History 69 Issues in African History
History 8A Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade
African Studies Seminar: Popular Culture in Africa
Issues in African History
This class is an exploration of ethical, methodological and philosophical issues in the history of Africa. We will be covering a variety of questions and subjects in the course of the semester. I have tried to pace our reading appropriately for short and focused discussions, but please be careful to look ahead and plan for variations in the reading load. This class is strongly oriented towards discussion and I will expect everyone to contribute on some level. As a consequence, regular attendance is also important.
There will be four short writing assignments in the course of the semester: two 4-5 page discussion papers, one 4-6 page paper on ways of presenting classical African history, and one 4-6 page discussion of current textbooks available for African history. The last assignment will involve some research in preparation for the writing.
*Note: Since I offered this course, there have been a number of new readings published on many of these issues. I expect the units to remain similar, but the readings will change a lot the next time I offer it.
There are four books available for purchase for the course:
Martin Bernal, Black Athena , Volume 1
Isabel Hofmeyr, We Spend Our Years As a Tale That Is Told
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History
Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition As History
Other readings will consist of reserve assignments or short handouts.
January 22 Introduction
January 24 The Production of History
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing The Past: Power and the Production of History, Chapter One
Trouillot, Chapter Two
Trouillot, Chapter Three
Trouillot, Chapter Four and Five
Egypt and Africa
Martin Bernal, Black Athena , Introduction
Bernal, Black Athena, Chapter Five
*Gerald Early, "Understanding Afrocentrism", in Civilization
*John Coleman, "Did Egypt Shape The Glory That Was Greece? The Case Against Martin Bernal's Black Athena ", Archaeology 45: 1992.
*Molly Myerowitz Levine, "The Use and Abuse of Black Athena", American Historical Review, 97: 1992
Classical Africa: Problems and Possibilities
*Molefi Kete Asante, article on Africanist discourse
Short paper due
Excavations at Jenne-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana , skim over.
*David Lee Schoenbrun, "A Past Whose Time Has Come: Historical Context and History in Eastern Africa's Great Lakes", History and Theory , 32:4 ,1993.
*Travel narratives of Ibn Battuta, short selection.
D.T. Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali , skim over.
*Portuguese records on precolonial Zimbabwe, short selection.
World History Versus Area Studies
*Steven Feierman, "African Histories and the Dissolution of World History", in Africa and the Disciplines
Feierman, "African Histories"
Oral History: Definitions and Methods
Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition As History
Vansina, Oral Tradition
Vansina, Oral Tradition
*David Henige, selection from The African Past Speaks
*David William Cohen, "The Undefining of Oral Tradition", Ethnohistory
Isabel Hofmeyr, We Spend Our YearsAs A Tale That Is Told , Introduction and Chapter One
Hofmeyr, We Spend Our Years , Chapter Two, Three and Four
Hofmeyr, We Spend Our Years , Chapter Seven, Eight, Conclusion and Appendices
*Karin Barber, I Could Speak Until Tomorrow, pp. 1-38
*David Coplan, "These Mine Compounds, I Have Long Worked Them", in In The Time of Cannibals
Africanists, Africans and History: Speech, Silence and Voices
*James Clifford, "Power and Dialogue in Ethnography: Marcel Griaule's Initiation", in George Stocking, ed., Observers and Observed
Clifford, "Power and Dialogue"
*Marcel Griaule, Conversations With Ogotemmeli , short selection
*Gananath Obeysekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook , p. 3-22, 177-186
*Marshall Sahlins, How 'Natives' Think: About Captain Cook, For Example , pp. 1-15, pp. 191-198
*Sahlins, How 'Natives' Think , pp. 117-147
*Luise White, "Tsetse Visions", in American Historical Review
The Curtin Affair: Philip D. Curtin, "Ghettoizing African History", Chronicle of Higher Education
The Curtin Affair: miscellaneous rejoinders and replies
The Curtin Affair: the ASA and aftermath
Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade
This class involves a mixture of lecture and discussion. Always make an effort to read assigned material carefully and critically. Come to class with questions and arguments already in mind. Some readings are much larger or more difficult than others; I will try to warn you in advance, but don't forget to plan ahead. Be particularly conscious of the period after spring break where we will have several weeks of discussion-oriented sessions in a row.
