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ANG 5354 ANTHROPOLOGY OF MODERN AFRICA Spring term 2006
Tuesday 11, E 1-2
127 Little then 471 Grinter
Section # 4831
Credits: 3
Dr. Anita Spring
451 Grinter Hall
Office Hrs: Tu 12-1:00, Thurs. noon-2:00 PM
and by appointment, 392-7201 (x 308)
This course is an advanced level study of African societies and cultures and focuses on
traditional societies in the modern period; contemporary societies; and contemporary problems
and trends. The course covers the following topics:
 Classification schemes old and new;
 Kinship and family;
 Rural livelihoods, agriculture and non-agriculture;
Urban livelihoods: entrepreneurship and business; formal and informal sectors; urban networks
 Environment and natural resource management;
 Gender issues, women in development;
 Religious and philosophical systems;
 Governance, bureaucracies and corruption;
 Ethnicities, refugees, human rights;
 South Africa: end of apartheid and contemporary problems;
 Health and illness, sexuality, HIV/AIDS;
 Development strategies.
To benefit from this course, it is necessary that students and the instructor alike become fully
involved in it. The course will be taught in a seminar manner, but will also use multimedia
techniques, lectures, audiovisual materials, and student participation. The reading assignments
are an integral part of the course and should be completed before coming to class.
Requirements:
(1) Participation, map quiz, and good spirits (10%)
(2) Paper (10-12 pages) on kinship and family (30%)
(3) Paper (10-12 pages) on economics and politics (30%)
(4) Paper (12 pages) on a topic of your choice relating to course (30%)
Required Books (books, Reader, Workbook, at Orange and Blue Textbooks)
1. Silberschmidt, "Women Forget that Men are the Masters:" Gender Antagonism an Socioeconomic Change
2. Spring and McDade, African Entrepreneurship: Theory and Reality (purchase at discount)
3. Tranberg Hansen and Vaa, Reconsidering Informality: Perspectives from Urban Africa
4. Reader articles; Workbook (maps, newspaper clips, etc.)
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COURSE OUTLINE BY TOPICS
R = Reader W = Workbook
1. Jan. 10 INTRODUCTION: CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES
(AFRICANITY, CIVILIZATIONS OF AFRICA, THE TRIPLE HERITAGE),
Multimedia presentations
Readings: Keim: Africans Live in Tribes, Don’t They? R1.1
Maps: W1-10; 12, 13-17; Multimedia lectures W1-2; News Articles WF2-4, 6
2. Jan. 17 GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Readings: Nyangoro, Africa’s Environmental Problems R2.1
Thrupp and Green: Gender and Natural Resource Management, R2.2
Dorm-Adzobu & Ampadu-Agyeu: Reflection on Gender in Natural…R2.3
Multimedia lectures W3-5, New Articles WD2-3
3. Jan. 24 AGRICULTURE, FOOD SECURITY AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS
Slides: Malawi and Ethiopia
Readings: Picard: Listening to and Learning from African Women Farmers, R3.1
Spring: Agricultural Commercialization & Women Farmers in Kenya R3.2
4. Jan. 31 KINSHIP, FAMILY, AND AGING
Readings: Edwards, Morality and Change: Family and Parental Authority, R5.1
Cattell, The Discourse of Neglect: Family Support for the Elderly, R5.2
Hakansson and LeVine, Gender and Life Course Strategies, R5.3
Ssennyonga, Polygyny and Resource Allocation, R5.4
Multimedia and other materials W6-8; New Articles WD 1, 7; WD18
5. Feb. 7 WOMEN, BEAUTY, GENDER ISSUES, LIVELIHOODS
