Courses

Fall 2009

Locating Africa

Department MELAC
Course # G4052
Time Tuesdays 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location 467 Schmerhorn
Mamadou Diouf /
Professor Diouf
Office Location: 623 Kent Hall
Office Hours: TBD
Jinny Prais /
Professor Prais
Office Location: TBD
Office Hours: TBD

During the early twentieth century the meaning of Africa and its location within the universal historical narrative was a source of discussion and debate among western and African elites. 

In this seminar, we will study the ways that African and people of African descent participated in this discussion. Through primary and secondary readings, we will learn how African, African American and European writers, artists and activists engaged and (re) interpreted imperial and international resources (including the insights of the new sciences of Man) to (re)imagine their political and social situations, and to participate in various political expressions , including pan-Africanism, communism, feminism, black internationalism, and anti-imperialism.

We will also engage critically debates (e.g., Egyptianisms and Ethiopianisms) and theoretical developments in African, imperial, transnational, international and global scholarship that seeks to understand the complex flows of people and ideas across national and imperial boundaries.