African Studies

AFRICAST 51N. Visible Bodies: Black Female Authors and the Politics of Publishing in Africa. 3-4 Units.

Where are the African female writers of the twentieth century and the present day? This Introductory Seminar addresses the critical problem of the marginalization of black female authors within established canons of modern African literature. We will explore, analyse and interrogate the reasons why, and the ways in which, women-authored bodies of work from this period continue to be lost, misplaced, forgotten, and ignored by a male-dominated and largely European/white publishing industry in the context of colonialism, apartheid and globalization. nnYou will be introduced to key twentieth-century and more contemporary female authors from Africa, some of them published but many more unpublished or out-of-print. The class will look at the challenges these female authors faced in publishing, including how they navigated a hostile publishing industry and a lack of funding and intellectual support for black writers, especially female writers. nnWe will also examine the strategies these writers used to mitigate their apparent marginality, including looking at how women self-published, how they used newspapers as publication venues, how they have increasingly turned to digital platforms, and how many sought international publishing networks outside of the African continent. As one of the primary assessments for the seminar, you will be asked to conceptualize and design an in-depth and imaginative pitch for a new publishing platform that specializes in African female authors. nnYou will also have the opportunity for in-depth engagement (both in class and in one-on-one mentor sessions) with a range of leading pioneers in the field of publishing and literature in Africa. Figures like Ainehi Edoro (founder of Brittle Paper) and Zukiswa Wanner (prize-winning author of The Madams and Men of the South), amongst others, will be guests to our Zoom classroom. One of our industry specialists will meet with you to offer detailed feedback on your proposal for your imagined publishing platform. nnYou can expect a roughly 50/50 division between synchronous and asynchronous learning, as well as plenty of opportunity to collaborate with peers in smaller settings.
Same as: AFRICAAM 140N, ENGLISH 54N, HISTORY 41N

AFRICAST 58. Egypt in the Age of Heresy. 3-5 Units.

Perhaps the most controversial era in ancient Egyptian history, the Amarna period (c.1350-1334 BCE) was marked by great sociocultural transformation, notably the introduction of a new 'religion' (often considered the world's first form of monotheism), the construction of a new royal city, and radical departures in artistic and architectural styles. This course will introduce archaeological and textual sources of ancient Egypt, investigating topics such as theological promotion, projections of power, social structure, urban design, interregional diplomacy, and historical legacy during the inception, height, and aftermath of this highly enigmatic period. Students with or without prior background are equally encouraged.
Same as: AFRICAAM 58A, ARCHLGY 58, CLASSICS 58

AFRICAST 90. Black Earth Rising: Law and Society in Postcolonial Africa. 5 Units.

Is the International Criminal Court a neocolonial institution? Should African art in Western museums be returned? Why have anti-homosexuality laws emerged in many African countries? This course engages these questions, and more, to explore how Africans have grappled with the legacies of colonialism through law since independence. Reading court documents, listening to witness testimonies, analyzing legal codes, and watching cultural commentaries¿including hit TV series Black Earth Rising¿students will examine the histories of legal conflict in Africa and their implications for the present and future of African societies. This course fulfills the Social Inquiry and Engaging Diversity Ways requirements.
Same as: AFRICAAM 47S, HISTORY 47S

AFRICAST 111. Education for All? The Global and Local in Public Policy Making in Africa. 3-5 Units.

Policy making in Africa and the intersection of policy processes and their political and economic dimensions. The failure to implement agreements by international institutions, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations to promote education. Case studies of crowded and poorly equipped schools, overburdened and underprepared teachers, and underfunded education systems.
Same as: AFRICAAM 211, AFRICAST 211

AFRICAST 112. AIDS, Literacy, and Land: Foreign Aid and Development in Africa. 3-5 Units.

Foreign aid can help Africa, say the advocates. Certainly not, say the critics. Is foreign aid a solution? or a problem? Should there be more aid, less aid, or none at all? Africa has developed imaginative and innovative approaches in many sectors. At the same time, many African countries have become increasingly dependent on foreign aid. How do foreign aid and local initiatives intersect? We will examine several contentious issues in contemporary Africa, exploring roots, contested analyses, and proposed solutions, examining foreign aid and the aid relationship. As African communities and countries work to shape their future, what are the foreign roles, and what are their consequences?.
Same as: AFRICAAM 111, AFRICAST 212

AFRICAST 113V. Freedom in Chains: Black Slavery in the Atlantic, 1400s-1800s. 3-5 Units.

