Courses on Africa in Other Units (2019-20) - Institute of African Studies

a) Undergraduate

Fall 2019

HIST 2706 A, Ancient and Pre-Colonial Africa, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

Ancient African cultures and civilizations, the trans-Saharan trade system, and the trans-Atlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades from 600 BCE to the 19th century.

ENGL 2926 A, African Literatures I, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

An introductory survey of modern African literatures, discourses, and cultural production in the first half of the 20th century.

HIST 3719 A, South African War, 1899-1902, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

Examines causes, major events and consequences of the war. Themes include: the war as part of the Scramble for Africa, emergence of settler nationalism, British “scorched earth policy”, establishment of concentration camps, importance of gender, African involvement, international responses, and long-term effects.

ENGL 3972 A, Studies in Postcolonial Literature, Professor Adam Barrows, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

Topic: Theatre in Africa
A study of postcolonial literatures and cultures. Topics may vary from year to year. Selected course numbers may be repeated with the permission of the Department. The most recent guide is available at carleton.ca/english.

HIST 4703 A, The Global South: The Use and Abuse of History: Humanitarianism and Development Policy in Africa & the Caribbean, Professor Audra Diptee, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

ANTH 4620 A, Advanced Studies in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Issues in Anthropological Research, Professor Louise de la Gorgendiere Fall Term (0.5 credits)

Research-based seminar that explores the issues and debates related to anthropological research in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa with emphasis on theoretical, methodological, analytical, ethical, practical and applied problems in anthropological research in that area.

WGST 4812 B African Feminisms, Prof. Shireen Hassim, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

This course is an advanced introduction to the ways in which feminism emerged in Africa as a set of theoretical interventions and as political practice. It examines the ways in which gender was understood as a marker of power – status, hierarchy as well as social capability – in different parts of Africa, and the ways in which gender operated as a system of distribution of resources and responsibilities. African theories of gender and sexuality are explored in relation to class, race and colonialism. These intersecting forms of power have resulted in differences in the forms of feminism in different parts of the continent. Although the focus will be on texts from Anglophone Africa, variations across regions will also be explored. The course is historically grounded, and takes the approach that the genealogies of ideas have explanatory capacity.

Winter 2020

MUSI 3108 Musics of the Middle East and North Africa. Carolyn Ramzy (0.5 credits)

In the past four years, globalization, new communication technologies, and a shifting youth culture have made the Middle East and North Africa the site of tremendous change. This course will investigate the religious, classical, and folk music traditions that have propelled and accompanied these transformations known as the “Arab Spring.” During this course, there will be sessions dedicated to listening, watching and analyzing how many traditional practices in the region have quickly reconfigured as urban traditions in popular spheres, including an eclectic mix of Algerian rai, Tunisian and Libyan electronic hip-hop, Egyptian nationalist pop songs, as well as Palestinian and Israeli rap, among many others. The course will also explore questions of identity politics, globalization, nationalism, and governance through the lens of sound studies, anthropology, and ethnomusicology. How does Middle Eastern music echo, shape, and mirror our North American soundscapes and experiences?

WGST 4812 E, Special Topics: Childhood and Youth in African Societies Professor Doris Kakuru, Winter Term (0.5 credits)

This course is about the conditions associated with growing up in a typical African context. We shall explore the broad factors that contribute to, and sustain inclusion and exclusion in terms of inequities and inequalities in children and young people’s lives in families, schools and communities. The sessions will include African childhoods and families, diversity in the social context of education, Sexual and Reproductive Health and wellbeing for young people in Africa, understanding and framing the youth in development discourse, and African childhood research.

b) Graduate

Fall 2019

ANTH 5209 F, Advanced Studies in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Issues in Anthropological Research. Professor Louise de la Gorgendiere Fall Term (0.5 credits)

INAF 5603 F, Issues in Public Policy and Development in Africa. John Schram Fall Term (0.5 credits)

This practical, interactive seminar is aimed at would-be policy advisers and practitioners who will be concerned with governance, security and development as graduate students, or in later positions with civil society, business or government. The seminar will focus primarily on immediate examples from African countries to encourage an understanding of broadly defined governance and development issues and responses – from peace, security, government, trade and investment, through “real people” concerns of democratic rule of law, poverty alleviation, education, gender, health, land and the environment.

WGST 5901 B, Advanced Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies I: African Feminisms Professor Shireen Hassim, Fall Term (0.5 credits)

The applications of gender to different fields of knowledge, cultural expression, and institutional regulation. Gender will be interrogated as it intersects with race, class, ethnicity, age, ability and cross-cultural perspectives.

Winter 2020

WGST 5901 E, Special Topics: Childhood and Youth in African Societies. Professor Doris Kakuru, Winter Term (0.5 credits)