AFRI 1001: Introduction to African Studies 1

Spring/Summer 2011
Time: 11:35am – 2:25 pm, Mondays & Wednesdays,
Class Location: 240 Tory Building

Instructor: Dr. Tokunbo B. Ojo

Office: Room 337, St. Patrick’s Building
Office Hours: 2:30 pm to 4:30pm on Fridays or by Appointment
E-mail: [email protected]

Course Descriptions
This course provides entry-points to diverse facets of African studies. It covers historical and
contemporary issues that define 21st century African realities. In doing these, socio-cultural and
political functions of literature, sports, theaters and media in the day-to-day struggles and realities of
the continent are examined, especially in the contexts of nation building, cultural identities, traditions
and moral obligations.

The first part examines the image, myth and stereotypes of Africa in the western media and popular
culture in general. Given the fact that Africa is more or less synonymous with political instability,
poverty, diseases, famines and wars in the global media discourse, this part of the course is aimed to
do some ‘peeling away’ by showing the rich, vibrant and bustling aspects of Africa that are often
missing in the global media.

To facilitate students’ awareness and understanding of why the continent is as it is today, the second
part of the course briefly examines the historical, economic and political backgrounds of the
continent. Then the third part of the course familiarizes students with the daily realities and
challenges of the continent of Africa in the present dispensation. In this section, the course also
touches on ‘concept of African renaissance,’ impacts and effects of the multi-dimensional
globalization on the continent in the 21st century.

Format of the Course

This class will operate as a combination of lectures and seminars. Each week will begin with a
lecture by the lecturer and will be followed by seminar discussion in which each student is expected
to participate fully in an informed way. In the seminars, the assigned readings for the week will be
critically discussed as a way to foster students’ understanding of the subject/theme of the week. It
will be another means of encouraging and developing the critical thinking skills of the students. To
make the seminars more interactive and engaging, students must have read the assigned readings
before coming to class. They are also encouraged to come to the seminars with questions for the
seminar discussions. To also enhance learning, videos and multimedia presentations might also be
used as part of teaching materials in both lectures and seminars.
NOTE: In order to successfully complete this course, students must dedicate between 6-8
hours per week outside of class to meet the workload – reading, writing, research and
analysis.

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 Required Textbook/Readings
ƒ Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation 2nd Edition edited by
Roy Richard Grinker, Stephen C. Lubkemann and Christopher B. Steiner (Available at
Carleton University Bookstore)

ƒ Links to other assigned readings (not taken from the textbook) are available on WebCT.

Assessment & Evaluations

• Mid-term Exam – 25 % of the final grade
It will be held in class on June 01, 2011. The format of the examination will be a
combination of short response, fill in the blank and short essay questions. The examination
questions will focus on the readings and the class lectures cover from lecture 1 till lecture 7.
Students will not be allowed to bring in textbooks, notes, and other course materials to the
exam room. Please note, there will no supplemental mid-term examination if you
miss the exam on June 01, 2011.

• Pop-up Quizzes (2 best out of 3) – 10% of the final grade

The pop-up quizzes will be held in class unannounced. It is extremely important for you to
be in class and stay till end of all lectures and discussion sessions because these pop-up
quizzes will be done anytime during the normal class hours. If you miss any (or all) of the
quizzes, there is no opportunity for “second chance.” For each quiz, the questions will be
drawn from the assigned readings of the week (and probably from the lectures as well).
Hence, it is your responsibilities to:
ƒ have completed the assigned readings for each class session before attending
the lecture;
ƒ be prepared for quiz each week, and
ƒ be actively engaged in the class discussions and lecture on a regular basis.

Rest assured, you will do well on these quizzes if you stay on top of ‘the business.” Of the
three pop-up quizzes that will be done, the best two will count towards your grade. Each
quiz = 5% of the final grade.

