Course Design Worksheet Goals and Content

Authors

Remi Alapo, CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community CollegeFollow

Document Type

Assessment Tool

Publication Date

Summer 2022

Abstract

In addition to the required texts, we will be reading and supplementing with other resources and videos in our class discussions. Some particularly important works include a novel on the life of a middle-class Senegalese woman during the colonial era (So Long a Letter) and about the work and moral dilemmas involving corruption in post-independent Africa (The Beautiful Ones are not yet Born), and Chinua Achebe’s (Things Fall Apart) Things Fall Apart is part tragedy and part documentary. It is the story of Okonkwo and his tragic death after the coming of the white man; it is also a piece of fiction that documents the world that the white man destroyed. We will also be discussing Donald Woods Steve Biko: Cry Freedom about the life and struggles in South Africa, Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth about the psychological impact of colonialism and where Africa is in the world system, and The African Child (or L’Enfant Noir) or “Dark Child” by Camara Laye where the author depicts an account of his life growing up as a child on an African continent. The professor will add other recommended are readings resources on BB / OpenLab that the students may find interesting for their own future understanding about African’s history. These enjoyable readings in African literature will help you to appreciate some of the culture and logic of African life as well as to experience the continent’s history.

Comments

Teach from an anti-racist pedagogy/curriculum

• Describe pre-colonial African states and societies from an anti-racist and culturally inclusive pedagogy.
• Analyze “historical truths” in the relationship between pre-colonial Africans, Europeans, and the rest of the world.

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