The African Continent: Exploring Complex Realities

Catalog description

Explores the complex reality of the African continent in the context of its demographics, state of economic and political development, and its relations with the outside world. Students gain an understanding of Africa's precolonial history, the impacts of European colonization, the Atlantic slave trade and the US-USSR Cold War competition on Africa's current development; and the prospects of the future with Africa's impact on the rest of the world in the area of climate change, the specter of global pandemics, the presence of violent extremist movements, its role in present-day great power competition, and the potential global impact of Africa's young fast-growing population. Students use knowledge gained in this course to develop policy analyses and proposals for government or private sector interactions with the nations of Africa, bilaterally and regionally.