PreColonial Africa Syllabus 2003

HISTORY 241: PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA
PRELIMINARY SYLLABUS
DR. WAYNE GLASKER
SPRING 2003: MW 2:50-4:10 PM
OFFICE: 355 ARMITAGE HALL
PHONE: 225-6220
EMAIL: GLASKER@CAMDEN.RUTGERS.EDU
WGLASKER@AOL.COM
OFFICE HOURS: MW 1:30-2:30 AND 5:15-5:45 PM.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is an introductory survey course on the history of "pre-colonial" Africa. This includes theories of evolution and pre-history; the fossil record; and theories about the origin of the human species in Africa and the migration of the species out of Africa to inhabit the other continents. The major civilizations of ancient Africa include Egypt, Nubia, Axum and Nok. We will also discuss the interaction of ancient Africa with the Afro-Asiatic subcontinent (also referred to as the Arabian Peninsula or Tigris-Euphrates Valley), and the interaction of Africa with the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In this context the theories of authors such as Cheikh Anta Diop, George James, Ivan Van Sertima, Martin Bernal, Richard Poe and Molefi Asante will be discussed. The course will also examine the city states of East Africa, the savanna kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, and cultures such as the Ashanti, Yoruba and Bini (Benin). Zimbabwe will also be discussed. We will also examine how the history of Africa has been maligned and distorted by white supremacist propaganda, stereotypes and mythologies that devalue Africa’s contributions to human civilization while exalting and worshiping Europe and the "West." These theories reached their zenith in the Aryan myth that nourished Adolf Hitler. The course is not taught from one monolithic Stalinist view of "correctness," although the perspective of the professor might be described as revisionist, multicultural, and Afrocentric. Students who prefer a more traditional, Eurocentric perspective are forewarned that they may find the Afrocentric perspective "uncomfortable." My approach to teaching is pluralistic. I believe that there are multiple points of view competing in the marketplace of ideas and students must be free to evaluate alternative viewpoints and reach their own conclusions. What I ask is that you be willing to hear and be exposed to a variety of points of view, and that you demonstrate your familiarity with the different points of view, coherently, in an essay, on the exam. The lectures and readings will be supplemented by videotapes.

REQUIRED BOOKS 1. Richard Poe Black Spark, White Fire
2.Byron E. Shafer, editor Religion in Ancient Egypt
3. Harry A. Gailey History of Africa: From Earliest Times to 1800

Also Recommended

Robert July A History of the African People
Vincent Khapoya The African Experience: An Introduction
Cheikh Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization
Donald Redford Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
Martin Bernal Black Athena
Ivan Van Sertima Egypt, Child of Africa
Molefi Asante The Afrocentric Idea
Stephen Quirke The Cult of Ra
Peter A. Clayton Chronicle of the Pharaohs
Aidan Dodson Monarchs of the Nile
Ian Shaw, editor Oxford History of Ancient Egypt
Time Life Books Africa’s Glorious Legacy

COURSE REQUIREMENTS There will be at least three in-class quizzes, which will include essays. There may be more quizzes if the level of performance (grades) suggest that more are needed. All dates are tentative and subject to change. It is your responsibility to be here, and if you are here you will know when the quizzes will occur. Together, the quizzes and the Final Exam will count for eighty percent of the course grade. Occasionally there may be a writing assignment or an Internet assignment. Together, they will count for ten percent of the course grade. Class participation and attendance count for at least ten percent of the course grade. The videos will be an important component of the lectures and quizzes. If you are not here for the videos, you will be at a distinct disadvantage for the quizzes. ATTENDANCE In the past, some students have not understood that being in school is a serious responsibility. It is like a job. You are here in this class to pay attention to the lectures and to take notes. If you conspicuously chat and converse during the lecture you will be asked to take your conversation to the lobby. No more than six absences are expected (that is an average of almost once every two weeks). If you have been absent for weeks at a time without explanation or an advisory letter from the Student Advising Office you will not be re-admitted to class or permitted to take exams. If you are enrolled I expect you to be here. If you are not going to be here, or cannot be here, you should not be enrolled. Rutgers-Camden does not offer correspondence courses*. If you suffer some event that will cause you to be absent for weeks at a time, such as an automobile accident or major surgery or a serious illness, you should notify the Student Advising Office. That office will then give formal and official written notification to all of your professors. It is not sufficient to show up a month later with an explanation after the fact (just as you would not be absent from your job, for weeks at a time, without contacting the employer promptly).

If you are absent it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate. The failure to get notes when absent is an even greater offense than the absence itself.

If you are absent more than six times, your grade for the course will be reduced by one letter grade (the equivalent of ten points). If it had been an A, it will become a B; if it had been a B, it will become a C; and so forth.

Ordinarily, no late exams will be given. Missed exams will automatically count as an "F" unless there is a credible doctor’s note, auto repair receipt ("my car broke down"), funeral card ("my grandmother died again"), or obituary. No late FINAL will be given.

This is a two-semester course. Students may take either half, in any order, and can take one half without necessarily taking the other.

As an experiment, an effort will be made to place lecture notes on my website, at crab.rutgers.edu/~glasker. Scroll all the way down to spring 2003. The first link should be there by Monday, Jan. 27^th. If it appears that the webnotes are a disincentive to class attendance, the webnotes will be discontinued.

DISCLAIMER Finally, it is exceedingly difficult to look into a crystal ball in January and know with precision exactly where we will be in the lectures, readings and other materials in March or April. This is a preliminary syllabus. That means that it is a preliminary projection, only, and I reserve the right to fine tune, amend, revise, edit, and change it, as I see fit, as we go along.* I am the syllabus. And as long as you keep up with me, you will be okay.

W Jan 22 Introduction

M Jan 27 Video: "Nova: The Children of Eve"
Articles on fossil record to be distributed in class

W Jan 29 Video:" Search for the First Human"

M Feb. 3 Video: "The Real [Genetic] Eve"
On electronic reserve, Charles Finch III "Nile Genesis: Continuity of Culture From the Great Lakes to the Delta,"Gailey, History of Africa, Chapter 1

W Feb. 5 Tentatively, first quiz Readings for next class
Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Introduction and Chaps. 1-10, pp. xiii-58.and Chap. 66, p. 400-406.

M Feb. 10 Video: "The Real Scorpion King"Distribute "Narmer’s Palette," the "Palermo Stone," Sample of hieroglyphic writing, sample of hieroglyphic, hieratic and Demotic, "Indo-European Language Tree" Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 69-70, pp. 419-429 (on Qastul and Ta-Seti) AND Byron Shafer, Religion in Ancient Egypt, Intro and Chap. 1

W Feb. 12 Byron Shafer, Religion in Ancient Egypt, Chaps. 2-3

M Feb. 17 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 11-20, pp. 59-117
(the focus is on George James, claims of ancient Greek figures that they studied in Egypt)

W Feb. 19 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 21-38, pp. 118-236.
(the focus is on contacts with Phoenicians, Greek myths)

M Feb. 24 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chap. 39-47, pp. 239-290
(was there contact with ancient America?)

Expect a quiz soon

W Feb. 26 Tentatively, second quiz
Readings for next class
Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 48-54, pp. 291-330
(Egyptian influence on Greek architecture; why is Europe called "Europa;"legend of Danaos and Argos; myth of Andromeda; pyramid of Amphion, near Greek Thebes)
Distribute "Out of Egypt, Greece" and John Leo, "A fringe history of the world"

M Mar 3 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 55-64, pp. 333-390
(on impact of Aryanism, dynastic race theory, Elliott smith’s brown race) Summarize Wyatt MacGaffey, "Concepts of Race in the Historiography
Of Northeast Africa"

W Mar 5 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps.65-68, pp. 393-418 and Chaps. 71-75, pp. 430-459.

M Mar 10 Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire, Chaps. 76-80, pp. 460-501
(what is "really" black, anyway? or mixed?)

W Mar 12 Quiz
Readings for next class Gailey, History of Africa, Chap. 8, "Northeast Africa"

Spring Break, March 17-22

M Mar 24 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap. 2 (on the Western Sudan)
For more information on African traditional culture, see Vincent Khapoya, The African Experience: An Introduction

W Mar 26 Maulana Karenga, Introduction to Black Studies, "Moorish Spain, pp. 63-73 (will be placed on reserve: give it time)

M Mar 31 to be assigned

W Apr 2 Quiz on savanna kingdoms of West Africa

M Apr 7 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap. 7 (east Africa) Also recommended: Robert July, A History of the African People, Chap. 4, pp.70-91 (east Africa); Time-Life, Africa’s Glorious Legacy, Chap. 4, pp. 119-134 (East African city-states)

W Apr 9 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap. 6 (south Africa)

M Apr 14 video on Great Zimbabwe, Recommended: Robert July, A History of the African People, Chap. 6, (Zimbabwe and migrations)

W Apr 16 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap. 3 (forest states of the Guinea coast)

M Apr 21 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap 4 (Europeans in West Africa)

W Apr 23. 1 Gailey, History of Africa, Chap 5 (Central Africa)

M Apr 28 Recommended: Robert July, A History of the African People, Chap. 5, "West African Forest Kingdoms"

W Apr 30 For more information on slavery in Africa and the Islamic world, see
Shaun E. Marmon, editor, Slavery in the Islamic Middle East, Igor Kopytoff and Suzanne Miers, Slavery in Africa

M May 5 Conclusion

Intro Lecture

Pre-history

Egypt I

Religion in Ancient Egypt

Richard Poe

Race and Egypt

Different Types of Africans