Papers and assignments should be handed in on time. If you must have an extension, I ask that you clear it with me first. Also, please note: regular attendance is vital to your grade. If I become aware that you are regularly missing classes, it will affect your grade.
You should purchase the following books in the campus bookstore; some of them are not available in our library and thus will not be available on General Reserve:
Alhaji Balewa, Shaihu Umar
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life
Colin McEvey, The Penguin Atlas of African History
D.T. Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali
Robert Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba
Jan Vansina, Paths in the Rainforests
Readings marked with an asterix (*) are available in folders kept on General Reserve in McCabe Library.
Tuesday January 21
Overview of texts, syllabus, requirements.
Why Study Africa? Why This Time Period?
Thursday January 23
Lecture: Africa circa 1200 A.D.: A Continental Overview
West African Societies 1200-1700 CE
Tues Jan 28
Lecture: The Niger Bend and the Guinea Coast: Ghana, Mali, Songhay and the "Mane Invasions"
Thurs Jan 30
Reading: D.T. Niane, Sundiata , all
Tues February 4
Lecture: The Yoruba and the Niger Delta
Thursday Feb 6
Lecture/Discussion: The Yoruba at Home and in the Diaspora
Reading: Robert S. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, pp. 3-108
Equatorial Africa, 1200-1700
Tues Feb 11
Lecture: The Rainforest and Equatorial Africa
Thurs Feb 13
Discussion: Political and Social Change in Precolonial African Societies
Jan Vansina, Paths in the Rainforests , pp. 35-196
Ethiopia and East Africa
Tuesday Feb 18
Lecture: Ethiopia and East Africa, 1200-1700
Slavery, the Slave Trade and the Atlantic System
Thursday Feb 20
Lecture: Trading Networks in West and Equatorial Africa
Tuesday Feb 25
Lecture: Europeans and the Roots of the Atlantic System
Thursday Feb. 27
Discussion: What Is Slavery?
Reading: Manning, Slavery and African Life , Prologue and Chaps. 1-2
Frederick Cooper, "The Problem of Slavery in African Studies" (handout)
Tues March 4
VISIT FROM DAVID BEACH
The Shona States, 1200-1700
Reading: *David Beach, The Shona and Zimbabwe, 900-1850 , pp. 53-156
Thursday March 6
Lecture: The Atlantic System and the Triangular Trade
Tuesday March 18
Discussion: Africans and the Experience of the Middle Passage
Reading: Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative , all
Thursday March 20
Discussion/Lecture: Creoles, Middlemen and Slavers
Reading: *Captain Canot, Adventures of an African Slaver , pp. 87-156
Tues March 25
Discussion: The Debate Over African Slavery: Kopytoff/Miers
Reading: * Kopytoff and Miers, Slavery in Africa , pp. 3-84
Thursday March 27
Discussion: The Debate Over African Slavery: Meillassoux and Cooper
Reading: *Claude Meillassoux, The Anthropology of Slavery , pp. 9-66
Tues April 1
Discussion: Debates Over Africa and the Slave Trade: The Numbers Game
Reading: Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life , Chapter Three and Four
Thurs April 3
Discussion: Debates Over Africa and the Slave Trade: Slavery and African Society
Reading: Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life , Chapter Six and Seven
Tues April 8
Discussion: Debates Over Africa and the Slave Trade: The Economic Impact of Slavery
Reading: Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life , Chapter Five, Eight and Nine
Thurs April 10
Lecture: The Black Atlantic
West African Societies 1700-1850: Slavery to "Legitimate Commerce"
Tues April 15
Reading: *T.E. Bowditch, Mission From Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee , pp. 381-403
* Ivor Wilks, Forests of Gold , Chapters Three and Four
Thurs April 17
Tues April 22
Discussion/Lecture: The Fall of Old Oyo
Reading: Robert Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba , pp. 109-156
Thursday April 24
Discussion/Lecture: Jihad States
Reading: Alhaji Balewa, Shaihu Umar , all
Tuesday April 29
Thursday May 1
Lecture: East Africa 1700-1850: The Last Gasp of the Slave Trade
Popular Culture in Africa
African Studies Seminar
University of Pennsylvania, Spring 1997
JAN 17 Introduction
JAN 24 The Nature of the Popular
Arjun Appadurai and Carol Breckenridge, "Why Public Culture?", Public Culture , 1: 1, 1988, 5-9
Dele Jegede, "Popular Culture in Urban Africa", in Africa , 3rd edition, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995: 3-9, 273-94.
