Interdisciplinary African Studies Graduate Seminar
(Seminars are offered on a different topic each semester. Invited speakers for seminars generally present on Wednesday nights as part of our Speaker Series open to the public. (Unless announced otherwise, seminar presentations take place in WH218 Wednesdays 5:30-7:30.)
Spring 2008
AFRI A731 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Fieldnotes in African Research (1, 2, or 3 crs.)
M. Frank-Wilson and R. Stone
Above class meets with FOLK F609 (Folklore).
Ethnographic researchers employ fieldnotes to record ideas, analyses, and texts in the course of field research in Africa. These fieldnotes display rich variety in form, function, voice, and style, depending of particular disciplines as well as historical settings.
Guest lecturers will share with the class their own work with fieldnotes in a public lecture on Wednesday evening.
Students will read general articles on fieldnotes as well as specific works of the invited speakers. They will write a full-length paper analyzing fieldnotes they have researched in one of the archives at Indiana University, focusing one or more of the focal issues.
Students may sign up for 1 credit *(rather an 3 credits) by doing the readings, attending the lectures, and engaging in discussion --or for 2 credits by fulfilling the requirements for 1 credit in addition to compiling an annotated bibliography.
Speakers:
February 20--Steven Raymer, Journalism, Indiana University
“The Documentary Photographer: Writing with Light”
February 27--Peter M. Chilson, English and Creative Writing, Washington State University
“Romancing the Archivist: A Cautionary Dispatch from West Africa”
March 19--Kate Schroeder, History/Library, and Austin Okigbo, Folklore and Ethnomusicology
“Recent Experiences with Fieldnotes”
March 26--Daniel Reed, Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University
“Fieldnotes: For Whom and What For?”
** CANCELLED ** April 2--David Henige, Library, African Studies, and Anthropology, University of Wisconsin
“Fieldnotes Past and Present”
April 9--Anaba Anankyela Alemna, Library and Library Science, University of Ghana, Ghana
“Field Notes and the Library”
April 23--Salwa El-Shawan Castello Branco, Ethnomusicology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
“Ethnography at Home: Revisiting the Past, (Re)Constructing Self and Others through Fieldnotes”
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Fall 2007
Grad G731 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Contemporary Africa in the Classroom: New Perspectives on the Africa Volume
September 5
James Delehanty, University of Wisconsin
topic: “Mapping Contemporary Africa”
October 3
John Aden, Wabash College
topic: “Roots and Branches: Historical Overview to 1870”
October 16 (Tuesday, noon)
Takyiwaa Manuh, University of Ghana
topic: “Empowering Women? Passing Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana?”
Note: This seminar will be presented in the Tuesday Noontalk series 12:00 p.m., WH 221
October 31
Tracy Luedke, Northeastern Illinois University
topic: “Health and Society”
November 7
NO SEMINAR SPEAKER NOVEMBER 7.
NOTE: THE SEMINAR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED FOR NOV. 7 HAS BEEN MOVED TO TUESDAY, NOV. 20 AS A "NOONTALK"
November 14
Karen T. Hansen, Northwestern University
topic: “Urbanism as African Ways of Life: Thematics for an Exploration of Changing Urban Livelihoods in the Time of Globalization”
December 5
NOTE: The Wednesday Seminar speaker for December 5, Paul Zeleza, has had to cancel.
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Spring 2007
Grad G731 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Language in Contemporary African Politics & Jurisprudence
Professor Samuel Obeng, Linguistics
Course Description:
This course explores language in contemporary African politics and jurisprudence. The course is divided into two broad (but related) sections. The first section examines issues associated with the language of politics. In particular, we will examine issues (such as language choice, language planning, linguistic imperialism, lingua franca, and minority languages) pertaining to the politics of languages.
Also to be examined is the discourse structure of political talk and text on the African continent. This will include an analysis of the speeches of contemporary traditional and Western-based African politicians and diplomats. Party propaganda, slogans, political criticism, political campaigns, promises and threats, persuasion, derogation, among others, will also be examined.
The second part of the course deals with the language of contemporary (including traditional) African courtroom, the role of Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religions in constructing juridical discourse, the speakable and the unspeakable in juridical communication, as well as the language of agreements and disagreements, persuasion, derogation, among others, in the African Courtroom. Also to be examined are such issues as language, gender, power, oath taking and curse and aspects of discourse structure and sequencing in African jurisprudence.