Readings: Gordon: Women’s Responses to Capitalist Development, R6.1
Ogden, Producing Respect, Proper Woman in Postcolonial Kampala, R6.2
Haram, Prostitutes or Modern Women…Respectability in…Tanzania R7.4
Komba-Malekela and Liljestrom: Looking for Men, R6.3
Spring and McDade, chapters 6, 7, 15
New Articles WC 2-6, 10; WD 16-17
6. Feb 14 PRESENTATIONS ON SILBERSCHMIDT, WOMEN FORGET THAT MEN
ARE THE MASTERS:" GENDER ANTAGONISM AN SOCIO-ECONOMIC
CHANGE
7. Feb. 21 POPULATION, HEALTH, SEXUALITY, HIV/AIDS, NUTRITION
Readings: Gordon: Population Urbanization and AIDS, R7.1
Silberschmidt, Masculinities, Sexuality and Socio-Economic Change…R7.2
Delenborg, A Reflection on… Female Circumcision R7.3
Dilger, Sexuality, AIDS…among Young People in Rural Tanzania R7.5
Spring and McDade, chapter 8
News Articles on Famine, Health, etc. WD1, 4-15, 19
Paper #1 Families, Gender Issues and Change
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7. Feb. 28 TRADITIONAL AFRICAN RELGION, CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM
Readings: Moyo, Religion in Africa, R4.1
Ntukula, The Initiation Rite, R4.2
Fisiy and Geschiere, Witchcraft, Violence and Identity, R4.3
Ashforth, Witchcraft, Violence & Democracy in…South Africa R4.4
Jalloh, African Muslim Business in Post-Colonial West Africa R10.1
Multimedia lectures W9-10, WE 1-2, 4
8. Feb. 27 URBAN LIVELIHOODS
Readings: Hansen, Dressing the New Nation R10.3
Hansen, Clothing Retail Practices R10.4
Spring and McDade, chapter 5
Hansen and Vaa, chapter 1 and selections from chapters 4-7
9. Mar. 7 ENTREPRENEURSHIP, BUSINESS AND GLOBALIZATION
Multimedia presentation
Readings: Spring and McDade, chapters 1, 3, 10,
Spring, Gender and the Range of Entrepreneurial Strategies R 1
News Articles WF1, 5
10. Mar. 21 PRESENTATIONS ON SPRING AND MCDADE AFRICAN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THEORY AND REALITY & HANSEN AND VAA,
RECONSIDERING INFORMALITY: PERSPECTIVES FROM URBAN
AFRICA
Paper #2 Entrepreneurship and Livelihoods
11. Mar.27 CORRUPTION, ETHNICITY, IDENTITY,
Readings: Mbaku, Institutions and Reform in Africa, R8.1
O’Brien, A Lost Generation? Youth, Identity and State Decay, R8.2
Eames, Navigating Nigerian Bureaucracies, R8.3
Amadiume, Corruption & Women’s Mobilization: The Cults…First Lady, R6.4
Spring and McDade, chapters 2, 13
News Articles WC8-9; WE 3, 5, 7
12. Apr. 4 CONFLICT, HUMAN RIGHTS,
Multimedia presentation: Weak States and Refugees W12
Readings: Geisler, Women…in Nationalist Movements and Liberation Struggles:
Fighting Men’s Wars
Multimedia lectures 9, R2
Articles on Human Rights and Slavery WB1-8
13. Apr. 11 SOUTH AFRICA
Readings: Furlong, South Africa, R9.1
Eades, Challenges of a New Democracy, R9.2
Bratton: After Mandela's Miracle in South Africa, R9.3
Morell, Men and Masculinity in South Africa R9.4
Spring and McDade, chapters 4, 16
Hansen and Vaa, Chapter 11
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Multimedia presentation W 13, News Articles on South-Africa WA1-8
14. April 18 LAND, HOUSING, NETWORKS AND URBAN LIFE
Readings: Tostenson, et al., The Urban Crisis: Governance &
Associational Life
Simone, Between Ghetto and Globe: Remaking Urban Life in Africa
Hansen and Vaa, selections from Section III
News ArticlesWE6
15. APRIL 25 CONCLUSIONS: Final Paper consultations
Final Paper due on or before May 3, 2006 at 4:00 in my box in the Anthropology Office,
1112 Turlington. Please have one of the secretaries certify the time.
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