Class times: Milbank 325 Monday & Wednesday 10:10 – 11:25
Office Hours: Monday 2 – 3:30 https://calendar.app.google/8bzgvPW2W3n5xPZa7
Abosede George (she, her) ageorge@barnard.edu
Course Description:
This class explores the idea of Africa, past, present, and speculative future, across a range of fields of knowledge production. Topics covered will include histories of African Studies in the U.S. and beyond, histories and legacies of colonialism on the continent, social movements, pan-Africanism, globalization, and Afro-futurism. We will engage with academic, artistic, and popular artifacts to understand how they work and the work that they do for ideas of Africa. Our weekly texts will foreground the work of African knowledge producers. This is a discussion intensive lecture course where we will explore questions of method, context, bias, and effect in our conversations. In this class, we engage with each other in a spirit of collaboration and contention; we speak from grounded and not abstracted positions; we embrace multiple truths and the possibility of unresolved contradictions; we maintain an intersectional understanding of our identities and our standpoints; we assume accountability for our own thoughts and actions.
Each year, Intro to African Studies is a little different. This year I have replaced the final exam with a research project on FESTAC ’77 (Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture) which took place across Nigeria, almost exactly 50 years ago. In anticipation of the golden anniversary, and in collaboration with artists and scholars around the world, our class will be learning about FESTAC and researching the past and present of key questions, agendas, figures, and ambitions that animated this historic gathering. We will be researching and workshopping collectively while advancing our individual academic or artistic projects.
Tools:
Canvas will be used for Syllabus, Announcements, Class Readings, Grading.
Assignments:
- Map Quiz: 5%
- Participation 10%
- Opening Presentations: Each of you is responsible for one opening presentations of +/- 10 minutes. Your presentations must close with 3 – 5 discussion questions for the class to take up. For your presentations, do NOT simply read your discussion questions out loud. Instead, consider the following: What background information might enrich class discussions of the readings? For example, what historical, political, and social contexts should we be aware of before we begin discussion? What are some of the primary themes/topics/points of contention in this week’s readings? How would you analyze this week’s readings in relation to previous weeks? What’s the bigger question? 10%
- Class symposium: For this assignment, each student will be assigned the role of presenter, discussant, or audience member. Each role bears distinct requirements. See below. 10%
- Reading Responses posted on Courseworks by 10.m. before the start of the relevant class session. 15%
In no more than 500 words your reading response should state:
Topic / Description / What is this work about? What are the interventions or apparent goals of the work? What is the method for creating the work? Where relevant, what is the research method the author employs? What is the conclusion / argument of the work in short? What is your response to, critique of, question for, or thought about, the work? How do you see it being in conversation with other works in the course?
- Midterm Exam 25%
- Final Paper/Project 25%
Brainstorm Session
Research Proposal Presentation
Draft 1
Final Draft
- Extra Credit 4 pts max
You can earn extra credit by attending an African Studies event on campus and writing a two page reflection that includes a description of the event, its highlights, and how you connect it to our class.
Attendance: You are expected to attend all classes. More than two absences will result in a failing grade. Excessive lateness counts as an absence, as does missing a scheduled meeting.
Policies:
- There will be no make-up quizzes or exams. Late reading response papers will not be accepted.
-Students are responsible for material covered during class meetings. I don’t review class discussions during office hours.
-Absences for severe health issues, interview appointments, college-related athletic obligations, and the like, are excused if substantiated by a notice from your advisor, your coach, your dean, or some written evidence of the conflict.
-Students who may need disability related accommodations are strongly encouraged to notify the professor as soon as possible, preferably within the first week of classes. Students who need testing or classroom accommodations must be registered in advance with CARDS in 101 Altschul or with Disability Services at Columbia.
- Students who are facing other challenges that threaten to impair their academic performance are advised to notify the professor immediately issues emerge. I may be able to help you. Barnard students are also strongly advised to make full use of the Furman Counseling Center which can facilitate access to resources for stress, trauma, grief, coping, healing and the many real issues we are facing in our individual and collective lives.
Visit: https://barnard.edu/health-wellness/student-counseling
-AI Policies.
1. Generative AI Tools are only allowed in this class if they perform a function that the student ordinarily cannot. For example, translating text in an unknown language to a language the students does know. Tools programmed for basic Recording, basic Researching, undergraduate Writing, Rendering Visuals, and competencies that most undergraduates should be able to master are prohibited in this class.
2. Recognizing that it is sometimes impossible to opt-out of AI compiled research (i.e. the average Google search top results) students are encouraged to bypass these and make use of the more robust research tools your tuition has paid for, such as those accessible through CUL. In the event that you are not able to opt-out of GenAI outputs, students are responsible for confirming the accuracy of the output provided by the Gen AI tools, checking the tools for bias, and disclosing when their work may have been influenced by said involuntary tools.