• Profile/Assessment Review of an Ottawa-based African Restaurant/African Grocery

Store/African Store – 20% of the final grade
ƒ Details will be made available to you on May 11, 2011
ƒ Assignment due date: May 18, 2011

• Nation’s Profile/Basic Fact Quiz (10% of the final grade): You will have a ‘basic fact’
quiz in lecture 6 (May 25, 2011). This quiz will be strictly on the official languages, and
names of capital cities and heads of state/presidents of African countries. In order to do
extremely well in the quiz, you are expected to have researched and mastered the following facts before the
quiz:

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 ƒ (a) names of all African countries and their capital cities,
ƒ (b) official languages of all African countries,
ƒ (c) names of the presidents/heads of state of all the African countries, and
ƒ (d) years when all the formerly colonialized African countries got independence.

• Final Exam – 35% of the final grade

The format of the examination will be a combination of short response and essay questions.
The examination questions will be drawn from all materials covered in lectures, readings and
discussion sessions throughout the semester. You will not be allowed to bring in textbooks,
notes, and other course materials to the exam room.

Other course administrative stuff

• All written assignments must be typewritten and double-spaced (Font and font size:
Times New Roman, 12 points).

• You must strictly adhere to the page limit/font size/margins specified for the written
submissions/assignments. Failure to follow the given instructions on the assignment
means an automatic 10% deduction on the total mark for the assignment in question.

• For your own protection, you should always keep a copy of the written assignments. In
case of loss, theft or any “unexpected incident’, it will be your responsibility to provide a
copy of the written assignment.

• E-mail submission of assignment is not allowed. It is your responsibility to submit only a

hard copy of the assignment at the start of your discussion group.

• Late assignments will not be accepted, except there is death in the family or
sickness. In such a case, official notes from the doctor[s] or official death
certificate must be submitted to the instructor.

• With regards to grade problems or dispute, please do note that I will not discuss these
during class time. You are encouraged to see me by appointment on such issue. Before
coming to see me about a grade dispute or problem, you must indicate in writing where
and why you believe your work should get a higher or lower grade. Your written
submission on a grade dispute or problem should be between 250 words
(minimum) and 500 words (maximum).

Respect One Another and Avoid Harassment

• Please be respectful of other students and I in and outside the classroom environment.
Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Please see the Equity Services website at
http://carleton.ca/equity/discrimination_and_harassment/harassment.htm for further
descriptions of harassment.

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 • Please avoid working on things unrelated to the class during class time. Refrain from text
messaging, surfing the Internet or social networking sites, talking on your cell phone, or
talking out of turn in class. I reserve the right to deduct 5 points from your grade for
every instance of disruptive behavior exhibited by you in class. You may also be
asked to leave the class, if disruptive behavior continues.

Attendance and Participation

• While I will provide some limited materials via WebCT, it is up to you to be class in person
to fully understand the materials covered. If you cannot attend class, I strongly encourage
you to get the notes from a classmate. Please do not ask me to provide you with class
notes.

• If you come in late or leave during class time, please sit near a door and be respectful of
other students. If tardiness, early exit, and other disruptive behaviors during class
become a problem, you may be asked to withdraw from the course.

PLAGIARISM

The University Senate defines plagiarism as “presenting, whether intentional or not, the ideas,
expression of ideas or work of others as one’s own.” This can include:

• reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material,

regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or
reference to the original source;

• submitting a take-home examination, essay, laboratory report or other assignment written, in

whole or in part, by someone else;

• using ideas or direct, verbatim quotations, or paraphrased material, concepts, or ideas

without appropriate acknowledgment in any academic assignment;

• using another’s data or research findings;

• failing to acknowledge sources through the use of proper citations when using another’s
works and/or failing to use quotation marks;

• handing in "substantially the same piece of work for academic credit more than once without
prior written permission of the course instructor in which the submission occurs."

Plagiarism is a serious offence which cannot be resolved directly with the course’s instructor.
The Associate Deans of the Faculty conduct a rigorous investigation, including an interview with
the student, when an instructor suspects a piece of work has been plagiarized. Penalties are not
trivial. They include a mark of zero for the plagiarized work or a final grade of "F" for the
course.

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 Weekly Schedule & Assigned Readings*
(*NOTE: If need be, slight modifications might be made to the schedule & assigned readings.)

