African Studies
Council on African Studies
The MacMillan Center
142 Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse, 432.3436
www.yale.edu/macmillan/african/
M.A.
Chair
Lamin Sanneh (Divinity; History)
Director of Graduate Studies
Ann Biersteker (Linguistics) (432.9902, ann.biersteker@yale.edu)
Director of Program in African Languages
Kiarie Wa’Njogu (432.0110, john.wanjogu@yale.edu)
Professors
David Apter (Emeritus, Political Science; Sociology), Lea Brilmayer (Law), Owen Fiss (Law), Robert Harms (History), Andrew Hill (Anthropology), John Middleton (Emeritus, Anthropology), Christopher L. Miller (French; African American Studies), Lamin Sanneh (History; Divinity), Ian Shapiro (Political Science), Robert Thompson (History of Art), Christopher Udry (Economics), David Watts (Anthropology)
Associate Professors
Ann Biersteker (Adjunct, Linguistics), M. Kamari Clarke (Anthropology), Michael Mahoney (History), Michael Veal (Music)
Senior Lectors
Sandra Sanneh (African Languages), Kiarie Wa’Njogu (African Languages)
Lecturers
Oluseye Adesola (African Languages), Anne-Marie Foltz (Epidemiology & Public Health)
Fields of Study
African Studies considers the arts, history, cultures, languages, literatures, politics, religions, and societies of Africa as well as issues concerning development, health, and the environment. Considerable flexibility and choice of areas of concentration are offered because students entering the program may have differing academic backgrounds and career plans. Enrollment in the M.A. program in African Studies provides students with the opportunity to register for the many African studies courses offered in the various departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the professional schools.
The Program in African Studies also offers two interdisciplinary seminars to create dialogue and to integrate approaches across disciplines. In addition to the M.A. degree program, the Council on African Studies offers students in the University’s doctoral and other professional degree programs the chance to obtain a Graduate Certificate of Concentration in African Studies by fulfilling a supplementary curriculum (see the section on the African Studies Council, under Non-Degree Granting Programs, Councils, and Research Institutes). Joint degrees are possible with the approval of the M.A. in African Studies and the relevant officials in the schools of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Epidemiology and Public Health, Law, and Management.
The African collections of the Yale libraries together represent one of the largest holdings on Africa found in North America. The University now possesses more than 220,000 volumes including, but not limited to, government documents, art catalogues, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, and theses, many published in Africa.
Special Admissions Requirement
The GRE General Test is required.
Special Requirements for the M.A. Degree
The Yale University Master of Arts degree program in African Studies was instituted in 1986. The two-year interdisciplinary, graduate-level curriculum is intended for students who will later continue in a Ph.D. program or a professional school, or for those who will enter business, government service, or another career in which a sound knowledge of Africa is essential or valuable. A student may choose one of the following areas of concentration: history; anthropology; political science; economics; sociology; arts and literatures; languages and linguistics; religion; environmental and developmental studies.
The program requires sixteen courses: two compulsory introductory interdisciplinary seminars, Research Methods in African Studies (AFST 5o1a) and Africa and the Disciplines (AFST 764a), four courses of instruction in an African language, four courses in one of the above areas of concentration, four other approved courses offered in the Graduate School or professional schools, and two terms of directed reading and research (AFST 9ooa or b) during which students will complete the required thesis. A student who is able to demonstrate advanced proficiency in an African language may have the language requirement waived and substitute four other approved courses. The choice of courses must be approved by the director of graduate studies, Ann Biersteker, and students should consult with her as soon as possible in the first term.
The Master’s Thesis
The master’s thesis is based upon research on a topic approved by the director of graduate studies and advised by a faculty member with expertise or specialized competence in the chosen topic.
Program in African Languages
The language program offers instruction in three major languages from sub-Saharan Africa: Kiswahili (eastern and central Africa), Yorùbá (west Africa), and isiZulu (southern Africa). Language-related courses and language courses for professionals are also offered. African language courses emphasize communicative competence, and instructors use multimedia materials that focus on the contemporary African context. Course sequences are designed to enable students to achieve advanced competence in all skill areas by the end of the third year, and the African Language program encourages students to spend one summer or term in Africa during their language study.
Noncredited instruction in other African languages is available by application through the Directed Independent Language Study program at the Center for Language Study. Contact the director of the Program in African Languages.
Program materials are available upon request from the Director of Graduate Studies, Council on African Studies, Yale University, PO Box 208206, New Haven CT 06520-8206; e-mail, african.studies@yale.edu.
