The final project is an opportunity for you to build on the material we have covered over the course of the semester and go into greater depth on a topic of interest. In that spirit, your project can take one of three forms (all of the same length: 2500 words, or about 10 pages double-spaced):
- Research paper
- Speculative fiction
- Plan for a political / educational campaign / intervention
In all three cases, the focus of the paper needs to be on the central theme of the class: the production of knowledge about Africa and the negotiation of Africa’s place in the world. In all three cases, your project will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Quality of writing
- Clarity of argument / statement of problem
- Pertinence and validity of evidence (option 1) / alternate course of events (option 2) / proposed intervention (for option 3): Does what you offer support your argument / adequately address the problem you pose?
- Extent to which the project engages with and integrates course materials
- Structure: Organization, grammar and spelling, citational practices
- Creativity: Make it interesting!
Research paper
Original research project on a topic of interest. You can pick up on a subject we addressed in class and explore it in greater depth, focusing, for instance, on a particular country, region, or time period. This paper should propose an answer to a research question (your argument), and this argument can be based either on primary (interviews, survey data, archival research, textual / other content analysis) or secondary sources (published academic articles on the topic).
Speculative fiction
A recurring concern in the course has been the question of “Now what?” or a lamentation about how history has seemed to repeat itself. This version of the assignment gives you the possibility of imagining alternate realities / futures. You can either return to a historical event and imagine a different course of events, or pick up in the present moment and imagine the future. As with the other options, I expect you to engage with course themes and readings; you must find a way to incorporate them into your narrative.
Campaign / intervention design
This option is another opportunity for you to explore means of taking action in light of what we have studied. Your campaign / intervention design must include:
- A justification for the campaign: Why is it necessary? What theoretical perspectives animate it? Are there other examples (historical or contemporary) of similar campaigns?
- A discussion of how the campaign relates to themes covered in this course: This section should include explicit references to course readings and citations. More than just a bibliography, it should critically engage the content of the readings. It is perfectly OK for you to use some of the analysis you completed for Paper 1 here, if it is applicable.
- A description of the campaign itself: target population, components of the campaign, intended outcomes
Prospectus Guidelines
The prospectus for your final project should be 1 page long (single-spaced) and include the following information:
- Project title
- Project category (of the 3 options above)
- Project description:
- Research question / issue your project addresses (be as narrow and specific as possible in your focus)
- Depending on the type of project, argument your project makes / what it shows or speaks to / what it proposes to intervene on
- How your project relates to the overall subject of the course and to themes discussed so far
- For research papers: Proposed research methodology:
- How will you collect data / gather information for your paper (e.g. literature review, interviews, social media data gathering, etc.)?
- What data will you collect? (e.g. for interviews, who will you interview, what questions will you be asking?)
- Timeline for the project (data collection/research, analysis, production)
- For speculative fiction: Synopsis of the narrative/story pitch
- For campaign/intervention: Overview of the campaign/intervention, including the various elements listed in the prompt above
Please note that project outlines / first drafts are due during Session 21. You will present your project in class either during Session 24 or Session 25, and the project is due during Session 25.
