AFST 963b / FREN 9630b, Radiant Matters/Nuclear Imperialism  Jill Jarvis

Beginning in 1960, the French military detonated seventeen aerial and subterranean nuclear bombs in what is now the Algerian Sahara. After 1966, the French military detonated 193 more atomic and hydrogen bombs on the living inhabitants of the occupied Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. Today, more than 70 percent of French energy supply is fueled by nuclear power that depends entirely on highly radioactive uranium extraction infrastructures located predominantly in African lands formerly colonized by France. The imperial radiance of France leaves an enduring toxic legacy whose impact is not yet known. Our planet is materially haunted on a cellular and atomic level by the slow violence of nuclear imperialism that nation-states train us not to perceive. With a particular but not exclusive focus on French nuclear imperialism and its archival silencings, this seminar considers how aesthetic works—novels, poems, photographs, film, public installation, collective archiving projects—help to render the obscured and pervasive violence of nuclear imperialism knowable and contestable. Preequisite: Reading knowledge of French is strongly recommended, as several of the texts are not available in English translation.
M 1:30pm-3:25pm

AFST 5505a, Gateway to Africa  Veronica Waweru

This multidisciplinary seminar highlights the study of contemporary Africa through diverse academic disciplines. Each session features a Yale faculty scholar or guest speaker who shares their unique disciplinary perspective and methodological approach to studying Africa. Topics include themes drawn from the humanities, social sciences, and public health, with faculty representing expertise from across Yale’s graduate and professional school departments. The course is intended to introduce graduate students and upper-level undergraduates to the breadth and depth of Yale scholarship on Africa, facilitating the identification of future topics and mentors for thesis or senior paper research. Each weekly seminar focuses on a specific topic or region, and students are exposed to various research methods and techniques in archival research, data collection, and analysis. A specific goal of the course is to impart students with knowledge of how research across diverse disciplines is carried out, as well as to demonstrate innovative methodology, fieldwork procedures, presentation of results, and ethical issues in human subjects research.
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

AFST 5516a / ANTH 5860a, African Migration and Diaspora  Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen

This seminar examines the politics of migration to, from, and within Africa. We explore intercontinental, regional, and rural-urban migratory circuits and diasporic formations to consider mobility and immobility in relation to race, colonialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, and globalization. Drawing on sources ranging from colonial travel accounts and trade diaspora histories to black critical theory and fiction, we examine theorizations and representations both about migration and by diasporic peoples to unsettle and retheorize imaginaries of globalization, nationalism, and the politics of belonging.
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

AFST 5552a, African Dance as Knowledge: Embodied Histories and Contemporary Transformations  Staff

This course explores African dance as an epistemological system—a living archive of history, spirituality, philosophy, and social knowledge. Students examine African dance not merely as performance or aesthetic form but as a mode of knowing, transmitted across generations and situated within political, social, and ritual contexts. Through case studies from Cameroon and the African diaspora, students interrogate how “African dance” has been framed within Western academic and curatorial contexts and consider the ethical and methodological challenges of embodied research. The course integrates discussion, close reading, audiovisual analysis, and guided embodied practice as analytic tools. Students develop research projects or creative work grounded in African and Afro-diasporic performance studies, fostering critical engagement, reflexivity, and ethical scholarship. Prior experience in dance, performance studies, or African studies is beneficial.
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

AFST 5585a, Pandemics in Africa: From the Spanish Influenza to COVID-19  Jonny Steinberg

The overarching aim of the course is to understand the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in Africa in the context of a century of pandemics, their political and administrative management, the responses of ordinary people, and the lasting changes they have wrought. The first eight meetings examine some of the best social science literature on twentieth-century African pandemics before COVID-19. From the Spanish influenza to cholera to AIDS, to the misdiagnosis of yaws as syphilis, and tuberculosis as hereditary, the social science literature can be assembled to ask a host of vital questions in political theory: on the limits of coercion; on the connection between political power and scientific expertise, between pandemic disease and political legitimacy, and, across all modern African epidemics, between infection and the politics of race. The remaining meetings look at COVID-19. We chronicle the evolving responses of policy makers, scholars, religious leaders, opposition figures, and, to the extent that we can, ordinary people. The idea is to assemble sufficient information to facilitate a real-time study of thinking and deciding in times of radical uncertainty and to examine, too, the consequences of decisions on the course of events. There are of course so many moving parts: health systems, international political economy, finance, policing, and more. We also bring guests into the classroom, among them frontline actors in the current pandemic as well as veterans of previous pandemics well placed to share provisional comparative thinking. This last dimension is especially emphasized: the current period is studied in the light of a century of epidemic disease, affording us the opportunity to see path dependencies and novelties, the old and the new.
Th 1:30pm-3:25pm

AFST 6639b / ANTH 5839b, Africa, Politics, Anthropology  Louisa Lombard

A historical-anthropological study of politics in Africa. How have anthropologists made sense of the workings of African politics, both those of state and nonstate actors? This course charts how African states came into being, how they operate, and how state agents and the people they govern negotiate legitimacy, authority, and belonging.
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

AFST 7740a, Pentecostalism in Africa: Perspectives, Practice, and Prospects  Kyama Mugambi

