Global Studies and Languages

African Studies

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Overview

An exciting new area of teaching and research in GSL, the section’s subject offerings in African Studies are geared towards cultivating a critical appreciation of the African continent’s cultural diversity, and of its implication in and contribution to global social, political, and cultural phenomena. With 54 countries, an estimated two to three thousand spoken languages, and a population of 1.2 billion, the African continent represents not only one sixth of the world’s population, but also critical nodes in the global economy. GSL’s African Studies subjects are built on the premise that understanding the workings of history and of contemporary life in Africa is essential for understanding the articulations of power across the globe and for envisioning the future of the planet.

Grounded in the humanities and social sciences, and adopting a cross-cultural perspective, subjects examine the makings of Africa’s place in the world in the contemporary moment. We learn from anthropological and historical scholarship, literary texts, as well as material and visual culture. Placing contemporary events in historical perspective, we consider the makings and workings of power in social life. Students learn to engage critically with ideas from critical readings and individual and group projects, and take away rigorous analytical and theoretical tools with which to interrogate objects, texts, practices, and human interactions.

Requirements

GSL’s subjects in African Studies complement the strengths of the section’s offerings on other parts of the globe. As the African continent is home to the largest population of French speakers in the world today, a portion of our African Studies subjects are taught in French, focus on French-speaking Africa, or are taught in English with a “French option” (this option allows advanced French learners to complete all written assignments for the subject in French). With these options, our African studies subjects add to the French group’s subject offerings and can count towards the concentration, minor, and major in French. Moreover, with their focus on creative production, material culture, and diaspora, GSL’s subjects in African Studies resonate with other subjects in Studies in International Languages and Cultures (SILC); together, these subjects offer students the possibility for cross-cultural, thematically driven concentrations in SILC. Further, all African studies subjects can count toward the minor in African and African Diaspora Studies.

Fall 2019 Course Offerings

21G.025 Africa and the Politics of Knowledge
21G.346 Topics in Modern French Literature and Culture: Comtemporary Francophone Africa: Francophonie and Beyond
This course takes French-speaking Africa as its object of inquiry. Starting from a historical perspective to understand how there came to be a Francophone Africa, it then turns to how that historical legacy plays out in the contemporary era, with an emphasis on the politics of language. We consider the role and the place of the French language in the colonial project and decolonization movements. And delving into the distinctions between francophonie as the use of the French language, and Francophonie as a political project, we interrogate the place of French in the contemporary African landscape. In addition, we use novels and films as points of entry into the discussion of important topics in contemporary African societies. Students learn to leverage theoretical tools from anthropology and social theory to analyze and interpret these topics. In past semesters, topics have included migration, the relationship to the state, creative production, the city, and futurityf

Current Brochure

Subjects

African Studies 2019-2020

Study Abroad

MISTI Africa program [link: http://misti.mit.edu/mit-africa-initiative]
MIT South Africa program (funding is available for study abroad and summer internships in other African countries as well) [link: http://misti.mit.edu/mit-south-africa-program-0]
MIT Global Education

Activities

Further African Studies resources at MIT and beyond:

MIT

Minor in African and Africa Diaspora Studies [link: https://shass.mit.edu/undergraduate/interdisciplinary/minors/african]

In Cambridge and Boston

African Language Program at Harvard [link: https://alp.fas.harvard.edu/]
African Language Program at Boston University [link: https://www.bu.edu/africa/alp/]
African studies workshop, Center for African Studies, Harvard [link: https://africa.harvard.edu/african-studies-workshop-0]
Walter Rodney Seminar, African Studies Center, Boston University [link: https://www.bu.edu/africa/events/rodney/]
Africana Studies at Wellesley [link: http://www.wellesley.edu/africana]

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African Studies

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