This course will focus on the history of slavery in the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch Atlantic world(s), from the late 1400s to the 1800s. Its main focus will be on the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Europeans forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans to the Americas. Drawing on methodologies used by historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, the course will reconstruct the daily lives and the socio-economic, cultural and political histories of these captives. We will seek to hear their voices by investigating a variety of historical testimonies and recent scholarship. The course will examine slavery in the context of broader trends in Atlantic World studies, a field that has grown considerably in recent years, providing new ways of understanding historical developments across national boundaries. We will seek to identify commonalities and differences across time periods and regions and the reasons for those differences. Covered topics will include slave ship voyages, labor, agency, the creation of new identities (creolization), religion, race, gender, resistance, legacies, and memory.
Same as: AFRICAAM 113V, CSRE 113V, HISTORY 205D

AFRICAST 114N. Desert Biogeography of Namibia Prefield Seminar. 3 Units.

Desert environments make up a third of the land areas on Earth, ranging from the hottest to the coldest environments. Aridity leads to the development of unique adaptations among the organisms that inhabit them. Climate change and other processes of desertification as well as increasing human demand for habitable and cultivatable areas have resulting in increasing need to better understand these systems. Namibia is a model system for studying these processes and includes the Sossuvlei (Sand Sea) World Heritable Site. This seminar will prepare students for their overseas field experience in Namibia. The seminar will provide an introduction to desert biogeography and culture, using Namibia as a case study. During the seminar, students will each give two presentations on aspects of desert biogeography and ecology, specific organisms and their adaptations to arid environments, cultural adaptations of indigenous peoples and immigrants, ecological threats and conservation efforts, and/or national and international policy towards deserts. Additional assignments include a comprehensive dossier and a final exam. Students will also carry out background research for the presentations they will be giving during the field seminar where access to the internet and to other scholarly resources will be limited. In addition, we will cover logistics, health and safety, cultural sensitivity, geography, and politics. We will deal with post-field issues such as reverse culture shock, and ways in which participants can consolidate and build up their abroad experiences after they return to campus.
Same as: EARTHSYS 115N

AFRICAST 119. Novel Perspectives on South Africa. 2-3 Units.

21st-century South Africa continues its literary effervescence. In this class we'll sample some recent novels and related writings to tease out the issues shaping the country (and to some degree the continent) at present. Is `South African literature' a meaningful category today? What are the most significant features we can identify in new writings and how do they relate to contemporary social dynamics? The course will appeal to anyone interested in present-day Cape Town or Johannesburg, including students who have spent a term in BOSP-Cape Town or plan to do so in future. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. 2-3 units. Course may be repeated for credit.nn nnAll students will write short analyses from the prescribed texts. Students taking the course for three units will write an extended essay on a topic agreed with the instructor.
Same as: AFRICAAM 119, AFRICAAM 219, AFRICAST 219, CSRE 119

AFRICAST 122F. Histories of Race in Science and Medicine at Home and Abroad. 4 Units.

This course has as its primary objective, the historical study of the intersection of race, science and medicine in the US and abroad with an emphasis on Africa and its Diasporas in the US. By drawing on literature from history, science and technology studies, sociology and other related disciplines, the course will consider the sociological and cultural concept of race and its usefulness as an analytical category. The course will explore how the study of race became its own ¿science¿ in the late-Enlightenment era, the history of eugenics--a science of race aimed at the ostensible betterment of the overall population through the systematic killing or "letting die" of humanity¿s "undesirable" parts, discuss how the ideology of pseudo-scientific racism underpinned the health policies of the French and British Empires in Africa, explore the fraught relationship between race and medicine in the US, discuss how biological notions of race have quietly slipped back into scientific projects in the 21st century and explore how various social justice advocates and scholars have resisted the scientific racisms of the present and future and/or proposed new paths towards a more equitable and accessible science.
Same as: AFRICAAM 122F, CSRE 122F, HISTORY 248D

AFRICAST 127. African Art and Politics, c. 1900 - Present. 4 Units.