Courses
AFST 501au, Research Methods in African Studies. Ann Biersteker.
W 1.30–3.20
This course considers disciplinary and interdisciplinary research methodologies in African studies. The focus of the course is on field methods and archival research in the social sciences and humanities. Topics include use of African studies and disciplinary sources (including bibliographical databases and African studies archives), research design, interviewing, survey methods, analysis of sources, and the development of databases and research collections.
AFST 541bu, Comparative Perspectives on African Literatures. Ann Biersteker.
W 1.30–3.20
Introduction to a wide range of topics in African literature through an examination of English translations of works composed both in African and in European languages. Readings include poetry, novels, plays, essays, nonliterary texts, and autobiographies. Consideration of the symbiotic relationship between printed text and oral performance, between composition and transmission.
AFST 598au, Introduction to an African Language I. Kiarie Wa’Njogu and staff.
MTWThF 9.25–10.15
Beginning instruction in an African language other than those regularly offered. Courses offered depend on availability of instructors. Methodology and materials vary with the language studied. Students may also study an African language through the noncredit Directed Independent Language Study program. Permission of instructor required.
AFST 599bu, Introduction to an African Language II. Kiarie Wa’Njogu and staff.
5 HTBA
Continuing instruction in an African language other than those regularly offered. Courses offered depend on availability of instructors. Methodology and materials vary with the language studied. After AFST 598a. Students may also study an African language through the noncredit Directed Independent Language Study program. Permission of instructor required.
AFST 611b, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Postcolonial State. Kamari Clarke.
W 2.30–4.20
This course charts the ways that anthropological explorations in Africa have produced particular conceptualizations of sub-Saharan Africa as a region distinct from its northern countries. Through the lens of historical anthropological approaches, we explore how knowledge about West African countries has shaped contemporary approaches and debates. The central themes focus on issues concerning constructions of civilization, modernity, and tradition. In this light, we explore how notions of social change have been discussed through the lens of race, gender, religion, politics, citizenship, and law.
AFST 618bu, Communication and Healing. Sandra Sanneh.
HTBA
This course deals with practical issues of communication about health and healing in South Africa. It focuses on the Nguni language environment (Zulu/Xhosa/Swati/Ndebele) but also addresses some issues relating to other South African languages. The course offers an introduction to Zulu language in the context of health, and to social and cultural issues surrounding the origins of suffering, the articulation of symptoms, and the role of the family, traditional healers, and Western medical practitioners. Particular attention is given to HIV/AIDS in the community and to the status and attitudes of young people.
AFST 630bu, Language Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
w 1.30–3.20
Examination of language policies in selected sub-Saharan African countries. Analysis of language use in different contexts; assessment of the impact of globalization on African languages.
AFST 650, Second Year in an African Language.
By arrangement with faculty. After AFST 599.
AFST 660, Third Year in an African Language.
By arrangement with faculty. After AFST 650.
AFST 670, Fourth Year in an African Language.
By arrangement with faculty.
AFST 746a, Postcolonial Theory and Its Literature. Christopher L. Miller.
Th 9.25–11.15
A survey of theories relevant to colonial and postcolonial literature and culture. The course focuses on theoretical models (Orientalism, hybridity, métissage, créolité, “minor literature”), but also gives attention to the literary texts from which they are derived (francophone and anglophone). Readings from Said, Bhabha, Spivak, Mbembe, Amselle, Glissant, Deleuze, Guattari. Taught in English. Also AFAM 846a, CPLT 725a, FREN 946a.
AFST 764bu, Africa and the Disciplines. David Apter.
T 1.30–3.20
A broad survey of Africa’s relation to academic discourse, as seen in a variety of disciplines. This course examines how Africa is represented and discussed in different fields; how disciplinary formations, language, popular conceptions, and related intellectual practices of the various disciplines have affected academic approaches to studies of Africa; and how these approaches have reinvented particular African geographies (e.g., sub-Saharan vs. North African, francophone vs. anglophone, South Africa vs. the rest of Africa, and contemporary diasporic articulations). Attention to questions surrounding the management of “The New World Order.” After a general context is established over the first four weeks of the term, scholars representing various fields in the humanities, social and political sciences, and the professional schools visit the seminar to discuss their work in relation to the ways that their respective discipline(s) have explored !
related themes. Throughout the term, attention is given to issues of interdisciplinarity. Also ANTH 622bu, PLSC 784bu.
AFST 776bu, African Society. John Middleton.
