African Studies

This course shows that Africa is a productive laboratory for students and researchers in international relations and security studies as the region gathers some of the most enduring interlinked political rivalries within the international system. It challenges and sometimes clarifies powerful concepts developed by the field (hegemonic stability, regional security complex, failed states, small state, sovereignty). It contrasts arguments that international relations focuses on the politics of powerful states and that, as a consequence, there is an African exceptionalism which explains the field’s inability to accurately address African experiences. The course examines how Africa has often been neglected by the different theoretical approaches to international relations and more generally by the discipline, demonstrating that the Horn of Africa is pertinent not only for area specialists but also constitutes a remarkable ground for fieldwork and theory-testing of both old and new approaches. 

This course examines the concept of security and governance of security, and its application in different contexts and at different levels of analyses with a focus on developing societies, particularly Africa. It considers key theories and relates them to particular contexts. The course provides an intellectual and practical context to the notion of the security sector and the governance of security and develops and demonstrates knowledge, understanding, and skills to investigate the various ways through which "security" can be brought under "democratic governance."

This course provides a combination of critical analytical and practical skills for engaging with the challenges of development planning and policy analysis in relation to African contexts. It includes at least three dimensions: firstly, it introduces critical theoretical approaches to the very notion of doing "development," to the study of policy, and to the politics of planning; secondly, it will prepare students for analyzing different kinds of development planning and policies in their historical-political-social-economic contexts; and thirdly, it provides critically reflective yet practical skills for planning concrete development projects and undertaking critical readings of policy. Students are encouraged to draw on and share their own previous experience of working in "development" settings where relevant but such experience is not a pre-requisite for the course.

This course covers the main issues at the root of most of the conflicts in Africa. It examines the conflicts and geopolitical dynamics that affect the Horn of Africa and identifies the historical, political, and military regional dynamics of these conflicts, as well as their broader international dimension. The course provides a critical analysis of Horn Africa's relations with the world as the new battle held between emerging powers such as the Gulf, BRICS, and traditional superpowers. It also provides a general overview of violent extremist groups and regional and international responses to the Global War on Terror. Finally, it discusses current wars as well as their strategic implications and connections to the most prominent global security challenges of the post-Cold War and post 9/11 world.

This course reads and analyzes Francophone literature written by those of Black descent in order to understand terms like Afrofuturism and Afroprophetism to connect history with the present. The course examines the literary and narrative histories and structure of African and African-related works and considers how the narratives renew the view of Africa in a philosophical sense through literary works. Works studied include Leonara Miano's ROUGE IMPERATRICE, Abdourrahman Waberi's AUX ETATS UNIS D'AFRIQUE, and an anthology collected through a collective project.

In the context of the current level of globalization, this course explores Africa’s position in and relations with other parts of the globalizing world. The course highlights Africa’s experience of globalization, focusing on the challenges and opportunities that globalization presents, particularly on cultures and identities in the continent.

This course focuses on the relationship between violent conflict and economic development. The first half of the course examines the concepts of conflict and development, as well as some associated theories. The second part focuses on the nexus between conflict and development, the cultural dimensions of conflict and development, and concludes with some policy interventions that could be applied to reduce the risk of conflict and accelerate development. Reference is made to some case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This course takes students with zero knowledge of Xhosa to a good, basic competency in the language. The course actively engages students in acquiring the language through a series of well-developed modules with an integrated approach to acquiring speaking, writing, and comprehension skills in Xhosa. Grammar is taught in context and students are expected to apply their grammatical knowledge in task-based communication situations. Students are taught about different varieties of Xhosa and how to use these appropriately in social contexts. Tests, assignments, and portfolio activities counts 35%; orals count 15%; one two-hour examination counts 50% of the final mark.

What kind of anthropology is it that we, as scholars and students of the discipline, should or need to be advocating – also and especially with a view to current timely demands for conceptual and structural decolonization? How has anthropological critique questioned the fundamentals of the discipline (of anthropology) itself? Which programmatic pathways have been sketched out to indicate constructive ways forward? What do we think of them; which others would we like to raise; why? Does the inclusion of, and focus on theory from the South already constitute a fundamental change? How might anthropology engage constructively with thinkers and theoretical contributions from the global South? In which ways, finally, does it matter that we as researchers and social agents are inevitably positioned in certain ways, often belonging clearly to regions of the Global North or South? This seminar course will pursue these and related questions with a view to some classic and some recent readings, both from within and outside anthropology, and engaging with theorizing from the South, especially from Africa.