People and Cultures of Africa

People and Cultures of Africa

ANT/AAS 326 (Online)

THIS IS A DRAFT syllabus

(there are no specific dates here, only references to week numbers and days in those weeks)

Course Instructor/TA: Mr. Tony Milanzi PhD Student, Dept. of Anthropology UK

Email: Please use the Send Email option in Blackboard to contact me by email. This tool automatically puts the course number in the subject line. This will help facilitate a quicker response from me. If the Bb tool isn’t working for some reason, or you don’t have access to Bb due to an emergency, you can email me directly at:

During quizzes, you can “skype” me at “tony.milanzi” (skype is a free internet phoning software program, downloadable at: . If you have a microphone and speakers on your computer, you can use skype with no additional hardware. If your computer does not have a microphone, you will need to purchase one. You can get very affordable microphone/headsets online, or at Best Buy. You do not need a camera (although skype does work with video), but most web cameras also have mics).

Course Developer: Dr. Lisa Cliggett, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky.

CLASS TIME AND LOCATION:

To access our course visit and login to Blackboard with your LINK BLUE username and password. You can also log into and click on the Blackboard link at the top.

MINIMUM TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS:

Complete the following steps to make sure your computer is correctly configured and the necessary software is installed. Note: You will not be able to access course material if you fail to complete these steps.

1. Go to this site to check the minimum hardware, software and browser requirements:

2. Internet Explorer is NOT recommended for Blackboard. Firefox is the recommended Internet browser for the course. Go to to download a free version of Firefox. Log in with your LINK BLUE id and password and search for Firefox.

3. Go to and click on the Free Java Download button. Run the installer to get the latest version.

4. You will also need Flash, Adobe Acrobat Reader and QuickTime movie player. Go to then click BbGO! If you do not have these installed, you can download them from this site.

5. To download Windows Media Player, click this link:

6. Students and faculty can download Microsoft Office Suite (including Word and PowerPoint) from this site:

If you experience technical difficulties contact the Customer Service Center at 859-218-HELP (4357) or by e-mail at . Please also inform the course instructor when you are having technical difficulties.

TEXTS:

Required books:

Cliggett, Lisa 2005 Grains From Grass (GfG in course schedule): Aging, Gender and Famine in Rural Africa. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Fratkin, Elliot. 2004 Ariaal Pastoralists of Kenya (APoK in course schedule): Surviving Drought and Development in Africa’s Arid Lands 2nd Edition (must be this edition).

Additional readings (articles, book chapters, etc) will be required as well, but will be made available through Ereserves through the UK library, the UK full text online articles services, through the course content section of blackboard, and through internet sources.

Books may be purchased from the following stores.

•Kennedy Bookstore, 405 S. Limestone, (606) 252-0331 or 1-800-892-5165,

or go to the website:

•Wildcat Text Books, 563 S. Limestone, (606) 225-7771,

or go to the website:

•UK Bookstore 106 Student Center Annex, phone (606) 257-6304 or 1-800-327-6141,

or go to the website:

You can also purchase textbooks through any of the internet bookstores, but you will need to rush shipping for them because you will need to begin reading during the first week of the 8 week session.

Additional required reading materials (articles, news media, films, videos, etc) will be available through the UK library and internet sources. Specific texts are listed in the reading / assignment schedule.

Distance Learning Library Services

As a Distance Learning student you have access to the Distance Learning Library services at

This service can provide you access to UK’s circulating collections and can deliver to you manuscripts or books from UKs library or other libraries. The DL Librarian may be reached at 859-257-0500, ext 2171, or 800-828-0439 (option #6) or by mail at . For an interlibrary loan visit:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Common knowledge of Africa, gained largely through western news reports and popular media, typically portrays stereotyped images of life on the vast continent. Images of fly covered starving infants have become one common stereotype of life throughout Africa (not just Somalia, where starvation has been a reality). What about the healthy children of the middle class in Botswana? Do we even know they exist? In the US our understanding of the world is too often shaped by these biased and distorted images, gleaned from television and newspapers. Adhering to such stereotypes limits our opportunities to explore and value the amazing variety and subtlety of the human experience. This course seeks to introduce students to the cultural diversity found in Africa by using an Anthropological framework for examining some key themes that often turn up in popular discussion. Our goal will be to examine, and challenge, many of the popular portrayals of Africa, and thus build a more realistic and grounded understanding of the region. We will address issues of history and geography, social organization and family life, health and food security, economy and ecology, and politics and identity. In making sense of the course material we will continually return to employing an ANTHROPOLOGICAL viewpoint to explain and interpret the knowledge base we build. While the course design emphasizes a particular topic at a particular time during the semester, all of these themes interconnect, and our discussions of one topic will draw on our understandings of other themes and issues. For example, we will examine livelihoods and making a living in relation to family and social organization, as well as broader economy and politics. One of anthropology's strengths lies in this holistic approach to understanding social and cultural practices.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The primary goal of this course is to introduce the continent of “Africa” and the variety of countries and societies found on the continent, by providing a social science perspective to key social, economic, ecological and political issues and topics pertinent to the region.

