African Studies

This experiential course features concentrated study, lectures, roundtables, field trips, and interactions with the people of Ghana. The course involves an in-depth examination of Ghanaian history, culture, governance, family and society, gender issues, and development challenges. The course includes language instruction; language practice situations in the field; dance lessons; drumming lessons; and field excursions to culturally and historically significant sites in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast. It introduces students to practical skills and provides information to help students adjust to living in Ghana. 

The course focuses on the fundamental issues of the political and social history of contemporary Africa. Emphasis is placed on the colonial period, decolonization paths, and the processes and dynamics involved in independent state formation. Using an appropriate methodological apparatus, the course highlights the formation of the main political systems on the African continent, and especially the relationship with international politics and the political and developmental crises of the last decades. The course addresses the evolution of African political systems from the last phases of the pre-colonial period up through the contemporary period. Particular attention is placed on sub-Saharan Africa. The first part of the course focuses on Africa's history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first part discusses topics including the end of the slave trade, the development of international trade, the colonial penetration, and the scramble for Africa by European powers; the main characteristics of the various colonial administrations and the impact of colonial domination on African societies; the decolonization process in the changing international context after World War II; the independences of African states, the nation-state, and the different policies and ideologies of the independent governments; the debate on the heritage of the colonial State; and the crises of the African State and economic development policies. The second part focuses on Africa's political systems and discusses topics including the political and economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s; democracy, the fight against poverty, and conflicts in post-cold war Africa; the challenges of the third millennium; and recent and current events. The course includes weekly lectures and in class discussions of pertinent issues related to the topics presented. A special introductory section is devoted to the use of internet in the study of African history and its political systems. Slides and maps are also included. Assessment is based on a final oral examination.

This course discusses some of the underlying issues which are causing large environmental challenges on the continent of Africa, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Topics include the concept of nature as imagined in the 21st century; the "commons" and property rights, and how differing views of those in Africa have given rise to different problems; and the political economy of conservation, the connection of sustainability, and inequality of renewal.

This course introduces students to fiction and other critical and cultural perspectives from the postcolonial world.  This course discusses selected texts from postcolonial Africa, beginning with examining what Ngugi wa Thiong’o has called the “struggles to move the centre”—that is, the political and cultural struggles to “correct the imbalances of the last four hundred years” of colonization. The course then turns to fictional writings and other cultural texts that come out of various decolonization struggles in Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa.  The course seeks to answer the question: Why should these texts and ideas matter to us today?
 

This course uses a regional approach to highlight the main areas of conflict on the African continent. Using a reading grid based on an understanding of the spatial logics of actors in conflict, drawn from both history and the analysis of very contemporary phenomena and current events, this course differentiates between types of space and isolates their more or less belligerent characteristics. Drawing extensively on geography and the sociology of actors (polemology), this geopolitical analysis of the African continent uses methodological tools such as cartography and satellite imagery, as well as numerous readings, to review all of the continent's conflict zones. Examples highlight the use of geopolitical reasoning by political, military, and humanitarian decision-makers, as well as by economic players.

This is a basic course in Asante Twi for beginners covering the Twi alphabet and sounds; verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, postpositions, and interrogatives; and simple expressions such as greetings, numbers, days of the week, etc. Part B continues the basic study of the language, reading and writing, and everyday conversational skills with practical study in market places, restaurants, etc.