AFRO 3578 is also offered in Fall 2022
AFRO 3578 is also offered in Spring 2022
Spring 2020 | AFRO 3578 Section 001: Contemporary Sub-Saharan African Popular Art Forms (66574)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Discussion
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option No Audit
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Class Attributes:
- UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
- Times and Locations:
- Regular Academic Session01/21/2020 - 05/04/2020Mon, Wed 11:15AM - 12:30PMUMTC, West BankBlegen Hall 435
- Enrollment Status:
- Open (16 of 25 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- According to the US Population Reference Bureau, Africans will represent 21% of the world population in 2050, a higher percentage than Chinese or Indians. Other research and data agencies credit contemporary African societies with among the fastest rates of urban expansion in the world. Such stupendous demographic surge and breakneck acceleration of urban growth have engendered intense dislocation and cultural upheaval in populations caught between two competing narratives of social change: one of celebration; the other of crisis. This course explores contemporary sub-Saharan African popular cinema, popular music, TV/radio series, bus slogans, community theatre, graphic narratives, fashion, sports, and other forms of popular communication as signifiers of larger social, political, and economic processes. It examines popular cultural forms as constantly evolving expressions of social, political, and personal identities in an ever globalized and interconnected world. As sites where the tensions, frictions, collisions and notably, the productive creativities of the local and the global are circulated, negotiated and contested African popular cultures provide insights into a unique and increasingly crucial facet of contemporary African artistic practice as critical intervention. Through our discussion of art and gender, we will examine the gendering of specific popular forms, their role in hegemonic formations, as well as their subversion in resistant practices and discourses.
- Class Description:
- Welcome to AFRO/ArtH3578/CSCL 3353/GLOS 3978! This course explores contemporary sub-Saharan African popular cinema, popular music, street art, bus slogans, community theatre, comic books, graphic art, fashion, sports, and other forms of popular communication as signifiers of larger social, political, and economic processes. It examines popular cultural forms as constantly evolving expressions of social, political, and personal identities in an ever globalized and interconnected world. As sites where the tensions, frictions, collisions and notably, the productive creativities of the local and the global are circulated, negotiated and contested African popular cultures provide insights into a unique and increasingly crucial facet of contemporary African artistic practice as critical intervention. Through our discussion of art and gender, we will examine the ways in which art in Africa was/is used to empower women
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- According to the US Population Reference Bureau, Africans will represent 21% of the world population in 2050, a higher percentage than Chinese or Indians. Other research and data agencies credit contemporary African societies with the fastest rate of urbanization in the world. Such stupendous demographic surge and breakneck acceleration of urban growth have engendered intense dislocation and cultural upheaval in populations caught between two competing narratives of social change: one of celebration; the other of crisis. Students interested in learning about the role of creativity and artistic intervention as powerful tools for the articulation of core concerns and issues in contemporary Africa will find in this course a memorable and engaging learning opportunity, a unique perspective, a valuable tool of investigation
- Learning Objectives:
- Examine the symbiosis of everyday activities and the aesthetics of art in Africa;
- Analyze African art as a response to major events in communal history;
- Understand how individual and collective identities are culturally produced and consumed;
- Identify key debates and processes around African popular cultures;
- Study popular culture as the everyday expression of modern African identities;
- Interpret popular culture as public/private sites of power's ideological and material (re-) production, contestation, or transformation;
- Consider creative practices as sites of both resistance and accommodation;
- Reflect on the links and tensions between "high" culture and popular culture, between contemporary forms of cultural practices and earlier articulations;
- Spotlight the intersections of "taste" and "market value";
- Examine the increasingly important role of technology in the development, production and consumption of art and culture in Africa;
- Examine the intersection of gender, power and the aesthetics of art;
- Grading:
- 30% Class Participation
40% Homework Assignments & In-Class Writing Exercises
30% Final Project - Exam Format:
- - Homework Assignments & In-Class Writing Exercises (40%): From time to time, short questions and summaries based on the assigned readings/viewings will be assigned in class or as take-home assignments. Because the primary goal of this activity is to determine whether the basic material of the course is being read and/or viewed consistently and seriously, there will be NO make-up for these assignments. Students who present valid, justified evidence for missing these homework/in-class exercises will be excused/not penalized.- Final Project (30%): In consultation with the instructor, students will choose a topic to explore in depth within the scope of the course materials. They will review the literature available on eReserve regarding their topic of choice and critically assess the recurrent themes and other elements that define their genre of choice.
- Class Format:
- 30% Lecture
30% Film/Video
30% Discussion
10% Small Group Activities - Workload:
- 80 Pages Reading Per Week
20 Pages Writing Per Term
6 Homework Assignments & In-Class Writing Exercises
1 Final Paper - Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/66574/1203
- Past Syllabi:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/ngithire_AFRO3578_Fall2018.doc (Fall 2018)
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 8 May 2018
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2020 African Amer & African Studies Classes
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