African Studies Jump To: Jump To: Program Offerings Minor Offering type Minor Africa is the continent where humanity began and where its future will be determined. Princeton’s minor in African Studies provides opportunities to all Princeton students, regardless of major, to learn about the continent. Students will learn a variety of methods, interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives that will enrich them with critical and analytical tools for engaging with Africa. These perspectives will aid them in their studies generally, enhancing skills used across all disciplines. The minor is devoted to the study of the Histories, Cultures, Religions, Literature, Languages, and Arts of Africa. Classes in Africa’s politics, economic life, social history and ecology are offered each semester. The minor also offers classes in Africa’s vibrant art scenes, past and present, where literature, music and art have come to define a new postcolonial African cosmopolitanism. Opportunities to learn Ge'ez, Swahili and Twi are offered in the fall and spring on campus and internationally each summer. The Program in African Studies is uniquely situated to teach students ethical approaches to the study of Africa that will serve them well in all areas of study. Goals for Student Learning Students gain knowledge of the fundamental principles of research and study as they relate to the African continent and explore how these principles interact with each other across disciplines.Students develop skills in policy and historical analysis, critical thinking, arts and cultural literacy, and ethical reasoning as applied in the study of Africa and its diaspora.Students acquire analytical research skills and mastery of interdisciplinary approaches to ideas, theories and issues pertinent to Africa.Students gain understanding and knowledge of real-world challenges and prospects facing Africa, and its regions and countries, through coursework and experiential learning hosted on the continent, such as the global seminars, international language study and summer internships.Students develop relationships with an interdisciplinary and international cohort and faculty, and thus acquire the experiential and knowledge-based resources necessary for work and life in Africa, as well as for global outlook and citizenship.Students acquire cultural diversity awareness and competencies through Africa-focused courses, student-run events and programs organized jointly by the Program in African Studies, Africa World Initiative and African Humanities Colloquium.Students appreciate the emergence of African Studies out of the continent’s struggle for independence from European imperialism, and the imperative of moving the field away from its colonial and racist roots. Prerequisites Students should have at least one core course completed by the spring of their junior year. One 200- or 300-level course administered or cross-listed by the Program in African Studies will serve to fulfill this requirement. Admission to the Program Undergraduates should enroll in the minor for African Studies in the spring of their junior year by contacting the program's manager. Students are asked to submit a letter of intent to the administrator of the Program in African Studies. Once the student is actively enrolled in the minor, they will be scheduled to meet with a member of the African Studies faculty to discuss their future course of study. Program of Study Five courses are required for the minor — one core course and four electives. Students are expected to take one course in the humanities, one African language course (Ge’ez, Swahili or Twi) and one course in the social sciences (History, Politics, Sociology or Anthropology). Any courses cross-listed with the Program in African Studies are preapproved to count toward fulfillment of the minor. Courses not cross-listed with African Studies, but devoting significant course time to issues on the continent, may be submitted for review by the program director for credit.The requirement of African languages can be fulfilled by one semester of an African language on campus or intense study with a summer program (SWA 103K or TWI 103G). Two courses counting toward the student’s major field of concentration may also be counted (or double counted) toward fulfilling the minor in African Studies. All courses for the PAS minor must be taken for a grade, not pass/D/fail.With prior approval from the director of the Program in African Studies, a student may satisfy the requirement of one elective by spending six or more weeks working on a project or with a program on the continent. Language Requirements One semester of an African language course is required for the minor. The requirement can be fulfilled by one semester of an African language on campus or intense study with a summer program. Independent Work In addition to the coursework, the student will submit a paper dealing with Africa. The student may submit the senior thesis or junior paper or another substantial piece of original research that meets the same standards of relevance to Africa. Additional Requirements The Program in African Studies Executive Committee will independently review each student’s JP or thesis and full academic record before approving fulfillment of the minor. Study Abroad The Program in African Studies strongly encourages students to study in Africa. The Program in African Studies and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies list a number of excellent programs on their websites.Princeton in AfricaStudents interested in working in Africa after graduation can apply to the Princeton in Africa (PiAF) program for fellowships. Princeton in Africa seeks to develop young leaders who understand Africa's important past and who are committed to the continent's vibrant future. To accomplish this, PiAF offers year-long, postgraduate internships with a variety of organizations that work across the African continent. Additional Information The Program in African Studies sponsors conferences, seminars and lectures throughout the year that bring to the University distinguished scholars, government officials and other experts with diverse points of view and interests in Africa. Students in the program are encouraged to participate in African Studies events around campus. Faculty Director Jacob S. Dlamini Executive Committee Wendy Laura Belcher, Comparative Literature Jacob S. Dlamini, History Simon E. Gikandi, English Sanyu A. Mojola, Sociology Mahiri Mwita, Prnctn Inst Intl & Regnl Studs F. Nick Nesbitt, French & Italian Chika O. Okeke-Agulu, Art and Archaeology Carolyn M. Rouse, Anthropology Associated Faculty André Benhaïm, French & Italian Benjamin H. Bradlow, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Emmanuel H. Kreike, History Florian Lionnet, Council of the Humanities Daniel Rubenstein, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Gavin Steingo, Music Leonard Wantchekon, Politics Jennifer A. Widner, Schl of Public & Int'l Affairs Sits with Committee Hannah Essien Alain St. Pierre H.M. Zafer For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website. Courses AFS 200 - Introduction to African Studies Not offered this year SA An exploration of the past, present, and future of Africa in a multidisciplinary setting. A dozen Africanist faculty members collaborate in an effort to shed light on both the huge potential of Africa and its peoples and the enormous challenges the continent faces. Topics vary from politics, economics, conservation, biodiversity, climate change, the environment, health and disease, and written and oral literature, to the impact of the world on Africa as well as Africa's contributions to and place in worlds present and past. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff AFS 400 - Topics in African Studies Not offered this year Designed to allow juniors and seniors enrolled in the program to examine significant problems in Africa in an interdisciplinary manner. Topics vary from year to year, reflecting faculty research interests. Prerequisite: one core course and one cognate course, or instructor's permission. Required of all program concentrators; open to others by permission of program director and course instructor. Staff AFS 450 - Critical African Studies (also AAS 451) Fall CD or HA Critical African Studies is a colloquium designed as a capstone course for African Studies Certificate students. The course is designed to introduce students to cutting-edge scholarship in African Studies. Students engage with African Studies scholars from Princeton University and beyond. In addition to attending the African Studies Lecture Series and Works-in-Progress series, students in Critical African Studies will workshop their junior or senior independent research. This capstone course is open to junior and senior certificate students and must be taken to fulfill the African Studies Certificate requirements. C. Rouse SWA 101 - Elementary Swahili I Fall An introduction to Kiswahili language and culture. Focuses on the development of the communication skills students need to interact with Swahili speakers. Instruction emphasizes cultural themes and experiential activities that enhance the four components of speaking, writing, listening, and reading. Students will also gain some insight into the cultures of East Africa. Four classes. No credit is given for SWA 101 unless followed by SWA 102. M. Mwita SWA 102 - Elementary Swahili II Spring Continuation of SWA 101. Emphasis is on increasing proficiency in reading and listening comprehension, speaking, and writing. Cultural contexts of the East African societies where Swahili is spoken are incorporated in classroom activities in order to enhance communication and cultural proficiency. Prerequisite: SWA 101. Four classes. M. Mwita SWA 105 - Intermediate Swahili I Fall This second-year Swahili course focuses on enhancing the communicative skills acquired in the first year. Instruction emphasizes reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The course infuses cultural and sociopolitical aspects of life in East Africa with more complex grammatical concepts such as the subjunctive, grammar infixes, and relative clauses. Prerequisites: SWA 101 and 102, or instructor's permission. Four classes. M. Mwita SWA 107 - Intermediate Swahili II Spring Emphasizes conversational fluency and increased facility in reading and writing skills while introducing students to Swahili literature. This literature forms the basis for a survey of cultural issues and more advanced grammar. Students will be able to understand and analyze the main ideas and significant details of materials in Swahili such as media articles, short stories, poetry, short novels, films, and plays. Covers advanced-level Swahili grammar, as well as the development of expository writing skills. Prerequisite: SWA 105, or instructor's permission. Four classes. M. Mwita AAS 239 - Introduction to African Literature and Film (also AFS 239/COM 239/HUM 239/TRA 239) Fall CD or LA African literature and films have been a vital (but often unacknowledged) stream in and stimulant to the global traffic in invention. Nigerian literature is one of the great literatures of the 20th century. Ethiopian literature is one of the oldest in the world. South Africans have won more Nobel Prizes for Literature in the past forty years than authors from any other country. Senegalese films include some of the finest films ever made. In this course, we will study the richness and diversity of foundational African texts (some in translation), while foregrounding questions of aesthetics, style, humor, and epistemology. W. Belcher AAS 411 - Art, Apartheid, and South Africa (also AFS 411/ART 471) Not offered this year CD or LA Apartheid, the political doctrine of separation of races in South Africa (1948-1990), dominated the (South) African political discourse in the second half of the 20th century. While it lasted, art and visual cultures were marshaled in the defense and contestation of its ideologies. Since the end of Apartheid, artists, filmmakers, dramatists, and scholars continue to reexamine the legacies of Apartheid, and the social, philosophical, and political conditions of non-racialized South Africa. Course readings examine issues of race, nationalism and politics, art and visual culture, and social memory in South Africa. AAS Subfield: GRE C. Okeke-Agulu ANT 206 - Human Evolution (also AFS 206) Spring EC An assessment and understanding of the evolutionary history and processes in our lineage over the last 7 to 10 million years, with a focus on the ~2.5 million year history of our own genus (Homo).This outline of the history of our lineage offers an anthropological and evolutionary context for what it means to be human today. Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. DiGiorgio ANT 314 - The Anthropology of Development (also AFS 314/ENE 314) SA Why do development projects fail? This course examines why well-meaning development experts get it wrong. It looks closely at what anthropologists mean by culture and why most development experts fail to attend to the cultural forces that hold communities together. By examining development projects from South Asia to the United States, students learn the relevance of exchange relations, genealogies, power, religion, and indigenous law. C. Rouse ANT 405 - Topics in Anthropology (also AFS 405) HA or SA Study of a selected topic in anthropology; the particular choice will vary from year to year. Staff ART 200 - The Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Egypt (also AFS 202/NES 205) Fall LA The art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Egypt from the end of the prehistoric period, ca. 3000 B.C., to the beginning of the Iron Age, ca. 650 B.C. Focus on the rise of complex societies and the attendant development of architectural and artistic forms that express the needs and aspirations of these societies. Occasional readings in original texts in translation will supplement the study of art and architecture. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff ENG 403 - Forms of Literature (also AFS 402/COM 470) LA Each term course will be offered in special topics of English and American literature. One three-hour seminar. C. Johnson ENG 415 - Topics in Literature and Ethics (also AFS 415/COM 446/JRN 415) Not offered this year CD or EM Courses offered under this rubric will investigate ethical questions in literature. Topics will range from a critical study of the textual forms these questions take to a historical study of an issue traditionally debated by both literature and ethics (responsibility, rhetoric, justice, violence, oppression). Two lectures, one preceptorial. S. Gikandi ENG 417 - Topics in Postcolonial Literature (also AFS 416/COM 423) Not offered this year LA Approaches to the connections between literature and nationality, focusing either on literatures outside the Anglo-American experience or on the theoretical issues involved in articulating nationality through literature. Two 90-minute seminars. Z. Chaudhary FRE 330 - Landmarks of French Culture (also AFS 330) LA An interdisciplinary study of places, periods, persons, or questions that helped define French cultural identity, from its origins to the present. Areas of study could include courtly love; gothic art; the Enyclopedia; the Belle Epoque; the Figure of the Intellectual from Zola to Simone de Beauvoir; the sociocultural revolution of May 1968; colonization, its discontents, and its aftermaths; France in the age of globalization; Franco-American relations; etc. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in French or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute classes. Staff GLS 312 - Documentary Filmmaking in Kenya (also AFS 312/ENV 308/VIS 310) Not offered this year LA This seminar will address two essential questions: How can the art of film advance the causes of science? How do communities use media to support their environmental activism? Based in Kenya, students will be trained in digital video production, screenwriting, and editing, and will produce a series of short and long documentaries. Filming will entail numerous trips into the field, interviewing, and recording. The seminar will help students begin to understand crucial international development issues, e.g., water, wildlife, and land use, and how to communicate memorably about them through video. S. Friedrich HIS 314 - Precolonial Africa (also AFS 313) Not offered this year HA A survey course that begins with an overview of the continent at the end of the third century A.D. and ends with the death of Moshoeshoe in the 19th century. Focuses on several great themes of African history: long-distance trade, state formation, migration, religious conversion to either Islam or Christianity, forms of domestic slavery, and the impact of the slave trade. Two 90-minute classes. E. Kreike HIS 315 - Africa in the Modern Age (also AAS 315/AFS 316/URB 315) Fall HA The impact of European colonial rule on the traditional societies of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the dominant themes will be the emergence of the intelligentsia in colonial areas as proponents of nationalism. Two lectures, one preceptorial. J. Dlamini ITA 309 - Topics in Contemporary Italian Civilization (also AFS 309/ECS 310) CD or LA The evolution of Italian contemporary civilization through the study of historical, sociopolitical, and cultural topics. The approach will be interdisciplinary; each year a different topic will be selected and studied as portrayed in representative samples of slides, films, and pertinent reading material. One-hour lecture, two-hour precept. Prerequisite: a 200-level Italian course or instructor's permission. Offered in alternate years. Staff MUS 258 - Music of Africa (also AFS 258) Not offered this year LA Introduction to the vocal and instrumental music of Africa south of the Sahara. Topics include the place of music in society, the influence of language on musical composition, principles of rhythmic organization, urban popular music, "art" music as a response to colonialism, and the impact of African music on the earliest forms of African American music. Staff NES 465 - Political and Economic Development of the Middle East and North Africa (also AFS 465/POL 465) SA Provides a framework for understanding the political and economic issues that both challenge and encourage development in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Students will think creatively about the issues raised by designing a development project aimed at tackling a specific problem in a Middle Eastern country. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff POL 366 - Politics in Africa (also AFS 366) Spring CD or SA A comparative approach to African political systems. The meanings of the concepts of modernization, national integration, and development are explored. Topics include the inheritances of colonial rule, independence and the new tasks, political patterns in the postindependence period, prospects for political change, and African interstate relations. Two lectures, one preceptorial. J. Widner
