FYS: Science in Africa, African Science
Spring Semester, 2007
Assignments By Week | Download Syllabus
First Year Studies: Science in Africa, African Science
Dr. Mary Dillard
Sarah Lawrence College
Spring Semester, 2007
This course is a continuation of the work that we began last semester. The purpose of this class is to introduce students to the study of science, technology and medicine in Africa by investigating scientific practices in diverse African societies. When people think of major advances in science and medicine, the continent of Africa does not usually come to mind. Instead, images of Africa tend to be invoked primarily when biology or disease has gone astray (e.g. African “killer bees”, West Nile Virus, Ebola and HIV/AIDS). These perceptions allow a history of scientific development and technological innovation in Africa to be ignored. The goal of this class is to discuss significant themes and topics in African history, but do this by focusing through the lens of science, technology and medicine.
A major goal of our work will be to reconsider the assumption that advances in scientific thought and practice have not come from or occurred in Africa. Students will learn to ask, “What is science?” and to develop an inclusive definition of science focusing on practices and belief systems that are found in Africa.
Class meets: Mondays and Thursdays: 11:05 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Dudley Lawrence 04
Course Requirements:
- Consistent, punctual attendance at class and conference
- Three mini-papers (2 -3 pages), Two longer papers (4-6 pages)
- Science and Medicine in Africa country report (revised from last semester)
- African Public Health Project (based on country report from last semester)
- Oral History Project
- Leading class discussion twice during the semester
- Conference prospectus
- Annotated Bibliography of conference work
- Literature Review Essay of conference work
- Final conference paper
Relevant policies:
I do not accept late papers. If you are ill and therefore unable to submit an assignment on time, you must notify me before the assignment is due.
There are no unexcused absences in my class. You will lose credit if you miss class often or are consistently late.
Materials:
Tony Barnett, AIDS in the Twenty-first Century: Disease and Globalization
Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men
Judith Carney, Black Rice
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel
Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals
Edward Green , Indigenous Theories of Contagious Disease
Daniel Headrick, Tools of Empire
Jose Saramago, Blindness
Helen Verran, Science and an African Logic
All books for the class are available at the Sarah Lawrence College Bookstore. In addition to the books, the articles, unless otherwise specified, will be on reserve in the Esther Raushenbush library.
Readings
Th. 1/18 Return conference papers, introduction to class materials
Epidemics and HistoryM. 1/22 Jose Saramago, Blindness, pp. 1-160
Th. 1/25 Saramago, Blindness, pp. 161-end
HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Why Africa?
M. 1/29 Tony Barnet and Alan Whiteside, AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalization, Chapters 1 -3
Th. 2/1 Edward C. Green, Indigenous Theories of Contagious Disease, Introduction, Chapters 2 and 5
John Iliffe, East African Doctors, Chapter 10 “AIDS” pp. 220-243
***revised country reports- discussion in class***
M. 2/5 Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Man, Introduction, Chapter 1, in Chapter 2, pp. 69-79 and 108-127
4-6 page paper due: What is the role of stigma in defining how individuals and governments might react to an outbreak of infectious disease? (Note: you may also use relevant examples from last semester or conduct additional research)
Th. 2/8 Adas, Machines, Chapter 3, pp. 133-166, Chapter 4, pp. 199-236, and Epilogue
***public health project due***
Science, Technology and Conquest (I)
M. 2/12 Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel, Prologue, Chapters 1,3, 4 and 9
Th. 2/15 Guns, Germs and Steel, Chapters 10, 11, 19 and
Geographers’ responses to GGS in Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, Vol. 35, no.4 (September 2003): 801-831.
Science, Technology and Conquest (II)
M. 2/19 Robinson Crusoe, pp. 1-153
Th. 2/22 Robinson Crusoe, pp. 153-282
***Annotated Bibliography due***
Science, Technology and Conquest (III)
M. 2/26 Daniel Headrick, The Tools of Empire, Introduction, Chapters 1,3,6,7
Th. 3/1 Headrick, The Tools of Empire, Chapters 10, 12, 14, 15
FIRST MINI PAPER: write a brief (250-500 words), well-argued response to this question: “How did technology play a role in the conquest of Africa?’Scientific Racism: “Creating Science” on African BodiesM. 3/5 Steven Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man, Chapter 2, “American Polygeny and Craniometry Before Darwin,” pp. 62-104
Sir Francis Galton “The Comparative Worth of Different Races,” and “Influences that Affect the Natural Ability of Nations,” Hereditary Genius (London, 1925), pp. 325-348.