Stuart Hall, "Notes on Deconstructing 'The Popular'", in People's History and Socialist Theory, R. Samuel, ed., London: Routledge, 1981, 227-40.
Chandra Mukerji and Michael Schudson, "Introduction", Rethinking Popular Culture, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991: 1-61.
Morag Schiach, Discourses on Popular Culture , Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989, 19-34.
JAN 31 Genre and Form
Karin Barber, "Popular Arts in Africa", African Studies Review , 30: 1-78, 113-32.
Christopher Waterman, Juju: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music , Chcago: University of Chicago Press, 1990
Helen M. Mugambi, "Intersections: Gender, Orality, Text and Female Space in Contemporary Kiganda Radio Songs", Research in African Literatures , 25: 1995, 47-70.
Luise White, "Cars Out of Place: Vampires, Technology and Labor in Eastern Africa", Representations , XLIII: 1993, 27-50.
Videotape: Ken Saro-Wiwa, "Basi & Company"
Stephen Ellis, "Tuning In To Pavement Radio", African Affairs, 88: 352, July 1989, pp. 321-330.
FEB 7 Time and Leisure
Phyllis Martin, Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995: 1-9, 71-126.
Charles Ambler and Jonathan Crush, "Introduction", in Ambler and Crush, eds., Liquor and Labour in Southern Africa , Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1992, 1-55
Ivan Karp, "Beer Drinking and and Social Experience in an African Society: An Essay in Formal Sociology", in Explorations in African Systems of Thought , ed. Ivan Karp and C. Bird, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 83-119.
Paul la Hausse, "Drink and Cultural Innovation in Durban", in Ambler and Crush, eds., Liquor and Labour in Southern Africa , Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1992, 78-114.
FEB 14 Masks and Invisible Powers
David Hecht and Maliqalim Simone, Invisible Governance: The Art of African Micropolitics , (New York: Autonomedia), 1994, all.
Elizabeth Gunner, "Orality and Literacy: Dialogue and Silence", in Discourse and Its Disguises, Karin Barber and P.F. de Moraes Farias, eds., Birmingham: Centre of West African Studies, Birmingham University African Studies Series, 1: 1989, 49-56.
FEB 21 History, Memory and the Popular
Jane Guyer, "Traditions of Invention in Equatorial Africa," 1995, manuscript.
Johannes Fabian, Remembering the Present: Painting and Popular History in Zaire , (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1996, pp. 3-113.
David Coplan, In the Time of Cannibals, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1994, pp. 30-64.
FEB 28 Opposition in the Popular
James Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance , (New Haven: Yale University Press), 1990,
Jonathan Glassman, Feasts and Riot: Poverty, Rebellion and Popular Consciousness on the Swahili Coast, 1856-1888 , (Heinemann: Portsmouth NH), 1995, 146-176.
Leroy Vail and Landeg White, Power and the Praise Poem , Chapters Seven and Eight.
The Poster Book Collective, Images of Defiance , Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1991: 158-179, 149.
March 7 Mimicry
Homi Bhabha, "Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse", in Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture , (New York: Routledge Press), 1994, pp. 85-92.
Terence Ranger, Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890-1970: The Beni Ngoma , (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1975, pp. 5-76.
Achille Mbembe, "Provisional Notes on the Postcolony", Africa , 62: 1, 1992.
Hildi Hendrickson, ed., Clothing and Difference , (Durham, NC: Duke University Press), 1996.
Phillip Prein, "Guns and Top Hats: African Resistance in German South West Africa, 1907-1915", Journal of Southern African Studies , 20:1, March 1994, pp. 99-122.
March 14 SPRING BREAK
March 21 Backstage
Manthia Diawara, African Cinema , (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 1992, 35-50.
Johannes Fabian, Power and Performance: Ethnographic Explorations Through Proverbial Wisdom and Theater in Shaba, Zaire , (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press), 1990, pp. 61-86, 101-124.