3 Failure to adhere to these policies will reduce assessments of student work.
A+ (Above 96) / A (94 -96) / A- (90-93) / B+ (87-89) / B (84-86) / B- (80-83) / C+ (77-79) / C (74-76) / C- (70-73) / D+ (67-69) / D (64-66) / D- (60-63) / F (59 and under)
Wed 9/9 Introductions
Mon 9/14 Gilbert and Reynolds, 7 Ideas of Africa
Binyavanga Wainana, “How To Write About Africa”
Wed 9/16 Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, “The Pasts and Future of African Studies in the U.S.” Rethinking Africa’s Globalization. Vol. 1 179 – 228
Mon 9/21 Cheik Anta Diop, “Origin of the Ancient Egyptians” in Egypt Revisited, ed. Ivan Van Sertima. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1989. 9-37
Wed 9/23 MAP QUIZ
Amina Mama, “Is it Ethical to Study Africa?” African Studies Review 50.1 (2007): 1-27
Mon 9/28 Sylvia Tamale, Decolonization and Afro-Feminism (2020) Chapt 1 & Chapt 2
Wed 9/30 Centime Zeleke, “Social Science is a Battlefield” from Ethiopia in Theory
Mon 10/5 Paul Lovejoy, “The ‘Middle Passage’: The Enforced Migration of Africans across the Atlantic,” Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, ProQuest”
Edward Alpers, “The Other Middle Passage: The African Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean” in Migration and the Making of the Modern World (2007) 20 – 38
Wed 10/7 VIDEO: Ousmane Sembene, Borrom Sarret aka La Noire De aka Black Girl. Decent English subtitles found here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sptKbtXIn4o>
Mon 10/12 Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy, The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics (2018) Chapt 0, Chapt 1.
Watch morning presentations from “The Restitution Debate” conference at Columbia, October 2019
https://italianacademy.columbia.edu/events/restitution-debate-african-art-global-society
Wed 10/14 Ngugi Wa Thiongo, “The Language of African Literature” in Decolonising the Mind
Mon 10/19 Mkandawire, Thandika. “Running While Others Walk: Knowledge and the Challenge of Africa’s Development.” Africa Development / Afrique et Développement, vol. 36, no. 2, 2011, pp. 1–36.
Wed 10/21 MIDTERM EXAM REVIEW SESSION
Mon 10/26 MIDTERM EXAM
Wed 10/28 “Festac ’77 – Lagos Festival” Dir. Philip Gaunt, UNESCO TV Co-produced by Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO and Nigerian Television Authority, 1977. https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-29
Enohoro, Ife. “THE SECOND WORLD BLACK AND AFRICAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS AND CULTURE: LAGOS, NIGERIA.” The Black Scholar, vol. 9, no. 1, 1977, pp. 26–33.
Monroe, Arthur. “FESTAC 77-THE SECOND WORLD BLACK AND AFRICAN FESTIVAL OF ARTS AND CULTURE: LAGOS, NIGERIA.” The Black Scholar, vol. 9, no. 1, 1977, pp. 34–37.
Wed 11/4 Qudus Onikeku,”Ghostly Moves” https://www.qudusonikeku.com/about
---, “The Epic Return of Orí Olókun: FESTAC ’77 @50, and The Problem with Restitution.” https://www.qudusonikeku.com/single-post/the-epic-return-of-or%C3%AD-ol%C3%B3kun .
Mon 11/9 Guest Lecture
Wed 11/11 Library Visit – Primary research and Brainstorm Session. Goal: settle on a research topic/question. Notes, doodles, process materials as a whole are important, not just the final research topic / question.
Mon 11/16 Research Proposal: Find at least five primary source records / texts reflecting the past and present of your topic. Create a one paragraph annotation for each. Separately write up to one page or draw a mind map that describes how the records/texts you will be using are going to be placed in dialogue with each other. Your research proposal consists of the one-page project description, the annotations of your primary sources, and a Project Title.
Wed 11/18 Research proposal presentations to the class. Everyone will make a short presentation on their proposed research project. You will describe the topic and lay out your central research questions. You may want to share a particular record/source with the class and discuss how it relates to the topic you are going to pursue.
Mon 11/23 Work at home on a 1st draft of your paper or project. Do not use A.I. prompts to generate or assemble it. The first draft is allowed to be a “dreck” draft. But it should contain an intro, a body, and all of your thoughts and ideas to this point even if they’re not fully developed or perfectly placed. It is a place to lay out your ideas, a basis for discussing ideas with me, and it is meant to be developed further not perfected on the first go round.
Mon 11/30 Submit your first draft.
Schedule one-on-one meeting with Prof George. https://calendar.app.google/SzaRgzz6AHXozbUY6
FILM: Wanuri Kahiu, PUMZI (2009) https://vimeo.com/46891859
Wed 12/2 One on one feedback meeting with Prof George.
Mon 12/7 Nnedi Okarafor, “African Futurism Defined” https://nnedi.blogspot.com/2019/10/africanfuturism-defined.html
“Mother of Invention” Slate Magazine, Feb 21, 2018 https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/mother-of-invention-a-new-short-story-by-nnedi-okorafor.html
Wed 12/9 Class symposium. For this session students will be assigned one of three roles: Presenter, Discussant, Audience. Presenters will present their research project to the class in much the same way as our weekly presentations went in the first half of the semester, this time about your own research. Discussants will receive the presentation outline at least 48 hours ahead of time, they will listen closely to the presentation and offer remarks and questions that address common themes among the presenters, points of conflict, or other relationships that discussants may identify among the presentations. Audience members will offer remarks and questions that emerge from hearing the presentations “cold.” Clarity of presentation, close listening, quality of remarks and questions relative to familiarity with the project, will be evaluated for this segment.
Mon 12/14 Class review session.
Submit the final draft of your research paper/project by 5p.m.
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