HONR 24301: INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: AFRICA

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Midternm 20%

Web page and symposia 30%

Book Reviews:

- Things Fall Apart 15%

- In The Ditch 15 %

Class Participation 20%

_____________________________

Total 100

E-mail assignments:

· Each student will be responsible for generating discussion questions for an upcoming class session. The questions should be based on the assigned readings, and should be submitted to the listserve 48 HOURS before the class meeting. The instructor will post the questions to the Speakeasy Café. Final answers should be posted to the Café site.

· Students will answer ONE OF THE TWO QUESTIONS in the Speakeasy Café.

§ The answers to the questions will be graded as part of your participation grade.

The instructor will assign the date(s) and topics after the first class meeting

Class Listserve: HON243-L@list.tcnj.edu

WEEK ASSIGNMENT

1/19- Welcome/Introduction

Homework: Myths About Africa

Quiz: Basic Quiz About Africa

http://web.indstate.edu/cimt/classes/websites/yasuo/Quiz.html

Read: “Destination: Senegal: Information for Teachers –Myths About Africa”

http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/guides/senegal/1.html#myth

Text- Ch. 1,2,3 “African Background”

Answer questions on SPEAKEASY Café

1/21 - Videos: Anatomy of a Continent

Wonders of the African World, Different But Equal

Homework:

Prepare biographies on Henry Louis Gates and Basil Davidson

1/26-28 Powerpoint Tutorial

Library Resources

http://www.tcnj.edu/~zangara/afram.htm

Web Design Workshop

Guidelines for Evaluating Websites

Homework:

Familiarize yourself with the timeline located at:

http://www.saxakali.com/COLOR_ASP/timelineaf.htm

2/2- Overview of Continent

Text: “The Peopling of Africa” pages 29-138

“Africa, The Continent & Its People” Excerpt from

Vincent Khapoya The African Experience

2/4 Indigenous Africa

“Aspects of Early African History” by John Lamphear

Video:Wonders of the African World: The Road to Timbuktu

CD ROM Encarta Africana

Websites:

“Africa's Ancient Empires and States”

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/aoi/resources/hg/ancient.html

“Africa's Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems”

http://members.aol.com/afsci/africana.htm

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel (clickable)

http://www.ccer.ggl.ruu.nl/abu_simbel/abu_simbel1.html

2/7-9 African Religions

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 9,“African Religion” pp. 115-128

The Africans: Ch 9

Video:

Wonders of the African World: The Holy Land

The Africans: New Gods

Websites:

Elements...African Traditional Religion”

http://users.iol.it/cdi/atr_admire.htm

Egypt:Worship and Mythology

http://www.cc.emory.edu/CARLOS/ODYSSEY/EGYPT/myth.html

Islam and Indigenous African Culture

http://web-dubois.fas.harvard.edu/dubois/baobab/narratives/islam/islam.html

2/8 REGINA CARTER CONCERT

2/14-16 African Oral Traditions

Websites:

Literary Arts / Storytelling

http://www.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/griotstalk/writers/series.html\

Egyptian creation story

http://icvc.imago.com.au/egypt/html/the_gods.html

Assignment: Use two of the creation stories listed above. Find two more African creation stories. Compare and Contrast the values, mores, norms being espoused by each in a 2-3 page paper.

2/21-23 African Art and Its Role in Society

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 4 ,“African Arts” pp. 49-62

Video: Understanding African Art, Dance of the Spirits

CD-ROM: Art and Life in Africa

“Art and Life in Africa: Key Moments in Life”

http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/chapters/KML.html

Websites:

“African Culture and Aesthetics”

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/aoi/resources/hg/aesthetics.html

African Art Magic

http://www.culturekiosque.com/art/exhibiti/rhemagie.htm

Homework

Go to the following website

http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/contemporary/index.html

Read the following essays

Essay on The Groupe Kasoban by Janet Goldner and Kletigui Dembele

Essay on Malian Contemporary Art by Christopher D. Roy, The University of Iowa

Answer the following questions

What connects the work of Malian contemporary artists to the art produced

by their ancestors.

How do the two artists whose works are featured "create a bridge" between

their work and the ancient traditions of their forefathers?

Is there anything about the works that you viewed that make them distinctly "Malian?"

