This course introduces students to a number of African popular expressive
forms, such as music, theater, and clothing, to reveal Africans' own views of
historical events during the twentieth century.  History often is presented dryly
and from the perspective of political actors, but in this course we seek to
analyze the views of African musicians, actors, and ordinary citizens who
expressed themselves in a variety of ways.  Throughout the course students
will learn about African cultural traditions as well as the historical context in
which they were produced during the last 100 years.  This course assumes no
prior knowledge of African history, and uses an introductory work to provide
background information necessary for our subsequent examinations of music,
theater, dress, and other expressive forms.  Together, we will seek to analyze
a number of expressive forms in order to identify some of the ways that
Africans understand their political, economic, and social environments.