Culture and Society of West Africa

The curriculum is in three parts: an introduction to the region (its nations and ecology, traditions of writing about it), an exploration of its main historical trends, and long-term cultural realities (ideas of the person and society; of the person and cosmos; of age and gender); an ‘ethnographic survey’ of the main forms of indigenous/pre-colonial society; a provisional account of colonialism and its aftermath, of conversion to ‘world’ religions, and a discussion of ‘modernity’. With this general context established, we will explore particular problems via more local case studies without losing sight of the bigger picture. We will then turn to contemporary issues: from ethnicity and the post-colonial state, to a wide range of topics relating to development (these vary from year to year but may include: class, gender, youth politics, migration in different forms, corruption, slavery, resource control, trade etc.). A conclusion looks at West Africans in diaspora.

As preparation for the course students are best advised to read a good recent monograph (the review pages of the journal AFRICA give plenty of clues to what might interest you), or to read some West African fiction (for instance, Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ben Okri ….. for Nigeria; plenty of others elsewhere), or seek out showings or loans of some West African films.

This module is one of several regional ethnography modules offered by the Department of Anthropology (currently Culture and Society of: China, Japan, South Asia, South East Asia, Near & Middle East, West Africa, and East Africa). Each of these focuses on major cultural and social aspects, but varies in detail according to the characteristics of and scholarship on the region. Masters students in the Department of Anthropology are encouraged to study more than one regional ethnography module (albeit not normally two modules taught in the same term), to explore synergies across regions and gain a broader comparative understanding of the discipline.

Prerequisites

• Students enrol via the online Module Sign-Up system.
• MA Area Studies students wishing to take this module as their ‘major’ will normally hold a degree or substantial part-degree in social anthropology or a closely related discipline. Area Studies students wishing to take this module as their ‘major’ must contact the module convenor for approval.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

By the end of the course, students will:

• be able to research independently with a good critical sense of the interrelation between context, problem and argument in writings about West Africa;
• have a grasp of the key debates in the anthropology of the region.

This grasp of theory, method and problem will enable MA Anthropology students to write their dissertations (10,000 words) on a West African topic should they so wish. Skills in reading and contextualizing works on West Africa are readily transferable to other regional studies.

Suggested reading

The nearest thing to a textbook is:

• Eugene L. Mendonsa 2002 West Africa: an Introduction to its History, Civilization and Contemporary Situation, Carolina Academic Press

Also see:

• Carola Lentz 2013 Land, Mobility, and Belonging in West Africa, Indiana University Press
• Reginald Cline-Cole and Elsbeth Robson 2005 West African Worlds: Paths Through Socio-Economic Change, Livelihoods and Development, Routledge

If you want a reader, this is a useful selection of articles (but not just about West Africa):

• Roy R. Grinker, Stephen C. Lubkemann, and Christopher B. Steiner (eds) 2012 Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History and Representation, Wiley-Blackwell
• Stephen Ellis 2011 Season of Rains: Africa in the World, Jacana.

A good and concise history of the recent past (again for Africa as a whole):

• Frederick Cooper 2002 Africa since 1940: the Past of the Present, Cambridge

And for the more distant past:

• Richard Reid 2011 A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present, Wiley-Blackwell

Also see:

• Achille Mbembe 2001 On the Postcolony, London & Berkeley

A journalist’s intelligent and comprehensive tour of end of the millennium Nigeria can be found in:

• Karl Maier 2000 This House has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis, Penguin

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules