African Studies

Administration

  • Timothy Longman Director
  • James McCann Associate Director for Development

Website

http://www.bu.edu/africa/

African Studies Center

The African Studies Center offers an interdisciplinary African studies minor, as well as courses in African languages that fulfill the College language requirement. It also coordinates graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities, and encourages research and teaching on Africa. The center’s offices, classrooms, and facilities for lectures and conferences are on the fifth and fourth floors of 232 Bay State Road. Films and symposia are sponsored throughout the year, as are lectures by distinguished visiting scholars, journalists, faculty, and policymakers. Workshops are held on various development-related topics and in the African humanities. The center publishes a historical journal, working papers, and volumes in its African Studies Series, and it contributes to the support of the extensive research collection of the African Studies Library, which occupies the sixth floor of Mugar Memorial Library. The center’s Outreach Program maintains a collection of slides, films, records, videos, and other materials for loan to Boston-area educators, and sponsors workshops for African curriculum development.

Minor in African Languages & Literatures

The African languages and literatures minor combines language and linguistic study with the study of written literature and oral traditions in the African context. In-depth knowledge of an African language of the student’s choosing is applied in courses in cultural and linguistic anthropology, sociology of language, language in government and education, literature, and folklore and oral traditions. This minor is made up of required and elective courses from the African Studies Center, as well as elective courses from other College of Arts & Sciences departments.

Required Courses

One year of 300-level study of an African language (two courses) is required together with the following two courses:

  • CAS LD 491, 492 Directed Study in African Languages and Linguistics

If either CAS LD 491 or LD 492 is not offered in a given year, an acceptable alternative may be selected in consultation with the student’s advisor.

Electives

Students are required to select two elective courses. The following are representative of those courses that may be selected in consultation with the student’s advisor.

  • CAS AN 351 Language, Culture, and Society
  • CAS AN 521 Sociolinguistics
  • CAS AN 593, 594 Seminar: Topics in Cultural Anthropology
  • CAS LD 491, 492 Directed Study in African Languages and Linguistics
  • CAS LX 533 The Structure of Creole Languages

Students can pursue special interests in the format of the directed study course, within the scope of the minor.

Minor in African Studies

The African Studies minor is open to all undergraduates who meet the following requirements:

  1. Six courses must be chosen from three or more disciplines to constitute a coherent program of study. These courses must be approved by an advisor from the African Studies faculty.
  2. Four of the six courses must be outside the discipline of the student’s major.
  3. CAS ID 116 Africa Today is required. Students with an unusually good preparation in African studies may petition to have this requirement waived.
  4. Three courses must be at the 300 level or above.
  5. A substantial research paper is required.
  6. A grade of C or better is required for courses to be accepted for the minor.

Courses for the African Studies minor may be selected from the following:

Interdisciplinary Studies

  • CAS ID 116 Africa Today: The Beat of Popular Culture

African American Studies

  • CAS AA 316 African Diaspora Arts in the Americas
  • CAS AA 385 Atlantic History
  • CAS AA 396 State and Commerce in Atlantic Africa, 1450–1850
  • CAS AA 489 The African Diaspora in the Americas
  • CAS AA 514 Comparative Slavery
  • CAS AA 588 Women, Power, and Culture in Africa

African Languages

  • Amharic

    • CAS LD 111 First-Semester Amharic
    • CAS LD 112 Second-Semester Amharic
    • CAS LD 211 Third-Semester Amharic
    • CAS LD 212 Fourth-Semester Amharic

  • Arabic

    See Modern Languages & Comparative Literature

    • CAS LY 111 Elementary Modern Arabic I
    • CAS LY 112 Elementary Modern Arabic II
    • CAS LY 211 Second-Year Modern Arabic I
    • CAS LY 212 Second-Year Modern Arabic II
    • CAS LY 303 Third-Year Modern Arabic I
    • CAS LY 304 Third-Year Modern Arabic II

  • Bambara

    • CAS LD 113 First-Semester Mandinka/Bambara
    • CAS LD 114 Second-Semester Mandinka/Bambara
    • CAS LD 213 Third-Semester Mandinka/Bambara
    • CAS LD 214 Fourth-Semester Mandinka/Bambara

  • Hausa

    • CAS LA 111 First-Semester Hausa
    • CAS LA 112 Second-Semester Hausa
    • CAS LA 211 Third-Semester Hausa
    • CAS LA 212 Fourth-Semester Hausa

  • Pulaar

    • CAS LU 111 First-Semester Pulaar
    • CAS LU 112 Second-Semester Pulaar
    • CAS LU 211 Third-Semester Pulaar
    • CAS LU 212 Fourth-Semester Pulaar

  • Setswana/Sesotho

    • CAS LD 117 First-Semester Setswana/Sesotho
    • CAS LD 118 Second-Semester Setswana/Sesotho
    • CAS LD 217 Third-Semester Setswana/Sesotho
    • CAS LD 218 Fourth-Semester Setswana/Sesotho

