Africa and the Politics of Knowledge

Calendar

SES #	TOPICS	KEY DUE DATES
Part 1: Being
Week 1: Introduction
1	What does it mean to study “the idea” of Africa? Introductions, course overview, how to read
2	Making knowledge, ordering the world (I)	Reading response #1 due
Weeks 2 and 3: Geography
3	Making knowledge, ordering the world (II) In-class map quiz	Reading response #2 due
4	Maps, power, and knowledge	Reading response #3 due
5	Mapping Africa	Reading response #4 due
Weeks 4 and 5: History
6	Historicizing Africa Guest lecture by Prof. Kenda Mutongi, MIT History Department	Reading response #5 due
7	Restoring African histories: Afrocentrism	Reading response #6 due
8	Guest presentation and workshop by professional Vodou dance practitioner and Vodou priest, Jean-Sébastien Duvilaire	Reading response #7 due
9	Remembering	Reading response #8 due Paper #1 due
Weeks 6 and 7: Race
10	Blackness and Otherness	Reading response #9 due
11	Blackness in Africa	Reading response #10 due
Special event - screening: “Rafiki.” Women Take the Reel Film Series, MIT List Visual Arts Center.
12	The Black African body (I) Field trip: “Made Visible: Contemporary South African Art, Fashion and Identity” exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts.	Reading response #11 due
13	The Black African body (II)	Reading response #12 due
Part 2: Becoming
Week 8: Africa and / in the world after independence
14	Africa and / in the world after independence (I)	Reading response #13 due
15	Africa and / in the world after independence (II)	Reading response #14 due
Week 9: Modernization theory and Africa
16	Modernization theory and Africa	Reading response #15 due
Week 10: Development and Structural Adjustment Programs
17	Structural adjustment programs	Reading response #16 due  Final paper prospectus due
Week 11: African Renaissance / Africa Rising
18	The New Africa	Reading response #17 due
19	Africa as the future	Reading response #18 due
Week 12: Rwanda: An African Miracle?
20	In-class research and discussion	Reading response #19 due
21	In-class research and discussion	Final paper outline / first draft due
Week 13: New Africans?
Special event: “Inadelso Cossa: Personal Perspectives on Mozambican History through Film.” MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology.
22	Telling stories of African pasts, presents, futures Guest visit by Mozambican filmmaker Inadelso Cossa	Reading response #20 due
23	Afropolitanism and its discontents	Reading response #21 due
Week 14: Final paper presentations
24	Final paper presentations
25	Final paper presentations	Final paper due