THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER

INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN STUDIES
BLST 131 Section 1
FALL 2003

• Course Description and Objectives
• Performance Goals
• Information Compentency
• Course Assignments
  • Required Texts
  • Readings, Class Assignments and Responsibilities
  • Written Assignments
  • Country Adoption Activity
  • Examinations and Grading
• TENTATIVE Weekly Schedule
• Note on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of the African continent. The physical, human, historical, economic, political, social, and cultural features as well as the dynamics shaping the future of the continent are surveyed.

This introductory course is not designed to convey any specialized or in-depth knowledge about any of the above aspects of the African reality. Instead, one objective of the course is to familiarize the student broadly with this reality. Another objective is to increase the student's awareness and understanding of the major challenges Africa faces, as well as the continent's achievements and future prospects. It is hoped that this will, in turn, help eradicate the stereotypes and distorted views generally held about Africa. The course will hopefully develop the student's critical thinking ability by emphasizing the necessity to understand developments on the continent in their proper human, historical and international contexts.

PERFORMANCE GOALS

By the end of the semester, students will be expected to be able to confidently:

1. Describe the African continent in terms of its physical features, population, and other characteristics.
2. exhibit command of the political geography of the continent.
3. Trace the general evolution of pre-colonial Africa.
4. Have an appreciation of the current social, economic, political and cultural realities of Africa.
5. Understand and describe the current religious realities and their influence on African societies.
6. Have an appreciation of African Art and literature.
7. Discuss the colonial era and its major features.
8. Discuss the dynamics of the drive toward independence.
9. Discuss the evolution of Africa's political systems and international relations.
10. Discuss Pan-Africanism, its origins, objectives, and other features.
11. Discuss the relationships between Africa and the Diaspora, and their implications for the U.S.
12. Discuss Afrocentricity, its implications and impact.

Finally, students are expected to develop useful skill such as collaborative work, critical thinking, argumentation building, and other competencies.

INFORMATION COMPETENCY

To facilitate the attainment of these performance goals, an additional crucial objective of this course is to enhance the student's information literacy and competence. Therefore, interwoven with the other activities is an information literacy dimension. In association with a librarian, various activities and assignments are designed to help the student acquire the skills necessary to utilize effectively online databases and Internet resources to conduct research generally, and on Africa-related subjects more specifically. In this regard, a website was created for this course to help reach this objective (www. wooster.edu/black_studies/ndiaye/131)

Finally, students are expected to develop useful skill such as collaborative work, critical thinking, argumentation building, and other competencies.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

A. Required Texts:

Achebe, Chinua and C. L. Innes. (1987). African Short Stories. London: Heinemann.
Khapoya, Vincent. (1998). The African Experience, an Introduction. (2nd ed.) Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Martin, Phyllis M. and Patrick O'Meara. (1995). Africa. (3rd ed.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Please Note: There will be limited additional reading on electronic reserve.

**Students are also required to visit regularly the following Web Site:
www.AllAfrica.com ;
www.Africaonline.com ;
www.Africana.com ;
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/default.stm
for Africa-related events and discussions.

B. READINGS, CLASS ASSIGNMENTS and RESPONSIBILITIES:

This is an interdisciplinary introductory course. The reading material is substantial although it is not particularly challenging. It will provide essential basic knowledge about Africa. Reading assignments from the above tests and other readings on electronic reserve as listed in the course outline are required to be completed IN ADVANCE of class lecture or discussion. The course will consist of lectures, videos, and class discussions centered around themes pertaining to Africa and its Diaspora. I am strongly attached to participatory learning. Therefore, class participation is not only encouraged but will be taken into consideration to determine your final grade. Group discussions aimed at answering study questions will be conducted at the beginning of class sessions. Students must be prepared to participate fully and effectively in class discussions pertaining to the assigned readings, lectures, and audio-visual materials.

This may be enforced though announced or unannounced quizzes. In the pure academic tradition, all opinions and expressions of thoughts and feeling are welcome and encouraged, indeed they are essential to the learning process. They must be presented in a courteous and respectful manner.

Class attendance will be regularly monitored. Frequent tardiness and/or absence will affect attendance grade. Similarly, conduct such as doing other course assignments or reading papers during lectures, sleeping, and the like is disruptive of a good learning environment and will affect class participation grade. Students are encouraged always to share their opinions and thoughts regarding any aspect of the class, especially on ways to make learning more effective. This can be also done (anonymously) by slipping a written note in the large envelop posted on Professor N'Diaye's office door.

NOTE: Lectures are not meant to substitute for the student's responsibility to complete the reading assignments. The purpose of the lectures is to put the assigned reading in a broader context, explain or expand on, synthesize, or critique it. Exam questions are also drawn from assigned texts, aspects of which may not have been fully covered in class lectures.

