College of Arts and Sciences
Bloomington
Departmental E-mail
afrist@indiana.edu
Departmental URL
www.indiana.edu/~afrist
Graduate Faculty
Program Information
Ph.D. Minor in African Studies
Courses
(An asterisk [*] denotes associate membership in University Graduate School faculty.)
Chancellor's Professor Emeritus
Robert Arnove (Education)
Professors
Salih Altoma (Emeritus, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures), A. B. Assensoh (African American and African Diaspora Studies), Randall Baker (Public and Enviornmental Affairs), Harbans Singh Bhola (Emeritas, Education), George E. Brooks Jr. (History), Hasan El-Shamy (Folklore, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures), Maurice A. Garnier (Sociology), Paula Girshick (Anthropology), Mary Goetz (Music), Phyllis Martin (Ruth N. Halls Professor, History), Heitor Martins (Emeritus, Spanish and Portuguese), Portia Maultsby (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Patrick McNaughton (Fine Arts), Emilio Moran (Rudy Professor, Anthropology), Paul Newman (Linguistics), Christine Ogan (Journalism), Patrick O'Meara (Political Science, Public and Environmental Affairs), Robert F. Port (Computer Science, Linguistics), Darlene Sadlier (Spanish and Portuguese), Kathy Schick (Anthropology), Jeanne Sept (Anthropology), Suzanne Stetkevych (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures), Ruth Stone (Folklore), David Thelen (History), Nicholas Toth (Anthropology), William Wiggins Jr. (Emeritas, African American and African Diaspora Studies, Folklore), Richard Wilk (Anthropology)
Associate Professors
Robert Botne (Linguistics), Trevor Brown (Journalism), Bonnie Brownlee* (Journalism), Mellonee Burnim (Folklore and Ethnomusicology), Gracia Clark* (Anthropology), Claude Clegg (History), Michael Gasser (Computer Science), Mary E. Grabe (Journalism), John H. Hanson (History), Kevin Hunt (Anthropology), John W. Johnson (Folklore), Audrey McCluskey (Afro-American and African Diaspora Studies), Patrick Munson (Anthropology), Martha Nyikos (Education), Samuel Gyasi Obeng (Linguistics), Beverly Stoeltje (Anthropology), Richard Stryker (Political Science), Margaret Sutton* (Education), Jon Unruh* (Geography)
Assistant Professors
Murray McGibbon (Theatre and Drama), Travis Pickering (Anthropology)
Adjunct Assistant Professors
Marion Frank-Wilson* (English), Maria Grosz-Ngaté* (Anthropology), Diane Pelrine* (Art History)
Academic Advising
Woodburn Hall 221, (812) 855-6825
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The field of African studies at Indiana University focuses primarily on Africa south of the Sahara. Attention is given, however, to developments and events farther north that have significance for other areas of the continent. The program is designed to give students a broad knowledge of the art, ethnography, folklore, history, economic development, languages, literature, music, and politics of this region. Care is also taken to prepare graduate students who will specialize in this region as teachers, researchers, foreign service personnel, museum professionals, journalists, or business professionals.
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The African Studies program offers the Ph.D. minor to students in the following fields: anthropology, archaeology, comparative literature, economics, English, education, fine arts, folklore, French, geography, history, instructional systems technology, journalism, law, linguistics, political science, public and environmental affairs, sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese.
Students electing African studies as a minor should report to the program office (Woodburn Hall 221) as soon as possible after arriving on campus. The program director and staff will assist with orientation concerning courses, faculty, and students.
Course Requirements
Students minoring in African studies must complete Graduate G732 Bibliography of Sub-Saharan Africa (to be taken, if possible, during the first year) and four other graduate-level courses (normally 3 or 4 credits each) in African studies outside their major field. The courses must be selected from at least two different disciplines and approved by the program director.
Students in the program normally take two years of an African language in addition to their course work for the minor. Such training is virtually requisite for the most important overseas studies grants (e.g., SSRC/Ford and Fulbright-Hays awards), in addition to adding an invaluable dimension to the study and understanding of the area of Africa upon which the student focuses.