This course explores the relationship between art and politics in twentieth century Africa. Artistic production and consumption is considered in the context of various major political shifts, from the experience of colonialism to the struggle against Apartheid. Each week we will look closely at different works of art and examine how artists and designers responded to such challenges as independence, modernization and globalization. We will look at painting, sculpture, religious art, public and performance art, photography and film. How western perceptions and understanding of African art have shifted, and how museums have framed African art throughout the twentieth century will remain important points of discussion throughout the course.
Same as: ARTHIST 127A

AFRICAST 132. Literature and Society in Africa and the Caribbean. 4 Units.

This course explores texts and films from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course will explore the connections between Sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb and the Caribbean through both foundational and contemporary works while considering their engagement with the historical and political contexts in which they were produced. This course will also serve to improve students' speaking and writing skills in French while sharpening their knowledge of the linguistic and conceptual tools needed to conduct literary analysis. The diverse topics discussed in the course will include national and cultural identity, race and class, gender and sexuality, orality and textuality, transnationalism and migration, colonialism and decolonization, history and memory, and the politics of language. Readings include the works of writers and filmmakers such as Djibril Tamsir Niane, Léopold Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Albert Memmi, Patrick Chamoiseau, Leonora Miano, Leila Slimani, Dani Laferrière and Ousmane Sembène. Taught in French. Students are highly encouraged to complete FRENLANG 124 or to successfully test above this level through the Language Center. This course fulfills the Writing in the Major (WIM) requirement.
Same as: AFRICAAM 133, COMPLIT 133A, COMPLIT 233A, CSRE 133E, FRENCH 133, JEWISHST 143

AFRICAST 135. Designing Research-Based Interventions to Solve Global Health Problems. 3-4 Units.

The excitement around social innovation and entrepreneurship has spawned numerous startups focused on tackling world problems, particularly in the fields of education and health. The best social ventures are launched with careful consideration paid to research, design, and efficacy. This course offers students insights into understanding how to effectively develop, evaluate, and scale social ventures. Using TeachAids (an award-winning nonprofit educational technology social venture used in 82 countries) as a primary case study, students will be given an in-depth look into how the entity was founded and scaled globally. Guest speakers will include world-class experts and entrepreneurs in Philanthropy, Medicine, Communications, Education, and Technology. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Same as: AFRICAST 235, EDUC 135, EDUC 335, EPI 235, HUMBIO 26, MED 235

AFRICAST 142. Challenging the Status Quo: Social Entrepreneurs Advancing Democracy, Development and Justice. 3-5 Units.

This seminar is part of a broader program on Social Entrepreneurship at CDDRL in partnership with the Haas Center for Public Service. It will use practice to better inform theory. Working with three visiting social entrepreneurs from developing and developed country contexts students will use case studies of successful and failed social change strategies to explore relationships between social entrepreneurship, gender, democracy, development and justice. It interrogates current definitions of democracy and development and explores how they can become more inclusive of marginalized populations. This is a service learning class in which students will learn by working on projects that support the social entrepreneurs' efforts to promote social change. Students should register for either 3 OR 5 units only. Students enrolled in the full 5 units will have a service-learning component along with the course. Students enrolled for 3 units will not complete the service-learning component. Limited enrollment. Attendance at the first class is mandatory in order to participate in service learning.
Same as: AFRICAST 242, CSRE 142C, INTNLREL 142

AFRICAST 146M. New Keywords in African Sound. 3-4 Units.

This course identifies and considers new keywords for the study of contemporary African music and sound. Each week we will foster discussion around a keyword and a constellation of case studies. The sonic practices we will encounter range from South African house music to Ghanaian honk horns; from Congolese rumba bands to Tunisian trance singers; from listening to the radio in a Tanzanian homestead to making hip hop music videos on the Kenyan coast. By exploring the unexpected interconnections between contemporary African musical communities, we will discuss new keywords arising in current scholarship, including technologies like the amplifier and the hard drive, spaces like the studio and the city, and analytics like pleasure and hotness. We will also engage with established concepts for the study of postcolonial African cultures, including nationalism, cosmopolitanism, globalization, diaspora, and Pan-Africanism. This is a seminar-based course open to graduate students, upper level undergraduate students, and other students with consent of the instructor. Proficiency in music is not required. WIM at 4 units only.
Same as: AFRICAAM 146D, CSRE 146D, MUSIC 146M, MUSIC 246M

AFRICAST 151. AIDS in Africa. 3 Units.

