Regional Studies (Ethnography): Africa

Study Course Description

Course Description Statuss:Approved

Course Description Version:3.00

Study Course Accepted:02.02.2024 12:25:38

Study Course Information
Course Code:		KSK_250		LQF level:		Level 7
Credit Points:		4.00		ECTS:		6.00
Branch of Science:		Sociology; Social Anthropology		Target Audience:		Social Anthropology
Study Course Supervisor
Course Supervisor:		Klāvs Sedlenieks
Study Course Implementer
Structural Unit:		Faculty of Social Sciences
The Head of Structural Unit:
Contacts:		Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szfrsu[pnkts]lv
Study Course Planning
Full-Time - Semester No.1
Lectures (count)		12	Lecture Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Lectures		24
Classes (count)		12	Class Length (academic hours)		2	Total Contact Hours of Classes		24
Total Contact Hours								48
Study course description
Preliminary Knowledge:
General knowledge in social sciences. English language (reading, writing, speaking).
Objective:
Students who complete this course successfully: - have specialized and interdisciplinary general knowledge of ‘Africa’ as a region, concept and continent and know the potentials, but also the limits of regional analysis and an area-studies approach. - can understand, explain and apply the holistic analytical approach of ethnography when dealing with specific case studies and examples. - are able to articulate a nuanced understanding of knowledge politics and power dynamics underlying different, and contested, representations of Africa. - can critically assess the role historical factors, socio-cultural dynamics, changing politico-economic systems and international interventions have played in shaping African life worlds today. - display strengthened ability to critically read, analyse and discuss ethnographies based on research in Africa.
Topic Layout (Full-Time)
No.	Topic			Type of Implementation		Number	Venue
1				Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
2	Overview II: African Histories			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
3	Representations of Africa – Decolonizing Knowledge I (Case Study: South Africa)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
4	Representations of Africa – Decolonizing Knowledge II (Case Study: South Africa cont.)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
5	Middle Classes in Africa I: Stratification and Urbanization (Case Study: Ghana)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
6	Middle Classes in Africa II: Political Implications (Case Study: Mozambique)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
7	Health and Disease I: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic and its Impact on Gender Relations & Youth Sexuality (Case Study: Uganda)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
8	Health and Disease II: Ebola (Case Study: Liberia)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
9	Aid, Crisis, Globalization I: Development Interventions (Case Study: Lesotho)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
10	Aid, Crisis, Globalization II: Global Conflicts, Local Wars (Case Study: Sierra Leone)			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
11	Perspectives on Africa: Student Presentations on Selected Topic/ Case Studies I			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
12	Perspectives on Africa: Student Presentations on Selected Topic/ Case Studies II			Lectures		1.00	auditorium
				Classes		1.00	auditorium
Assessment
Unaided Work:
Reading compulsory literature, preparation for discussion, preparation of the presentations upon the request of the lecturer.
Assessment Criteria:
Active participation in the seminars, completed home tasks.
Final Examination (Full-Time):		Exam (Written)
Final Examination (Part-Time):
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:		Have specialised and interdisciplinary general knowledge of ‘Africa’ as a region, concept and continent and know the potentials, but also the limits of regional analysis and an area-studies approach.
Skills:		- Can understand, explain and apply the holistic analytical approach of ethnography when dealing with specific case studies and examples; - Are able to articulate a nuanced understanding of knowledge politics and power dynamics underlying different, and contested, representations of Africa.
Competencies:		- Can critically assess the role historical factors, socio-cultural dynamics, changing politico-economic systems and international interventions have played in shaping African life worlds today; - Display strengthened ability to critically read, analyse and discuss ethnographies based on research in Africa.
Bibliography
No.	Reference
Required Reading
1	Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem
2	Abramowitz, Sharon. 2017. Epidemics (Especially Ebola). Annual Review of Anthropology 46(1): 421–45.
3	Behrends, Andrea, and Carola Lentz. 2012. Education, Careers, and Home Ties: The Ethnography of an Emerging Middle Class from Northern Ghana. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 137: 139–64.
4	Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development”, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (jaunāks izdevums nav izdots)
5	Macamo, Elísio. 2018. Urbane Scholarship: Studying Africa, Understanding the World. Africa 88(01): 1–10.
6	Mbembe, Achille. 2016. Decolonizing the University: New Directions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 15(1): 29–45.
7	Parikh, Shanti. 2015. Regulating Romance: Youth Love Letters, Moral Anxiety, and Intervention in Uganda’s Time of AIDS. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
8	Richards, Paul. 2010 (1996). Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth, and Ressources in Sierra Leone. In: Grinker, R.R.; Lubkemann, S.C. and Steiner, C.B. (eds.). 2010. Perspectives on Africa – A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. Second (jaunāks izdevums nav izdots)
9	Sumich, Jason. 2016. The Uncertainty of Prosperity: Dependence and the Politics of Middle-Class Privilege in Maputo. Ethnos 81(5): 821–41.