African Studies

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.

This is a language course designed to build the communicative competence in oral and written Twi for students who have completed the beginners' course (AFST 001), lived, and immersed themselves in Ghana for a semester. It focuses on the structure of the language as well as the culture of the people. It will improve oral skills, written expression, and listening comprehension. There will be an eight-week classroom lecture (16hrs) and about 28hrs field engagements. Students will witness and participate in; a traditional marriage ceremony, funeral, naming ceremony, going to the market to buy foodstuff and cook, a visit to a chief’s palace. There will be a pre and post-processing of each field engagement.

This course covers Africa's current international relations and provides a historical outlook on relations and connections between African societies or states and the world from the first Pan-African conference in 1900 until the end of the Cold War. Drawing on the global history approach, the course goes beyond the traditional imperial history that tends to focus exclusively on Euro-African exchanges and demonstrates how Africa became entwined with world politics, interacted with diversified actors across the world (in Asia, Middle East and Latin America), and tried to shape global affairs. The first part of the course focuses on Great Divergence and Atlantic revolutions to contextualize European colonial conquests. The second part considers the history of African resistance and struggles, anti-colonial and post-colonial solidarities across the world, Panafricanism(s), and African integration. The third part of the course addresses divergent paths of decolonization, Africa's role in the Third world setting, the role of technology, and the Cold War rivalries. More generally, this course combines the transnational, cultural, and diplomatic history of Africa. Each session consists of two parts: a short introduction by the seminar leader and academic discussion around required readings to analyze primary sources and documentaries.

This course examines the political economy of South Africa; how it evolved into a dominant player in the Southern African region, and a significant actor in world politics. Beginning with a historical account of the emergence of racism and its institutionalization through the creation of the apartheid state in 1948, the course proceeds to discuss the rise of African nationalism, the advent of liberation politics, and the mass democratic movement leading to the first all-race elections in 1994. The central feature of the course is to deepen the understanding of the post­-apartheid state in South Africa by discussing key topics such as nation-building in a racially divided society, a transition to a non-racial democratic society, democratization in a dominant party system, black economic empowerment, redistribution of wealth, and economic development. The course concludes with an examination of South Africa's role in SADC, AU, and BRICS.