***Conference prospectus due***
Th. 3/8 Paul Rich, “Race, Science, and the Legitimization of White Supremacy in South Africa, 1902-1940,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, 23, 4 (1990): 665-686.
Daniel G. Blackburn, “Why Race is not a Biological Concept,” in Berel Lang, ed., Race and Racism in Theory and Practice, (Oxford, 2000) pp. 3-26.
SPRING BREAK!!
Intrepid Explorers and Debates on African Ideas
M. 3/26 Peter Raby, Bright Paradise, Chapter 2, “The Heart of Africa”, pp. 42-74
Saul DuBow, Scientific Racism in Modern South Africa, Chapter 2.
David Northrup, Africa’s Discovery of Europe:1450-1850, Chapter 4 “Atlantic Imports and Technology”, pp. 77-106
4-6 page paper due: How did 19th and 20th Century scientists use Africa and people of African descent to create an idea of race? In what ways is modern genetics influencing debates about race as a biological concept? Does race still have salience as a social category?
Th. 3/29 Nnamdi Azikiwe, Renascent Africa, “Superstition or Super-Science?” pp. 141-152
Robin Horton, “African Thought and Western Science,” in Bryan Wilson, ed., Rationality, Chapter 7
***Oral history project due***
African Medicine- Healing the land, making rain
M. 4/2 Steven Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals, Chapters 2-6
Th. 4/5 Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals, Chapter 7-10
East Harlem healthcare walking tour-times to be confirmed
M. 4/9 Claudia Zaslavsky, “The Yoruba Number System,” in Van Sertima, Blacks in Science, 110-126,
Helen Verran Science and an African Logic, Chapters 1, 2 and 4
*****Literature Review of Conference work should have been submitted by this date*****
George Ghevarughese Joseph, “Foundations of Eurocentrism in Mathematics,” Race and Class, 28(3) (1987): 13-28.
Biodiversity, GMO foods and Food Security
M. 4/16 Jane Guyer and Paul Richards, “The Invention of Biodiversity: Social Perspectives on the Management of Biological Variety in Africa,” Africa 66 (1) 1996, pp.1-12.
H.B.S. Kandeh and Paul Richards, “Rural People as Conservationists: Querying Neo-Malthusian Assumptions about Biodiversity in Sierra Leone,” Africa 66 (1) 1996, pp.90-103.
SECOND MINI PAPER: Write a brief (250-500 words) response to the following questions: “How do Yoruba ways of doing numbers represent an African logic? How does the Yoruba numbers example address Horton’s arguments about open and closed systems?”
Th. 4/19 Marc Lacey, “Engineering Food for Africans,” New York Times, September 8. 2002
Martha Crouch, “The Cost of Biotech Fever”
Florence Wambugu, Why Africa Needs Agricultural Biotech,” Nature, 1 July 1999, Vol. 400, pp. 15-16.
Izama Anelo, Frederick Masiga and Lynn Musiita, “Africa’s Genetically Modified Food War,” The Monitor (Kampala), posted to allafrica.com, May 29, 2003
African Technology in the Americas
M. 4/23 Judith Carney, Black Rice, Chapters 1-3
THIRD MINI PAPER: Write a brief (250-500 words) response to the following question: “Are GMO foods the answer for Africa’s food security concerns?”
Th. 4/26 Black Rice, Chapters 4-6
Can Science Save Africa?M. 4/30 Mohammed A Hassan, “Can Science Save Africa?” address to the Third World Academy of Sciences
Mohammed A. Hassan, “Science and Technology in Africa: Pathways to Success”
Th. 5/3 Philip Emeagwali, “Brain Drain vs. Brain Gain” (internet document)
Interview with Dr. James Tumwine, NewScientist.com
Yakov Rabkin , “Citation Visibility of Africa’s Science”
Class ends
M. 5/7 presentations of conference work
Th. 5/10 presentations of conference work
