Time Schedule:
Kristy A. Leissle
JSIS A 481
Seattle Campus
Examines the work of Swedish dramatist, novelist, and painter August Strindberg, in the context of European literary movements and history of ideas from 1880 to 1912, and Strindberg's influence on 20th-century drama and film. Offered: jointly with SCAND 481.
Class description
This course is concerned with the political economy of sub-Saharan Africa, as understood through the historic, economic, ethnographic, and theoretic scholarship produced in the United States and Europe. Just as importantly, it is concerned with representations of Africa in advertising, consumer culture, journalism, and film, and how these inform and intersect with political economy. Course materials cover historic and contemporary relationships between African states and their economies, focusing on colonialism, neoliberalism, and contemporary trade relations. This course is structured by my research on the cocoa-chocolate trade in Ghana and Britain and my use of feminist analytics. As such, we focus on West African agricultural systems, land tenure issues, gender politics, cocoa and chocolate markets, commodity culture, Ghanaian economy, and international food systems.
Student learning goals
Understand political economic issues in Africa through a range of disciplinary texts
Understand how representations both shape and reflect political economies
Identify major historic influences on relations between African states and their economies
Document the relations between economics, politics, history, and society in African contexts
Analyze Africa's place in the global political economy, particularly neoliberal policies
General method of instruction
Close reading, small seminar discussion format, analysis of films and visual images
Recommended preparation
No prerequisites, but previous study of African history and politics and/or studies of economic ideologies would be useful for this course.
Class assignments and grading
Analytical essays and examinations, in-class participation.