Medical, social, and political aspects of the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa including: biology, transmission, diagnosis,and treatment of HIV; mother-to-child transmission and breastfeeding; vaccines; community and activist responses to the HIV epidemic; economics of HIV treatment; governance and health; ethics in research and program implementation.

AFRICAST 195. Shifting Frames. 1-2 Unit.

This is a student driven, dialogue based, and intellectual community focused course. We will explore and challenge the taken-for-granted framing of key African issues and debates. Engagement with discussion leaders drawing on their own research and case studies from across the African continent will guide us across shifting terrain. This course centers the scholarship and voices of African students. Topics include: Afropolitanism, Brain Drain/ Gain, Education, Leadership, Global Health, AI Application in Africa, Economic Development, Industrial Policy, LGBTQI Rights, Gender and Sexuality.

AFRICAST 199. Independent Study or Directed Reading. 1-5 Unit.

May be repeated for credit.

AFRICAST 211. Education for All? The Global and Local in Public Policy Making in Africa. 3-5 Units.

Policy making in Africa and the intersection of policy processes and their political and economic dimensions. The failure to implement agreements by international institutions, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations to promote education. Case studies of crowded and poorly equipped schools, overburdened and underprepared teachers, and underfunded education systems.
Same as: AFRICAAM 211, AFRICAST 111

AFRICAST 212. AIDS, Literacy, and Land: Foreign Aid and Development in Africa. 3-5 Units.

Foreign aid can help Africa, say the advocates. Certainly not, say the critics. Is foreign aid a solution? or a problem? Should there be more aid, less aid, or none at all? Africa has developed imaginative and innovative approaches in many sectors. At the same time, many African countries have become increasingly dependent on foreign aid. How do foreign aid and local initiatives intersect? We will examine several contentious issues in contemporary Africa, exploring roots, contested analyses, and proposed solutions, examining foreign aid and the aid relationship. As African communities and countries work to shape their future, what are the foreign roles, and what are their consequences?.
Same as: AFRICAAM 111, AFRICAST 112

AFRICAST 219. Novel Perspectives on South Africa. 2-3 Units.

21st-century South Africa continues its literary effervescence. In this class we'll sample some recent novels and related writings to tease out the issues shaping the country (and to some degree the continent) at present. Is `South African literature' a meaningful category today? What are the most significant features we can identify in new writings and how do they relate to contemporary social dynamics? The course will appeal to anyone interested in present-day Cape Town or Johannesburg, including students who have spent a term in BOSP-Cape Town or plan to do so in future. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. 2-3 units. Course may be repeated for credit.nn nnAll students will write short analyses from the prescribed texts. Students taking the course for three units will write an extended essay on a topic agreed with the instructor.
Same as: AFRICAAM 119, AFRICAAM 219, AFRICAST 119, CSRE 119

AFRICAST 220E. Renaissance Africa. 3-5 Units.

Literature and Portuguese expansion into Africa during the sixteenth century. Emphasis on forms of exchange between Portuguese and Africans in Morocco, Angola/Congo, South Africa, the Swahili Coast, and Ethiopia. Readings in Portuguese and English. Taught in English.
Same as: COMPLIT 220, ILAC 220E, ILAC 320E

AFRICAST 224. Memory and Heritage In South Africa Syllabus. 1 Unit.

The focus of this course is to provide a forum in which students examine the role of memory and heritage in South Africa. The course will include visiting speakers, discussion and other activities. The complex relationship between memory and heritage in South Africa will provide the basis for a series of broad conversations about citizenship, national reconciliation, memorialization, justice, modernity and heritage ethics.

AFRICAST 235. Designing Research-Based Interventions to Solve Global Health Problems. 3-4 Units.

