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POS W 4496 Linda J. Beck SYMPOSIUM ON AFRICAN POLITICS
As
residents of North America, we are bombarded daily with images of famine,
disease and bloody conflicts in Africa.
Since the publication of Robert Kaplan's article “The Coming
of Anarchy” (Atlantic Monthly, 1994) in which he argues that
“West Africa is becoming the symbol of world wide demographic,
environmental, and social stresses,” a debate between Afro-pessimists
and Afro-optimists has been waged by journalists, policymakers, and
academics on both sides of the Atlantic. While neither argument is completely
without foundation, both tend towards an oversimplification and superficial
generalization of current events in Africa. This
course seeks to present a more balanced view of Africa that reflects
its social, economic and political diversity. Over the course of the
semester, we will examine both the international and domestic causes
for Africa's post-colonial crises in political authority (Section I)
and economic development (Section II) that gave rise to Afro-pessimism
as well as current sources of Afro-optimism. In the final section of
the course (Section III), we will focus on the role of Africa and Africans
in world politics, highlighting issues of peacekeeping, human rights,
globalization, and the international AIDS crisis by bringing in activists
working on these issues both in Africa and among Africans in New York
City.
Department of Political Science, Barnard College Columbia University, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-6598 Last updated on 26 January 2002 |
