Interdisciplinary Africa – winter term 2020/2021

This course is conceptualized as an interdisciplinary course which can offer a wide range of topics to the students, ranging from political systems to post-colonial literature or environmental issues. Each topic will have its own lecture made by academics from various fields and universities. The course it aimed at students from all research fields, regardless of their year of study. Students from different schools can also sign up for the course. The interdisciplinary course should familiarize students with the issues of African studies as a whole and should help overcome barriers of various research fields. The goals of the course is to explain the historical, cultural and political context of the African continent, which is deeply intertwined with western civilization. The course functions as an introduction to African studies and is supposed to raise awareness of African nations and countries. It should lead the students towards the understanding and clarification of the issues Africa is facing today.

The course requires reading texts ahead of each meeting. These texts will then be discussed in class. To acquire credits, the student must regularly attend the course (maximum three absences) and they must actively participate during the lessons.

Syllabus

The programme will be continuously added to and modified if needed.

5. 10. prof. Markéta Křížová, PhD – CAFR FA CU

Staying aside in the Czech basin. Reactions to debates about (post)colonialism

12. 10. Lenka Philippová – Faculty of Arts, Charles University

Black Lives Matter – from Hashtag to Global Movement

Supplemental text to the lecture here: https://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/

19. 10. Mgr. Míla Janišová – Faculty of Arts, Charles University

26. 10. Mgr. Vojtěch Šarše – CAFR FA CU

Gangsta/political Rap, a Reflection of Current Issues 

2. 11. doc. Petr Pokorný, PhD (Centre for Theoretical Studies) and Mgr. Adéla Pokorná, PhD (Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences):

The Transformations of the African Continent in the Quaternary Period (Out of Africa / Inside Africa

9. 11. Ifesinachi Comedy Nwanyanwu (Nigerian sculptor)

Black Identity

16. 11. – Ing. Anna Maňourová and Ing. Pavla Slavíčková (Czech University of Life Sciences)

Logging in the Congo Basin and its Effects on the Life of Cameroonians and Others

23. 11. – Czech University of Life Sciences

30. 11. – Mgr. Zuzana Uhde, PhD – Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

7. 12. – Ing. Tereza Němečková, PhD – Metropolitan University Prague

“African Statistical Tragedy” or is Africa a Poor Continent or not?

14. 12. – PhDr. Marek Halbich, PhD – FH CU

The Formation of Social Anthropology in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Importance of Local Cultural Leaders

21. 12. – 

4. 1. – Mgr. Vít Zdrálek, PhD – Faculty of Arts, Charles University

The Bio-Ethnography of the Inhabitants of the South African Township between Apartheid and Post-Apartheid: Musical Construction of Postcolonial Identity