This course is an examination of the major political and economic trends in twentieth-century African history. It offers an interpretation of modern African history and the sources of its present predicament. In particular, we study the foundations of the colonial state, the legacy of the late colonial state (the period before independence), the rise and problems of resistance and nationalism, the immediate challenges of the independent states (such as bureaucracy and democracy), the more recent crises (such as debt and civil wars) on the continent, and the latest attempts to address these challenges from within the continent.

What does postcolonial literature have to do with economic development? How can literature and literary analysis help us better understand global economic inequality? This course examines the role that literature and literary thinking have played in legitimating, critiquing, and revising the 20th and now 21st century project of "development." Reading global works of literature and film alongside documents such as the World Bank's first "mission" report and its 2000 World Development Report, we'll study how narrative shapes issues like poverty and industrialization, international aid and (neo)colonialism, and economic justice and debt relief.

About 2000 of the world's 6000 to 7000 languages are spoken in Africa. The diversity that characterizes these languages is exceptional, but very little is known to non-specialists. In this course, we will learn about the languages of Africa: the diversity of their linguistic structures (including famous features that are found nowhere else, e.g. click consonants), their history and the history of their speakers (from ca 10,000 BP to the (post) colonial period), and their cultural contexts, among other topics. This course has no prerequisites, and is open to anyone with an interest in African languages or the African continent.

Moving from Baghdad to Paris, Jerusalem to Addis Ababa, Iceland to Dunhuang, this course examines the musical cultures of some of the most vibrant centers of the Middle Ages. We consider what it means to study medieval music "globally," focusing on the physical traces of premodern music and key moments of cultural contact (trade, pilgrimage, conflict). Students will encounter the distant musical past in a variety of materials and formats (paper manuscripts, papyrus fragments, parchment rolls) in regular visits to Princeton's Special Collections.

A performance course in West African drumming with a focus on music from the Manding/Mali Empire. Taught by master drummer Olivier Tarpaga, the course provides hands-on experience on the Djansa rhythm. Students will acquire performance experience, skills and techniques on the Djansa rhythm, and develop an appreciation for the integrity of drumming in the daily life of West Africa.

This course is about the Red Sea region (modern-day Ethiopia, Yemen, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, and others) as a significant cultural, intellectual, and political domain in antiquity. Students will learn about how Red Sea societies spanning ancient Africa and Arabia connected the Eastern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean worlds. They will be introduced to the formative histories of scriptural communities Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the region, and explore various Red Sea writings including the Axumite inscriptions, the Kebra Nagast, and the Quran.

This course immerses students in the dynamic world of South African physical theatre. Through full-body training, improvisation, and ensemble work, students explore movement as protest, storytelling, and community-building. Inspired by Lecoq's teachings of the four core elements namely Earth, Air, Fire and Water; we will dive into building a performance vocabulary based on gesture, rhythm, and space. Students create original performances, using the body as the primary text, culminating in a showcase of devised physical theatre work.

The focus will be on the rise of complex societies and the attendant development of architectural and artistic forms that express the needs and aspirations of these societies. Occasional readings in original texts in translation will supplement the study of art and architecture.

The objective of this course is to develop students proficiency in Classical Ethiopic prose, to build vocabulary, and improve grammatical and syntactic understanding. Students will become acquainted with the stylistics of Ge'ez translation, and its relationship with Hebrew, Greek, as well Arabic writings. Students will read and translate passages from the Ge'ez Pentateuch, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Book of Enoch, as well as selections from Hagiographical writings.

This course surveys twenty and twenty-first century Southern African literature, with a focus on African epistemologies (ways of knowing). How have Southern Africans thought about human beings, the city, the divine, and nature? How do they conceptualize Black African futures? How do these literatures reflect indigenous theories of the world? Students will close read these epics, novels, and a few poems (some in translation from African languages) and develop their skills in exegesis and use of critical methodologies, such as postcolonial criticism, African feminism, and ecocriticism.