Monday, April 21, 2008

The Sociology of Africa: Fall 2008


AFST-4354 Index No. 97048 (AFST)
Issues in Africana Studies
Sociology of Africa
Fall 2008

INSTRUCTOR: TUGRUL KESKIN

Tuesday and Thursday - 3:30 PM - 4:45PM - Surge 107


The Sociology of Africa course will explore the relationship and ongoing dynamics between colonizers and the colonized in 20th century Africa in the context of post-colonial studies. Nationalist, socialist, anti-colonialist, and Apartheid movements in Africa are each a direct consequence of imperialism and its legacy. In this course, we will try to understand the social, political and economic implications and dimensions of imperialism in the 20th century. Ethnic tensions in Kenya, Apartheid racism in South Africa, the Darfur conflict in Sudan, Christian and Muslim religious misunderstanding in Nigeria, and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda are each related with exploitation and a product of colonialization. In this course, we will also attempt to understand the positions of African leaders from an inside as opposed to an Orientalist perspective, such as the anti-colonialist Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), conservative African Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Idi Amin Dada (Uganda), the pro-African Nationalist Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), and South African leader, Nelson Mandela.

One of the main objectives of this course is to build a website which will consist of as many as possible of the Nationalist, Anti-Colonialist and Socialist Movements and leaders in 20th century Africa. All of your final papers will be used in this website as a direct contribution to African civilization.


For more information: tugrulk@vt.edu or http://www.africanastudies.vt.edu/