AFST 601 RESEARCH METHODS
The course is designed to assist students understand the methods of designing and carrying out research. The theoretical and conceptual issues involved in research methodology and some of the limitations and challenges inherent in the research process. At the end of the course, the students should be able to design and execute a thesis on a socially relevant theme through an understanding of the types of researches and data sources available and/or used, as well as knowing the conditions under which variously methods are used, and the tools for analyzing and interpreting data. The course carries four course credits with regular course work and practical work involving research design and experimental fieldwork.
AFST 602 ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS
The course is designed for students who desire a deeper understanding in application of statistical methods in social research.
AFST 603 THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
The course is designed to equip students with a knowledge and insight into the various theories of development that have been utilized by African states since independence. Theories addressed include Classical Marxism, Modernization, Structuralism, Dependency and Maoism, and their relevance to African development. In addition, theories of development developed by African leaders such as Afro-Marxism, ‘ujamaa’ and humanism will be explored.
AFST 604 ISSUES IN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main strategies of development adopted by post-independence African Governments and the attendant problems: import substitution, export orientation, and agricultural- led options. The dept crisis facing African states, the role of the Bretton Woods institutions and regional integration schemes will also be explored.
AFST 605 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN EARLY POST INDEPENDENT AFRICA
The course explores the paths to independence taken by different African states, the nature of the independence settlements; the structure of politics; and the emergence, characteristics, and consequence of authoritarianism.
AFST 606 THE MILITARY IN AFRICAN POLITICS
The course examines the origins, structure and role of military institutions in Africa; the domestic and external causes of military intervention and withdrawals; the nature and impact of military regimes; and civil- military relations in the political liberalization era.
AFST 607 AFRICAN ORAL LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION
This curse starts with an introduction to oral literature and the African Heritage. Emphasis is placed on library research and data collection; African Language Groups and their literary characteristics, cosmological systems and their relevance to African Oral Literature. It focuses on the contextual approaches to oral literature and introduces poetry of lament and dirges, praise poetry of abuse and satire and theoretical to the folk tale.
AFST 608 TOPICS IN AFRICAN ORAL LITERATURE
Major genres and tendencies in oral literature are analyzed such as the proverb in African creative discourse, the nature of traditional poetry, the epic tradition and the poetry of surrogate instruments. The theory of performance modes and creative processes will be thoroughly examined. Students must have taken AFST 611.
AFST 609 DRAMA IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES
This course introduces students to drama in traditional African society looking at themes and performance traditions and dramatic conventions. Dramatic expression, location, timing, setting and the dynamic use of space are all examined. Notions such as discourse and dialogue in traditional African drama, performers in traditional African drama, Spectacle of Ideas, the intellectual basis of traditional drama, and the festival as total drama are explored.
AFST 610 AFRICAN THEATRE
The course is premised on an examination of tradition and continuity in African drama, the Yoruba mask theater, oral traditions and modern African theatre are examined as prelude to a review of the rise of literary theatre in colonial African, the concert party in West Africa, the new theater movement in Africa, (West, North, East and Central) and the search for an authentic African drama.
AFST 611 AFRICAN LITERARY TRADITIONS
Reference sources and dominant issues in African Literature constitute the introduction to this course. Issues in the criticism of African literature and contemporary literature theory are taken up. Nationalism including negritude, the Harlem renaissance as well as Diaspora writers and their response to Africa are examined. African literature in its global dimensions demonstrates the scope of African Literature. Genres such as the short story in Africa and the African Novel are introduced.
AFST 612 TRENDS IN AFRICAN LITERATURE
The course aims at providing a sense of the interaction between historical forces and the rise of African literature. The course covers broad areas such as the African novel and the search for governance; contemporary African poetic sensibilities, the beginnings of the theatre movements in Africa featuring. Soyinka and other writers in search of authentic African theatre idiom. African women writers constitute a special focus of this course.
AFST 613 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
This course provides an introduction to anthropological theory and literature on African societies. It shows the diversity of social and political organization in Africa, but also the underlying patterns which enable typologies of social and political phenomenon to be developed. The course reveals the logic and rationality that defines social and political institutions. Topics cover end include economic organization, the development of markets and exchange, the adaptation to the environment and the relationship between culture and development; the role of social exchange including gifts, kinship, marriage; symbolic rituals and religious phenomenon and rituals in the interpretation of the various stages of life; and various types of pre-colonial political organization from stateless to states, and the organization f political life including checks and balance, bureaucratic institutions, political competition and succession.
AFST 615 TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS IN AFRICA
The course deals with methodological issues involved in the study of African traditional religion. There is also an analysis of the structure of the African world-view as informed by African experience and of how African religion and culture is confronting modernity. The course also addresses issues of how African traditional religion is conceptualized in the Western intellectual tradition.
AFST 616 ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
The course deals with the introduction of Islam and Christianity in Africa; the mode of the spread of Islam and Christianity in Africa and the responses of traditional religion and culture to Islam and Christianity. The types of Islamic and Christian communities in Africa and the way they relate to the modern world and the nature of African initiated movements in African Islam and African Christianity will also be explored.
AFST 617 TRADITIONAL AFRICAN MUSIC
The objective of the course is to help students broaden t heir knowledge and understanding of music as a form of cultural expression in African societies. The course also provides a historical perspective on the nature and types of African music.
AFST 618 AFRICAN MUSIC IN CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE
The curse presents an overview of contemporary musical organization, performing artists, composers and ensembles, including the ethnology and styles from the Diaspora, in addition, the historical development of African American music eg. Jazz, also explored church and Gospel music.
