University of Colorado IAFS 3000-002 Spring 2013
“SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, GLOBALIZATION, AND CULTURE”
Time: Wednesdays 5:30pm to 8pm Place: Ktch 301 Instructor: Dr. Andrew DeRoche (Professor Andy) Email: [email protected] Phone: 303 678 3825 Office Hour: Wednesday 4:30pm to 5:15pm, Celestial Seasonings in UMC
GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION Special Topics courses (IAFS 3000) are junior or senior level umbrella seminars, spanning a variety of topics relevant to the study of international affairs. Subjects addressed under this heading vary according to student interest and faculty availability.
SPECIFIC DETAILS This section of IAFS 3000 will focus on “globalization, culture, and southern Africa.” We will examine how outside influences have shaped Africa, for good or for ill, in recent decades. We will also look at how Africa has made major contributions to the rest of the world. Issues that will be discussed will include ubuntu, the Greenbelt movement, conflict resources such as “blood diamonds,” the special relationship between African Americans and Africa, and the significance of sports such as rugby and soccer in recent African history. Our initial focus will be on US relations with Africa during the Cold War era, including investigation of the effects of race and gender.
While there will be some lecturing by Professor Andy, class meetings will mostly be devoted to student presentations and discussions. This course is meant to help prepare you for a senior seminar, and even graduate school. The main goal of the course is for students to learn about Africa, globalization, and culture, and to have fun doing it.
DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE AND GLOBALIZATION According to Wangari Maathai, culture is “the means by which a people expresses itself, through language, traditional wisdom, politics, religion, architecture, music, tools, greetings, symbols, festivals, ethics, values, and collective identity.”1
According to Tom Zeiler, globalization is “a complex, controversial and synergistic process in which improvements in technology (especially in communications and transportation) combine with the deregulation of markets and open borders to bring about vastly expanded flows of people, money, goods, services, and information.”2
You should utilize these definitions in your essays and discussions throughout the semester, and memorize them for the final exam.
REQUIRED READING – nine books are required. John Carlin, Playing the Enemy Greg Campbell, Blood Diamonds Peter Alegi, African Soccerscapes Kevin Gaines, American Africans in Ghana James Ferguson, Global Shadows Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness John Prendergast and Don Cheadle, The Enough Moment Wangari Maathai, The Challenge for Africa
In addition, five of my essays are required, and are available on D2L
“Frances Bolton, Margaret Tibbets, and US Relations with the Rhodesian Federation, 1950-1960,” in Jan-Bart Gewald, Marja Hinfelaar, Giacomo Macola, eds., Living the End of Empire: Politics and Society in Late Colonial Zambia (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 299-325.
“KK, the Godfather, and the Duke: Maintaining Positive Relations between Zambia and the United States in Spite of Nixon’s Other Priorities,” Safundi (January 2011), 97-121.
“‘She Did a Lot for Us:’ Jean Wilkowski, US/Zambia Relations, and the Role of Women in Shaping US Policy towards Africa,” (under revision for future publication).
“Standing Firm for Principles: Jimmy Carter and Zimbabwe,” Diplomatic History 23 (Fall 1999), 657-685.
“Embracing Ubuntu: How a White Gen Xer Ended up Teaching about Race and Marrying a Zambian,” in Elwood Watson, editor, Generation X Professors Speak (Scarecrow Press, forthcoming in 2013).
GRADES Your final grade for this course will be based on pop quizzes over the articles (10 points); a three-page biographical essay about a relevant person (20 points); a four-page historical film review of either Invictus, When We Were Kings, or Blood Diamond (20 points); a five-page comparative essay on two of the assigned books (20 points); and a final exam (20 points). All of these required assignments must be completed in order to pass the class, but doing just these will not be enough for an “A” in the course.
As much as 10 more points, if you want to earn them and have a shot at an “A,” will be awarded for submitting up to 5 two-page reaction papers (worth as much as 2 points each) about the assigned books each week. These papers are due in class the day that the book is being discussed, so if you want to submit one about Carlin’s book it is due on 20 February. You may not write a reaction paper about the book your team presents, or about the two books you discuss in your comparative essay. That means you still have six books to choose from for as many as five reaction papers. You will receive detailed handouts explaining the guidelines for the longer papers soon. It is possible to do well in the class without doing any reactions papers, but you will not be able to get an “A.”
OTHER REQUIREMENTS Attendance In addition to the formally graded written assignments, you will be expected to participate regularly in class discussions. You may miss one meeting without penalty, but your second absence may lower your course grade five points, your third absence may lower it another five points, and so on.
Team book presentation You will each be assigned to a team of two, and you and your partner will have approximately 20 minutes to make a brief presentation on some aspects in half of that week’s book. For example, if you are on team 1A, you should highlight key points or relevant themes in the first half of Carlin’s Playing the Enemy. Team 1B will focus on the second half of Carlin’s book. Please organize your session so that it facilitates some discussion. Failure to participate constructively in your pair’s presentation will lower your final course grade five points.
INSTRUCTOR Dr. Andrew DeRoche is a historian who specializes in racial issues and US/Africa relations. Professor Andy teaches history full-time at Front Range Community College. In addition, he is an adjunct instructor of international affairs at CU. His first book examines American policy toward Zimbabwe, and his second is a biography of Andrew Young. His recent publications examine the role of women in US foreign relations. Professor Andy is currently writing about Zambia, where he spent 2005, thanks to a Fulbright grant. When he finishes the book on Zambia, he will be co-authoring a study on globalization and Africa. His wife Heather grew up in Lusaka. Their daughter Ellen was born in 2004 and their son Ezekiel in 2009 – two positive results of American/Zambian relations! They have also adopted Joy, their niece from Zambia.
TENTATIVE ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE
January 16 Introductions and syllabus
January 23 Have read DeRoche, “Frances Bolton, Margaret Tibbets, and US Relations with the Rhodesian Federation, 1950-1960,”available on D2L. Possible quiz!
January 30 Have read DeRoche, “KK, the Godfather, and the Duke: Maintaining Positive Relations between Zambia and the United States in Spite of Nixon’s Other Priorities,” on D2L. Possible quiz!
February 6 Have read DeRoche, “Standing Firm for Principles: Jimmy Carter and Zimbabwe,” on D2L. Possible quiz!
February 13 Have read DeRoche, “‘She Did a Lot for Us:’ Jean Wilkowski, US/Zambia Relations, and the Role of Women in Shaping US Policy towards Africa,” on D2L. Possible quiz! Bio essays due
February 20 Teams 1a and 1b (Carlin, Playing the Enemy)
February 27 Teams 2a and 2b (Campbell, Blood Diamonds)
March 6 Teams 3a and 3b (Alegi, African Soccerscapes) Movie essay due
March 13 Teams 4a and 4b (Gaines, American Africans in Ghana)
March 20 Teams 5a and 5b (Ferguson, Global Shadows)
March 27: NO CLASS SPRING BREAK
April 3 Teams 6a and 6b (Achebe, Things Fall Apart)
April 10 Teams 7a and 7b (Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness)
April 17 Teams 8a and 8b (Cheadle and Prendergast, The Enough Moment)
April 24 Teams 9a and 9b (Maathai, The Challenge for Africa) Comparative Essays due
May 1 Have read DeRoche, “Embracing Ubuntu: How a White Gen Xer Ended up Teaching about Race and Marrying a Zambian,” on D2L. Possilble quiz!
May 8: 7:30pm Final Exam
1 Wangari Maathai, The Challenge for Africa, 160. 2 Alfred Eckes and Thomas Zeiler, Globalization and the American Century, 1.