African Pentecostals represent one of the fastest growing religious movements in the world. After decades of dismissal as a marginal phenomenon, religious scholarship has only recently begun to conduct in depth research of it. This course uses a World Christianity studies lens to critically engage with elements of the African Pentecostal experience. Students explore the ways in which this diverse religious expression interacts with hope in the midst of the rapid change occurring in the continent. The class probes multidimensional perspectives of the pathologies that ail sections of African Pentecostalism. The course draws from examples in East, West and South Africa to illuminate a broad range of elements. The course considers conversion, pathologies and pathways to hope, storytelling and epistemology, the miraculous as spiritual power dynamics, sermons and prayer as dialectics of hope, the paradox of spontaneity and tradition in oral worship, the mediation of identity through aesthetics, the pragmatism of public engagement, communality and leadership, and the Pentecostal vision within African religion. Area III.
Th 9:20am-11:10am

AFST 7779a, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa: A History of the African Church  Kyama Mugambi

The rapid, previously unexpected growth of Christianity in Africa in the twentieth century calls for deeper scholarly reflection. Keen students of global trends are aware that Africa is now home to more Christians than Europe or North America. While the rapid growth can be traced to a century of vigorous activity, Christianity has a long eventful history on the continent. This course provides a broad overview of Christianity in Africa over two millennia. The early part of the course focuses on the beginnings and development of the Church in Africa. The material highlights the role of African Christian thinkers in shaping early Christian discourses in increasingly dynamic global and continental contexts. The course weaves critical themes emerging in African Christianity north of the expansive Sahara desert, and then south of it. Students encounter critical issues in missionary Christianity in Africa and gain a historical understanding of the milestones in Christian growth that contribute to Christianity’s status as both an African and global religion. Area III.
HTBA

AFST 8839a / HIST 8320a, Environmental History of Africa  Robert Harms

An examination of the interaction between people and their environment in Africa and the ways in which this interaction has affected or shaped the course of African history.
W 9:25am-11:20am

SWAH 6610a, Beginning Kiswahili I  John Wa'Njogu

A beginning course with intensive training and practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Initial emphasis is on the spoken language and conversation. Credit only on completion of SWAH 620.
MTWThF 9:25am-10:15am

SWAH 6630a, Intermediate Kiswahili I  Veronica Waweru

Further development of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Prepares students for further work in literary, language, and cultural studies as well as for a functional use of Kiswahili. Study of structure and vocabulary is based on a variety of texts from traditional and popular culture. Emphasis on command of idiomatic usage and stylistic nuance. Prerequisite: SWAH 620.
MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

SWAH 6650a, Advanced Kiswahili I  John Wa'Njogu

Development of fluency through readings and discussions on contemporary issues in Kiswahili. Introduction to literary criticism in Kiswahili. Materials include Kiswahili oral literature, prose, poetry, and plays, as well as texts drawn from popular and political culture. Prerequisite: SWAH 640.
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

YORU 6610a, Beginning Yorùbá I  Oluseye Adesola

Training and practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Initial emphasis is on the spoken aspect, with special attention to unfamiliar consonantal sounds, nasal vowels, and tone, using isolated phrases, set conversational pieces, and simple dialogues. Multimedia materials provide audio practice and cultural information. Credit only on completion of YORU 620.
MTWThF 9:25am-10:15am

YORU 6630a, Intermediate Yorùbá I  Oluseye Adesola

Refinement of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. More natural texts are provided to prepare students for work in literary, language, and cultural studies as well as for a functional use of Yorùbá. Prerequisite: YORU 620.
MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

YORU 6650a, Advanced Yorùbá I  Oluseye Adesola

An advanced course intended to improve aural and reading comprehension as well as speaking and writing skills. Emphasis is on acquiring a command of idiomatic usage and stylistic nuance. Study materials include literary and nonliterary texts; social, political, and popular entertainment media such as video movies and recorded poems (ewì); and music. Prerequisite: YORU 640.
MW 1:05pm-2:20pm

YORU 6670a, Topics in Yorùbá Literature and Culture  Oluseye Adesola

The course provides students with the opportunity to acquire Yorùbá up to the superior level. It is designed to give an in-depth discussion on advanced readings on Yorùbá literature and culture. It focuses on Yorùbá history, poetry, novels, dramas, and oral folklore. It also seeks to uncover the basics of the Yorùbá culture in communities where Yorùbá is spoken across the globe, with particular emphasis on Nigeria. It examines movies, texts, and written literature to gain insight into the Yorùbá philosophy and ways of life.
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

ZULU 6610a, Beginning isiZulu I  Nandipa Sipengane

A beginning course in conversational isiZulu, using web-based materials filmed in South Africa. Emphasis on the sounds of the language, including clicks and tonal variation, and on the words and structures needed for initial social interaction. Brief dialogues concern everyday activities; aspects of contemporary Zulu culture are introduced through readings and documentaries in English. Credit only on completion of ZULU 620.
MTWThF 11:35am-12:25pm

ZULU 6630a, Intermediate isiZulu I  Nandipa Sipengane

Development of basic fluency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing isiZulu, using web-based materials filmed in South Africa. Students describe and narrate spoken and written paragraphs. Review of morphology; concentration on tense and aspect. Materials are drawn from contemporary popular culture, folklore, and mass media. Prerequisite: ZULU 620.
MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

ZULU 6650a, Advanced isiZulu I  Nandipa Sipengane

Development of fluency in using idioms, speaking about abstract concepts, and voicing preferences and opinions. Excerpts are drawn from oral genres, short stories, and dramas made for television. Introduction to other South African languages and to issues of standardization, dialect, and language attitude. Prerequisite: ZULU 640.
MW 1:05pm-2:20pm