HTBA
The societies and communities of Africa, both today in a period of globalization and in the “traditional” past. Past and present social organization in rural and urban communities, associated forms of cultural behavior, and their place in the total Africa, which is presented as a part of world society, not as a marginal, isolated continent.
AFST 778bu, From West Africa to the Black Americas: The Black Atlantic Visual Tradition. Robert Thompson.
TTh 11.35–12.50
Art, music, and dance in the history of key classical civilizations south of the Sahara—Mali, Asante, Dahomey, Yoruba, Ejagham, Kongon—and their impact on the rise of New World art and music. Also AFAM 728bu, HSAR 778bu.
AFST 781a, Problem and Theory in Afro-Atlantic Architecture I: Africa. Robert Thompson.
Th 3.30–5.20
The seminar addresses a new frontier—rebuilding the inner cities. This refers to Latino and mainland black cities within the cities of America. Accordingly, the course focuses on major roots of Latino and black traditional architecture. Topics include the architecture of Djenne, Berber art and architecture, Mauritanian sites, the monumental stone architecture of Zimbabwe, the sacred architecture of Ethiopia, and Muslim-influenced architecture from Rabat to Zanzibar. Then comes a case-by-case examination of some of the sites of African influence on the architecture of the Americas—the Puerto Rican casita; the southern verandah; the round-houses of New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Mexico, Panama, and Columbia; Ganvie, the Venice of West Africa, and its mirror image among the tidal stilt architectures of blacks of the Choco area in Pacific Columbia. Also AFAM 739a, HSAR 781a.
AFST 781b, Problem and Theory in Afro-Atlantic Architecture II: The Black Americas. Robert Thompson.
Th 3.30–5.20
A continuation of AFST 781a. Also AFAM 739b, HSAR 781b.
AFST 814a, Christian-Muslim Dialogue. Lamin Sanneh.
HTBA
An introduction survey of Islam: its origin, history, law, theology, and religious tradition. An examination of the encounter of the medieval Muslim world with the West, and an assessment of intercultural influences between the two civilizations. The course explores interfaith issues in terms of convergence as well as contrast. Also REL 814a.
AFST 844a, Memory and Orality in African History. Michael Mahoney.
Th 1.30–3.20
This graduate seminar introduces the student to oral research methodology, as well as to particular debates about that methodology within African historiography. We also discuss memory and popular historical understandings, and how this non-guild historiography interacts with what academics do. Though the focus is on Africa, we cover the material in a sufficiently general manner so that the course may be of interest to non-Africanists. In addition, the final project requires practical oral research, and this may very well be non-Africanist in nature, since so few African respondents are available in the area. Also HIST 844a.
AFST 900a or b, Master’s Thesis. Ann Biersteker and faculty.
Directed reading and research on a topic approved by the director of graduate studies and advised by a faculty member (by arrangement) with expertise or specialized competence in the chosen field. Readings and research are done in preparation for the required master’s thesis.
AFST 951a or b, Directed Reading and Research. Ann Biersteker and faculty.
By arrangement with faculty.
SWAH 610au, Elementary Kiswahili I. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
MTWThF 9.25–10.15
A beginning course with intensive training and practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Initial emphasis is on the spoken language and conversation. Credit only on completion of SWAH 620b.
SWAH 620bu, Elementary Kiswahili II. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
MTWThF 9.25–10.15
Continuation of SWAH 610a. Texts provide an introduction to the basic structure of Kiswahili and to the culture of the speakers of the language.
SWAH 630au, Intermediate Kiswahili I. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
MTWThF 10.30–11.20
Further development of students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Prepares students for further work in literary, language, and cultural studies as well as for a functional use of Kiswahili. Study of structure and vocabulary is based on a variety of texts from traditional and popular culture. Emphasis on command of idiomatic usage and stylistic nuance. After SWAH 620b.
SWAH 640bu, Intermediate Kiswahili II. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
MTWThF 10.30–11.20
Continuation of SWAH 630a. After SWAH 630a.
SWAH 650au, Advanced Kiswahili I. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
TTh 4–5.15
Development in fluency through readings and discussions on contemporary issues in Kiswahili. Introduction to literary criticism in Kiswahili. Materials include Kiswahili oral literature, prose, poetry, and plays, as well as texts drawn from popular and political culture. After SWAH 640b.
SWAH 660bu, Advanced Kiswahili II. Kiarie Wa’Njogu.
TTh 4–5.15
Continuation of SWAH 650a. After SWAH 650a.
