RECONCEIVING AFRICA
HIST 4808-001/SOCY 4131-005
Fall 2013
KTCH 301
Professor Myles Osborne
myles.osborne@colorado.edu
Hellems 242
Off. Hrs.: Tu/Th 11-12/by appt
Professor Sanyu Mojola
sanyu.mojola@colorado.edu
Ketchum 208
Off. Hrs.: Tu/Th 2-3/by appt
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a one-time offering made possible with a generous gift from Mr. Gordon Gamm
via the “Gamm Interdisciplinary Fund.” It will provide students with the tools to address and
analyze ten important issues that face Africans today, ranging from HIV/AIDS to urbanization.
This course will also ask students to move beyond the disciplinary boundaries to which they
have become used by asking them to rethink a series of concepts (e.g. gender), grapple with
unfamiliar methodologies (e.g. oral interviews, tattoo reading), and use a range of different
perspectives from a variety of disciplines to deepen their study of the continent.
This course will be a high-level, challenging undergraduate course that requires students to read
extensively, and produce a series of individual and group assignments based on original research
in the university libraries.
There are three required texts for this course:
1) Moyo, Dambisa (2009). Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way
for Africa. New York: Penguin.
2) Parker, John, and Rathbone, Richard (2007). African History: A Very Short Introduction.
New York: Oxford University Press.
3) Ramphele, Mamphosa (1993). A Bed Called Home: Life in the Migrant Labour Hostels of
Cape Town. Athens: Ohio University Press.
All other readings and course materials will be available at the CU Bookstore, on Desire2Learn
(D2L, and marked below with *), via the web, or will be distributed in class.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES:
Disability Statement: If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit
to your professor a letter from Disability Services during the first week of class so that your
needs can be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented
disabilities. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or by e-mail at dsinfo@colorado.edu.
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If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Injuries under Quick Links
at Disability Services website (http://disabilityservices.colorado.edu/) and discuss your needs
with your professor.
Decorum Statement: Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an
appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be
subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect
to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics,
veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age,
disability, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal
name. We will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun.
Please advise us of this preference early in the semester so that we may make appropriate
changes to our records.
Honor Code: All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing
and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may
include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and
threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code
Council honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the
academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member
and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or
expulsion). Additional information on the Honor Code can be found at:
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html
Religious Observance: Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty
make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious
obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. If you
have a potential class conflict because of religious observance, you must inform me of that
conflict by September 3rd. See policy details at: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
Harassment and Discrimination: The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to
maintaining a positive learning, working, and living environment. The University of Colorado
does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed,
religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and
employment in, its educational programs and activities. CU-Boulder will not tolerate acts of
discrimination or harassment based upon Protected Classes or related retaliation against or by
any employee or student. For purposes of this CU-Boulder policy, "Protected Classes" refers to
race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation,
gender identity, gender expression, or veteran status. Individuals who believe they have been
discriminated against should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303492-2127 or the Office of Student Conduct (OSC) at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH,
the above referenced policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding
discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://hr.colorado.edu/dh/
CLASSROOM POLICIES:
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Attendance: The nature of this course means that missing class will seriously impact your
chances of success; attendance is therefore mandatory. Students with THREE unexcused
absences will have their grade reduced by a factor of one (i.e. B to C). Excused absences and
relevant documentation are:
Athletic engagement:
Religious observance:
Letter from coach on letter head paper (letter with missed date(s)
required by Thursday September 5th in class). You are
responsible for agreeing with the professor about alternative due
dates for assignments at this time.
Letter from student noting religious affiliation, the date and name
of the observance (letter with missed date(s) required by Thursday
September 5th in class or as soon as student is aware of event).
You are responsible for agreeing with the professor about
alternative due dates for assignments at this time.
Court appearance:
Letter of jury duty or court appointment letter with specific
dates that you will be absent from class.
Incapacitating illness:
Doctor’s note on letter head paper with specific dates that student
will be/was absent from class and will be unable to complete/turn
in the assignment (note should be attached to late assignment)
Family Death:
Letter from family member including contact information (phone
and email) with specific dates that student is absent and will be
unable to complete/turn in the assignment as well as funeral
information (note should be attached to late assignment)
Excused late assignments or class absences for the last two emergency situations
require:
1.
An email sent to the professor within one week of the event occurrence
2.
The completed assignment as soon as the student is able.
3.
Documentation of the absence (with specific dates) attached to the assignment
If you do not do this then the late assignment policy will apply.
Electronic Devices: No laptops, phones, or other electronic devices will be permitted in this
class unless a documented disability requires you to use one.
Class Reading: You are expected to do the reading by Tuesday of each week and come
prepared to discuss it. I hope this class will be a starting point for you, and equip you to be able
to continue to read up on the subject after you have left. If you don’t understand something or
want to learn more, please ask.
Announcements and Syllabus Changes: You are responsible for keeping track of all
announcements and syllabus changes made in class whether you are there or not. In addition,
you are responsible for getting lecture material, class assignment sheets and handouts you missed
from your classmates and not from the professor.
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Grades: Grades are awarded on the basis of quality of work turned in and what is subsequently
earned; not the grade that a student feels they “deserve.” You are encouraged to see Professors
Osborne and Mojola early on in the semester if you are concerned about your grades.
Assignments are distributed over the entire semester so that your entire grade does not depend on
a few high stakes assignments. So there is an opportunity to improve throughout the semester if
you seek help. There is no extra credit available for this class; everyone has the same available
points to earn.
Percentage
94% to 100%
90% to 93%
87% to 89%
84% to 86%
80% to 83%
77% to 79%
Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
Percentage
74% to 76%
70% to 73%
67% to 69%
64% to 66%
60% to 63%
Below 60%
Grade
C
CD+
D
DF
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Participation
10%
This portion of your grade will be earned by regular and thoughtful contributions to class
discussion, based on the assigned readings.
3 Written assignments, based on pre-circulated questions
30%
You will be required to prepare critical response papers to a question drawn from topics from
class over the course of the semester. All assignments will have a late paper policy. See specific
assignment for details. Each assignment is worth 10% of your class grade
2 Group research presentations and written research papers
30%
During Weeks 5 and 10, you will present the results of independent research projects carried out
in groups. The first will involve independent research on a particular country, and the second
will be a policy debate on a particular issue facing contemporary Africans. In addition to a group
presentation on your research, you will produce a written document as a group that reflects this
research. These group projects will provide you with opportunities to apply the tools you have
learned by drawing on a range of historical and contemporary materials. Your grade will reflect
a combination of peer and professor evaluations of your presentation and paper. Each
assignment is worth 15% of your class grade.
Final take-home essay
30%
You will begin working on your final project in Week 11. In this final assignment, you will be
asked to move past course materials and the boundaries of “country” or your chosen “issue”
from the group presentations. You will produce a high-quality, independent piece of scholarship
that addresses a question or topic currently unanswered in contemporary research. Profs. Mojola
and Osborne will guide you through this process and help you dip into the extraordinarily wideranging source base used by Africanists for studying the continent.
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COURSE SYLLABUS (Changes might be made during the course of the semester)
Week 1
(Re)conceiving Africa
Tue Aug 27 Mojola & Osborne: Introduction to class
Thu Aug 29 Mojola & Osborne: Conceptions of Africa
Readings:
1) Parker and Rathbone (entire book).
2) *Wainaina, Binyavanga (2005). How to Write About Africa. Granta 92, 1-4.
Week 2
War: The Treasure Chest of Africa
Tue Sep 3
Osborne: Colonialism and Histories of Extraction in Africa
Thu Sep 5
Mojola: Cell Phones, Blood Diamonds and Oil (ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE)
Readings:
1) Brown, Michael (2012). An Iphone in the DRC. Time, 16 August.
http://lightbox.time.com/2012/08/16/an-iphone-in-congo-photos-by-michael-christopher-brown/
2) *Hochschild, Adam (1998). King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Great, Terror, and Heroism in
Central Africa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 115-139.
3) *Obi, Cyril (1997). Globalisation and Local Resistance: The Case of the Ogoni versus Shell.
New Political Economy 2, 137-148.
Week 3
Migration
Tue Sep 10 Mojola: Labor Migration, Refugee Movements and the African Diaspora
Thu Sept 12 Osborne: Historical Perspectives on Movement and Migration
Readings:
1) *Cobbing, Julian (1988). The Mfecane as Alibi: Thoughts on Dithakong and Mbolompo.
Journal of African History 29, 487-519.
2) *Stoller, Paul (2002). Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, Chapters 2 & 3.
3) *Sweet, James H. (2006). The Evolution of Ritual in the African Diaspora: Central African
Kilundu in Brazil, St. Domingue, and The United States, Seventeenth-Nineteenth Centuries. In
Michael Gomez (Ed.), Diasporic Africa: A View from History (pp. 64-80). New York: NYU
Press.
Week 4
Urbanization
Tue Sept 17th Osborne: Colonial Cities: Race, Labor, and Restrictions
Thu Sep 19th Mojola: Contemporary Cities: Residences and Livelihoods
Readings:
1) *Abrahams, Peter (1963). Mine Boy. London: Heinemann, 1-31.
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2) *Akyeampong, Emmanuel (2000). Wo Pe Tam Won Pe Ba (You Like Cloth but You Don’t
Like Children): Urbanization, Individualism, and Gender Relations in Colonial Ghana, c. 19001939. In Douglas Johnson and Richard Rathbone (Eds.), Africa’s Urban Past (pp. 222-234).
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
3) Ramphele, Chapters 1 & 2, and all photographs.
Week 5
Group Research and Presentations
Tue Sep 24 Session 1
Thu Sep 26 Session 2
(ASSIGNMENT #2, INCLUDES GROUP ESSAY DUE THU SEP 26)
Week 6
Gender and Women’s Autonomy
Tue Oct 1
Osborne: Circumcision and Tattooing
Thu Oct 3
Mojola: “Prostitution” and Transactional Sex
Readings:
1) *Amadiume, Ifi (1987). Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African
Society. London: Zed Books, 1-10.
