African Studies (AFRST-UH)

(to be used for substitutions and transfer credit)

This course will draw from several disciplines to set out various ways of understanding the African city as both space and archive, with Accra serving as the primary case study. Students will be introduced to key aspects of urban spatial theory and to ways of doing streetside ethnography and nearby history. The course will be structured around a short novel and a play, with references to other African cities such as Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg, among others. There will also be field trips to different parts of Accra, as well as to the Elmina and Cape Coast castles. Ultimately the objective of the course is to equip students with the interpretative and research skills to be able to understand and discuss any cities of their choice in dialogue with the best research in the field and in a lively and sophisticated manner.