SWAH 670au or bu, Topics in Kiswahili Literature. Ann Biersteker.
Advanced readings and discussion with emphasis on literary and historical texts. Reading assignments include materials on Kiswahili poetry, Kiswahili dialects, and the history of Kiswahili. After SWAH 660.
YORU 610au, Elementary Yorùbá I. Oluseye Adesola.
MTWThF 10.30–11.20
Training and practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Initial emphasis is on the spoken aspect, with special attention to unfamiliar consonantal sounds, nasal vowels, and tone, using isolated phrases, set conversational pieces, and simple dialogues. Multimedia materials provide audio practice and cultural information. Credit only on completion of YORU 620b.
YORU 620bu, Elementary Yorùbá II. Oluseye Adesola.
MTWThF 10.30–11.20
Continuing practice in using and recognizing tone through dialogues. More emphasis is placed on simple cultural texts and role playing.
YORU 630au, Intermediate Yorùbá I. Oluseye Adesola.
MTWThF 11.35–12.25
Refinement of students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. More natural texts are provided to prepare students for work in literary, language, and cultural studies as well as for a functional use of Yorùbá. After YORU 620b.
YORU 640bu, Intermediate Yorùbá II. Oluseye Adesola.
MTWThF 11.35–12.25
Students are exposed to more idiomatic use of the language in a variety of interactions, including occupational, social, religious, and educational. Cultural documents include literary and nonliterary texts. After YORU 630a.
YORU 650au, Advanced Yorùbá I. Oluseye Adesola.
3 HTBA
An advanced course intended to improve the students’ aural and reading comprehension as well as speaking and writing skills. Emphasis is on acquiring a command of idiomatic usage and stylistic nuance. Study materials include literary and nonliterary texts; social, political, and popular entertainment media such as video movies and recorded poems (ewì); and music. After YORU 640b.
YORU 660bu, Advanced Yorùbá II. Oluseye Adesola.
3 HTBA
Continuing development of students’ aural and reading comprehension, and speaking and writing skills, with emphasis on idiomatic usage and stylistic nuance. Study materials are selected to reflect research interests of the students. After YORU 650a.
ZULU 610au, Elementary isiZulu I. Sandra Sanneh.
MTWThF 11.35–12.25
A beginning course in conversational isiZulu, using Web-based materials filmed in South Africa. Emphasis on the sounds of the language, including clicks and tonal variation, and on the words and structures needed for initial social interaction. Brief dialogues concern everyday activities; aspects of contemporary Zulu culture are introduced through readings and documentaries in English. Credit only on completion of ZULU 620b.
ZULU 620bu, Elementary isiZulu II. Sandra Sanneh.
MTWThF 11.35–12.25
Development of communication skills through dialogues and role play. Texts and songs are drawn from traditional and popular literature and songs. Students research daily life in selected areas of South Africa.
ZULU 630au, Intermediate isiZulu I. Sandra Sanneh.
MTWThF 9.25–10.15
Development of basic fluency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing isiZulu, using Web-based materials filmed in South Africa. Students describe and narrate spoken and written paragraphs. Review of morphology; concentration on tense and aspect. Materials are drawn from contemporary popular culture, folklore, and mass media. After ZULU 620b.
ZULU 640bu, Intermediate isiZulu II. Sandra Sanneh.
MTWThF 9.25–10.15
Students read longer texts from popular media as well as myths and folktales. Prepares students for initial research involving interaction with speakers of isiZulu in South Africa, and for the study of oral and literary genres. After ZULU 630a.
ZULU 650au, Advanced isiZulu I. Sandra Sanneh.
3 htba
Development of fluency in using idioms, speaking about abstract concepts, and voicing preferences and opinions. Excerpts are drawn from oral genres, short stories, and dramas made for television. Introduction to other South African languages and to issues of standardization, dialect, and language attitude. After ZULU 640b.
ZULU 660bu, Advanced isiZulu II. Sandra Sanneh.
3 htba
Readings may include short stories, a novel, praise poetry, historical texts, or contemporary political speeches, depending on student interests. Study of issues of language policy and use in contemporary South Africa; introduction to the Soweto dialect of isiZulu. Students are prepared for extended research in South Africa involving interviews with isiZulu speakers. After ZULU 650a.
Other Courses of Interest
ANTH 537, Politics and Asthetics. Michael McGovern.
ANTH 674bu, Anthropologies of Insurgency. Michael McGovern.
HIST 965a, Agrarian Societies: Culture, Society, History, and Development. Robert Harms, James Scott.
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