Kay Branagan  

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COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course deals with the entire southern Africa region but its focus is on the are of present day South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Angola, and Mozambique.  After presenting a historical overview of the region, the course will move to a discussion of specific topics.

The course will focus on reading and discussion of assigned books and articles.  Students are expected to take an active part in class discussion and should therefore keep up to date with reading assignments.

Regular attendance is essential for doing well in the course.  No more than two (2) absences are allowed without penalty.  Students with extenuating circumstances must speak with the instructor; exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis.  Leaving class early or arriving more than 5 minutes late is disruptive for the entire class and will be treated as an absence unless there is a legitimate reason.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. The student will develop an understanding of the internal dynamics of southern African nation building, specifically Sotho, Zulu, Ndebele, Shona, Afrikaner, Swazi, and South African
2. The student will understand general theories of the colonial experience, from the positions of both colonizer and the colonized.  (Steve Biko, Franz Fanon, Cesaire, Amilar Cabral, and Portuguese and English-speaking Liberation Theologians.)
3. The student will gain an appreciation of the diverse cultures of southern Africa--specifically Zulu, Xhosa, KoiSan, Sotho, Ndebele, Afrikaner, English, Indian, Malay, and Coloured/Griqua.
4. The student will explore the dynamics of race relations in the German, English, and Portuguese context and compare it with the United States.
5. The student will study the interplay of politics, economics, gender, and ethnicity in the southern African context.
6. The student will explore the role of United states policy in southern Africa.

TEXT BOOKS:

COLLATERAL READINGS:

Students are responsible for selected collateral readings listed in the syllabus.  Do not purchase until after meeting with the class and instructor.

RESOURCES:

Stanford University  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/AFR/main/resources.html

The most extensive and up-to-date African Studies pages.

University of Pennsylvania  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African Studies/AS.htm

Web page of the African Studies Association with links to many sources here and abroad, arranged by general subject as well as by country.

Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html

Diaspora-wide.

Northwestern University  http://www.library.nwu.edu/africana/

One of the best Africana collections in the USA and they loan free to libraries.

African Studies Quarterly http://www.clas.ufl.edu/africa/asq

This ASA journal is online full text only.

AJR NewsLink http://www.newslink.org/nonusf.html

Links you to newspapers from 20 African countries.

University of Texas http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html

Public domain maps for downloading.

The Mail and Guardian S.A.  http://www.mg.co.za

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

FILMS(TO BE SELECTED FROM THE FLOWING LIST):

As this course progresses films, documentaries, and slides relevant to the material under consideration, will be shown.

These films, documentaries, and slides were previewed, evaluated, and selected for class viewing in order to expand upon the materials being presented and to allow the students to understand the impact of political and economic policies on individual people from the region who are unable to speak for themselves.  Participating students who find these films etc. to be objectionable are not required to attend the viewing and will be given an alternative assignment.

PLAGIARY:

Plagiary is using the words and/or phrases of others and failing to credit them in your writings.  Direct quotes and paraphrasing the ideas of others MUST be footnoted.  The sources for more general ideas MUST be noted in a bibliography.  Plagiary is also copying, in whole or in part, a paper off the Internet or handing in a paper written, in whole or in part by another student.  Plagiary will result in an 'E' grade as well as an additional assignment.  [Sorry, being 'stressed' is NOT an excuse for cheating!!]

ADDENDA:

Any changes made in the requirements of the course i.e., writing assignments, and/or evaluation criteria, will be made known to participating students through verbal announcements in class and distributed addenda.