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AFRICA
THROUGH FILM
Online Syllabus PDF
Link
to WebCT
About this course:
Studying the politics and contemporary struggles for rights
and social transformation in a continent as vast and diverse
as Africa is a particularly challenging undertaking complicated
by issues such as the prevalent eurocentric tendencies in
scholarship and the historic conquest, silencing, marginalization
and prejudiced representations of peoples of African descent
over the past four centuries.
"Africa
Through Film" will introduce participants to the
politics, historiographies, cultures and societies of Africa
through a variety of cinematic and visual lenses as well
as traditional literature. Students will apply both socio-political
and filmic analytical models to issues emerging from the
films and readings and will have an opportunity to engage
in shared film viewing and long distance intellectual dialogue
later in the semester with peers at the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Nigeria. We will investigate issues such as
power, marginality, resistance, human rights, socio-political
change, memory, culture, gender relations and contested
identity and interrogate some of the dominant representations
of African societies. Our background readings will engage
self-defining narratives, counter-narratives, and alternative
paradigms in black film, political scholarship and Lit/Orature.
Participants will not only gain an introduction to African
societies, but also discover rich and under-explored sources
that elicit the complexities of the African landscape and
serve to challenge and de-center global transactions.
Faculty:
Dr. Peyi Soyinka-Airewele
Department of Politics, 314 Muller Ext: 4-3508
Office Hours: Tues, Wed 12-2:00PM and by appointment
OAU Faculty Coordinators:
Dr. R.I Ako-Nai (Dept of Int. Rels)
Dr H.A Soriyan (PACT-OAU Coordinator)
Teaching Assistant: Kosala Kumara (Ikumara1@ithaca.edu)
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