Minor in Africa and Globalization

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Acting Dean: Dr. David Landy

Africa and Globalization Program

Humanities Building, Room 280
Phone: (415) 405-2694
Interim Coordinator: Burcu Ellis

Program Scope

The Minor in Africa and Globalization is a multidisciplinary program in African history, politics, economics, and cultures, designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the issues facing African communities, societies, and nation-states in the past as well as the present. Courses from multiple departments and programs are incorporated into the Minor in Africa and Globalization, offering different disciplinary bases for the examination and analysis of African contributions to world civilizations. It enables students to integrate and apply knowledge in the evolution of African societies from being the cradle of humanity to providing labor for the use of other civilizations and through colonial and post-colonial linkages, technological expansion, and economic liberalization. Students will examine African accomplishments, mores, traditions, cultures, and civilizations to finish the minor with a greater degree of understanding of, and tolerance for, cultural differences and ethnic pluralism as well as the problems inherent in the process of social change in Africa and the African Diaspora.

Students who select this minor are presented with different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Common to all these perspectives is the critical examination of social change, modernization, development, and globalization. It is hoped that students will be provided the tools to enable them to build their own frames of reference, syntheses of concepts, data, and theories, to enrich their social attitudes and cultural values concerning Africa, and to appreciate its richness and its unity in diversity.

Career Outlook

Students will be encouraged to take advantage of the Minor in Africa and Globalization to apply their knowledge, understanding, and interest in things African to their career goals including teaching, journalism, business, and international endeavors in the public sector, non-governmental agencies, and multilateral institutions.

Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Examine the history, politics, culture, literature, and art of the countries to illuminate the interplay between development, politics, societal change, and Africa’s role in international relations.
  2. Explore dynamics that affect the totality of the African continent as well as geographical/regional differences from an interdisciplinary perspective.
  3. Develop familiarity with issues such as environmental sustainability, social justice, resource management, artistic creativity, social change, immigration, governance, health and politics in the African continent.

Africa and Globalization Minor – 12 units minimum

Students interested in this minor should see the faculty advisor in the International Relations Department to choose the courses most appropriate to them. (Note: No more than 6 units may be taken on a CR/NC basis; no more than 3 units may be transferred from other campuses.)

A minimum of 6 upper-division units are required to complete the minor.

All coursework used to satisfy the requirements of the minor must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 2.0.

Core Requirements (6-8 units)

Select Two:

AFRS 300From Africa to Olmec America: Ancient African Prehistory and History3
CLAR 500/ARTH 407Art and Archaeology of Ancient Egypt3
HIST 368Modern Africa3
I R/PLSI 321Development and Foreign Policy: Africa4
I R 336GWPolitics of Globalization3
I R 540Rich and Poor Nations: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism4

Electives (6-8 units)

Core courses may be used as an elective if not used to satisfy the core.

AFRS 305Ancient Egypt3
CLAR/M S 502Ancient Egyptian Language and Literature3
ECON 620Economic Development3
HIST 366/ANTH 609Approaches to the African Past3
I R 303Post-Western World: Political, Economic, and Cultural Challenges1
I R/BIOL 305Global Politics of Science, Technology, and Health4
I R 324Middle East and North Africa in International Relations4
I R/ENVS 331Global Environmental Crisis4
I R 361/C J 461Terrorism and Covert Political Warfare4
I R/GEOG 428International Political Economy of Food and Hunger4
I R 436/PHIL 435Human Rights in Global Perspective3
I R/IBUS 446The Multinational Corporation in World Affairs4
I R/PLSI 459Refugees in Global Perspective4
I R/PLSI 544Women in the World4