Film: Touki Bouki
March 28 Spectacle, Performance, Exhibition
Carolyn Hamilton, "The Real Goat", manuscript.
Corinne Kratz, Affecting Performance: Meaning, Movement and Experience in Okiek Women's Initiation , (Washington: Smithsonian Press), 1994, pp. 127-233, 325-337.
Victor Turner, The Anthropology of Performance , (New York: PAJ Publications), 1986, TBA
Ben Shephard, "Showbiz Imperialism: the Case of Peter Lobengula", in John MacKenzie, ed., Imperialism and Popular Culture , (Manchester: University of Manchester Press), 1986.
Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt , (Berkeley: University of California Press), pp. 1-33.
April 4 Commodities
Timothy Burke, Lifebuoy Men, Lux Women: Commodification, Consumption and Cleanliness in Modern Zimbabwe , (Durham: Duke University Press), 1996, pp. 166-216.
John Tomlinson, Cultural Imperialism, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 1991, 102-79.
Jonathan Friedman, "The Political Economy of Elegance," Culture and History , VII: 1990, 101-125.
Brad Weiss, The Making and Unmaking of the Haya Lived World: Consumption and Commoditization in Everyday Practice , (Durham: Duke University Press), 1996, pp. 155-201.
Keith Breckenridge, "Money With Dignity: Migrants, Minelords and the Cultural Politics of the South African Gold Standard Crisis, 1920-1933," Journal of African History , 36: 1995, 219-245.
April 11 Hybridity and Creolization
Homi Bhabha, "Signs Taken For Wonders", in Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture , (New York: Routledge Books), 1994, pp. 102-122.
Ulf Hannerz, "Africa in Creolization", Africa, 57: 4, 1987, pp. 546-59.
Susan Vogel, "Future Traditions", in Africa Explores: 20th Century African Art , Susan Vogel, ed., (New York: The Center for African Art), 1991, 94-113.
Nestor Garcia Canclini, Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity , (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 1995. (pages TBA)
April 18 Circulations and Recirculations
Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), 1993, pp. 1-41
S.T. Barnes, "Africa's Ogun Transformed: An Introduction to the Second Edition" and Don Cosentino, "Re-Possession: Ogun in Folklore and Literature", in Africa's Ogun: Old World and New , 2nd enlarged edition, in press.
Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance , (New York: Columbia University Press), 1996, pp. 33-71.
Julius Lips, The Savage Hits Back , (New Haven: Yale University Press), 1937, pp. 97-163.
Michael Taussig, Mimesis and Alterity , (New York: Routledge), 1993, pp. 236-255.
April 25 Globalization
Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization , (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996, pages TBA.
James Ferguson and Akhil Gupta, "Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity and the Politics of Difference", Cultural Anthropology, 7:1, February 1992.
Jonathan Zilberg, Dolly Parton article, Journal of Popular Culture
Veit Erlmann, "'Africa Civilised, Africa Uncivilised': Local Culture, World System and South African Music", Journal of Southern African Studies , 20: 2, June 1994, 165-180.
I've got one main goal with this class, and that's to have fun. That's not to say that I don't think we'll be covering some really, really important and weighty issues, of course. But the first priority is to have some fun in doing it. The difficult thing for me was actually whittling this class down to one semester's worth of material. Also, it was hard to choose which books to order: there's so many good ones to choose from. There's a big book list for this course, but I feel very certain that most or all of the students in the class will be happy with most or all of these books: they are all very readable, interesting works.
History 88 The Social History of Consumption Spring 1996
Books for purchase: Elaine Abelson, When Ladies Go A-Thieving Miles Beller, Hey Skinny! Great Advertisements From the Golden Age of Comic Books Scott Bruce and Bill Crawford, Cerealizing America Andrew Heinze, Adapting to Abundance Richard Klein, Cigarettes Are Sublime William Leach, Land of Desire Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power Randall Rothenberg, Where the Suckers Moon Ellen Seiter, Sold Separately: Parents and Children in Consumer Culture
There will be a number of short assignments throughout the semester. Some of them will be short papers of various kinds; other assignments will include designing a hypothetical advertising campaign. A longer 10-15 page research paper is due at the end of the semester.
*denotes readings on reserve in McCabe Library.
