[HIST W3760] Main Currents in African History

First off my grade was a B. I got a B+ on the first midterm and a C+ on my second midterm. I will say this. I thought I ROCKED this class but apparently I was wrong. I had a genuine interest in the class and the content. I did all the readings save one book, The Joys of Motherhood. The class is structured through Prof. Mann's lectures in which he outlines some topics at the beginning of class which he may/may not get to but you are expected to learn. I will admit that I found the lectures most interesting when he had pictures and movies to watch. Otherwise I was just distracted because he doesn't turn the projector off. The lectures were ok. If you haven't done the reading they will definitely help. But if you have you rarely learn anything new although he will sometimes hint at things that you are definitely expected to learn. Since I was only interested in the content I was most fulfilled by the readings which are def. worth the time. I don't plan on selling any of them and even plan to reread some. My TA was Rodney Collins who had been in Mali I think with the Peace Corps. At first I thought he was a little high and mighty but I think he was actually trying to challenge us to break outside of our stereotypes of Africa. You could definitely see that some students got it but others I don't think really learned or began to care anymore about Africa. Quite possibly the most effective experience I've had in any class was when Rodney called me out on a slightly patronizing description of Malian culture. Other than that uhh the final wasn't too bad although the maps were whack. OH and the midterms and probably the final had NO partical credit. It was either right (or in most people's case) wrong. The TA's asked Mann to give us back some points but still it sucked.

This class covers some interesting topics and Professor Mann is a genuinely interesting lecturer, but many students found it very hard to do well. The first midterm was based heavily on the lectures and most people did reasonably well on it. So, for the second midterm, everyone spent most of their time studying their lectures notes, only to discover on test day that the exam was, this time, heavily based on the readings. The final exam, was based mostly on lecture, again. Further confusing about the exams is that the first one is counted as 15% of the final grade, the second one 25% and the final as 50%, but each of the three tests covers about the same number of lectures and amount of material, so it's as if to say that modern African history is more important than earlier history - found that confusing and conflicting! Moreoever, the discussion sections were poorly managed. They were scheduled to meet every other week, but my TA changed the schedule around so many times, that by about the midterm point no one knew when we were having section and when we weren't - they were held so irregularly that people would show up when he'd canceled it and then wouldn't know to come when he decided to hold it. Overall this class was a dissapointment for me. I had been really looking forward to it, because I was genuinely interested in the topics, but the inconsistencies in the exams and discussion sections really ruined it for me. If you really want to learn about African history, you're probably better off pursuing it on your own as a personal interest!

I wanted to like this class and for a while I did. However, while his early lectures were organized and easily comprehensible, his latter lectures lacked coherence. The basic thing he does in lecture is this: he writes some terms on the board and introduces the topic of his lecture for most of the class, declaring what he wants to talk about but never getting to the meat of his lecture and often leaving the terms on the board undefined. Some of it isn't his fault as the main currents in African history ended up being that there are no generalizations you can make about such a large continent and it would be an epic and impossible task to take on historicizing and linking all of Africa in one semester. Discussion section was a pain, especially because it was a section for a Major Cutures List A class in which no one does the reading, though the reading was definitely a redeeming factor for the class. Good class if you are interested in the region or get some breadth, however don't expect enlightenment on the subject that is Africa. Still, the lectures weren't necessarily empty, which may mean either that people didn't wanna do the reading or that I completely misinterpreted the class.

Professor Mann is one of the most outstanding professors I have had at Columbia. The man knows a ton and presents it well...smart in that Chomsky way, where even his asides are loaded with meaning. There is a lot of reading, but most of it is really interesting. For a workable overview of colonialism and resistance in Africa (with cursory pre-colonial and independence stuff), this is absolutely the class to take. Great class.