Students in the program are strongly encouraged to attend Graduate G731, Seminar on Contemporary Africa, regularly. The seminar, which meets Wednesday nights, is designed as an ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue for program students and faculty and features leading scholars from the United States, Africa, and Europe.
Students with special qualifications or previous course work at leading institutions may, with the approval of their faculty advisor for the African studies minor, request that the director make exceptions to or modifications of the requirements outlined above. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the requirements stated above constitute a minimum level of expectation.
Examination
Although a 3.7 grade point average in African studies courses would normally exempt the student from having to take a written comprehensive examination, the decision in this matter rests with the student's major-field advisor and the faculty member representing African studies as the minor-field advisor. Certifying that the student has met the minimum requirements rests with a faculty member in the African Studies Program who is not in the student's major department.
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Courses
Courses in African Languages
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I701-702 Interdisciplinary Workshop (3 cr.)
G731 Seminar on Contemporary Africa (1-3 cr.)
G732 Bibliography of Sub-Saharan Africa (3 cr.) Introduction to the bibliography of Africa south of the Sahara, covering major reference works and bibliographies; regional, trade, and national bibliographies; government publications, social sciences, humanities, statistics, rare books, manuscripts, and online databases. Compilation of a comprehensive bibliography required.
African American and African Diaspora Studies
A351 Afro-American Art I: African Heritage (3 cr.)
A352 Afro-American Art II: Afro-American Artists (3 cr.)
A558 Africa: Era of Military Dictatorship (3 cr)
A689 Independent Project in Black Literature (3 cr.)
Anthropology
A303 Evolution and Prehistory (3 cr.)
B464 Human Paleontology (3 cr.)
B524 Human Paleontology Theory/Methods (3 cr.)
B600 Bioanthropology (3 cr.)
E305 Introduction to Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
E310 Introduction to the Cultures of Africa (3 cr.)
E311 The Ethnography of Eastern Africa (3 cr.)
E312 African Religions (3 cr.)
P315 Prehistory of Africa (3 cr.)
E375 Mental Illness in Cross-Cultural Perspective (3 cr.)
E405 Principles of Social Organization (3 cr.)
E420 Economic Anthropology (3 cr.)
E427 Cultural Ecology (3 cr.)
E440 Political Anthropology (3 cr.)
E455 Anthropology of Religion (3 cr.)
E480 Theory of Culture Change (3 cr.)
E510 Problems in African Ethnography and Ethnology (3 cr.)
E511 Ethnography of the Congo (3 cr.)
E520 Problems in Economic Anthropology (3 cr.)
E600 Seminar in Cultural and Social Anthropology (3 cr.)
E606 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology (3 cr.)
E617 African Women (3 cr.)
E620 Seminar in Cultural Ecology (3 cr.)
E650 African Systems of Thought (1-3 cr.)
E660 Arts in Anthropology (3 cr.)
E661-E662 Seminar in Ethnomusicology I-II (3-3 cr.)
P600 Seminar in Prehistoric Anthropology (3 cr.)
P314 Early Prehistory of Africa (3 cr.)
P315 Late Prehistory of Africa (3 cr.)
Comparative Literature
C571 African Literature and Culture (3 cr.)
C603 Comparative Literature Studies: Contemporary Africa (3 cr.)
C611 Topics in Literary Genres, Modes, and Forms (4 cr.) (Post-Colonial African Fiction)
Economics
E592 Economic Development of Less-Developed Countries (3 cr.)
Education
H520 Education and Social Issues (3 cr.) H551-H552 Comparative Education I-II (3-3 cr.)
H560 Education and Change in Societies (3 cr.)
H620 Seminar in Educational Policy Studies (3 cr.)
H637 Policy Assessment and Evaluation (3 cr.)
R640 Planning Educational Media Systems: National and International (3 cr.)
Fine Arts
A453 Art of Sub-Saharan Africa (4 cr.)
