KREQ220 Africa and World Development 3 Credits
This interdisciplinary course is designed to provide students with basic knowledge and understanding of Africa and world development. Part I examines the ideas, history, events, policy debates and practical interventions that are shaping the economic, social and political direction of world development today.
This part will last for four weeks.
Part II examines the histories, people and cultures of Africa and its development in the context of global development and discusses what measures are needed as a way forward for Africa’s development. The general introduction will take two weeks after which students will be required to take one of these modules:
This module will introduce students to key concepts and issues in gender and development with specific reference to Africa. The main objective of this module is to help students appreciate the gendered nature of African societies, how this impacts development and state as well as state and civil society responses to gender inequalities. The course will cover topics such as why we deal with gender issues in African studies and key gender concepts and make a case for transforming relations on the basis of three justifications – citizenship rights and the constitution, development imperatives and the promotion of gender-equitable cultures. It argues that development is not a neutral process, but impacts men and women differently. Key topics will include men and women’s access to resources in Africa such as land, labour, credit, time and social capital, production and reproduction. The module will also examine the gendered implications of natural resource management and sustainable development as well as decision making. It will further examine state and civil society responses to gender issues in Africa. The main objective of this foundation course is to sensitize students to gender issues and enable students recognize and understand the relevance of gender as a development issue and how gender inequalities negatively affect development.
Good leaders are expected to solve new problems that arise in their domain and the changing landscape of business. Leadership is a complex process by which the leader influences others to perform and achieve. Leadership attributes – beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge and skills – are all traits which can be learned. This course provides the basis for understanding what leadership is and what leaders do to be successful. The course particularly seeks to make students understand traditional and contemporary concepts and practices of leadership in Africa.
The course provides a balanced theatre arts programme that guides students to achieve the standards in the performing arts. Theatre courses will emphasize artistic perception and creative expression. They will promote understanding of aesthetic valuing, historical and cultural awareness, and the interconnections of the arts and other disciplines. Students will be trained in the fundamental skills of the theatre arts, including improvisation techniques, body control, voice, diction, pantomime, learning of lines, creation of character, projection of ideas and emotions, dance and preparation and acting of scenes from plays. Acting projects will provide positive group experiences in collaborative assignments, developing self-discipline, evaluating the performances of others, and accepting constructive criticism. Instruction develops language skills and appreciation through reading dramatic literature; using written critiques; writing dramatic scenes, character analyses, play reports, and introductions; observing with sensitivity; listening critically; and speaking effectively.
This concentration presents more advanced reading, written, and analysis in the context of the study of business and economics. Emphasis is laid on critical analysis, accurate summary and paraphrase, and appropriate methods of citation, and students will be asked to consider a variety of business-related texts from a critical standpoint. In this class, students will read and analyze case studies leading to individual business-related research while working on oral presentation skills.
This concentration presents more advanced reading and writing tasks, including those related in particular to conducting research and writing in the social Sciences. Emphasis will be on: Developing close reading skills appropriate for long and complex academic articles; Learning how to find, classify, and evaluate a variety of sources; Paraphrasing, summarizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources; Demonstrating sound argumentation skills; Drawing logical inferences and conclusions from textual evidence; Avoiding plagiarism by successfully referring to and building upon the ideas of others; Integrating basic data analysis into an argumentative paper; Learning how to compose critical ‘texts’ for a variety of purposes and audiences as they relate to peoples’ literacy practices in new digital communication environments (multimodality).
This concentration uses texts from science, medicine and engineering to allow students to practice organizing and synthesizing ideas, reporting on technical methods and results and explaining technical and scientific ideas to scientific and non-technical audiences. In addition to the textbook and texts provided by the instructor, students will bring in texts from their field of study and/or interest to use as models and sources. They will study these texts and produce a variety of texts of their own in order to practice the style and methods appropriate for technical discourse in science, medicine, and engineering.
A certificate is awarded upon course completion.
World
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