ARTH 214(S) African Architecture and Urban Space (Same as African American Studies 214)*

This course introduces students to the architecture, urban space and landscape of the African continent and to the unique aesthetic, historical, cultural and technological issues that frame them. All of the sites that we will study are sub-Saharan and many of them pre-date European colonialism on the continent. They date from 200 BCE to the 21 st century. Rather than being exclusively a broad historical overview of African architecture and cities, this course presents the various approaches and questions archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians and architects use to analyze and interpret the African built environment. We will also address topics such as: the contributions made by Africans to architecture in the Americas; the relation of colonialism to African architecture and urban space; and contemporary African architecture and cities. This course offers an opportunity to challenge preconceived ideas about Africa and Africans by showing the continent to be neither a single, unified entity nor a patchwork of isolated, timeless societies.

HOUR BIRD