January 31
Sam Mchombo, University of California, Berkeley, Linguistics
topic: “Language and Politics in Southern Africa”
February 14
A.B. Assensoh, African American and African Diaspora Studies
topic: “African Leadership: Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and Jomo Kenyatta in Context”
March 7
John P. Hutchison, Boston University, African Studies
topic: “Literacy, Literature, and Development in West Africa”
March 21
Toyin Falola, University of Texas, Austin, History
topic: “A Historical Perspective of African Jurisprudence”
March 28
Osita Afoaku, SPEA
topic: “Patrice Lumumba: Cold War Era Political Correctness and the Dilemma of an African Nationalist"
April 11
Alwiya Omar, African Studies/Linguistics
topic: “Doing Politics through Props and Costumes: The Case of Kanga in East Africa”
April 18
Joe Amoako, Delaware State University, English
topic: “Language in Traditional African Law”
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Fall 2006
Grad G731/E600 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Temporalities, Polities and Cultural Formations in Africa
Professor Beverly Stoeltje, Anthropology
September 20
John Hanson, IU African Studies Program and Department of History
topic: “Islam, Madhism, and Colonial Rule in West Africa”
September 27
Ruth Stone, Iu Dept. of Folklore & Ethnomusicology
topic: “Shaping Time and Rhythm in African Music: Continuing Concerns and Emergent Issues”
October 4
Laren Morris MacLean, IU Political Science Dept.
topic: “Historicizing (and Politicizing) Globalization and the Conceptualization of the Family in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire;
October 11
Brad Weiss, Dept. of Anthropology, College of William and Mary
topic: “Producing African Futures in a Neoliberal Age”
November 1
Emmanuel Akyeampong, Dept. of History, Harvard University
topic: “STDs and HIV-AIDS: Gender, Mobility and Disease in Urban West Africa"
November 8
Beth Buggenhagen, IU Dept. of Anthropology
topic: “Photographic Persuasions: Women's Portraiture, Circulation and Value in Muslim Sengal”
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Spring 2006
Grad G731 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Globalization, Regionalization and the Changing Nature of Sovereignty
Professor Randall Baker, School of Public and Environmental Affairs
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Fall 2005
GRAD G731, Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Imaging Cultural Forms and Their Social Contexts
Professor Eileen Julien, African Studies/Comparative Literature
Cross listed: AAAD-A 590 and CMLT-C 603
African literature and arts are frequently used by educators to introduce the continent to those unfamiliar with it and by social scientists to elaborate on historical and anthropological perspectives.
This class has two objectives: First, to encourage students to reflect on the sometimes problematic uses of these "representations of Africa" in social science, public policy, and pedagogy: Are there right and wrong ways, better and worse ways to read such forms? Second, to promote the use of web technologies to take the full measure of dynamic cultural and artistic developments in Africa and the African diaspora and to disseminate research findings with rapidity and ease.
Students will design research questions on the material factors related to cultural production: correlations of urban development to literary, music and visual art production; literacy or religious affiliation and the prevalence of specific genres; place of production and concentrations of consumers both locally and abroad; gender and genres, reception of a text or type of art within varied disciplines, etc. To the extent possible, the class will identify and teleconference with partners in Africa to help refine research agendas and seek relevant data. We will also use web resources and data from a number of NGOs.
With the assistance of a webmaster and technical support, the class will develop a website to image the results of our research.
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Spring 2005
GRAD G731,
Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar
Topic: Popular Culture and African Cities
Professor Didier Gondola, History, IUPUI
Time & day: Wednesday Evenings 5:30pm -
7:30pm
Place: Woodburn Hall 218
The course will focus on the interplay between the
development of the colonial and post-colonial city and the
emergence of popular cultures in Africa, and especially in
Central and West Africa. Nowhere in Africa could popular
cultures better thrive but in the African city, which can be
eminently defined as a site of cultural fusion and diffusion
where Africans were constantly negotiating various identities
between the modern and the traditional. Cultural phenomena such
as music, cinema, theater, religious movements, fashion and
soccer will be studied in their recreational aspects as well as
for their social and political implications.
February 2
Mamadou Diouf, University of Michigan
Topic: "Painting and Singing Urban Stories:
Historical Narratives from Dakar."
February 16
Charles Ambler, University of Texas
Topic: "Cowboy Modern: African Audiences,
Hollywood Films, and Visions of the West."
March 2
Gilbert Doho, Case Western Reserve University
Topic: "The Scholar Activist and the Rural
Woman as Dynamic Forces of Social Changes in Postcolonial
Africa."
March 30
Bea Vidacs, City
University of New York
Topic: "Art vs. Science: The Battle of Playing
Styles in Cameroonian Discourses about Soccer."
April 13
Lydie Moudileno, University of Pennsylvania
Topic: "Passionately Urban: The 1990s West
African Romance Novel."
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Fall 2004
Seminar, Fall 2004
Innovative
African Political Economies
GRAD G731--Seminar on Contemporary Africa
ANTH E600--Problems in African Ethnography
Time & day: Wednesday Evenings 5:30pm ~ 7:30pm
Place: Woodburn Hall 218
| Date |
Speaker |
Topic |
| September 15, 2004 |
James Igoe
(Ph.D. Boston University, 1999)
Home Department: Anthropology, University of Colorado, Denver.
