Mar 28, 2024  
College Catalog 2023-2024 
    
College Catalog 2023-2024 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HIST 154 - African Life Histories


In this course we will learn about African history through the stories that Africans themselves have told about their own lives. We will use oral history, songs of West Africa’s griots; slave narratives; political autobiographies; theatre and film to explore the personal narration of lived experience. To guide our class discussions we will also consult scholarly essays about life history as a genre, to help us understand the methodology behind the production of these important texts. Class activities will include seminar discussions, writing workshops, a field trip and intermittent background lectures. Each student will carry out an individual research project on their topic of choice. Can count towards “Colonization and Empire,” or “Race and Indigeneity,” or “Africa & Atlantic World” fields. Offered annually. (4 Credits)