AFST 621 AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY
This curse id designed for graduate students to gain an insight into t he nature and function of African history and methodologies for its study.
AFST 622 GHANA SINCE 1945
The course deals with the rise of radical nationalism and the decolonization process in Ghana, critical emphasis is laid on British policy towards Ghana after the war, the introduction of the local government system, and the activities of the radical nationalists, and the move towards independence. In the post-independence periods, the course concerns itself with the rate of Kwame Nkrumah, the military in Ghanaian politics and the ‘Rawlings factor’.
AFST 623 THE SLAVE TRADE AND AFRICA
This course deals with the various facets and dimensions of slavery and the slave trade in Africa. It examines the political, social and economic implications of the Atlantic slave trade and the trade involving the Persian Gulf and India, and the East African sea board. The course enables students to critically assess slavery and slave and slave societies in the New World, the slave trade and the political economy of the European and African societies. The course brings to the fore, causes an assessment of the Atlantic and East African slave trade and their place in African history.
AFST 624 HISTORY OF PAN-AFRICANISM
The course traces the external and internal origins of Pan-Africanism. It attempts to define the concept, objectives and history of Pan- Africanism as a movement, and the roles of leading personalities in the movement. It also examines the movement after 1945 and its role in the decolonization period as well as in the post-independence era.
AFST 626 GHANA COASTAL STATES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
This course discusses the peoples and societies of the coastal states in modern Ghana. The course will expose students to the use of primary sources and their use in the re-construction of the history of the societies involved.
AFST 626 COLONIAL RULE AND AFRICAN RESPONSES
The course examines the prelude to the establishment colonial rule, colonialism and colonial policies and their philosophical foundations. The course also examines African resistance and collaboration, the colonial impact on the colonized people, origins and nature of African nationalism, decolonization and independence. There is also an assessment of colonial rule and its relevance of the contemporary African experience.
AFST 628 ISLAM AND CHRISTAINITY IN AFRICA
The course traces the history of Islam and Christianity in Africa and examines their impact on the Africans societies.
AFST 631 CULTURE AND GENDER IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES
The course explores the cultural constructions, expressions and representations of masculinity and femininity in contemporary and historical African societies. Changing forms of gender roles and relationships are investigated through an analysis of modes of production and reproduction, sexuality, marriage, legal and educational systems, among other issues. The course utilizes anthropological texts, novels, films and other material, and proposes gender-sensitive research tools and methods for deconstructing gender roles and relationships.
AFST 632 GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES
This course critically examines the basic concepts and definitions, theories and approaches, and issues in the development discourse as they relate to gender issues in contemporary Africa. A focus of the course is on hoe the international climate and international relations, African states, NGOs and local cultural conditions act either to promote and address gender inequities, or to hinder efforts in that regard. Through invited presentations, videos and fieldwork, students are introduces to innovative methodologies and tools for engendering policy, planning and development.
AFST 633 SURVEY OF AFRICAN ART
The Survey of African Art is an introductory course designed for students who have no background in Art History. It seeks to broaden their scope of study and answer some pertinent questions regarding art and its place in the life and history of Africa. The course emphasizes the diversity of African aesthetics within two and three dimensional art works and across the genres in secular and non- secular settings. Finally, the course examines the extent to which these works are represented in museums in Africa and abroad and whether this provides adequate representation of African act in a global perspective.
AFST 634 METHODOLOGIES FOR CONSTUCTING ART HISTORY IN SELECTED AFRICAN SOCIETIES
The aim of this course is to guide students to use contemporary historical methods and theory to construct the history of art in selected African societies. Secondly, the course seeks to give students a clear theoretical understanding and appreciation of the place, meaning and contribution of art in the historical processes of African societies and cultures south of the Sahara. It deals with methodologies in art history and socio-cultural contexts of art. Through a series of case studies, students are introduced to a body of genres with a conceptual problem devoted to creating an understanding an understanding of practice and trends in Art history.
AFST 636 RURAL DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT AND MODERNITY IN AFRICA
This course provides an introduction to development theory and its application to African conditions. This includes environmental issues, which have become central to development with the concept of sustainable development. The course examines competing theories of development in different epochs and shows the political interests and perspectives which inform development. It shows that development theory is not neutral but is grounded in the historical, social, economic, and political contexts in which it arises. The course enables students to critically assess development theories to gain an understanding of the process of change and modernity in Africa, and also gain an understanding of the relationship between tradition, custom, culture, development and modernity. The course draws upon development studies, political economy, anthropology, the sociology of development and the sociology of science and knowledge.
AFST 640 SEMINAR 1
In year 1, each student in a Department or Programme is expected to attend all seminars specified and make his/her own presentation on selected topics to an audience. Each student will be expected to make at least one oral presentation to be assessed each semester and also present a full write-up of the presentation for another assessment. These will earn a total of 3 credits
AFST 641 AFRICAN FAMILY STUDIES
The course focuses on the recent work of family and population scholars and others from several disciplines, as they attempt to record and analyze changes taking place in family forms, process and functions- marriage, kinship, domestic co-residence patterns, familial roles and relationships- including timing of births and parenthood, child development and survival
AFST 650 SEMINAR 11
For year 2, each student will make presentation soon after the Year 1 examinations on his /her Thesis Research Proposal and also present a progress report midway into the second semester. These will be assessed for 3 credits.