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CUNY Faculty with Research Interests in Africa
(Still a work in progress. Please check back for updates.)
Edward Bendix (Anthropology) Linguistics, sociolinguistics, semantics/pragmatics, languages in contact, creole languages; Africa and Caribbean, South Asia
Vincent Crapanzano (Anthropology) Symbolic and interpretive anthropology, ethno-psychology, anthropology and literature, theories of interpretation; North Africa, South Africa
Kate Crehan (Anthropology) Political economy, gender, development; Southern Africa
Louise Lennihan (Anthropology) Cultural anthropology, political economy of agrarian societies, development, historical anthropology; Africa
Leith Mullings (Anthropology) Globalization, urbanism, medical anthropology, gender, race, ethnicity, contemporary theory; United States urban populations, Africa
Donald Robotham (Anthropology) Postcolonialism, multiple modernities, work; the Caribbean and West Africa
Ida Susser (Anthropology) Medical anthropology; contemporary United States studies, urban, political economy, gender; Southern Africa
Ali Jimale Ahmed (Comparative Literature) African Literature, Islamic Literature, Poetry and Oral Tradition
Francesca Canadé Sautman (French) Medieval and 16th-Century Literature and Ethnology, Francophone African Literature, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Queer TheoryJohn Harbeson (Political Science) African politics, international relations
Irving Leonard Markovitz (Political Science) theories of modernization and political change
W. Ofuatey-Kodjoe (Political Science) Africa, political economy
Lynda Day (Africana Studies)
Mojúbŕolú Olúfunké Okome (Political Science) Sub-Saharan African Political Economy, International Relations/International Political Economy, Democracy, Human Rights, Nationalism and Ethnicity in Nigeria, Economic and Political Development, State - Society Relations
Consortium Courses on or Related to Africa
These are courses offered during the Spring 2004 semester at any of the New York City Consortium schools - Columbia, The Graduate Center, The New School, or NYU - either specifically about, or relevant to Africa.
Africa in World Politics; Crises of State, Conflict, Poverty & Democracy, Political Science, Professor John Harbeson, Thursdays, 4:15 to 6:15 p.m., Room 6493
Sub-Saharan Africa presents some of the starkest, most dramatic manifestations of almost all the most fundamental problems of the human condition and, therefore, some of the most profound political challenges to be found on the planet. As the persistent marginalization of the continent has added to the burdens borne by its peoples, its parallel continued marginalization in the academy has diminished the study of comparative politics. For the political problems and political challenges confronting the continent pose existentially all the most fundamental theoretical questions that define the parameters of political science as a discipline. The course will, therefore, consider not only the evolving contours of African political and socioeconomic developmental crises but a sample of the implications of those crises for the study of comparative politics, international relations, and political theory. After an initial overview, the course will outline the principal features of the contemporary African political landscape as they have evolved during the colonial and post-colonial eras. It will then focus on the interrelated sub-Saharan African crises of state formation, conflict management, poverty reduction, and democratization along with currently practiced and alternative strategies for addressing them. The course will conclude with notes on the implications of the foregoing for the refinement of selected prevalent theoretical paradigms.
Revolutions, Political Science, Professor Forrest Colburn, Mondays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Room 5383
This class will examine the theoretical literature on dissent and revolution, with a comparison, too, of this literature with two well-studied cases—France and Russia—and three less examined cases: Ethiopia, Nicaragua, and Iran. A major effort will be made to gauge how the lessening of ideological conflict since, say 1989, has changed the frequency and kind of political violence, and shaped, too, political outcomes. There is little theoretical guidance for help with this important question, but there are many cases to study and from which to seek inferences. We will read widely, but students will be given ample opportunity to pursue research on particular countries or regions of interest.
New School University Graduate
Faculty
Democracy in Developing Countries? The South African Case, Political Science, Professor Courtney Jung, March 1 to April 16, Mondays & Wednesdays, 8:00 to 9:50
In April 1994, South Africa elected its first democratic leader by majority rule. The end of apartheid was widely hailed as a miracle, and South Africa became a symbol of hope and possibility for the whole world, and particularly for those parts of the world that had recently entered the political upheavals of democratic transition. Many countries were perched on the threshold of something new, and South Africa seemed to embody all the promise of a new era. Ten years on, how can we assess the progress of South Africa and its fellow travelers toward 'democratic consolidation'?
This course uses the case of South Africa to explore the challenges to democracy in developing countries in the contemporary context of globalization and neo-liberalism. What can democratic consolidation realistically entail within the constraints of uneven terms of trade and budget balancing? What does democratic legitimacy mean? What role does the international community play in elections? How dangerous is one-party dominance? How can societies navigate the process of reconciliation to build a national identity? How are political institutions chosen and what difference do these choices make? What is the role of law and the courts; how do international and domestic law interact to produce a new legal paradigm and an enlarged role for the court system? What is the role of rights in democracy? Can nascent democracies secure social and economic as well as political and civil rights? We will explore these general questions through the case of South Africa, as a way of grounding theoretical debates on the forms and limits of democratic consolidation in contemporary conditions.
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