Consumption and Exchange in Early Modern Europe
January 23 Introduction January 25 *Jan de Vries, "Between Purchasing Power and the World of Goods" *Carole Shammas, "Consumption From 1550 to 1800" in Roy Porter and John Brewer, eds.,Consumption and the World of Goods January 30 *Joyce Appelby, "Consumption in Early Modern Thought" *Cissie Fairchilds, "The Production and Marketing of Populuxe Goods in Eighteenth Century Paris" in Roy Porter and John Brewer, eds.,Consumption and the World of Goods February 1 *James Axtell, "The First Consumer Revolution", in Beyond 1492 *T.H. Breen, "An Empire of Goods"
Commodities I: Sugar and Textiles
February 6 Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power February 8 Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power February 13 Jane Schneider, "Rumpelstiltskin's Bargain: Folklore and the Merchant Capitalist Intensification of Linen Manufacture in Early Modern Europe", in Jane Schneider, ed., Cloth and Human Experience
From the 19th to the 20th Centuries: Consumption in the United States
February 15 Elaine Abelson, When Ladies Go A-Thieving: Middle-Class Shoplifters in the Victorian Department Store February 20 Elaine Abelson, When Ladies Go A-Thieving: Middle-Class Shoplifters in the Victorian Department Store Research topics due. February 22 Andrew Heinze, Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption and the Search For American Identity February 27 Andrew Heinze, Adapting to Abundance: Jewish Immigrants, Mass Consumption and the Search For American Identity February 29 William Leach, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power and the Rise of a New American Culture March 5 William Leach, Land of Desire: Merchants, Power and the Rise of a New American Culture March 7 *"Ephemeral Films, 1931-1960" (CD-ROM disk, available on General Reserve) SPRING BREAK March 19 Ellen Seiter, Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture March 21 Ellen Seiter, Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture
Commodities II: Cigarettes and Breakfast Cereal
March 26 Richard Klein, Cigarettes are Sublime March 28 Richard Klein, Cigarettes Are Sublime April 2 *Scott Bruce, Cerealizing America
Global Perspectives on Consumer Culture and Commodities
April 4 *Nicholas Thomas, Entangled Objects, selection April 9 *Millie Creighton, "The Depato : Merchandising the West While Selling Japaneseness", in Joseph Tobin, ed., Re-Made in Japan *Mary Yoko Brannen, "Bwana Mickey: Constructing Cultural Consumption at Tokyo Disneyland", in Joseph Tobin, ed., Re-Made in Japan
April 16 Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance April 18 Jackson Lears, Fables of Abundance April 23 Miles Beller, Hey Skinny! Great Advertisements From the Golden Age of Comic Books Randall Rothenberg, Where the Suckers Moon April 30 Randall Rothenberg, Where the Suckers Moon
Alternatives to Consumption? Environmentalism and Other Critiques
May 2 short reading to be distributed in class
Term papers due by May 8.
This is the third time that the Swarthmore Department of History has offered this class since we decided to make it the new requirement for all of our majors. The main goal of the course is to introduce both majors and non-majors to the discipline of history while also exposing them to some of the most important subjects and concepts in contemporary historical scholarship.
The class has undergone considerable revision and rethinking since its inception, but I think we're fairly close to the mark with this fall's syllabus. It's a moving target since we've also decided that the course will be co-taught each semester it is offered, with a syllabus customized to the strengths and specialties of the professors involved. (I taught it the last two years and will teach it next year as well).
The problem in the first two iterations of the course is that we continued to shadow the core narrative of a Western Civilization or comparative world history course while also trying to develop several detailed case studies of identity formation. It was impossible to juggle both priorities, and we largely ended up making students anxious about missing background material while having to do quick lectures that covered immense spans of time and space in order to connect each reading to the next. With this syllabus, we've almost entirely uncoupled this course from that narrative and just worked to develop three focused case studies. This should help us keep the class focused on issues of identity and on historical methodology and practice.
This may also mean that we need to offer a survey of comparative world history to round out our curriculum, but that's a matter for future consideration.
