SOSANT1131 – Africa
Beskrivelse av emnet
Kort om emnet
SOSANT1131 – Africa (nedlagt) builds on and provides greater insight into themes developed in SOSANT1100 – Regional etnografi: Jordens folk og kulturelt mangfold (nedlagt). Over the past 100 and more years, Africa has been constituted in the ethnographic (and popular) imagination, as an ‘Other’ in many senses: different from Europe or modernity, from Christianity and science, from government and rationality. We all know that these tropes are problematic, yet they do play a role in how we view and study Africa. Thus, some ethnographers turn to Africa, to find alternatives to their own societal order and values – an Other to a ‘western’ political-economic and ethical order. Others reject such ‘culturalist’ project, and search instead for different, African ‘modernities’, focusing on social change and cultural creativity. From the oldest accounts of pre-colonial African societies to most recent analyses of African crisis and rennaissance, the relationship between Africa and its European other is central to our observations, imaginaries and narratives. And, more importantly, through a century of colonial occupation and postcoloniality, this relationship has become equally central to how Africans constitute themselves, and discuss themselves and their place in the world.
Hva l?rer du?
The aim of the course is to introduce Africanist anthropology by looking closely at the link between one and an ‘other’ that has made Africa in scholarly and popular accounts, and in our minds – no matter whether we are African or European. To scrutinise this relation we will read some older, ‘classic’ texts and some very recent ethnographic works that deal with the connections between Africa and its other – the west or the world.
Aims of knowledge
Overview over important trends current African anthropology and some of their predecessors.
Exposure to different styles of study and writing in Africanist anthropology.
Reflection about recent shift and developments in Africanist anthropology in the context if the wider discipline.
Broaden the view of Africanist anthropology with a focus on innovative studies of modernist and late modern Africa.
Aims of learning
Ability to situate current Africanist literature in the context of recent debates within and beyond the discipline.
Ability to reflect upon the political and economic context and implications of anthropological scholarship.
Ability to critically read anthropological texts in the context of the wider discipline and its historical developments.
Ability to link current global political-economic issues with anthropological discussions about Africa.
Critical approach
Understand social anthropology as a politically engaged discipline, in which fieldwork, analysis and representation are embedded in a historically shaped, and shifting, political positions and debates.
Understand that social anthropology inevitably involves, and indeed requires, ethical and political opinion and positioning, together with scholarly detachment and critical analysis.
Opptak og adgangsregulering
Studenter m? hvert semester s?ke og f? plass p? undervisningen og melde seg til eksamen i Studentweb.
Dersom du ikke allerede har studieplass ved UiO, kan du s?ke opptak til v?re studieprogrammer, eller s?ke om ? bli enkeltemnestudent.
Admission to this course is done on the basis of specific rules
You may apply to sit for the exam in this course as a "private candidate.": http://www.sv.uio.no/studier/studietilbud/privatist/privatister.html
Forkunnskaper
Anbefalte forkunnskaper
This subject builds upon the subject SOSANT1100 - Regional etnografi: Jordens folk og kulturelt mangfold
Overlappende emner
SOSANT11xx gir 5 sp reduksjon mot SOSANT1101, men man kan s?ke om ? f? beholde sp dersom man tar en annen regionalfordypning enn man hadde fra f?r.
Undervisning
The course will be taught during the second half of the autumn semester at The University of Oslo, Blindern campus.
The course is part of the regular course provision at The Faculty of Social Science. Teaching is mainly held during daytime. Detailed course-information is found on the Webpage for the current semester.
Eksamen
Students are graded on the basis of a three-hour examination. The Faculty of Social Science is responsible for the exam, and the exam is normally held at The University of Oslo, Blindern campus. Other locations in Oslo may be used. Detailed information about the exam if found on the Webpage for the current semester.
Eksamensspr?k
The exam may be written in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Karakterskala
Emnet bruker karakterskala fra A til F, der A er beste karakter og F er stryk. Les mer om karakterskalaen.
Exam results will be published in Studentweb.
Begrunnelse og klage
Adgang til ny eller utsatt eksamen
Trekk fra eksamen
Det er mulig ? ta eksamen i emnet inntil tre ganger. Dersom du trekker deg fra eksamen etter fristen eller under eksamen, bruker du et eksamensfors?k.
Tilrettelagt eksamen
S?knadskjema, krav og frist for tilrettelagt eksamen.
Annet
Teaching and exam forms are continually being evaluated and may be changed.