whole. It examines the economic legacies of colonialism, and the place of institutions in the growth and development of the continent. Using comparisons between different regions and countries, this course investigates why countries which are resource rich have not been able to use these resources to improve living standards and encourage broad-based economic development. It also examines the roles international business and labor have played in the economic history of individual countries. Finally, the course tracks the changing place of Africa in the global economy. Course entry requirements: At least two courses in historical, social science or cultural studies offered by the Faculty of Humanities.

This course develops an understanding of key concepts and theories related to climate issues, sustainability, and environmental governance in Africa. It debates climate adaptation and mitigation, sustainable development, and governing the environment, and discusses specific African cases related to climate-smart interventions, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and governance initiatives related to biodiversity conservation and rural development. The course examines key actors in Africa's development and the roles they play in responding to the climate crisis, in sustainability, and in governing natural resources. It discusses relevant questions concerning the relationship between climate, scarcity, and abundance; internationally-driven, climate-smart initiatives in Africa related to the role of state, market, and civil society; and the impacts and coping strategies related to implementing the SDGs in Africa. The course consists of a combination of lectures and workshop-like activities with active student participation and presentations by a number of external lecturers, including guests from the private sector, NGOs, and researchers. This version of the course is worth 6 quarter UC units and assessment consists of a written paper on a topic of the student's own choosing comprising 24,000-28,800 characters.

How do our unconscious biases impact the way we view people within the African Diaspora? This course explores intersectional inequalities of citizenship and the politics of Belonging and how our unconscious biases impact the way we view (Black) Africans and people within the African Diaspora. The relationship between migration, social cohesion, and national German identity has become an increasingly contentious political issue. Historically, the settlement of migrant groups and the formation of minority ethnic groups have changed the socio-cultural, political and economic fabric of receiving societies. The course explores the relationship between racial and ethnocultural diversity. Students are encouraged to the intentional notion of undoing – unlearning and dismantling unjust practices, assumptions, and institutions – as well as persistent action to create and build alternative spaces and ways of knowing, particularly concerning the Black (African) Diaspora. Berlin is used as a case study for themes covered, however, students are encouraged to reflect on their own identities and the expressions of various identities around the city.

This course analyzes the success of development strategies in relation to when and where they were used throughout Africa. It studies the factors contributing to why certain development strategies were chosen and under what circumstances, as well as the factors that impacted the success of each of these strategies. It focuses on the main approaches to development including neo-liberal, import substitution industrialization, export- and state-led industrialization, basic needs, ERP/SAPs, HIPC, and African-based strategies from the Lagos Plan to NEPAD.