Addendum: sometimes you just can't win. One of our explicit objectives with this course was to show how historical knowledge can lead to a critical skepticism about identity politics in the present. That didn't stop the creepily-named Young America's Foundation from citing the class recently in its attack on college curricula. History 1, says the Foundation, is "three months of bellyaching about groups victimized by white Christian civilization". Yeah, whatever. If the Young America's Foundation would stop reading the titles of courses and start reading actual syllabi instead, they might have to deal with the complexities of reality rather than their own superficial fantasies. But I'm sure that the YAF (all three or four of them) would rather just continue to sit around eating pizza, leafing idly through catalogues and depositing checks from conservative think-tanks.
Fall 1995 Professors Burke and DuPlessis
Books for purchase: Belinda Bozzoli, Women of Phokeng John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive Martin Duberman, ed., Hidden From History Michel Foucault, ed., Herculine Barbin Sheila Marks, ed., Not Either An Experimental Doll Plato, The Symposium Daniel Richter, The Ordeal of the Longhouse Alden Vaughan and Edward Clark, eds., Puritans Among the Indians Judith Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society
September 4 Discussion: Why Identity?
September 6 Lecture: Before There Were "Indians", What Were There? Reading: Ordeal of the Longhouse, pp. 1-74 and pp. 281-284
September 8 Discussion: Can We Know Anything About Precolonial Societies? Short writing assignment due in class.
Trade, Culture and Identity in Colonial North America
September 11 Lecture: Difference, Exchange and Travel in Western Europe Before 1500 September 13 Lecture: Commodities, Trade and Cultural Life Within the Atlatnic System, 1500-1750 September 15 Discussion: Identity and Material Life in Colonial North America Reading: Ordeal of the Longhouse, pp. 75-213
Imperialism, Domination and Consciousness
September 18 Lecture: Political and Social "Middle Grounds" at the Periphery and Center of Empire September 20 Lecture: Colonial Power: Forms and Systems of Domination in the Mercantile Empires September 22 Discussion: What Is Imperialism? Reading: Ordeal of the Longhouse, pp. 214-280; The Unredeemed Captive, pp. 3-76 Short writing assignment due in class.
September 25 Lecture: Property, Propriety and Political Economy September 27 Lecture: Miscegenation and the Invention of Race September 28 Evening showing of the film "The Searchers" September 29 Discussion: Purity, "Mixing" and Transformation: Core Narratives in American Culture Reading: The Unredeemed Captive, pp. 77-252 October 2 Discussion: Primary Texts and Historical Knowledge Reading: Vaughan and Clark, eds., Puritans Among the Indians, "The Redeemed Captive", (pp. 166-226); "A Narrative of Hannah Swarton", pp. 145-157) October 4 No class: work on first paper assignment
October 6 Lecture: From Old to New Imperialism First paper due October 9 Lecture: From North America to Southern Africa October 11 Discussion: Historical Comparisons: Do's and Don'ts
Gender and Colonialism in Modern Southern Africa
October 13 Lecture: Gender in 19th and 20th Century Southern Africa Reading: Women of Phokeng, pp. 1-105
October 23 Lecture: Migrancy, Competing Patriarchies and Female Agency in South Africa
October 25 Discussion: Choosing Identities Reading: Women of Phokeng, pp. 106-242
October 27 Discussion: Oral History and the Ethics of Historical Research
Mission Life, Domesticity and Gender
October 30 Lecture: Translation, Conversion and Conquest: Weighing the Role of Missionaries November 1 Discussion: Domesticity and "Separate Spheres" Reading: The Homemaker's Manual [handout]; Not Either an Experimental Doll, pp. 1-54 November 2 Evening showing of the film "Neria" November 3 Discussion: Race, Class, Gender: The Conflict of Identities Reading: Not Either an Experimental Doll, pp. 55-213
November 6 Discussion: The Longue Duree of Identity: Gender in South Africa From 1890 to 1990 SECOND PAPER DUE
Defining Sex, Defining the Body
November 8 Discussion: When the Greeks Had Sex, What Did It Mean? Reading: Plato, Symposium ; Halperin, "Sex Before Sexuality", in Hidden From History November 10 Lecture: Early Modern and Medieval Sexualities November 13 Lecture: The Regulation and Science of the Body November 15 Discussion: Is There a "True Sex"? Reading: Herculine Barbin, all Short writing assignment due.
