PROGRAM OF AFRICAN STUDIES

In this course we will be thinking about how and whether constitutions shape national values and offer a framework for legitimacy and governance to hold together diverse societies and resolve deeply rooted social tensions and ethnic divisions. We will consider the constitutional responses of other democratic countries such as the U.S., Canada, India, France, Germany, Great Britain, South Africa and Australia to the challenges of capital crimes, right to life/abortion, terrorism, racism, gender disparities, religious discrimination. In learning about the varying traditions of written and unwritten constitutions, civil and common law and the foundations and structures of separation of powers and judicial review of the constitutionality of laws in these countries, students will learn to think critically about the U.S. Constitution and the different ways in which constitutional democracies provide for public order, counter-majoritarian governance, equality and protection of the rights of minorities through rule of law and question whether constitutional solutions can address the kinds of social and political problems we have today.

This is the first part of a three-quarter sequence of beginning Swahili. The course equips learners with the necessary listening, speaking, reading and writing skills so as to understand basic Swahili. We shall learn about the history of Swahili language, its place in East Africa, and discuss how to interact with Swahili speakers in culturally appropriate ways. Through a combination of lectures, lab sessions and performance of cultural and communicative activities, learners will gain an understanding of basic Swahili grammatical structures and cultural insights of the people of East Africa. No prior knowledge of Swahili is required to enroll in this course.