SUCCESS IN THIS COURSE

To be successful in this course, here are a few tips:

• Purchase the two textbooks asap, and start reading!
• Get familiar with Blackboard asap, so that you know how to navigate through the course units, discussion board, grade center and other main tabs for the course. Figure out how to post in the discussion board -both starting a new thread, and posting on an existing thread.
• PLAN TO SPEND at least5-6 hours a day, 5 (minimum) days a week, interacting with course material (whether online, or reading the textbooks and other printable/downloadable readings)
• Take notes as you read, view lectures and films, listen to podcasts, look through web pages and various internet media. In addition to quizzes being closed book (meaning no notes, books, resources), the quizzes are timed so that even if you disregard the honor code of closed book quizzes, you would not have enough time to look up answers. Better to take notes, study and prepare for quizzes as you would for any other class.
• Do assignments on time (post for your journal, comment on your group members' journal, post in the 2 "all class" discussion boards, read and any other tasks throughout the 8 weeks).
• Stay "in sync" with the course schedule, don't get behind, and don't work too far ahead.
• Think critically, reflect thoughtfully, and express your ideas as they develop. You'll get more out of the class, and that will be reflected in your overall grade.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students will:

1)demonstrate they have asubstantial knowledge of the variety of cultural diversity in Africa, including the ability to distinguish between generalized notions / stereotypes and more grounded understanding of distinct aspects and characteristics of different cultures and regions. Students will develop this knowledge through course readings, class (online) discussions, films, media and instructor (video) lectures.

2) be able to identifytypes of information (fact, opinion, policy, etc) that influence our understandings of Africa. Students will develop this knowledge and critical thinking through course readings, class discussions (online), debates (online), class lectures (video), quiz essays and the final opinion essay.

3)employ an Anthropological viewpoint in making sense of the cultural diversity on the African continent. Students will gain understanding of the key Anthropological concept of “cultural relativity”. Students will develop this skill through course readings, discussions, lectures and class activities.

“ATTENDANCE”:

All course materials are on-line and it is YOUR responsibility to access material in a timely manner. To help keep you on track I have provided a UNIT/TOPIC SCHEDULE that you should follow. The schedule is at the end of this syllabus and also in the UNITS tab on Blackboard. You are expected to spend a MINIMUM of 6 hours perDAY(5 days a week)on-line interacting with the course material (including reading, writing, interacting with other students in the course, etc).

GRADING:

Your success in the course will be evaluated according to the following breakdown:

1 Map Quiz(5%) 5%

6 Weekly Quizzes (5% each)30%

2 “discussion boards” on text books (7% each)14%

1 group poster/ PowerPoint (topic of your choice, 1 group grade) 9%

1 individual response to all other group ppt/posters 2%

6 Reflective Journals “RJWk 1-6 (1 per week, 5% each,)30%

1 Final Essay (prompt given during last week of class) 10%

Total 100%

FINAL GRADE BASIS:

A = 90% and above

B = 80-89%

C = 70=79%

D = 60-69%

E = 59% and below

All scores will be posted in the BlackBoard grade book, as soon as the instructor has finished grading them. You can review your scores by going to MY GRADES in BlackBoard.

MAP QUIZ AND WEEKLY QUIZ SCHEDULE: (all times are Lexington, KY time)

Six (6) Weekly Quizzes on course content, 5% each, for total of 30%. Quizzes will cover all material from the previous week(s) reading, lectures, films, internet content etc – that is, ALL course material is fair game for quizzes. Expect that any material assigned in the days just before a quiz may also appear in the next quiz (ie: there will be some overlap of material in a given quiz, but quizzes will not be “cumulative;” material from the first week of class WILL NOT be covered in quiz 3 or 4, but might be covered in BOTH quiz 1 and 2).

All weekly quizzes will occur between 7am-10am. However, students must complete the quiz within the scheduled time limit (between 15 – 40 minutes, (for 10 - 25 objective questions)). Quiz time limits will vary depending on the difficulty and length of the quiz.

• Fridays, dates TBA
• TUESDAY , date TBA (note: Quiz 6 occurs on the last day of class!!)

Map Quiz:

• Tuesday date TBA from 7.00am – 10.00am

DUE DATES FOR ASSIGNMENTS:

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!! – By end of first day of class (Tuesday Date TBA, 11:59pm) – post a personal self introduction. See Intro information for details.

Discussion 1:Monday Date TBA- Wednesday Date TBA(first post MUST be made by Monday Date TBA at NOON. Reply, discuss, banter between Date TBA, last reply no later than 3pm).

