Fall 2003
Dr. Evans
wevans@aug.edu
667-4024

In this independent study Humanities course you must take the initiative to learn the material on your own. Success in the course will require discipline and commitment. Normally there will be one exam period every week; you need only show up six times for exams and may take any exam during any of the scheduled periods. These will be the only times you need to schedule specifically for this Humanities class. There may be some amendments to the following syllabus, but there should not be many.

The Board of Regents mandates that for each semester hour of academic credit a student should have one hour a week (for fifteen weeks) of lecture; the videotapes you will watch for the course are to be considered the equivalent of class lectures. The course will abide by the principle that students should work about two hours out of class for every hour spent in class. Obviously individuals vary enormously in reading speeds,
but the course has been designed so that, in addition to the time spent with videotapes (readings, listening examples, review, etc.) the course should occupy a hypothetical average student somewhere around thirty hours. In sum, over the course of the semester, a hypothetical average student should devote something like forty-five hours to the course; certainly some will devote more time, some less.

GRADING
All exams will be basically multiple choice. There will be six exams, one for each unit of the course. Each exam will consist of 50 questions. There will be 300 points possible for the course; a student who earns 90% (270 points) will earn an A; a score of 80% (240 to 269 points) earns a B; 70% (210 to 239 points) earns a C; 60% (180 to 209 points) earns a D; a student who earns 179 points or fewer will fail the course. If you decide to drop the course you should fill out a withdrawal form at Student Records. If you have not taken at least two exams by midterm you should expect to receive a WF or an F. If you take at least two exams by midterm, but don’t take all six by the end of the semester and don’t withdraw, you should expect to receive an F.

REQUIREMENTS
You must pay careful attention to what you hear, see, and read, and you must take copious notes. For example, you should rarely let 60 seconds of video pass without writing several words of notes. If you merely read the reading assignments you will do poorly on the tests; take good notes. Actually writing down dates, names of individuals, titles of artworks, etc. will do you far more good and will provide excellent review material when you’re preparing for tests. For artworks on video or in the Stokstad or Ben-Amos textbooks you would be wise to make a quick sketch to help implant the image in your mind in case you need to identify the artwork on an exam.

Some reading assignments (Stearns: World History; Stokstad: Art History; Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin; Niane: Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali; Ferris: Music, the Art of Listening, Mack: The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, for example) will be on reserve in Reese Library. Videos (VCT) will be available at Media Services in Hardy Hall; you should plan to watch the videos on monitors there. The phone number for
Media Services is 737-1703. Be polite and respectful when dealing with the Media Services staff.

As soon as you get this syllabus you should immediately e-mail me the following information:
1. state you are enrolled in African Humanities
2. your name
3. mailing address
4. phone number
5. a nickname or pseudonym I can use to post your exam scores near my office door
6. your e-mail address

E-mail any questions you may have and I will e-mail a response. If you do not currently have an e-mail address, go to Room 7 in Hardy Hall with a validated student I.D. and you can get one for free. I will post on my door or on the wall near my door update information about the course and, by nickname or pseudonym, your exam scores.

The course will be divided into six units:
Africa 1 History
Africa 2 Sundiata
Africa 3 Art
Africa 4 Music
Africa 5 Zulu / Swahili / Ibo
Africa 6 Achebe: Things Fall Apart

EXAMS
You may take the exams in any order and may take any exam on any of the dates listed. All exams will be in Allgood Hall E354. You may take a maximum of two exams in any exam period. If at all possible you should try to finish the course well before Thanksgiving; there are NO EXAM DATES after Thanksgiving—our last scheduled exam date is November 25. If the semester ends before you’ve taken all six exams you will
receive a zero for any exams you have not taken. Plan ahead! Do not trap yourself into needing to take exams on the last exam day!

If you have given me a nickname or pseudonym to use, your exam scores will be posted outside my office as soon as I’ve graded your exams. It’s illegal to post scores by name or social security number. Be sure to bring two sharpened number two pencils and your completed study questions. You will not be able to take the exams if you have not brought your study questions. Do not leave any marks on the exams. If you mark on an
exam your grade may be cut or you may receive a zero for the exam. If you see any pencil or pen marks left on an exam by another student you must report them to me immediately or expect to be held responsible for having made them. Exams will take place, in alternate weeks, on Tuesday evenings from 5:00 - 5:50 PM and on Friday afternoons from 12:00 to 12:50 PM. Be on time! Most students complete an exam in about 20 or 25 minutes, but if you are late, do not expect extra time to complete the exam!