C. Written Assignments:

Each student is required to write three (3) three-page chapter reports. Each report must accomplish the following tasks distinctly:

1. Summarize the reading in no more than one page. (The author's main points must be Highlighted)
2. Answer the question: What is the author's central theme or argument and How does the author back up or illustrate his/her argument? What facts, evidence does the author present? Does he/she use other author's work? How persuasive is she/he? Why?
3. Express the student's opinion on (or reaction to) the central theme or argumentation of the author and back it up.

The grade will depend on how clearly and effectively these guidelines are followed. These assignments, are to be taken seriously and turned in before the beginning of the class during which an assigned reading is scheduled. Thirty points will be deducted from each report turned in within 24 hours after the deadline, and twenty points each additional day. An explanation is not an excuse. (Assignments may not be put in Prof. N'Diaye's mailbox or slipped under his office door unless specific permission is granted, with penalties applying.) Students who turn in a report may be called on to lead class discussions. The chapters or articles to be reported on will be randomly assigned.

Announced and unannounced tests and quizzes will be given as needed.

Academic Honesty/Plagiarism:

Please refer to the 'note on academic integrity and plagiarism' provided at the end of this syllabus.

D. Country adoption Activity

Each Student will be required "to adopt a country." She/he will be expected to develop some familiarity with the African country of his/her choice by learning basic facts about and following the developments in that country through the web-sites above, Newspapers, etc. As much as possible, student's preferences of the country to adopt will be accommodated. Students will be called on to make weekly oral reports on their adopted country. To make accurate and sound reports, students are encouraged to bring a paper copy of relevant articles related to their adopted country and any Africa-related news.

E. Examinations and grading:

There will be two scheduled examinations: A midterm and a final. Each will consist of either "true or false" questions, map-completion, multiple choice questions, terms, name or phrase identification, and essay questions. The questions will be drawn from the material assigned as well as lectures, audio-visual materials and class discussions. They will be designed to probe the student's knowledge of the different concepts and themes discussed. Essays will be assessed on their organization, the accuracy and breadth of the information given, critical thinking ability, and the cogency of the argumentation.
The mid-term examination will be administered on Friday September 29, 2003.
The Final examination will be held on Wednesday December 10, 2003 at 9:00 p.m.
The final grade will strictly reflect the EFFORTS deployed by the student throughout the semester.

Please note: To assess Participation grade, the following criteria apply: The quality, relevance, frequency and incisiveness of contributions. The student's willingness to offer her/his views and answers to questions by follow classmates and the instructor and volunteer for group or individual assignments will be equally considered.

Grading Scale:

90-100	A (or A-)
80-89	B (or B+/-)
70-79	C (or C+/-)
60-69	D
0-59	F

1. Attendance: 10%
2. Class Participation 20% (includes country reports and quizzes)
3. Midterm Exam: 20%
4. Reading reports and information literacy assignments: 25%
5. Final Exam: 25%

TENTATIVE Weekly Schedule:

NOTE: Reasonable changes and adjustments may be made to this schedule as the semester proceeds.

Students with Disability
If you are a student with a documented disability in this course, please register with Pam Rose Director of the Learning Center. The Learning Center is located in the office that will assist you in developing a plan to address your academic needs.

NOTE ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND PLAGIARISM

Students at the College of Wooster are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity, which is a central pillar of education and intellectual activity. Writing papers is an important requirement of this class. Writing involves the risk of plagiarism, arguably the most severe breach of the code of academic integrity. Its consequences can be drastic. However, Plagiarism can be easily avoided by familiarizing yourself with what it is and heightening your awareness of it. I call your attention to the following excerpt of The Scot's Key 2000-2001 regarding plagiarism.

To use or imitate the language, ideas, or thoughts of another person and represent them as one's own is to commit an act of plagiarism. This is true whether the material used is only a brief excerpt or an entire paper or article and whether the original source is the work of another student or some publication.

It is not the use of others' ideas that is unethical; writers expect and hope their work will be read and used. But to use this without acknowledgment is literary kidnapping. (In fact, the work "plagiarism" derives from the Latin word for kidnapper.) Merely to paraphrase what another has written does not relieve one of the obligation to make clear the source of the ideas or to indicate specifically direct quotations.

To have mastered material about which you write implies having read and digested it, so that it comes easily in your own words and you could talk with others about it intelligently. Your obligations - out of respect both to the writers you have read and to good craftsmanship - are to make ideas you have absorbed a part of you and to acknowledge the sources you have used.

More detailed information about the proper use of others' work and appropriate methods of acknowledging borrowed material may be found in most handbooks on composition and will be discussed in various classes in which writing plays a part (57-58).

When in doubt, please always ask for assistance. I also urge you to familiarize yourself with The Scot's Key stipulations on Wooster's Code of Academic Integrity, singularly page 55-58.

The College of Wooster. (2000). The Scot's Key Official Student Handbook 2000-2001.