Part 1: Africa and ‘Us’

Lecture 1, May 09: Introduction & Overview

Lecture 2, May 11: Africa in the Popular Culture and Imagination

Readings:
• Wainaina, Binyavanga (2005) “How to Write about Africa…” Granta (Winter), 92: 91-97.

• Ojo, Tokunbo (2003) “Tears of the Sun and Nigeria: A Film Without Context” Montreal
Community Contact, March 2003.

• Chapter 1 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 31-43)

Lecture 3 - May 16: Saving Africa: Foreign Aids, Missionary Zeal of NGOs and Celebrities
Readings:
• Dieter, Heribert & Kumar, Rajiv (2008) “The Downside of Celebrity Diplomacy: The
Neglected Complexity of Development” Global Governance : 259–264

• Dogra, Nandita (2007) “Reading NGOs Visually: Implications of visual image for NGO
management” Journal of International Development 19: 161-171.

Lecture 4, May 18: Beauty of Africa We Hardly See

Readings:
• Pineau, Carol (2005). “The Africa You Never See” The Washington Post, April 17: pg B02.
Available here: http://www.africaopenforbusiness.com/WashPost.pdf

• York, Geoffrey (2010) “Africa: An Economic Giant that’s ready to wake up” The Globe and
Mail, May 10:
Available here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/africa/africa-an-
economic-giant-thats-ready-to-wake-up/article1562359/

Lecture 5, May 23: NO CLASS….Happy Victoria Day!!

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 Part 2: Africa’s Past and Present-The Colonial Legacies and Burden
of Postcolonial Era
Lecture 6, May 25: Colonial Legacies and Africa Today
Readings:
• Chapter 27 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 399-410)

• Chapter 29 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 431-438)

• Chapter 30 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 439-449)

Lecture 7, May 30: Burden of Postcolonial Era: The Political Economy of Conflicts & Wars
Readings:
• Howe, Herbert (1998) “Private security forces and African stability: the case of Executive
Outcomes” The Journal of Modern African Studies, 36 (2): 307 – 331.

• Chapter 39 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 555-568)

• Chapter 42 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 609-615)

Lecture 8, June 1: Mid-term exams

Part 3: African Canonic Spaces of Cultural Expressions, Politics &

Identities
Lecture 9 (June 6): Contemporary African Literature
Readings:
• Ojaide, Tanure(2009) “Canonization and Modern African Literature,” Asiatic, June: 1-20
Available here: http://asiatic.iium.edu.my/v3n1/article/Tanure_Ojaide/Tanure_Ojaide.pdf

• Chapter 32 of Perspectives on Africa (pp 462-470)

Lecture 10 (June 8): African theater, movies and social messages

Readings:
• Ukpokodu , Peter (1992) “Plays, Possession, and Rock & Roll: Political Theatre in Africa” The
Drama Review 36(4): 28-53.

• Goldstein, Susan; Usdin, Shereen; Scheepers, Esca & Japhet, Garth (2005) “Communicating
HIV and AIDS, What Works? A Report on the Impact Evaluation of Soul City’s Fourth
Series” Journal of Health Communication 10:465-483

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Lecture 11 (June 13): Football (Soccer): Socio-cultural dimensions & transnationalism
Readings:
• Ojo, Tokunbo (2008) “African Football’s Dark Side” Inside Soccer Magazine Nov-Dec: 45-46.

• Armstrong, Gary (2002) ‘Talking up the game: football and the reconstruction of Liberia,
West Africa’ Identities 11: 471–94.
Optional readings:
• Armstrong, Gary (2005) ‘The lords of misrule: football and the rights of the child in Liberia,
West Africa’ Sports and Society 7: 472–501.

Lecture 12 (June 15): Renaissance and Africa in the 21st century

Readings:
• Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe (2009) “What Happened to the African Renaissance? The Challenges
of Development in the Twenty-First Century” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the
Middle East 29( 2): 155-170.

• TBA

Lecture 13 (June 20): Review and Wrap up