[ANTH V3005] Africa: Culture and Society

Never mind the name: this course is not Africa-in-a-box, codified and prepared for examination by undergrads hungry for a taste of the exotic. As I often explained it to my friends, "We don't really talk about Africa. It's more like talking about how people talk about Africa. And it's amazing."

Professor Larkin is brilliant, but perhaps not for everyone. He takes serious time and care to ask (and answer) questions of the class; however, this practice may result in lectures feeling a bit like they start and stop (the class often ended with 5 minutes of frantic lecture-note reading as he ran out of time). The course is colored by Larkin's professional work in Nigeria and interest in media, which offers a good balance to some of the more heavy theory (the course was also a great introduction to some big names in contemporary African scholarship, at least for someone like myself with little-to-no background in African Studies). You'll *learn* stuff about Africa, no doubt, but more importantly, if you're as enraptured by Professor Larkin's eloquence (okay, okay, and piercing blue eyes...) as I was, you'll learn how to ask better questions - about anthropology, about history, about modernity, about urbanization, about corruption, about development, and well, yeah, about Africa in a contemporary, global context. Ever have one of those "THIS is why I'm at Columbia (or Barnard, sorry!)" moments? Twice a week.