ENST 284 - Africa: Development and Environment

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

(Same as AFRS 284 and GEOG 284) Africa often appears in the news as a hungry continent, plagued by civil conflict and environmental crisis, and left behind by increasing global integration. Such framings obscure the continent’s great ecological, political, cultural, and religious diversity and its rich histories of powerful empires and trans-continental economic and botanical exchange. Employing a political ecology approach, the course explores the origins and making of Africa’s highly unequal relationship with the Global North, one shaped by the transatlantic slave trade, colonization, and neoliberalism, among other factors. In doing so, the course investigates, from various theoretical perspectives, a wide range of themes, including agriculture; hunger and poverty; gender and women’s roles in development; the scramble for mineral resources and land; urbanization; and South-South investment. As part of its goal to develop a broad understanding of Africa’s important place in the world, the course also examines African-led innovations and initiatives for environmental and climate justice, resource conservation, and sustainability. Ashley Fent.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS