Core 8 - Intercultural Studies II - Africa
Core 8 Faculty
- Susan Chattin - History (Director of Core 8)
- Charles Kerlin - English
- Linda McFarland - Business
- April Toadvine - English
- Karen Venditti - Education
- Peter Watkins - Political Science
- William White - History
Core 8 Required Texts
Texts
- The Concubine - Amadi, Elechi. Great Britain: Heinemann, 1966
- Things Fall Apart - Achebe, Chinua. New York: Anchor, 1994, c1959
- So Long a Letter - Bâ, Mariama. Trans. Modupé Bodé-Thomas. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1989
- A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid - Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004
- The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur - Hari, Daoud. Random House, 2008
- The Village of Waiting - Packer, George. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001
Syllabus Readings (Reprinted With Permission)
- The African Heritage and the Slave Trade - Brooks, George E. Themes in African and World History. Rev. ed. Bloomington, Indiana: African Studies Program, Indiana University, 1982
- Interlocking World Economies: The South Atlantic System - Brooks, George E. Getting Along Together: World History Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century. Fall 2004 course packet. Bloomington: Indiana University
Collegial Agreements
- You are required to attend all lectures and discussion sections.
- You are required to write a minimum of 15 typed pages during the semester.
- Among the required pages of writing, you must complete a research paper that is 8-10 pages in length. Please see your individual instructor for the specifics of this assignment.
- You will be held responsible for reading and lecture material through exams, quizzes, writing assignments and discussion.
- You will have a mandatory graded final exam or other project during finals week, the specifics of which will vary by instructor. This final assignment will help you and your instructor assess what you've learned from some significant portion of the course.
Lecture and Reading Schedule
Unit I: Images
January 5 lecture - Images of Africa - Susan Chattin
- 2nd discussion class: The Concubine (Ch. 1-11)
Unit II: Traditional Society & Institutions
January 12 lecture - Traditional African Religion – Benedict Mgabe, CP.P.S.
- 1st discussion class: The Concubine (Ch. 12-21)
- 2nd discussion class: The Concubine (Ch, 22-end)
January 19 lecture - Kinship Ties in Traditional African Societies - Susan Chattin
- 1st discussion class: "Interlocking World Economies", "The African Heritage and the Slave Trade" Syllabus
- 2nd discussion class: Things Fall Apart
Unit III: Historical Overview
January 26 lecture - Things Fall Apart - Charles Kerlin
- 1st discussion class: Things Fall Apart
- 2nd discussion class: Things Fall Apart
February 2 lecture - Colonialism and Its Aftermath - Peter Watkins
- 1st discussion class: Things Fall Apart
- 2nd discussion class: Things Fall Apart
Unit IV: Contemporary Africa
February 9 lecture - Africa in a Global World: Tradition and Change - Susan Chattin
- 1st discussion class: Village of Waiting Introduction, (pp. 3-46)
- 2nd discussion class: Village of Waiting (pp. 47-121)
February 16 lecture - Volunteerism and Enculturation - Sean Egan
- 1st discussion class: Village of Waiting (pp. 122-165)
- 2nd discussion class: Village of Waiting (pp. 166-221)
- Lecturer note: Sean attended SJC and Earlham. While at Earlham as a double major in Peace Studies and International Studies, he spent a year at the University of Dakar in Senegal. He later spent three years in Benin, two of them as a Peace Corps volunteer and one teaching independently at an international school.
February 23 lecture - A Critique of Packer - Charles Kerlin, William White
- 1st discussion class: Village of Waiting (pp. 222-282)
- 2nd discussion class: Village of Waiting (pp. 282-332)
Spring Break
March 9 lecture - Islam and Women's Voice - April Toadvine
- 1st discussion class: So Long a Letter (pp. 1-46)
- 2nd discussion class: So Long a Letter (pp. 46-89)
March 16 lecture - Video: Frontline: Not On Our Watch: Crisis in Darfur
- 1st discussion class: The Translator (Appendix 1-2, Ch. 1-7)
- 2nd discussion class: The Translator (Ch. 8-13)
March 23 lecture - The Crisis in Darfur - William White
- 1st discussion class: The Translator (Ch. 14-end)
- 2nd discussion class: Syllabus (pp. 8-15)
March 30 lecture - South African History: Apartheid - Peter Watkins
- 1st discussion class: A Human Being (pp. 143-148)
- 2nd discussion class: A Human Being (pp. 1-36)
April 6 lecture - Truth and Reconciliation after Apartheid - Jody Taylor-Watkins
- 1st discussion class: A Human Being (pp. 37-78)
- 2nd discussion class: A Human Being (pp. 79-116)
April 17 lecture - Video: Challenges for the Future
- 1st discussion class: A Human Being (pp. 117-139)
- 2nd discussion class: Syllabus Readings
April 20 lecture - Hope For A Continent? - Susan Chattin, Linda McFarland
- 1st discussion class: Syllabus Articles
Core 8 Internet Sources (links checked 05/09)
- African Art Museum - Has many images of African masks and statues. You can select many of these by tribe or ethnic groups.
- African Studies - This is well worth the trip, a great resource from University of Pennsylvania.
- Secretary General's Report to the UN Security Council - On sustainable development in Africa.
- African Governments on the web
- Religious Traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora - A good site with a number of links for religions of the various regions of Africa and beyond.
- Traditional African Religions
- U.S. Department of State - Organized in categories.
- U.S. Central Intelligence Agency - This site contains publications of the CIA, including World Fact Book, available in Publications.
- African Music Encyclopedia
- The International Library of African Music - (site was down at last check) A nice site sound files from several indigenous instruments.