When Exams May Be Taken
Tuesday (5:00 - 5:50 PM) Friday (12:00 - 12:50 PM)
(in Allgood Hall E354) (in Allgood Hall E354)
August 29
September 2 September 12
September 16 September 26
September 30 October 10
October 14 October 24
October 28 November 7
November 11 November 21
November 25

STUDY QUESTIONS
You must do all the work for this independent study course yourself, not relying on others for help with answers to study questions. For each segment you should write out answers on the pages which contain the study questions. When you take an exam for a unit you MUST bring your study questions and turn them in PRIOR to taking the exam. If you don’t have study questions to hand in, written in your own handwriting, there’s no
point in showing up for the exam. Do not borrow study questions from another student and do not lend your study questions to another student. If you are in possession of another student’s answers to study questions or if another student is in possession of your answers to study questions you both will be considered guilty of cheating and should expect to flunk the course and be remanded to the Dean for academic dishonesty.

Important: Remember to take notes on material not in the study questions—the majority of questions on each exam (about two-thirds) will come from those study questions, but many other exam questions (about a third) will be new.

DO NOT PUT ANY MARKS IN THE LIBRARY BOOKS OR PHOTOCOPIES ON RESERVE IN THE LIBRARY. If you see any such marks report them to me immediately so that I can have the library staff check to see who last checked out these items. If you find marks but don’t report them expect to be held responsible for being the person who made the marks!

STUDY UNITS
Remember to take notes on material not in the study questions; the majority of questions on the exam (about two-thirds) will come from the study questions, but many other exam questions (about a third) will be new.

Unit One: History
Peter Stearns, World History: Patterns of Change and Continuity, 2nd Edition,
HarperCollins: 1995 (6-15; 23-4). [photocopied pages available in an envelope on reserve at the front desk of the library]
Africa: A History Denied (videotape, VCT 261, about 48 minutes)
Peter Stearns, World History: Patterns of Change and Continuity, 2nd Edition,
HarperCollins: 1995 (177-87; 313-17; 426-32; 438-44; 650-71)
[photocopied pages available in an envelope on reserve at the front desk of the library]

The videotape will be available for viewing in Media Services in Hardy Hall. Copies of the pages from Stearns are available in an envelope on reserve at the front desk of the library.

Unit Two: Sundiata
“Africa: The Mali Epic of Son-Jara” in Maynard Mack: The Norton Anthology of World
Masterpieces, Expanded Edition in One Volume (pages1430-1434). [You may also read the same material in Volume I of the Two-Volume Edition, pages 2334-2338.]. [photocopied pages included in study packet]
Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, D. T. Niane (Longman: 1965)
You may choose to buy your own copy of this paperback; you may order from our bookstore, another bookstore in town, or from an online bookstore. The ISBN is: 0582264758.

You should purchase your own copy of Sundiata. Copies have been ordered for our bookstore and should be available by September, though you may choose to special order the book from another bookstore. Both these texts are also on reserve at the front desk of the library; copies of the Norton pages are also included in this envelope at the end of the study questions for Unit 2.

Unit Three: Art
Marilyn Stokstad, Art History, First Edition (Abrams: 1995). Pages 464-477; 908-925.
Paula Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin (Thames and Hudson, 1980).

Both books are on reserve at the front desk of the library. Make no marks in any of the books! Study the images in both books. At the end of the questions on The Art of Benin is a list of artworks; on the exam you should be able to identify each of these by title from a photocopy. Study images in the Stokstad book, especially color images; some multiple choice questions—not included in the study questions— will have
photocopied images from Stokstad and you must be able to identify these images and answer questions about them (identifying name or title, artist’s name if known, originating culture, approximate date, medium).

Unit Four: Music
“Africa,” New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition (2001), ed. by
Stanley Sadie, pages 190-207. [photocopied pages included in the study packet]
Jean Ferris, Music: The Art of Listening (fifth edition), pp. 314-317;
Listening Example 45: Yoruba Pressure Drums (listen to the CD or tape)
Clayton Shotwell, Music of Mali and Sub-Saharan Africa (videotape, VCT: 2236)
George Stark, African Music (videotape, VCT: 884)

The Ferris textbook is on reserve at the front desk of the library and the listening example should be available in Media Services (phone 737-1703). For the Stark videotape you need not listen to the questions after the lecture; do keep notes on the examples he plays— origins, instruments, subjects, occasions, what the example demonstrates, etc.

Unit Five: Zulu / Swahili / Ibo
Secrets of the Dead: Day of the Zulu, Battle of Isandlwana (videotape, VCT 2844)
The Poetry of Liongo Fumo, by Jannike Jakobsen Seward (will be on reserve at the library)
Chinua Achebe: Africa’s Voice (videotape, VCT 2652, 61 minutes)

The text for “The Poetry of Liongo Fumo will be on reserve at the front desk of the library.

Unit Six: Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (available on reserve in The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Vol. II [pages 2498-2597] or in the one-volume Expanded Edition [pages 2931-3030]; or in paperback in the bookstore. [Photocopies of the Norton introduction are included in the study packet.]

You should buy a copy of this book from the ASU bookstore or from one of the local bookstores. If you choose to special order the book, the publisher is Anchor and the ISBN is 0385474547. Take good reading notes. Keep track of the 15 or 20 most important characters, know who they are and be able to identify them by name. Keep track of the important places, events, foreign terms (like “chi”), etc.