AAAS 11 Introduction to African Studies
This course introduces a global socio-historical framework within which to examine Africa in relation to multiple African Diasporas and notions of mobility. Considering the historical contexts of contact between Africa, Europe, and the Americas, we examine cultural, economic, and philosophic aspects of Africa. We will examine how ideas of what it means to be African culturally, racially, and politically are continually produced and contested. The moment of independence of many African nation-states from European colonial rule in the mid 20th century operates as a centering point from which we will examine economics, race, politics, and artistic expressions. We will consider ideas of “tradition” and “modernity,” representations of Africa, more recent processes of commodification, as well as various cultural and political responses to them.