Sex and the Modern State
November 17 Lecture: Public Health and Urban Life in Modern Europe November 20 Discussion: Social Control and Sexuality in England Reading: Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society, pp. 1-147 November 22 Discussion: Case Studies and Historical Understanding Reading: Prostitution and Victorian Society, pp. 151-256
Sexual Identities in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
November 27 Lecture: The Invention of Sexual Preference November 29 Discussion: The Diversity of Sexual Identities Reading: Weeks, "Inverts, Perverts and Mary-Annes"; G. Chauncey, "Christian Brotherhood or Sexual Perversion"; M. Vicinus, "Distance and Desire", in Hidden From History December 1 Discussion: Privacy, Sexuality and Historical Research Reading: M. Duberman, "Writhing Bedfellows in Antebellum South Carolina", in Hidden From History Short writing assignment due December 4 Lecture: To Stonewall and Beyond: Twentieth Century Sexualities December 6 Discussion: Identity Politics and Sexuality Reading: Berube, "Marching to a Different Drummer", C. Smith-Rosenberg, "Discourses of Sexuality and Subjectivity" and D'Emilio, "Gay Politics and Community", in Hidden From History
December 8 Discussion: Does History Help Us to Understand Identities? Reading: Charles Gallagher, "White Reconstruction in the University" December 11 Discussion: Identity and History : Conclusions
In Spring 1995, I taught a course called "Cultural Constructions of Africa: Images, Inventions, Ideologies". This was a course I had been planning under various titles for some time. (The latest title is basically a direct rip-off a title for a similar course that Randall Packard of Emory University teaches--sorry, Randy, but it's a good title).
Because I had been thinking about this course for so long, I was frankly rather nervous about how it was going to turn out. In the end, it was the most enjoyable course I've taught in my short career, in no small measure because of the enthusiastic participation of my students. How much of the smooth ride is also due to the design of the course itself is an open question. I'm planning to change a few things when I next teach it in the 1999-00 academic year, but I'm more or less happy with it as it stands.
One thing I did change during the year was to substitute an article by Frank Ukadike on representations of Africa in the history of Western cinema for the reading by Thomas Richards on Victorian advertising and commodity culture; I'm undecided about whether to do this substitution next time I teach the course.
However, I would be happy to receive any comments or observations you might have, and if you have syllabi for similar courses that you would like to share, I would love to see them.
One thing that I found interesting about this course is that many current undergraduates seem much more able to position themselves in a debate about the historical production of an "image" of Africa than in a debate about how to actually interpret the historical experiences of Africans themselves. I'm still mulling over whether that was simply this particular group of students or whether there's some larger pattern here.
History 60 Cultural Constructions of Africa: Images, Inventions, Ideologies Spring 1995 Swarthmore College Professor Tim Burke
Regular attendance and active participation in class discussion are requirements. You should come to class with a specific question or observation in mind regarding the readings: I will be calling on people. In addition, there will be four major assignments: a position paper (2-3 pp.); an analysis of a primary document (2-3 pp and oral presentation); a simulated "construction" of Africa (3-4 pp.); and a major project (a 10-15 page paper or comparable artistic work) on some aspect of "Africa" in contemporary popular culture. You will also be required to give an oral presentation on your research project. In addition, a film will be scheduled for an evening showing.
Books for purchase: Kwame Anthony Appiah, In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture Molefi Keti Asante, Afrocentricity Phillips Bradford, Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo Philip Curtin, The Image of Africa, Volume One Dwayne Ferguson, Captain Africa: The Battle For Egyptica H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines Eddy Harris, Native Stranger Sally Falk Moore, Anthropology and Africa
Readings marked with a bullet (¥) are available in a binder at General Reserve in McCabe Library.
Readings marked with an asterix (*) are considered recommended but optional; they will also be available on reserve. They also important to the historiographical review essay.
Philip D. Curtin, The Image of Africa, "The 'New World' of Eighteenth-Century Africa" and "The Age of Exploration and Disappointment"
¥Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism , "Empire, Geography and Culture", "Images of the Past, Pure and Impure", "Two Visions in Heart of Darkness ", "The Native Under Control" ¥Said, Orientalism, "Introduction" *Said, Orientalism, "Knowing the Oriental"
Sally Falk Moore, Anthropology and Africa, pp. 1-28 ¥Smith and Dale, The Ila-Speaking Peoples, "Physical Characteristics" and "Witchcraft" *George Stocking, Victorian Anthropology, Chapter Six Primary documents distributed for February 14 assignment.
