This advanced seminar considers controversial issues in the history of Africa. The syllabus for the first half of the course will be set by the instructor after determining prospective students' interests during the preregistration period. The readings in the second half will be set by the students in consultation with the professor. Topics might include Bantu speakers' expansion into southern Africa, the assessment of oral traditions, the material basis of African empires, alleged African origins of the slave trade, the origins of independent African churches, the experiences of women under colonialism, the roots of African poverty, Africans and their ecology, the demographic history of Africa, and the intellectual construction of Africa and of African culture. |