| title | Hocbigg - African Studies |
|---|---|
| description | Path to a free self-taught education in African Studies! |
The African Studies curriculum is a comprehensive education in African Studies, designed for self-directed study using online materials.
The program emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, covering the African continent's histories, cultures, societies, politics, and global connections, including diaspora elements where relevant to continental dynamics.
Note: High-quality courses or books that do not fit into the core curriculum are listed separately in extras/courses and extras/readings.
This repository is organized into three main components:
- Core Curriculum (this page): the foundational knowledge of the field;
- Advanced Topics: focused study in specific areas;
Process: Learners may work through the curriculum independently or collaboratively, and either sequentially or selectively.
- For simplicity, courses in the Core Curriculum are ordered according to their prerequisites.
- The Core Curriculum provides a shared foundation and is intended to be completed in full.
- Advanced Topics are optional; learners are encouraged to select one area of focus and complete all courses within that topic.
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Subreddits: r/AfricanaStudies
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You can also interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
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Join our Discord server (for discussions around this and other curricula):
| Subject | Why study? | Book / Text | Online Resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope & Epistemologies of African Studies | It introduces how the multidisciplinary field evolved to study Africa on its own terms, critique colonial tropes, and center African agency and knowledge systems. | Vincent B. Khapoya, The African Experience: An Introduction (Routledge) | UNESCO – General History of Africa Portal (Overview & collection access) |
| African Historiography & Sources | You learn how scholars reconstruct Africa's past using oral traditions, archaeology, linguistics, and archival critiques, challenging Eurocentric written biases. | Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition as History (University of Wisconsin Press) | UNESCO GHA Vol. 1: Methodology & Prehistory (Full open-access text) |
| African Geography & Ecology | You learn how Africa's distinct topographies, climate zones, river systems, and ecosystems have shaped human settlement, agriculture, and adaptations over millennia. | Robert Stock, Africa South of the Sahara: A Geographical Interpretation (Guilford Press) | National Geographic Education: Africa Physical Geography |
| Human Origins & African Prehistory | It examines the fossil and archaeological record demonstrating Africa as the evolutionary birthplace of Homo sapiens and early technological innovation. | Peter Mitchell & Paul Lane (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology (Oxford University Press) | Smithsonian Human Origins Program (Fossil database & evidence) |
| African Languages, Peoples & Historical Migrations | You discover how the four major language phyla evolved and how demographic movements—such as the Bantu expansions—spread technologies and cultures across the continent. | Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), African Languages: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press) | British Museum: Africa Collection (Material culture & regional galleries) |
| Subject | Why study? | Book / Text | Online Resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Civilizations, States & Trans-Regional Trade | It explores the rise of ancient and medieval African kingdoms (e.g., Aksum, Nubia, Mali, Great Zimbabwe, Swahili Coast) and their integration into global trade networks. | Kevin Shillington, History of Africa (Palgrave Macmillan / Bloomsbury) | Met Museum: Heilbrunn Timeline of African Art History (Chronological art & historical essays) |
| Slavery, Slave Trades & African Diasporas | You understand the systems of domestic slavery within Africa and the catastrophic demographic, social, and economic impacts of the Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Atlantic slave trades. | Paul E. Lovejoy, Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa (Cambridge University Press) | Slave Voyages Database & UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples |
| European Imperialism & Colonial Rule (1884–1960) | It investigates the Scramble for Africa, colonial administrative strategies (direct vs. indirect rule), economic extraction, and their lasting societal disruptions. | A. Adu Boahen, African Perspectives on Colonialism (Johns Hopkins University Press) | Internet African History Sourcebook: Colonial Africa (Primary source documents) |
| African Resistance, Nationalisms & Decolonization | You analyze the political, intellectual, and armed liberation struggles through which African peoples resisted foreign rule, organized Pan-African movements, and gained sovereignty. | Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press) & Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1940 (Cambridge University Press) | Wilson Center Digital Archive: Decolonization & Cold War (Declassified archival records) |
| Post-Independence Politics & Contemporary State Formation | You evaluate the critical trajectories of postcolonial nation-building, early institutional crises, Cold War proxy interventions, military coups, and subsequent democratic transitions. | Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence (Simon & Schuster) | African Union (AU) Official Portal (Treaties, summit decisions, & continental history) |
| Subject | Why study? | Book / Text | Online Resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| African Political Systems & Governance | It examines how state power, political institutions, traditional authorities, civil societies, and electoral systems operate across modern African nations. | Alex Thomson, An Introduction to African Politics (Routledge) | Mo Ibrahim Foundation: Ibrahim Index of African Governance (Data & governance metrics) |
| Political Economy of African Development | You analyze the structural drivers of African economies, including agrarian systems, resource extraction, Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), debt, and industrialization policies. | Morten Jerven, Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics (Cornell University Press) | UNCTAD: Economic Development in Africa Reports (Annual economic analyses) |
| Regional Integration, Globalization & International Relations | It assesses Africa's changing role in international geopolitics, South-South partnerships, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). | Peter J. Schraeder, "African International Relations" in Understanding Contemporary Africa (Lynne Rienner) | African Development Bank (AfDB): Knowledge Hub (Regional integration reports & data) |
| Subject | Why study? | Book / Text | Online Resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| African Religions & Philosophies | It explores African Indigenous Religions, the deep history of African Christianity and Islam, and philosophical systems emphasizing communal relationality (e.g., Ubuntu). | John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (Heinemann / Waveland Press) | Harvard Pluralism Project: African Traditional Religions (Introductory overviews & essays) |
| African Literature, Orature & Expressive Arts | You study oral storytelling traditions alongside classic and contemporary African literature, visual arts, and performance traditions that express African social realities. | Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Anchor) & Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind (Heinemann) | Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Digital collections, exhibitions, & educational guides) |
| Kinship, Gender & African Feminisms | You investigate lineage and family systems, matrimonial dynamics, historical gender roles, and the distinct contributions of African feminist and womanist thought. | Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí (ed.), African Gender Studies: A Reader (Palgrave Macmillan) | African Feminist Forum (Feminist Charter, theory, & policy briefs) |
| Urbanization, Youth Culture & Social Change | It examines the rapid growth of African megacities, dynamic informal economies, youth demographics, digital technological adaptations (e.g., mobile money), and popular culture. | AbdouMaliq Simone & Edgar Pieterse, New Urban Worlds: Inhabiting Urban Sub-Saharan Africa (Polity Press) | UN-Habitat: State of African Cities Reports (Urban development profiles & trends) |