  • Swahili

    • CAS LE 111 First-Semester Swahili
    • CAS LE 112 Second-Semester Swahili
    • CAS LE 211 Third-Semester Swahili
    • CAS LE 212 Fourth-Semester Swahili
    • CAS LE 311 Fifth-Semester Swahili
    • CAS LE 312 Sixth-Semester Swahili

  • Wolof

    • CAS LW 111 First-Semester Wolof
    • CAS LW 112 Second-Semester Wolof
    • CAS LW 211 Third-Semester Wolof
    • CAS LW 212 Fourth-Semester Wolof
    • CAS LW 311 Fifth-Semester Wolof

  • isiXhosa

    • CAS LM 111 First-Semester isiXhosa
    • CAS LM 112 Second-Semester isiXhosa
    • CAS LM 211 Third-Semester isiXhosa
    • CAS LM 212 Fourth-Semester isiXhosa

  • Yoruba

    • CAS LO 111 First-Semester Yoruba
    • CAS LO 112 Second-Semester Yoruba
    • CAS LO 211 Third-Semester Yoruba
    • CAS LO 212 Fourth-Semester Yoruba

  • isiZulu

    • CAS LD 115 First-Semester isiZulu
    • CAS LD 116 Second-Semester isiZulu
    • CAS LD 215 Third-Semester isiZulu
    • CAS LD 216 Fourth-Semester isiZulu

    More advanced levels of isiZulu are available with permission of instructor.

  • Other African Languages and Linguistics

    • CAS LD 491, 492 Directed Study in African Languages and Linguistics
    • CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics
    • CAS LX 501 Linguistic Field Methods
    • CAS LX 533 The Structure of Creole Languages

Anthropology

  • CAS AN 240 Legal Anthropology
  • CAS AN 285 Coping with Crisis in Contemporary Africa
  • CAS AN 312 Peoples and Cultures of Africa
  • CAS AN 351 Language, Culture, and Society
  • CAS AN 520 Nilotic Peoples: African Culture in Depth
  • CAS AN 524 Seminar: Language and Culture Contacts in Contemporary Africa
  • CAS AN 585 Seminar: Advanced Readings in African Ethnography
  • CAS AN 593, 594 Seminar: Topics in Cultural Anthropology

Archaeology

  • CAS AR 205 Origins of Civilization
  • CAS AR 232 Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
  • CAS AR 513 Studies in African Archaeology

Art History

  • CAS AH 215 Arts of Africa
  • CAS AH 315 African Architecture
  • CAS AH 316 African Diaspora Arts in the Americas
  • CAS AH 430 Seminar: African Art

Economics

  • CAS EC 387 Introduction to Health Economics
  • CAS EC 581 Health Economics I

Geography

  • CAS GE 356 Geography of Third World Development
  • CAS GE 394 Environmental History of Africa

History

  • CAS HI 291 Reconstructing the African Past
  • CAS HI 292 Colonialism in Africa: Impact and Aftermath
  • CAS HI 371 African American History
  • CAS HI 385 Atlantic History
  • CAS HI 394 Environmental History of Africa
  • CAS HI 396 State and Commerce in Atlantic Africa, 1450–1850
  • CAS HI 484 Revolutionary Change in North Africa and the Middle East
  • CAS HI 485 Selected Problems in the Modern Middle East
  • CAS HI 488 Life Histories of African Women
  • CAS HI 489 The African Diaspora in the Americas
  • CAS HI 584 Comparative Slavery
  • CAS HI 589 Nature’s Past: Histories of Environment and Society
  • CAS HI 595 Morocco: History on the Cusp of Three Continents

International Relations

  • CAS IR 383 Understanding Modern North Africa
  • CAS IR 430 Africa and Globilization: Opportunities and Obstacles
  • CAS IR 507 The Muslim and Western Worlds—Prospects for a Clash of Civilizations

Literature and Film

  • CAS LF 456 The Postcolonial Novel
  • CAS LL 280 Introduction to the Literatures of Africa (in English translation)
  • CAS LL 285 Images from Africa: Introduction to African Cinema

Political Science

  • CAS PO 351 Politics of Race and Ethnicity
  • CAS PO 560 Politics and Society in North Africa and the Middle East
  • CAS PO 565 Government and Politics of Contemporary Africa
  • CAS PO 566 Political Systems of Southern Africa
  • CAS PO 587 International Human Rights

Study Abroad Programs in Africa

Niamey, Niger

Students may take courses in Hausa to fulfill their language requirement and courses toward a minor in African languages and literatures or as electives in the Boston University Study Abroad Program in Niger. Additional information on this program is available under Study Abroad and Internship Programs.

Dakar, Senegal

Students may take courses through the six-week Senegalese Studies Program in Dakar, Senegal. Students may choose to study Wolof, one of the principal languages spoken in Senegal. Students live with Senegalese families. Upon successful completion of the program, students earn eight Boston University credits.

Rabat, Morocco

The Rabat Language & Liberal Arts Program provides students the opportunity to study Arabic language and Islamic and North African culture in Rabat, the cosmopolitan capital city of Morocco. Along with an intensive study of Arabic language, students explore the history, politics, and religion of Morocco and this ever-changing region of the world through coursework, homestays, and excursions. Additional information on this program is available under Study Abroad and Internship Programs.