Modern Travelers: African Journeys since 1700
Professor Osseo-Asare
Spring 2008
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This course examines histories of Africa and travel through eyewitness accounts. Course participants will study journeys Africans have made within and from the continent alongside accounts of travelers visiting Africa from elsewhere. These “Modern Travellers” included migrant laborers, market women, Peace Corps volunteers, enslaved individuals, soldiers, political activists, adopted children, and religious evangelists since the 18th century. How did people experience the movement of their bodies from one location to another? What do their narratives indicate about changing conceptions of ethnicity, migration, tourism, citizenship, and the environment in different time periods? And how did shifts in medical, transportation, and communication technologies shape their journeys?
Readings (and films).
Lonely Planet Africa,The Village of Waiting, An African in Greenland, You in America, Osuofia in London, The Modern Traveller, Heart of Darkness, L’Afrance, Amistad, and The Life of Olaudah Equiano.
Requirements.
Open to all interested participants. Assignments include two oral and written reports on readings, and a short research paper.
Syllabus.
View more about the course here.