Africa 277: An Introductory Survey is a class that will challenge your conceived notions about Africa, engage you and even gives you the ability to find Kenya on a map. It focuses on the history, culture, economy, and politics of the continent, and is considered apart of multiple social science and humanities breadths. The professor, TAs and even your peers will open your mind and provide you with the materials to critically think about how Africa came to be today, as well as society’s sometimes faulty notions that surround it. You are not only encouraged but forced to look at history from multiple contexts and see how different real life may be in comparison to the white man’s history book.
This is an intermediate level course that is taught in a lecture style format with one discussion per week and includes many different guest lectures, all of whom have a great passion for their subject. The weekly discussion section was run by both the TA at times and the students at times but never failed to be intellectually stimulating and interactive.
This course was unlike any other class I have attended at UW Madison. Readings like A Moonless, Starless Sky bring about once hidden perspectives and using essay exams rather than a general multiple choice format for midterms and the final forced us to think critically about the readings and truly pay attention in lecture.
If you are looking for a course that fulfills multiple breadth areas, has engaging lectures and readings and brings to light novel theories and ideas about Africa’s history and culture, look no further.
