African 204: Language and Politics in Africa and the Diaspora

Linguistic anthropologist and father of “Hip Hop Linguistics” H. Sami Alim writes: “Language in general, is often socially charged, loaded with issues of race, class, citizenship, and other forms of social identifications.” To have an in-depth understanding of how social and political issues play out in language use, this course prepares you to conduct research in African cultural studies and to write your research project following the writing convention in the humanities. Using the assigned books, articles, music, blog posts, movies, etc., we will explore: spaces of language politics; the role of language in creating, negotiating, and resisting various transnational, social, and ethnic identifications; postcolonialism; diasporas; globalization; and critical language awareness. Based on the understanding of the practices of language and its political underpinnings in Africa and the African Diaspora, Students will conduct a research project using library resources, give an oral presentation of research, and write multiple drafts of a research paper involving instructor and peer feedback.