Research Paper

From the Atlantic to the Sahara:
Geography, Peoples, and Cultures of West Africa

Fulbright-Hays Group Seminar Abroad Program
June 1-July 3, 2004

Topics for Research Paper

Instruction: Each team member will select a topic from the list below

1. West Africa’s physical characteristics (forests, desert, rivers, mountains, etc.)

2. Kingdoms and empires of West Africa (political culture of pre-industrial societies)

3. An ethnographic and linguistic survey of West Africa (peoples of West Africa)

4. Anglophone and Francophone West Africa (comparative study, European imperialism)

5. West African music (instruments, entertainment, global influence)

6. Islam in West Africa (religion, spread and impact of Islam, Islamic and traditional beliefs)

7. West African religions and beliefs (early civilizations, religion)

8. West African art (artistic production, esthetics, global influence)

9. The Atlantic slave trade (migration, “the Columbian Exchange”, cultural diffusion)

10. Economic Community of West Africa (regional integration, economic union)

11. Science and technology in West Africa (contributions to science and technology)

12. Cities and urban life in West Africa (settlement patterns in developing countries)

13. Family and Kinship in Africa (social institutions, relationships)

14. African women (gender, women’s issues)

15. Educational system (traditional, colonial, and contemporary educational systems)

16. Work and leisure (social institutions, socialization, industrialization)

Reading/Viewing List
Books

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Trade Paperbacks, Anchor Books, 1994).

Samuel Aryeety-Attoh, ed., Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997).

Adu Boahen (with J. F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Tidy), Topics in West African History (London: Longman Group, 1986 Second Edition).

Basil Davidson, Modern Africa: A Political and Social History (Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1995).

Basil Davidson, West Africa Before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850 (London and New York: Longman, 1998).

Toyin Falola, ed., Africa Vol. 2, African Cultures and Societies before 1885 (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2000).

April Gordon and Donald Gordon, eds., Understanding Contemporary Africa (3rd Edition) (Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001).

Vincent Khapoya, The African Experience: An Introduction (Third Edition) (Pearson Higher Education, 2003).

Djibril Tamsir Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (London: Longman).

Movies & Documentaries

Keita: The Heritage of the Griot (Burkina Faso, 1995) (Director: Dani Kouyaté).

The Language You Cry In (Sierra Leone and Spain, 1998) (Producer/Director: Alvaro Toepke and Angel Serrano).

Sango Malo (The Village Teacher) (Cameroon, 1991) (Director: Bassek ba Kobhio).

Taafe Fanga (Skirt Power) (Mali, 1997) (Producer/Director: Adama Drabo).

Ta Dona (Fire!) (Mali, 1991) (Director: Adama Drabo).

Wend Kuuni (God’s Gift) (Burkina Faso 1992) (Director: Gaston Kabori)

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