| source Indiana University Bloomington (X) |
level |
department African Studies (X) |
Topic: The Twentieth Century II: Afro-cosmopolitanism This is a seminar on the intellectual relationships between the African continent and the progressive world in the second half of the 20th century, focusing upon three related historical and aesthetic formations: the recovery of African agency in the pre-1945 collaborations between nationalists and diasporic and liberal intellectuals and activists; the rise of tricontinental liberation movements and anti-colonial artistic cultures (cinema, literature, music) for which the journal Presence Africaine and the Cuban revolution were catalysts; and the unfolding reassessments of postcolonial political culture in the aftermath of Soviet communism and apartheid regime. The course works with the premise that these formations are unavoidably internationalist, given that the leading figures are diasporic intellectuals dealing with issues of race and class in multiple contexts. Readings will be organized around the decisive role of the African continent in the structural relations between contemporary discourses of cosmopolitanism and the global migrations of the late-19th century. Authors may include Abrahams, Césaire, Conde, Derrida, Du Bois, Edwards, Fanon, Guevara, James, Pasolini, Soyinka, and Wright.
Score: 11.659245 Details | Listing | Web page
Development & Globalization in Africa Development and Africa have often appeared as twin terms in popular and policy discourses whereas Africa has been conspicuous by its absence or its inclusion as a negative case in most discussions of globalization. Why is Africa so strongly identified with development but not with globalization? What are Africans experiences with development and globalization? These questions underpin our inquiry in this course. We begin with an overview of development and globalization theories and debates and consider how development and globalization have come to overlap in recent years. We then study development practices and processes of globalization and the ways in which Africans (women and men, young and old, rural and urban, elite and non-elite) have lived, engaged with, and responded to the ideas, institutions, and actors implicated in development and globalization. Topics such as the role of non- governmental organizations in development, commodities and markets, consumption and transnational migration, education, religious movements and media, resource extraction and the environment, and human rights will frame our readings and discussions.
Score: 11.659245 Details | Listing | Web page
Occultism in Africa COURSE DESCRIPTION Belief in the occult has been solidly established as a universal dimension of human experience. There is always the tendency to limit occultism to witchcraft and magic, but the spectrum of the occult is broad enough to cover aspects of what might otherwise be termed religion (Kiernan, 2006). This course examines the concept of the occult, identifying some of the major forms it takes among Africans in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa, and exploring its power and influence within the selected region. At the end of the course students will have a clear intellectual understanding of occult practice in Africa and the major role it plays in the traditional society. PREREQUISITE For the purposes of this course, the student must be willing to set aside all his or her preconceptions about paranormal claims. The goal of the course is not to persuade the student to believe or disbelieve any particular proposition, and he or she must be willing to examine all paranormal questions objectively.
Score: 11.659245 Details | Listing | Web page
Umhlanga Reed Dance The aim of this course is to introduce the students into the Umhlanga Reed Dance Ceremony, one of the rich cultures of the Swazi and Zulu people of Southern Africa which is also one of two major ceremonies of Swaziland that has given the country its uniqueness. The couse will focus on the Swazi experience because Swaziland is the country that has fully maintained this culture without fail since the foundation of the Swazi nation. It is designed to increase students appreciation of African cultures and particularly Umhlanga Reed Dance as a domain for expression of ideas about politics, corruption, citizenship, national history, identity, as well as being a platform for social criticism.
Score: 11.659245 Details | Listing | Web page
Children's Images in African Cinema The course examines the particular interest that Francophone African filmmakers have for the cinematographic representation of the African child. It analyzes the linguistic, social, political, cultural and economic developments that have shaped the lives of African children. Also to be explored are issues relating to Indigenous African Language(s) in Education, Modernism versus Tradition, Identity, and Immigration. We will use an interdisciplinary framework, drawing on recent scholarship in disability theory, post-colonial theory, women studies, anthropology, history and sociology to understand the experiences and challenges faced by the African child.
Score: 11.659245 Details | Listing | Web page