Timbuktu and the Final Exam

This week we will watch the 2014 film "Timbuktu" in class on Monday and Tuesday and then discuss it with reference to your papers on Friday.

The final exam will be a take home exam, due on turnitin.com on Monday, December 14th, before midnight.

The questions for the final exam are

1. Compare and contrast the role of Christianity in Things Fall Apart and The River Between or compare and contrast the role of education in The River Between and Khaffir Boy.
2. Since independence, what have been the greatest challenges for African countries?
3. List and describe the most significant or surprising thing you have learned about Africa's history in each of the following categories: (a) precolonial, (b) colonial, and (c) post-independence.

Africa Today

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapter 19. We will continue our discussion of chapter 18 as well.

Please remember that your papers are due before midnight on Tuesday, December 1st, on TurnItIn.com (class ID: 10895766, password: asf2015).

Decolonization and the Cold War

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapter 18, and Kaffir Boy. Trigger warning: A section of Kaffir Boy that depicts child prostitution between young street boys and black migrant workers has been removed, with the approval of the author, from a revised version used in some high schools.

Mali in the news--a good article about recent events with plenty of background information.

Life Under Colonial Rule

For Monday's class, please read The River Between.



This week we will also be discussing our research at length. Your short papers are due before midnight on Tuesday, December 1st, on TurnItIn.com (class ID: 10895766, password: asf2015). The assignment details can be found on the campus portal.

Noteworthy: Africa and Paris


Africa and the Global Economy

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapters 16 and 17.

Resistance, Accommodation, and the Scramble for Africa

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapters 14 and 15, and Things Fall Apart. Remember that blogposts are due before midnight tonight (Wednesday, 10/28).

Southern Africa and European Settlers

Hope you all have a good long weekend! For Monday's class, please read G&R, Chapter 13. You might want to get started on Things Fall Apart for the following week, too.

This Bud's for You

Midterm Exam

For the midterm, we should have questions from three basic categories:

• General information about Africa and early African societies (from Chapters 1-4)
• African religion, Christianity and Islam (from Chapters 6-8)
• Africa on the eve of colonial conquest, including slavery (Chapter 9-12)

You might consider combining the first two categories in a question regarding Sundiata (Islam, African religion, early empires, West Africa, kinship, etc.)

As a reminder, here are the questions from last year:

• What have been the obstacles to population growth in Africa and the strategies people have adopted to overcome those obstacles?
• Where and why have Christianity and Islam taken hold in Africa?
• Outline slavery and slave trading throughout African history.

Please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

UPDATE: Midterm Exam Questions

• What factors contributed to population growth and decline in pre-colonial Africa?
• Where and how did Islam spread in Africa prior to 1850?
• Map

North and East Africa on the Eve of Colonial Conquest

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapters 11 and 12 and Abina and the Important Men.

This week we will also consider what should be on the Midterm Exam and create the questions together as a class.

Questions from last year's midterm:

• What have been the obstacles to population growth in Africa and the strategies people have adopted to overcome those obstacles?
• Where and why have Christianity and Islam taken hold in Africa?
• Outline slavery and slave trading throughout African history.

Slavery

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapters 9 and 10.

Questions to consider while reading these chapters:

• Slavery had existed in Africa as a response to what shortage? 
• What kind of societies in Africa refused to participate in the slave trade and resisted slavery the most?  
• Why did the Portuguese start trading in slaves? 
• Why did the King of Kongo try to back out of the trade and what was the response? 
• Why in 1519 did the Portuguese begin shipping slaves directly to the Americas? 
• What sources are used to determine the numbers of slaves exported from Africa? 
• Why did slave trading boom in the mid 17th century? 
• What percentage of exported slaves went to the Caribbean? Brazil? North America? 
• How could someone become a slave? 
• What were slaves traded for? 
• What percentage of enslaved people died before they even started to work as slaves? 
• How does one estimate the demographic impact of the slave trade on Africa? 
• What were the political consequences of the trade in Africa? 
• What European nation abolished the trade, and what did they do to enforce the ban? 
• Was the transition to legitimate (non-slave) trade entirely beneficial? 
• Why did the Kongo Kingdom embrace Christianity?

Christianity, Islam and Trade

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapters 6 and 8, and take the virtual tour of the travels of Ibn Battuta.

What do think of Taylor Swift's Wildest Dreams" video? Here's an interesting article about it.

Islam in Africa & Sundiata

For Monday's class, please read G&R, chapter 7 and Sundiata. (Note: we are postponing chapter 6 until next week.)

Questions to consider while reading Sundiata are

• What is the role and status of a griot?
• What if any significant role do women play in the story of Sundiata?
• Where and when do the events of the story take place?
• What roles do religion and magic play in the story?
• How connected or aware of a larger world is the storyteller?
• What is the family structure of the king of Mali?
• How does one kingdom interact with another? 
• What are external and internal threats to peace?
• Overview of social structure can be found in note 37.
• Can you outline the basic story?

Finding Food & Farming

For Monday's class, please read G&R (aka the main textbook), chapters 3 and 4. We'll be looking at Hunting and Gathering (Paleolithic) society and the revolutionary move to farming and herding with its attendant explosions of population, migration, and new technologies.

Remember that your next blog post is due before midnight on Wednesday, 9/16. You can also get a jump on reading Sundiata (or at least work on getting a hold of copy) for next week.

And just for fun, check this link out.
Hey Brandon, I may have been wrong about the paleo diet not having pasta: link.

The True Size of Africa

click to see full image
or go to article

Update: Read Chapters 1 and 2 in the textbook and prepare for a map quiz by playing the on-line map quiz games. Your first blog post of 150 or so words is due by midnight on Wednesday, 9/9.