2) *Gengenbach, Heidi (2003). Boundaries of Beauty: Tattooed Secrets of Women’s History in
Magude District, Colonial Mozambique. Journal of Women’s History 14, 106-141.
3) *Hunter, Mark (2002). The Materiality of Everyday Sex: Thinking Beyond “Prostitution.”
African Studies 61, 99-120.
4) *Thomas, Lynn (2000). “Ngaitana (I Will Circumcise Myself)”: Lessons from Colonial
Campaigns to Ban Excision in Meru, Kenya. In Bettina Shell-Duncan and Ylva Hernlund (Eds.),
Female “Circumcision” in Africa (pp. 129-150). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Week 7
Christianity and Islam in Africa
Tue Oct 8
Osborne: Christianity and Islam
Thu Oct 10 Mojola: Syncretism and Hybridity (ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE)
Readings:
1) *Ekechi, Felix (1971). Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. Journal of African History 12, 103-115.
2) *Pfeiffer, James, et al (2007). The Holy Spirit in the Household: Pentecostalism, Gender, and
Neoliberalism in Mozambique. American Anthropologist 109, 688-700.
Week 8
“Tribes” and Warfare
Tue Oct 15
Osborne: “Tribe” in Africa
Thu Oct 17 Osborne: Kenya Burning
Readings:
1) *Kahora, Billy (2008). Kenya Burning: Mgogoro baada ya Uchaguzi, 2007/8. Nairobi:
GoDown Arts Centre, Kwani Trust, selections.
2) *Rasmussen, Jacob (2010). Mungiki as Youth Movement: Revolution, Gender and
Generational Politics in Nairobi, Kenya. Young 18, 301-319.
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3) *Vail, Leroy (1989). Introduction: Ethnicity in Southern African History. In Leroy Vail
(Ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (pp. 1-19). Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Week 9
Fertility
Tue Oct 22
Osborne: Wealth in People and the Environment
Thu Oct 24 Mojola: Contemporary Politics of Fertility
Readings:
1) *Kokole, Omari (1994). The Politics of Fertility in Africa. Population and Development
Review 20, Supplement: The New Politics of Population: Conflict and Consensus in Family
Planning, 73-88.
2) *Mazrui, Ali (1994). Islamic Doctrine and the Politics of Induced Fertility Change: An
African Perspective. Population and Development Review 20, Supplement: The New Politics of
Population: Conflict and Consensus in Family Planning, 121-134.
3) *Rose Hunt, Nancy (1988). Le Bébé en Brousse: European Women, African Birth Spacing,
and Colonial Intervention in Breast Feeding in the Belgian Congo. International Journal of
African Historical Studies 21, 401-432.
Week 10
Group Research Presentations
Tue Oct 29
Session 1 War
Thu Nov 1
Session 2 Fertility
(ASSIGNMENT #4, INCLUDES GROUP ESSAY DUE THU NOV 1)
Week 11
Development and Aid in Africa
Tue Nov 5
Osborne: Development for Africa
Thu Nov 7
Mojola: Contemporary Development and Solutions to African poverty
Readings:
1) Moyo, ix-73.
2) *Osborne, Myles (2013). Controlling Development: “Martial Race” and Empire in Eastern
Kenya, 1945-1962 (forthcoming).
Week 12
Love and Sexuality in Africa
Tue Nov 12 Mojola: Love and Money
Thu Nov 14 Osborne: Relationships and Trade
Readings:
1) *Moodie, Dunbar (1988). Migrancy and Male Sexuality on the South African Gold Mines.
Journal of Southern African Studies 14, 228-256.
2) *Mutongi, Kenda (2006). “Dear Dolly’s” Advice: Representations of Youth, Courtship, and
Sexualities in Africa, 1960-1980. In Jennifer Cole and Lynn Thomas (Eds.), Love in Africa (pp.
83-108). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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3) *Smith, Daniel (2006). Love and the Risk of HIV: Courtship, Marriage, and Infidelity in
Southeastern Nigeria. In Jennifer Hirsch and Holly Wardlow (Eds.), Modern Loves (pp. 135153). Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press.
Week 13:
HIV/AIDS
Tue Nov 19 Mojola: Historical Origins of AIDS
Thu Nov 21 Mojola: Consequences of the AIDS Epidemic (ASSIGNMENT #5 DUE)
Readings:
1) *Mojola, Sanyu (2011). Fishing in Dangerous Waters: Ecology, Gender and HIV Risk.
Social Science and Medicine 72, 149-156.
2) *Nolen, Stephanie (2007). 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa. New York: Walker, Chapters 7 & 8.
3) *Tavory, Iddo, and Swidler, Ann (2009). Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in
Rural Malawi. American Sociological Review 74, 171-189.
Week 14
FALL BREAK
Week 15
Tue Dec 3
Thu Dec 5
Student/Group Presentations on Paper Outlines/Topics
Student Presentations
Student Presentations
Week 16
Tue Dec 10
Thu Dec 12
Final Thoughts and Reflections
Mojola & Osborne
Mojola & Osborne
Mon Dec 16
Final Paper Due (ASSIGNMENT #6)
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