IGESSIGESS (Institute for Global Economics and Social Sciences)

This course is a general introduction for students who wish to expand their comprehension of global issues with reference to Africa as informed participants. It is also for students who are interested in studying Africa's society, culture, and politics. Students will learn to identify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate African issues and relate them to global issues.

This course aims to expose students to how Africa has been subjected to profound stereotypes and misconceptions that have largely informed the continent's global perspectives. The course will seek to humanise our understanding of Africa by emphasising forms and means of daily life experiences and understandings such as family life, love and joy, the life cycle, faith and belief, livelihoods, aspirations, hopes for the future, development aims and achievements, and a sense of global belonging. The overall goal is that students will gain experience researching, discussing, and presenting Africa in the discussion of global issues using a good command of the English language with both clarity and confidence.

英語 / English

This course prioritises reflection, understanding of context and content, and critical thinking through class discussions, presentations, and writing assignments. The course employs multidisciplinary lenses within Global Studies, focusing on political science, history, sociology, and anthropological insights.

あり / Yes

あり / Yes

授業形態/methods of teaching：対面/face to face

※各回の授業形態は予定です。教員の指示に従ってください。

1[対面/face to face]：Introduction I

Information about the course and how to get started, getting to know the other students and the teacher, forming study groups, and Africa is not a country, part 1. 

2[対面/face to face]：Introduction II

Africa is not a country, part 2. Countries, capitals, people groups, languages, historical and contemporary political development. 

3[対面/face to face]：Introduction III

Perspectives and representations of Africa: framings and images for understanding Africa as imagined landscapes and Africa is not a country, part 3. 

4[対面/face to face]：Legacies of colonialism in Africa

Language of colonialists: Reading Ngûgî wa Thion'go's decolonising the mind.

5[対面/face to face]：Post-colonial state and development strategies

Compulsory villagisation in Tanzania (Ujamaa), and the capital state in Kenya.

6[対面/face to face]：Social organisation I

Definitions of kinship, tribes, and ethnicity: problematization of ethnicity and tribe—the case of Rwanda's genocide.

7[対面/face to face]：Social organisation II

Problematization of ethnicity and tribe in Africa: the case of Kenya's troubled elections.

8[対面/face to face]：Philosophies and religions in Africa

Religious beliefs and political participation and discourses in Africa.

9[対面/face to face]：Aesthetics and arts I

Cultural creativity, political creativity, and protests in arts, drama, and music in contemporary Africa (Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, and Bobi Wine).

10[対面/face to face]：Aesthetics and arts II

Cultural creativity, political creativity, and protests in arts, drama, and music in contemporary Africa (Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, and Bobi Wine).

11[対面/face to face]：Select cultures in contemporary Africa.

Burial rites in Western Kenya: the burial site as a marker of belonging and property ownership (Reading Wambui Otieno); and rites of passage.

12[対面/face to face]：Development, markets, and governance

Why doesn't development seem to work in most of Africa? (reading James Ferguson in Lesotho). 

13[対面/face to face]：Regionalization and globalization in Africa

AU, COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD, and SADC.

14[対面/face to face]：The youth and ICT in Africa

How Africa is tapping into the youthful population and how Africa is pacesetting in global technological development (Kenya's M-Pesa).

Students will be required to use the Internet to research topics in preparation for the classroom sessions. Writing and presentation tasks will also be set as homework and in-class activities.

There is no set text for this course, but students are required to bring an A4 folder to organise their notes.

Thiong’o, N. W. (2011). Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. James Currey.

Grades will be calculated as follows:
10%: class attendance and participation
10%: pop quiz 1
10%: pop quiz 2
10%: pop quiz 3
40%: final presentation
20%: final quiz

None

A4 folder and note taking materials.

Students are expected to attend all of the classes and come to class on time. There may be some changes to the syllabus above in order to allow for some flexibility to cater to the needs of particular classes.