Geology students reviewing a topographical map. background

Course Catalog

Issues in African Development

SSCI 333 will focus on major current issues in Africa’s economic development. The course will highlight and explore the perspectives of what Cramer, et al (2020) call possibilism, a balance between pessimism and naïve optimistic perspectives. This approach professes a bias for hope rooted in a pragmatic appreciation of the state of African development trajectory. In this course, students will interrogate the effects of western interventional mechanisms in countries in the African continent— from colonialism to modern day foreign policies, aid, the role of "African experts’", democratization, and more. Finally, we shall highlight the often neglected African and Africanist voices in African economic development scholarship. Fall semester.

Grade Basis: Letter Grade
Credits: 4.0