A552 Art of Eastern and Southern Africa (3 cr.)
A556 Art of Central Africa (3 cr.)
A650 Problems in African Art (4 cr.)
Folklore
F501 Folklore Colloquium (3 cr.)
F714 Paradigms of Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
F516 Proseminar in Folklore Theory and Method I: Materials of Folklore (3 cr.)
F522 Field Work in Folklore/Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
F574 Seminar in Ethnomusicology: Transcription and Analysis (3 cr.)
F609 Folklore Seminar (3 cr.)
F617 Middle East Folklore/Folk Music (3 cr.)
F750 Performance Studies (3 cr.)
F755 Folklore, Culture, and Society (3 cr.)
F740 History of Ideas in Folklore/Ethnomusicology (3 cr.)
Geography
G604 Seminar in Environmental Geography (3 cr.)
History
B391 Themes in World History (3 cr.)
E531 African History from Ancient Times to Empires and City States (3 cr.)
E532 African History from Colonial Rule to Independence (3 cr.)
E533 Conflict in Central and Southern Africa (3 cr.)
E534 History of Western Africa (3 cr.)
E536 History of East Africa (3 cr.)
H695 Colloquium in African History (4 cr.)
H795 Seminar in African History (4 cr.)
Journalism
J414 International Newsgathering Systems (3 cr.)
J514 International Communication (3 cr.)
J614 Communication and National Development (3 cr.)
Linguistics
L481 Language in Africa (3 cr.)
L502 Language in Africa (3 cr.)
L619 Language in Society (3 cr.)
L653-L654 Field Methods in Linguistics I-II (3-3 cr.)
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
N409 Modern Arabic Literature (3 cr.)
N480 Modern Arabic Poetry (3 cr.)
N541 Arabic Theatre (3 cr.)
Political Science
Y338 African Politics (3 cr.)
Y342 Topics on the Regional Politics of Africa (3 cr.)
Y343 Development Problems in the Third World (3 cr.)
Y657 Comparative Politics (3 cr.)
Y663 Political and Administrative Development (3 cr.)
Y665 Public Law and Policy (3 cr.)
Public and Environmental Affairs
V575 International and Comparative Administration (3 cr.)
V576 Comparative Approaches to Development (3 cr.)
V577 International Economic Development Policy (3 cr.)
Spanish and Portuguese
P485 African Literature in Portuguese (3 cr.)
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Linguistics
B101-B102 Elementary Bambara I-II (3-3 cr.)1
B201-B202 Intermediate Bambara I-II (3-3 cr.)
B301-B302 Advanced Bambara I-II (3-3 cr.)
H101-H102 Elementary Hausa I-II (3-3 cr.)1
H201-H202 Intermediate Hausa I-II (3-3 cr.)
H301-H302 Advanced Hausa I-II (3-3 cr.)
S101-S102 Elementary Swahili I-II (3-3 cr.)1
S201-S202 Intermediate Swahili I-II (3-3 cr.)
S301-S302 Advanced Swahili I-II (3-3 cr.)
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
A200-A250 Intermediate Arabic I-II (3-3 cr.)
A303-A304 Advanced Arabic I-II (3-3 cr.)
Other African Languages
Various languages in addition to the above are offered each year. Language instruction has been given in 40 languages over the past 25 years. The current offerings are Xhosa, a South African language and Twi, a West African language. Those language courses have been listed under the following designations:
Linguistics
F101-F102 Elementary African Languages I-II (3-3 cr.)1
F201-F202 Intermediate African Languages I-II (3-3 cr.)
F301-F302 Advanced African Languages I-II (3-3 cr.)
In addition, tutorials have been arranged when the demand was not sufficient to offer a regular language course. In recent academic years, for example, tutorials were given in Chichewa, Ewe, Kirundi, Shona, and Zulu-Ndebele under the course designation:
Linguistics
S506 Individual Instruction in Foreign Languages (cr. arr.)
For courses in other departments that may be counted toward the Ph.D. minor, consult the program director.
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1 Four (4) credits each semester for undergraduates.
