Instructors: John Bower and Teresa Steele, Department of Anthropology, College of Letters and Science
Description: During the period of colonial expansion, from about the 16th through the 19th centuries, Africa was widely characterized by Europeans as the “Dark Continent.” The term reflected two basic notions about Africa: backwardness and mystery. Such perceptions were invoked to rationalize the colonial enterprise, which was supposed to enlighten and uplift the continent’s inhabitants, while also exploring its vast, unknown (to Europeans) realms. Thanks in good part to over a century of archaeological investigations in Africa, it is now understood that, far from constituting a backwater in human existence, the continent’s people and cultures were not only original and creative but also often served as a wellspring for the development of humanity in general. This seminar will survey Africa’s archaeological record, from the earliest appearance of proto-human creatures to the rise of complex, stratified societies, thereby presenting opportunities to consider some of the more consequential ways in which the continent’s prehistory has shaped the people and cultures of modern Africa, as well as influencing the global human condition. The course’s ultimate objectives are to shed critical light on stereotypic views of Africa and reveal ways in which a long view of human experience, reaching deep into prehistory, can enrich our understanding of the human condition.
Format:The seminar will meet for two hours each week (Tuesdays 10-12, 302 Young Hall). Class time will be devoted to informal lectures, class discussion of assigned reading, as well as issues raised by the lectures and student presentations. Reading assignments will be limited to the seminar text (Ann Stahl’s African Archaeology: A Critical Introduction), though additional sources will be recommended on specific topics. Grading: Students will be awarded a letter grade based on the quality of a short (4-5 pages) paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor, their involvement in classroom discussion and a take-home exam due the last day of class. Grade weight will be 40% for the paper, 40% for the exam and 20% for classroom participation.
About the Instructors:
Dr. John Bower is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at UCD and Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at Iowa State University. His research interests center on human biocultural evolution, cultural adaptation to environmental change and the origins of food-producing economies. He has pursued these in various parts of East Africa since 1971; he has also worked in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Cuba. He is currently investigating a site in the Serengeti Plain, Tanzania that was occupied about 65,000 years ago.
Dr. Teresa Steele is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UCD. Her research focuses on the origins of behaviorally modern humans and their expansion out of Africa. She investigates this through zooarchaeological analyses, which reveal human subsistence ecology, demographic trends and paleoenvironments. She is currently conducting excavations at a Middle Stone Age site in South Africa and is also working on Middle Paleolithic sites in Morocco and France.