Discussion 2: Monday Date TBA -Wednesday Date TBA(first post MUST be made by Monday Date TBA at NOON. Reply, discuss, banter between Date TBAlast reply no later than 3pm).

Group E-Poster: due by Saturday Date TBA at 11:59pm.

Student response (to E-Poster):Reply to Poster by Monday Date TBA, 12 noon.

Reflective Journal weeks 1-6 (RJWk 1-6) – Every Thursday by 12 NOON, your INITIAL reflection about that weeks course material must be posted. By the following Saturday at 3pm you must post AT LEAST 2 replies to other people’s initial posts.

RJWk1-Thursday Date TBA, by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

RJWk2-Thursday Date TBA by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

RJWk3- Thursday Date TBA, by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

RJWk4-Thursday Date TBA, by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

RJWk5- Thursday Date TBA by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

RJWk6- Thursday Date TBA, by 12 noon ET. Respond by Saturday 3pm.

Final Essay – The prompt for the final essay will be given out during the last week of the class. The essay is due on Monday Date TBA, by 12noon.

ONLINE QUIZ INFORMATION

The online quizzeswill be submitted electronically through Blackboard and must be submitted by the stated deadline (10.00am). Quizzes will vary in length, between 10 and 25 objective questions (multiple-choice or true/false questions) – depending on the amount of course material the quiz covers. The quizzes will be TIMED, with time frames of between 15 and 40 minutes, depending on the number and difficulty of the questions. The quiz will be available beginning 3 hours before the due date/time. It is your responsibility to make sure that you access the material during that time period. You can access the quiz any time during the 3 hour window but you can only accessthe quiz once. Once you access a quiz you will have a set time (I will post the time limit in conjunction with each quiz. I will also make an announcement prior to the quiz telling you how much time you will have) in which to complete and submit it (the latest you should access any online quiz is 9.30 am). If you go over the time you will receive an automatic score of zero for that quiz. It is your responsibility to watch the time and submit the quiz in time.

Online quizzes are CLOSED BOOK. You cannot use your text book or any other notes when taking aquiz . You are on your honor to take the quiz on your own without the assistance of any other person or materials.

The online quizzes will be automatically graded and your score will be available after the quiz end time (unless I have problems making this work in blackboard, in which case grades will be posted by the day after the quiz). Each quiz is worth 5% of your final grade, for a total of 30% with the lowest quiz score dropped.

If you encounter problems when taking aquiz: First try calling me at859.433.0192. I will be near a computer and my cell phone during the entire examination period. If you are unable to contact me by phone: send me an e-mail and include a phone number where you can be reached. I will contact you ASAP.

ONLINE MAP QUIZ INFORMATION

As with the online quizzes, the online map quiz will be timed. The map quiz will require you to know all 54 countries on the continent of Africa AND know at least ONE of the former colonial powers during the 20th century (ie: one of the colonial powers from 1900 until independence). Use the “map quiz prep info” in Bb to prepare for the quiz. The Map quiz is worth 5% of your final grade.

The map quiz and unit quizzes will be done online, and submitted to the instructor online, and timed. Quizzes will be close book and close notes

MISSED QUIZZES:

Make-up quizzes will only be given for DOCUMENTED excused absences (or inabilities) as defined by the University (Senate Rule V.2.4.2) and are scheduled as needed. A missed quiz will result in a score of zero for that quiz, unless an acceptable written excuse is presented within 36 hours of the missed quiz.

ASSIGNMENTS

The course long reflective journalchallenges students to synthesize both content material from the course, and personal reactions / opinions to the issues and ideas emerging from the course as a whole, during the 8 week session. Students are expected to post at least one entry on their journal per week (reflecting on course material and ideas for that week, as well as the course to date). ADDITIONALLY, each student is expected to post at least one reply to at least 2 other students in their “journal groups” (groups of 7-10 students will be created so that you carry out the reflective journal activities within these groups). Each week of reflection / and response is worth 5% of your final grade (a total of 30%). Grading will be based on the professor’s subjective evaluation of the quality of thought, critical thinking about the issues, synthesis of ideas over the full course time period, and clarity of writing (grammar, spelling, logic, flow etc). This assignment is a CORE component of your course grade. You want to do these reflections EVERY WEEK, and ON TIME (even early!) – it’s a good opportunity to process your thinking, and prepare for quizzes.

Discussion boards are the context in which we will discuss course material. In the absence of face to face class time, we will use online forms of communication – the discussion board. In these forums students will post comments on readings, lectures, videos, or other course material, and subsequent responses FROM ALL STUDENTS will also be posted. There will be 2 discussion boards during the term, each worth 7% of your grade for a total of 14% of your final grade. Grading will be based on the professor’s subjective evaluation of a student’s thoughtfulness, synthesis and critical thinking of the topic.