African Social and Cultural Systems

Catalog description

The African continent may be the most diverse of all the continents in its composition of ethnic groups, social and kinship arrangements, belief systems, and political processes. Its cultures have been subjected to further transformation by different colonial governance structures, decolonial apparatuses, differing ideals of modernity, and differing interactions with religions like Christianity and Islam. However, with all the differences and transformations, what are the elements that tell us about societies across the continent? This course details various social and cultural systems, from a regional perspective, to provide background knowledge to help students develop their understanding of the many different societies on the continent. The regional focus is further divided by into topics such as kinship relations, governance, and religion. As each region and topic area is covered, students will begin to understand areas of intersection, fissures brought by modernity, bridges and divides across ethnicities and regions: Kinship This subsection of the course on kinship provides an analysis of how kinship theories of social formation can facilitate our understanding of the different dimensions of African social practices in historical and contemporary Africa. It propels students' understanding of multiple theories of kinship, with a focus on the relationships between kinship and life-span relations, pension sharing, circular migration, gender, politics, and patronage. Governance Most African countries, irrespective of their degree of economic sophistication, are characterized economically by dual forms of governance-one that derives its authority from the state and the other that may be construed as traditional. The traditional governance section of the course addresses three overarching questions: (1) Why have traditional institutions of governance remained relatively robust in post-independent Africa even when faced with relatively hostile governments? (2) What are the levels of adherence and allegiance of rural Africans to traditional institutions? and (3) How are disputes resolved within traditional institutions? Religion There are three dominant forms of religions in Africa: Christianity, Islam, and Traditional African religions. These practices of these religions were affected by the experiences of colonialism and postcolonialism as well as Africa's subsequent integration into the global economy. All of these religions are related to various forms of social organization, authority, and power and may vary between regions and ethnic groups.