Courses Taught

HIS 30, The Making of Modern Africa:
Examines the loss and reassumption of local and state autonomy in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. Delineates the modalities of the colonial state and society, modes of resistance to alien occupation, and the deformation of social, class, and gender relations.

HIS 121A, African American History to 1877:
A survey of pre-contact Africa, indigenous social structures, class relations, the encounter with Europe, forced migration, seasoning, resistance, Africa’s gift to America, slavery and its opponents, industrialization, emigration vs. assimilation, stratification, Convention Movement, Black feminism, Civil War, and Reconstruction.

HIS 121B, African American History: 1877 to the Present:
A survey of the period from 1877 to present, highlighting Jim Crow, Militarism, Black feminism, WWI, New Negro, Garveyism, Harlem Renaissance, Black Radicalism, Pan Africanism, Depression, WWII, Desegregation Movement, Black Power, 1960s, Reaganism. Cultural and economic emphases.

HIS 137A, Africa to 1800:
Introduction to history of Africa. Topics include states and “stateless” societies, culture, society and economy in the pre-modern era, stratification, oral traditions, long distance trade, the coming of Islam, and the evolution of the South Atlantic system and its social, political, and other consequences. Some background knowledge of Africa helpful.

HIS 137B, Africa, 1800-Present:
How Africa lost its continental, regional, and local autonomy in the era of European imperialism. The components of European hegemony, Christian proselytization, comparative colonial strategies and structures, nationalism, decolonization and independence and the disengagement from neo-colonial patterns and the colonial legacy. Case studies from northern and subsaharan Africa. Some background knowledge of Africa helpful.

HIS 137C, African Cinema:
Historical study of modern African cinematography from the emergence of film as a tool of social control in the imperial and colonial periods to its theoretical and practical transformation by African cineastes in the post-independence era. Films and videos from northern, eastern, western, central/equatorial, and southern Africa viewed.

HIS 190N, Topics in African History:
Examines contemporary crises in Africa: the new South Africa, refugees, HIV/AIDS, children of war, blood or conflict diamonds, civil war, and genocide in Rwanda. Seminar format where students will be prepared to undertake studies on specific subjects and two rounds of 15–20 page papers.

HIS 190O, African American Historiography:
Major themes in contemporary African American historiography on a topical basis.