ANTH606 - POST COLONIAL PERSPECTIVES ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

This course focuses on the process of introducing equality in hierarchical African societies from colonization and missionization to contemporary democratization policies designed by governments and NGOs. Equality, as a crucial component of democratic ideals, has been promoted by many working to bring Progress or development in Africa. The course explores the historical dimensions of these egalitarian policies as well as their expected and unexpected social and cultural effects. Some innovations may have strengthen former divisions and introduce others. The course examines the local implementations of globally designed policies. Hence, it deals with the diverseand complex articulations of equality and hierarchy as the former rarely simplyreplaces the latter but rather coexists with it. Indeed, people often concurrenrefer to (or simply use) different ideologies and categories and these contradictions do not reveal any weakness in their representations of society, nor do they ruin their practical efficiencies. This course primarily covers case studies from Continental Africa and Madagascar but fruitful comparisons are notably conducted with the caste politics and the process of democratization in the Indian subcontinent. A wide range of ethnographies and anthropological theories are referred to, including postcolonial and gender studies, anthropology of development, anthropology of Christianity and cognitive anthropology.