In the imagination of Euro-America, Africa has been represented variously as the "dark" continent of the colonial period, a place of mystery, savagery and opportunity, as well as a continent riven by tribal divisions and plagued by natural and political disasters. While anthropologists have attempted to comprehend African realities, they have also contributed models and visions of African society that have simultaneously fed into and undermined dominant visions of representations. At the same time, Africa has provided a key site of the anthropological imagination, and African ethnography has played a central role in the development of anthropological theory, with ramifications far beyond the context of Africa. How has our knowledge of Africa been shaped by particular representations of the continent and its people? What kinds of theories have derived from African studies? This course will attempt to explore these themes by examining the development of African studies in anthropology with an eye to the theoretical concerns at play and how these relate to and feed into, popular images of Africa. Format: seminar.