A&S 205 African Modernities

This course provides a critical engagement with contemporary ethnography in the African context. The class highlights texts that expand our sense of anthropological research while challenging us to conceptualize "Africa" in new ways. We will examine how diverse African social worlds have actively shaped and been altered by the forces and forms of modernity, ranging from colonialism to popular culture, development, the nation-state, and globalization. The class underscores the complexity of everyday life across an astonishingly dynamic and diverse continent. [GM2, V]