Course Description This seminar asks how Islam is represented in literature and other arts. How have people in Africa and the Middle East depicted, discussed, and written systems of belief? Why is there such a …
Courses
Course Spotlight: African Screen Media
Course Description Screens have been the sources of news and narrative, as well as the venues for pedagogy and revolution in Africa since the invention of the motion picture. Today, Africa is the home of …
Course Spotlight: Material Culture, Magic and the Senses in Equatorial Africa
Course Description Reflecting a broader change in African studies, exciting new work in Equatorial Africa is looking at the rise of new moral and sensual imaginations. In countries where poverty, ethnic strife and lack of …
Course Spotlight: Postcolonial Bildungsroman
Course Description How does one grow up to find happiness? The bildungsroman, or plot of “coming to age,” is a genre of the Western novel that arose in the late 18th century to answer precisely …
Course Spotlight: Critical Approaches to Multilingualism
Course Description The goal of this course is to explore various issues related to multilingualism through a framework of Critical Applied Linguistics (CALx). We will examine: the relationship between powerful and marginalized languages; the role …
Course Spotlight: The Global African City
Course Description People typically think of globalization as a twenty-first century phenomenon, yet African cities have been global hubs of culture, ideas, and economic exchange for centuries. This course invites students to explore the global …
Course Spotlight: Gender and Sexuality in African History
Course Description This course explores the historiography of gender and sexuality in Africa. Through reading a selection of classic and recent works, seminar participants will engage some of the central questions that have animated historical …
Course Spotlight: Theories and Methods of Learning a Less Commonly Taught Language
Course Description African Languages & Literature offers a year-long program designed for students to learn languages that are not offered in a typical classroom setting. In the fall, students must enroll in two courses concurrently: …
Course Spotlight: First Semester Hausa
Course Description Hausa is a Chadic language (a branch of the Afro-Asiatic family) spoken by more than 34 million people in parts of Nigeria, Niger, and Chad, and as a trade language by another 18 …
Course Spotlight: Literature and Popular Culture in Africa
Course Description “Popular culture” as a category is a relatively new object of study in academia, and it has much to do with learning from the analysis of discourses that are unofficial, informal, or primarily …