The excitement around social innovation and entrepreneurship has spawned numerous startups focused on tackling world problems, particularly in the fields of education and health. The best social ventures are launched with careful consideration paid to research, design, and efficacy. This course offers students insights into understanding how to effectively develop, evaluate, and scale social ventures. Using TeachAids (an award-winning nonprofit educational technology social venture used in 82 countries) as a primary case study, students will be given an in-depth look into how the entity was founded and scaled globally. Guest speakers will include world-class experts and entrepreneurs in Philanthropy, Medicine, Communications, Education, and Technology. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Same as: AFRICAST 135, EDUC 135, EDUC 335, EPI 235, HUMBIO 26, MED 235

AFRICAST 242. Challenging the Status Quo: Social Entrepreneurs Advancing Democracy, Development and Justice. 3-5 Units.

This seminar is part of a broader program on Social Entrepreneurship at CDDRL in partnership with the Haas Center for Public Service. It will use practice to better inform theory. Working with three visiting social entrepreneurs from developing and developed country contexts students will use case studies of successful and failed social change strategies to explore relationships between social entrepreneurship, gender, democracy, development and justice. It interrogates current definitions of democracy and development and explores how they can become more inclusive of marginalized populations. This is a service learning class in which students will learn by working on projects that support the social entrepreneurs' efforts to promote social change. Students should register for either 3 OR 5 units only. Students enrolled in the full 5 units will have a service-learning component along with the course. Students enrolled for 3 units will not complete the service-learning component. Limited enrollment. Attendance at the first class is mandatory in order to participate in service learning.
Same as: AFRICAST 142, CSRE 142C, INTNLREL 142

AFRICAST 248. Religion, Radicalization and Media in Africa since 1945. 4-5 Units.

What are the paths to religious radicalization, and what role have media- new and old- played in these conversion journeys? We examine how Pentecostal Christians and Reformist Muslims in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Sudan, and Ethiopia have used multiple media forms- newspapers, cell phones, TV, radio, and the internet- to gain new converts, contest the authority of colonial and post-colonial states, construct transnational communities, and position themselves as key political players.
Same as: AFRICAST 348, HISTORY 248, HISTORY 348, RELIGST 230X, RELIGST 330X

AFRICAST 249. Bodies, Technologies, and Natures in Africa. 4-5 Units.

This interdisciplinary course explores how modern African histories, bodies, and natures have been entangled with technological activities. Viewing Africans as experts and innovators, we consider how technologies have mediated, represented, or performed power in African societies. Topics include infrastructure, extraction, medicine, weapons, communications, sanitation, and more. Themes woven through the course include citizenship, mobility, labor, bricolage, in/formal economies, and technopolitical geographies, among others. Readings draw from history, anthropology, geography, and social/cultural theory.
Same as: ANTHRO 348B, HISTORY 349

AFRICAST 299. Independent Study or Directed Reading. 1-10 Unit.

.

AFRICAST 300. Contemporary Issues in African Studies. 1 Unit.

Guest scholars present analyses of major African themes and topics. Brief response papers required. May be repeated for credit.

AFRICAST 302. Research Workshop. 1 Unit.

Required for African Studies master's students. Student presentations.

AFRICAST 303E. Infrastructure & Power in the Global South. 4-5 Units.

In the last decade, the field of infrastructure studies has entered into conversation with area studies, post/colonial studies, and other scholarship on the "Global South." These intersections have produced dramatic new understandings of what "infrastructures" are, and how to analyze them as conduits of social and political power. This course offers a graduate-level introduction to this recent scholarship, drawing primarily on works from history, anthropology, geography, and architecture.
Same as: ANTHRO 303E, HISTORY 303E

AFRICAST 348. Religion, Radicalization and Media in Africa since 1945. 4-5 Units.

What are the paths to religious radicalization, and what role have media- new and old- played in these conversion journeys? We examine how Pentecostal Christians and Reformist Muslims in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Sudan, and Ethiopia have used multiple media forms- newspapers, cell phones, TV, radio, and the internet- to gain new converts, contest the authority of colonial and post-colonial states, construct transnational communities, and position themselves as key political players.
Same as: AFRICAST 248, HISTORY 248, HISTORY 348, RELIGST 230X, RELIGST 330X

AFRICAST 801. TGR Project. 0 Units.

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