Veidlapa Nr. M-3 (8)

Course Description Status: Approved

Course Description Version: 23/24.P.4.00

Description Period: 2023./24 academic year pavasara semestris

Study Course Accepted: -

Study Course Description

Regional Studies (Ethnography): Africa

Main Study Course Information

Course Code
KSK_250
Branch of Science
Social Anthropology; Sociology and social work
ECTS
6.00
Target Audience
Social Anthropology
LQF
Level 7
Study Type And Form
Full-Time

Study Course Implementer

Course Supervisor
Klāvs Sedlenieks
Structure Unit Manager
Karina Palkova
Structural Unit
Faculty of Social Sciences
Contacts

Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf@rsu.lv

About Study Course

Objective

Students who complete this course successfully: - have specialized and interdisciplinary general knowledge of ‘Africa’ as a region, concept and continent and know the potentials, but also the limits of regional analysis and an area-studies approach. - can understand, explain and apply the holistic analytical approach of ethnography when dealing with specific case studies and examples. - are able to articulate a nuanced understanding of knowledge politics and power dynamics underlying different, and contested, representations of Africa. - can critically assess the role historical factors, socio-cultural dynamics, changing politico-economic systems and international interventions have played in shaping African life worlds today. - display strengthened ability to critically read, analyse and discuss ethnographies based on research in Africa.

Preliminary Knowledge

General knowledge in social sciences. English language (reading, writing, speaking).

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

1.Have specialised and interdisciplinary general knowledge of ‘Africa’ as a region, concept and continent and know the potentials, but also the limits of regional analysis and an area-studies approach.

Skills

1.- Can understand, explain and apply the holistic analytical approach of ethnography when dealing with specific case studies and examples; - Are able to articulate a nuanced understanding of knowledge politics and power dynamics underlying different, and contested, representations of Africa.

Competences

1.- Can critically assess the role historical factors, socio-cultural dynamics, changing politico-economic systems and international interventions have played in shaping African life worlds today; - Display strengthened ability to critically read, analyse and discuss ethnographies based on research in Africa.

Assessment

Individual work

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Individual work
-
-
Reading compulsory literature, preparation for discussion, preparation of the presentations upon the request of the lecturer.

Examination

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Examination
-
-
Active participation in the seminars, completed home tasks.

Study Course Theme Plan

FULL-TIME
Semester 1

  1. -

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Overview II: African Histories

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Representations of Africa – Decolonizing Knowledge I (Case Study: South Africa)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Representations of Africa – Decolonizing Knowledge II (Case Study: South Africa cont.)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Middle Classes in Africa I: Stratification and Urbanization (Case Study: Ghana)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Middle Classes in Africa II: Political Implications (Case Study: Mozambique)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Health and Disease I: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and its Impact on Gender Relations & Youth Sexuality (Case Study: Uganda)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Health and Disease II: Ebola (Case Study: Liberia)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Aid, Crisis, Globalization I: Development Interventions (Case Study: Lesotho)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Aid, Crisis, Globalization II: Global Conflicts, Local Wars (Case Study: Sierra Leone)

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Perspectives on Africa: Student Presentations on Selected Topic/ Case Studies I

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Perspectives on Africa: Student Presentations on Selected Topic/ Case Studies II

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2
Total ECTS (Creditpoints):
6.00
Contact hours:
48 Academic Hours
Final Examination:
Exam (Written)

Bibliography

Required Reading

1.

Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem

2.

Abramowitz, Sharon. 2017. Epidemics (Especially Ebola). Annual Review of Anthropology 46(1): 421–45.

3.

Behrends, Andrea, and Carola Lentz. 2012. Education, Careers, and Home Ties: The Ethnography of an Emerging Middle Class from Northern Ghana. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 137: 139–64.

4.

Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development”, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (jaunāks izdevums nav izdots)

5.

Macamo, Elísio. 2018. Urbane Scholarship: Studying Africa, Understanding the World. Africa 88(01): 1–10.

6.

Mbembe, Achille. 2016. Decolonizing the University: New Directions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 15(1): 29–45.

7.

Parikh, Shanti. 2015. Regulating Romance: Youth Love Letters, Moral Anxiety, and Intervention in Uganda’s Time of AIDS. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

8.

Richards, Paul. 2010 (1996). Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth, and Ressources in Sierra Leone. In: Grinker, R.R.; Lubkemann, S.C. and Steiner, C.B. (eds.). 2010. Perspectives on Africa – A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Second (jaunāks izdevums nav izdots)

9.

Sumich, Jason. 2016. The Uncertainty of Prosperity: Dependence and the Politics of Middle-Class Privilege in Maputo. Ethnos 81(5): 821–41.

;