Anthropology Departement |
Becoming Indigeneous People: The Globalization of the Maasai Identity Politics |
| September 29, 2004 |
Lauren McLean
Political Science Department
Indiana University, Political Science Department |
(Topic to be posted soon) |
| October 6, 2004 |
Una Osili
Political Science
IUPUI, Political Science Department |
(Topic to be posted soon) |
| October 20, 2004 |
James Ferguson, Ph.D.
Anthropology, Stanford University
Cultural and Social Anthropology
Department of Anthropological Sciences |
(Topic to be posted soon) |
| November 3, 2004 |
Mary Moran,
Associate Professeur of Anthropology
Anthropology, Colgate University
Colgate University, Hamilton, New York |
(To be posted soon) |
| December 1, 2004 |
Brenda H. Chalfin
Associate Professor
University of Florida at Gainesville
University of Florida |
(Topic to be posted soon) |
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Spring 2004
Seminar, Spring 2004 : African Cities
H795/G731
Wednesday Evenings 5:30pm ~ 7:30pm
Woodburn Hall 218
About 40% of Africans now live in cities and some
demographers estimate
that close to 60% of the continent's population will live in urban areas
by 2025. Clearly, this is a topic worth exploring since it involves the
future of so many on the continent. The seminar has a historical
orientation but, in the African Studies tradition, it is also
interdisciplinary. It addresses such issues as the nature of urban
settlements in precolonial Africa, cities as planned space/constructed
landscapes in colonial and postcolonial times, the emergence of identities
in an urban context, and cities as arenas of social contestations and
cultural transformations. For further information, contact Professor Phyllis Martin, History Department (martinp@indiana.edu). Some speakers
may be available to meet with students and faculty from 9-10am on Thursday
morning, following their talk.
Topics and guest speakers:
| Date |
Speaker |
Topic |
| January 28 |
Professor Roderick McIntosh
Department of Anthropology (Archaeology)
Rice University |
"What have we learned from West African complexity?" |
| February 11 |
Professor Toyin Falola
Department of History
University of Texas, Austin |
"Yoruba cities" |
| February 18 |
Professor Penda Mbow
Department of History
Université Cheick Anta Diop, Dakar |
"Talibe Begging in Dakar and the Rights of Children" |
| March 24 |
Professor Claude Clegg
History Department
Indiana University |
"Inventing Monrovia: The Making of a Settler Community" |
| March 31 |
Professor Nancy Hunt
Department of History
University of Michigan |
"Colonial Maternity Wards as Urban Crisis: Congestion,
Eclampsia, and Angry Husbands in 1950s Leopoldville" |
| April 7 |
Professor Laura Fair
Department of History
University of Oregon |
"Hollywood Hegemony? Hardly: Audience Preferences in Zanzibar,
1950s-1970s" |
| April 14 |
Professor Gracia Clark & Professor
Beverly Stoelje
Anthropology Department
Indiana University |
"Market and Palace: The Two Faces of Asante Urban
Tradition" |
| April 21 |
Dr. Christraud Geary
Curator of African Art
Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
Proper Appearances: African Photographic Practice in the
Town of Foumban, Cameroon" |
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Fall 2003
Seminar, Fall 2003 : African Expressive Culture Now
Wednesday Evenings 7:00pm ~ 9:00pm
Woodburn Hall 218
Patrick McNaughton and Daniel Reed
| Date |
Speaker |
Topic |
| September 10 |
Stephen Wooten
University of Oregon |
"Headdresses and Hoes: Expressive Agri/Culture 'For Life'
in Contemporary Rural Mali" |
| September 17 |
Louise Meintjes
Duke University |
"Slap Velum and Air: The Politics of Music
Production in a South African Studio" |
| September 25 |
Special Thursday Morning Seminar
9:45am - Hoagy Carmichael Room,
Morrison Hall |
"An open discussion with mbanqanga superstars -
The Mahotella Queens, whose career spans three decades in
apatheid and post-apartheid South Africa" |
| October 8 |
Sylvester Ogbechie
University of California, Santa Barbara |
"Art History and the Question of Modernity in 20th
Century African Art" |
| October 15 |
Gerhard Kubik
University of Vienna |
"The Kingdom of Buganda: Restoration and Renaissance" |
| October 22 |
Eckhard Breitinger
Bayreuth University (Germany); Visiting Scholar Indiana
University |
"The Battle of Grahamstown on Stage" |
| November 5 |
Ruth Stone
Indiana University |
* |
| November 12 |
Ronald Emoff
Ohio State University |
* |
| November 19 |
Samuel Obeng
Indiana University |
"From Love Through Caution to Hate: A Linguistic and
Discursive Analysis of the Lyrics of Akan Traditional
and High-Life Music" |
| December 3 |
Joanna Grabski
Dennison University |
"Exhibiting Contemporary Art in Africa:
The Dakar Biennale at the Intersection of Pan-Africanism
and Internationalism" |
| December 10 |
Paula Girshick
Indiana University |
"Monuments and the Re-Imaging of the South African
Past" |
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