2/28-3/1 African Literature

Things Fall Apart

Video: Chinua Achebe (Closed Circuit)

3/6-8 The Role of Women

Indigenous Women and The Marketplace

Readings Websites:

African Goddesses and Rulers

http://www.khnum.com/~khnum/wmanit.htm#top

The Status of Women in Islam

http://www.iad.org/books/S-women.html

Contemporary Women's Issues

UNIFEM- Women’s Issues in Africa

http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/programmes/social/women/engwomen.html

UN 4^th International Women’s Conference

http://www.feminist.org/other/beij_whr.html

Feminism in Islamic Africa

www.africana.com/tt_028.htm

Video: Women in Africa

Asante Market Women of Ghana

Female Genital Mutilation

Readings:

NYT Clitoridectomy article

http://www.tcnj.edu/~dickinsg/femgenital.html

Female Genital Mutilation Home Page

http://www.earlham.edu/earlhamcollege/polisci/globalprobs/fgm/homepage.html

TAKE HOME MIDTERM EXAM

3/13 Africa in World History

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 12,“Africa in World History”

pp. 115-128; Chapter 13, “The End of Isolation; Chapter 15, “Secondary Empires

of the Pre-Colonial Century, pp 191-204

Video: “The Invention of Africa” by Dr. Maghan Keita

Homework: Answer Study Questions

3/15 Slavery and Colonization

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 14.,“the Era of The Slave Trade” pp. 115-128; Chapter 16 “Commerce and Islam;” Chapter 17, “Forms and conditions of Conquest;” Chapter 18, “ The Colonial Era.”

Ch. 3 The Africans Mazrui and Levine pgs. 108-120 (RESERVE)

3/20-22 S P R I N G B R E A K

3/27-29 Pre and Post Independence Initiatives

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 19.,“Toward Independence” pp. 239-252

Videos:

The Africans: Program 6: In Search of Stability; Program 7: A Garden of Eden in Decay?

(Library Reserve)

Assignments:

Program 6: In Search of Stability

Answer the following questions.

Which efforts of governance have succeeded? Explain why.

Which governance efforts have failed? Explain why.

Which forms of government seem to hold the most promise for the future?

What are the differences between Islamic and Westernized military regimes

Identify examples of long-lasting one-party states.

Homework: Find articles on the current Civil War in Sierra Leone in the American, British, West African and South African press. Compare and contrast your findings.

Program 7: A Garden of Eden in Decay?

Answer the following questions.

Explain the difference between what Africa produces and what it consumes.

How does the impact of the inappropriate technology donated by outsiders compare

to the impact of colonial rulers’ refusal to honor indigenous African work/gender

roles?

Where does most of Africa’s money go?

What infrastructure problems face the continent; why?

3/27 Fauziya Kassindja lecture (3:30 pm FH 134)

3/29 NALO HOPKINSON LECTURE (2pm Student Center 202)

4/3 African Education

Reading Assignment:

Devising A New Strategy In Managing New Challenges

All Africa News Agency

January 7, 2000

Measuring the Gap: Female Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

http://www.worldbank.org/afr/findings/english/find06.htm

Guest Lecture:

Dr. Brenda Leake

4/5 Africa Since Independence:

Reading Assignment:

Africa and Africans Chapter 20,“Africa Since Independence”

Case Studies:

South Africa, Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire

Videos: “You Have Struck A Rock,” (South Africa); “Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda”

Group Presentations: Post-Mandela South Africa; The 1999 Côte d’Ivoire Coup

Group 1: Esther, Kavita, Keith Post-Mandela South Africa

Group 2: Veronica, Rocky, Mike The 1999 Côte d’Ivoire Coup

Read the articles e-mailed to your class; do additional research using the CNN, BBC and AfricaNews Websites. Prepare a 15-20 minute presentation explaining South Africa under President Mbeke and Côte d’Ivoire before and after the December “bloodless” coup.

4/10-12 African Film

Reading Assignments:

Francoise Pfaff, “Mandabi” chapter;

Mantia Diawara, “The Artist As Revolutionary” (handouts)

Websites

Ousmane Sembene- Biographical Information

http://www.wpcmath.com/films/sembene/sembene2.html

Ousmane Sembene’s Appeal to his colleagues

http://www.fespaco.bf/apsemban.htm

Film: MANDABI( The Money Order)

4/17 Post Cold War Realities

Monday

Reading Assignment: African Art and The Internet

http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/about/press/internet.html

Homework: Be prepared to explain the ways in which the collection and sale of African Art, New Media Technologies and e-Commerce are impacting African Art.

Use Lexis-Nexis,Ebsco Host, and web search engines to find at least two articles about the collection and/or sale of African Art

4/19

Wednesday` Reading Assignment: Kenya-Microfinance:Alternative loans give Kenya's small

businesses access to credit By SUSAN LINNEE Associated Press Writer

Africa Recovery V 13 No 4; Newsweek “10 Million Orphans”

Assignment: View video of Feb 16 Lecture. Can the Global Economy

Be a Good Society?

Question: What is the relationship between Professor Kutner’s thesis and current

· World Bank

· USAID &

· African Development Bank policies

Find info on Africa & the World Bank; ADB; bring to class

Resources:

SPRING, 2000

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

MEDIA WEBSITES

WEBSITES

Wonders of the African World, Different But Equal

2/7-9 African Religions

Asante Market Women of Ghana

Female Genital Mutilation Home Page