[AFCV C1020] African Civilization

In fairness to Jen, African Civ is not an optimally designed course. In one semester, students are obliged to study not only the entire history and culture of three African societies (which are often bristling with such vast complexity and interconnectivity with surrounding areas that one is unsure such divisions are prudent in the first place) but the works of African nationalist leaders in the 1960s as well as modern West African intellectual movements. What is shortchanged here is immense- vast swathes of Africa go unnoticed, historical periods are left by the wayside, and culture is reduced to a few basic bullet points. Given the circumstances, the course manages to pack in quite a great deal of interesting literature, fascinating films, and even a good amount of complexifying theory and discussion. What such a course needs is an instructor up to the task of prioritizing all these features in an exciting, dynamic, and coherent fashion- one which leaves plenty of room for students to engage in intelligent, organized debate amongst themselves. Jen's style embraced two irreconcilable extremes- she either let us spout off about whatever or pulled the reins in too tight in order to treat us to a kindergarten-light laundry-list of essential items in the given cultures or writings. Another respect in which she treated us like insolent children was her frequent chiming of "so who did the reading besides ___?" Often, attempting to interact with her was like talking to a wall; although several would reword the exact answer she would be looking for, she would deny we understood what she wanted- only to repeat the same point we had been mentioning, as Bible truth, the next day. When two grad students from the music department showed up to teach the class one day, they were a breath of fresh air and demonstrated to me what the class could be- still limiting, in other words, but far more engaging.

Africa, unlike Europe, has had much greater difficulty weaving a coherent story of itself, and this accounts for the somewhat fragmented nature of the course. But it also renders African civilization a fundamentally more difficult- and, indeed, time consuming subject to teach than that of its cousin across the Mediterranean. To engage in this painstakingly partial survey of a continent, shoehorned into an abrupt semester, is to realize that even the expansiveness with which the Core treats Western thought and culture- in no fewer than six semesters, at least -could not itself begin to contain what is ultimately still rendered, by such a curtailed curriculum, a relatively dark continent. I am glad for the brief glimpses African Civ allowed me, but I wonder what it is one is supposed to distill from it. Too large in scope to be sufficiently taught, too little in student interest to be expanded significantly, it will probably lumber on as another awkward expression of Columbia's attempt to find a more appropriate place for and perhaps a more accurate expession of Major Cultures than the Core's small back shelf.

Jen is nice, young, and totally disorganized. The stuff covered in the class isn't her focus (she's just finishing up her dissertation on Public Health in Uganda), and there are a lot of questions she doesn't know the answers to. She has this tendency to write on the board totally incoherently, and class time didn't always help clarify the general ideas as much as the specific tangents the class discussion went off on. Otherwise, she's nice and approachable enough -- not necessarily recommended but not a nightmare either.

I have to disagree with the previous negative reviews about Ms. Palmer. I thought she was a great instructor. She was very nice and very approachable. There is a lot of reading and some of it can be a little dry but Ms. Palmer trys to make it as interesting as she can. This is really a pretty easy course at columbia. Much of the class is summarizing the readings so if you do at least part of the reading for the class you should have something to contribute. I would suggest this course for a major cultures class and anyone at all interested in Africa. There is also a weekly visual hour where we watched movies or heard lectures. This actually was my favorite part of the course because you could sit back and take it in without having to really think.

Professor Mann is an entertaining and very knowledgeable professor. He is young, hip and has a nice reparte with the class. The structure of the class is kind of loose. We read articles and then have discuss them. He rarely straight out lectures, which is good for people who find that teaching style boring and not so great for people who want to hammer down the issues and the facts. He is not a very easy grader on papers but not unfair either. He takes the class to see a movie and eat Ethiopian food which is cool. He is approachable for the most part. The only thing that is a bummer about the class is the longer paper we have to write. Otherwise I like him and definately take his section over Felicity's.

Ms. Palmer is the best grad-student instructor that I've had at Columbia. She knows what she's talking about and tries to make class discussions engaging. This doesn't work very long though b/c after the first 2 weeks of class, the readings get really long and boring. Try to say something even though you don't do the reading b/c for some reason she takes it personally when nobody reads. The midterm was EXTREMELY easy because she tells you what readings to focus on and tells you the themes that will be covered.

Professor Palmer can be very condesending. The class is organized and straight-forward but she makes the class a drag to attend. Her assignments are not that hard. But her grading on midterms and Finals are unjustified. I suppose I'd reccomend this class for your Major Culture requirement., but I suggest you learn how to get into her head because that's the only way she'll give you a good grade.

Mann is good. Not great, but good. You'll learn a fair amount about West, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe in this class. Addtionally, you should pick up some of themes in the present debate over the political and economic direction Africa should take. Mann is a sarcastic, occasionally too much so, but overall he's a nice guy and fair teacher. Overall, an fun, informative way to fufill Major Cultures List A

It's not an easy class. It's 4 points for a reason. There is a good deal of reading, and Prof. Mann expects you to able to discuss in class. Mann also expects you to show up; he's very strict on attendance. But a good deal of the reading is interesting, and Mann is a fun discussion leader. He lets the conversation go where the class wants, and he's incredibly knowledgable. If you're not going to find Africa at all enthusing, than the class probably isn't for you, but I took it just to get an A list African class out of the way (so I could get into the African-American B and C list classes) and I got a lot out of it.