¥Ben Shepherd, "Showbiz Imperialism: The Case of Peter Lobengula", in Imperialism and Popular Culture *Sander Gilman, "The Hottentot and the Prostitute", in Difference and Pathology *Timothy Mitchell, "Orientalism and the Exhibitionary Order", in Dirks, ed., Colonialism and Culture
Phillips, Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo, pp. 1-204
¥Thomas Richards, "Selling Darkest Africa", The Commodity Culture of Victorian England
H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines
showing of short movie selections
Feb 14 Analysis of primary documents in class: short paper due.
Africa in the African Diaspora
¥Wilmot Blyden, letters *Black Colonialism, selection *Bitter Canaan, selection
¥Robert A. Hill, "'Africa For the Africans': The Garvey Movement in South Africa", in Marks and Trapido, eds., The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth Century South Africa ¥Marcus Garvey, selections from Garvey papers *W.E.B DuBois, Africa: Its Geography, People and Products, selection *Wyatt McGaffey, paper on Garveyism in Central Africa
¥Langston Hughes, The Big Sea, pp. 101-122 ¥George Lamming, "The African Presence", in The Pleasures of Exile *Aime Cesaire, "Notes on a Return to the Native Land" *Wright, Black Power: An American Negro Views the Gold Coast [whole book on reserve]
Eddy Harris, Native Stranger
¥Norman Weinstein, "Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari: to Mozambique Via Marcus Garvey Drive" and "Beyond the Americanization of Ooga Booga", in A Night In Tunisia ¥Gersham Nelson, "Rastafarians and Ethiopianism", in Lemelle, ed., Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora *Richard Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit, "Kongo Art and Religion in the Americas" *Dennis Walker, "The Black Muslims in American Society: From Millennarian Protest to Trans-Continental Relationships", in Trompf, ed., Cargo Cults and Millennarian Movements
Simulated "construction" of Africa due
Asante, Afrocentricity Handout: Village Voice article on black studies
Appiah, In My Father's House
Appiah, In My Father's House
Ferguson, Captain Africa Other materials distributed in class Position paper due.
¥C. Hamilton, "Positional Gambit", in History From South Africa *Rob Nixon, Homelands, Harlem and Hollywood, "Cry White Season" Film: "Shaka Zulu"
¥Art/Artifact catalog [on reserve as a book...look whole book over] ¥Mary Jo Arnoldi, "A Distorted Mirror", in Karp, Museums and Communities
¥ Jo Ellen Fair, "Are We Really the World?" in Africa's Media Image ¥ Catherine Lutz, Reading National Geographic, Chapter Eight * Beverly Hawk, "Metaphors of African Coverage", in Africa's Media Image * Catherine Lutz, Reading National Geographic, Chapter Six
Moore, Anthropology and Africa, pp. 74-133 ¥Paul Stoller, In Sorcery's Shadow, selections *Simon Ottenberg, "Changes Over Time in an African Culture and in an Anthropologist" in Others Knowing Others
¥Rosalind and Richard Chirimuuta, AIDS ,Africa, and Racism, Chapters Seven and Eight *Randall Packard, "Epidemiologists, Social Scientists, and the Structure of Medical Research on AIDS in Africa"
article and travel brochures: to be distributed in class
presentations, April 20, 25, 27; Research paper due by May 5th
Fall 1994 History 8A Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade, 1400-1850 History 1 The Historical Construction of Identity Spring 1995 History 60 Cultural Constructions of Africa: Images, Inventions, Ideologies History 63 History of Southern Africa History 140 Honors Seminar: The Colonial Encounter in Africa Fall 1995 History 8B Modern Africa, 1880-Present History 1 The Historical Construction of Identity Spring 1996 History 62 Health, Medicine and the Body in Modern Africa History 88 The Social History of Consumption History 69 Issues in African History Fall 1996 History 8A Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade, 1400-1850 History 1 The Historical Construction of Identity History 89 Gender, Sexuality and Colonialism Spring 1997 History 61 Trade, Merchants and Markets in African History History 140 Honors Seminar: The Colonial Encounter in Africa