THIRD AND FOURTH YEAR
To complete a minor in African Studies, students are required to take either AFST 350, AFST 351 or AFST 352. Both courses are offered annually. Students may opt to take both AFST 351 and AFST 352.
AFST 350: Topics in African Studies
This course covers contemporary issues in African languages, cultures, and linguistic anthropology. It will consider Africa and the origin of language; attitudes towards African cultural traditions; emergent languages and cultures; language and media; language and identity, place and power; plus a range of other contemporary language issues.
AFST 351: Perspectives in African Studies: Literary and Theoretical Approaches (Not offered 2023/24)
The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with writing about, of, and by African writers as well as writing and theories deriving from African experience. Through a selection of readings by contemporary African writers, students will read and think with Canadian Indigenous writers about it means to be in relation, to remember and to resist. Students will learn to evaluate these works as spaces of political solidarity and critical thinking between writers writing across continents.
AFST 352: Perspectives in African Studies: A Social Science Approach
This course examines the histories of “Modern Africa,” itself a problematic idea, from 1800 to the present. We will explore themes of African societies and statecraft in the 19th century; colonial conquest, collaboration and resistance; the nature of the colonial state; cultures of gender, ethnicity and work under colonial rule; violent nationalisms, independence and colonial legacies; postcolonial conflict and the crisis of the state. While taking a comprehensive approach, particular attention will be paid to case studies drawn from Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria, Congo, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa. History 315, Britain, 1750-1850.
AFST 370 (Cross-listed with ENGL 370): Literatures and Cultures of Africa and/or the Middle East
Literary and cultural works from Africa; some sections include Africa and the Middle East. Multiple perspectives on local, national, and global issues including colonialism, migration, transnationalism, education, art and politics. May include fiction, poetry, drama, digital media, and other forms.
AFST 450R: African diasporic culture in Canadian society, fostering dialogue with members of African Canadian communities on cultural values, traditions, memory, adaptation and change
This course combines the study of historical evidence of the presence of African diasporic culture in Canadian society, reflection on the notion African diaspora and on various ways in which that notion has been viewed by political and cultural theorists, and the fostering of dialogue with members of African Canadian communities on cultural values, traditions, memory, adaptation and change. Students are encouraged not only to apply their classroom-based learning to their dialogue with members of African Canadian communities but also to challenge theoretical models and preconceived notions through the experience of discussing those models and notions with individuals, families and groups.
Additional Third and Fourth Year Courses recommended for African Studies Minors:
ANTH 303: Ethnography of Special Areas
ANTH 317A: Linguistic Anthropology
ANTH 332: Oral Tradition
ANTH 414: Anthropology of Globalization
ANTH 415: Anthropology of Religion and Society (not offered 2018/19)
ARTH 410: Seminar in African Art
ASTU 400: Pan-Africanism in History (Term 2 Winter 2018/19 only)
ECON 442: Issues in Economic Development
ENGL 370: Literatures and Cultures of Africa and/or the Middle East (first offered 2019/20)
FREN 328: Selected Works of African and Caribbean Literature (Language of Instruction: French)
GEOG 396: Geography of Africa
GRSJ 311: African/Black Women in the Americas
GRSJ 415 (201): Critical Racial and Anti-Colonial Feminist Approaches
HIST 313: Africa from Imperialism to Independence
NEST 304: Egyptian Archaeology
NEST 313: Introduction to Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphs
POLI 373: Ethics in World Politics
SOCI 301: Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment
SOCI 415: Theories of Family and Kinship
The availability of courses listed may vary year to year. Some courses also have specific prerequisites.
Last updated on June 1, 2020.
If you would like to discuss options for completing a Minor in African Studies, please contact the co-chairs, Dr. Kofi J.S. Gbolonyo (jskofi.gbolonyo@ubc.ca) and Dr. Suzanne James (Suzanne.James@ubc.ca).