The Anthropology of Africa: Regional Perspectives

This course will use concrete ethnographic examples, including topics like kinship, culture, ethnicity, urbanization and construction of boundaries, in order to present an introduction and basic insight into anthropological studies of Africa as a region. In this course the student will get acquainted with Africa as an ethnographic region, how the region was established and created as well as how this influences our perspectives on Africa. The course is compulsory for students working toward a bachelor’s degree or the one year study program in social anthropology or African studies.

The student is expected to become familiar with themes that are central in anthropology and in anthropological research on Africa. The student will learn how differences and similarities in an ethnographic region are created, maintained and changed. The course is intended to sharpen the student’s skills of comparative analysis and enable him/her to carry out comparative analysis of regional cosmologies, value orientations and ecological adaptations seen in relation to the West and the West’s position in relation to Africa.

Lectures, seminars and visual presentations (approx. 30 hours). Approved written assignment. Deadline for submission of the written assignment October 20.