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33510-01 - Seminar: Gender, Health and Urbanization in Africa South of the Sahara (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2013 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Veit Arlt (veit.arlt@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Marc Epprecht (marc.epprecht@unibas.ch) Allison Goebel (allison.goebel@unibas.ch) |
| Content | This course considers both historical and contemporary issues for gendered lives in urbanizing areas of Africa South of the Sahara. Using health and environments as major lenses, the course will explore: government policies and practices; international programs and regimes impacting African urbanization; rural-urban migrations and linkages; epidemics and other major health conditions, especially as related to sexual and reproductive health; housing, urban infrastructure and geographies of environmental risk; livelihoods; and urban protests and politics. CLASS SCHEDULE Week 1. Introduction – course outline, themes, assignments GEDI, an African urban renewal project in historical perspective (presentation by M. Epprecht) Reading: Freund pp. 1-106 Week 2. The historiography of urban Africa to 1980 (Epprecht) Freund pp. 1-106 Week 3 African cities today (Goebel) Murray and Myers: chapter 1 Freund: chapter 5 UN-Habitat 2012. State of the World’s Cities, Africa Region (http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=171) Week 4 Governance, citizenship and welfare Murray and Myers: chapters 10 and 11 Goebel, Allison 2011. “‘Our Struggle is for the Full Loaf’: Protests, Social Welfare and Gendered Citizenship in South Africa,” Journal of Southern African Studies, 37:02, 369-388. Parnell, Susan and Edgar Pieterse 2010. “The ‘Right to the City’: Institutional Imperatives of a Developmental State” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 34 (1): 146-62. Week 5 Infrastructure: housing, water, electricity and urban environmental justice Murray and Myers: chapters 12 and 13 Posel, Deborah 2006. “Marriage at the Drop of a Hat: Housing and Partnership in South Africa’s Urban African Townships, 1920s-1960s,”History Workshop Journal 61: 57-75. Week 6 Segregation: Historical and Contemporary Issues Freund: chapter 4 Schensul, Daniel, 2008. “From Resources to Power: The State and Spatial Change in Post-apartheid Durban, South Africa.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 43: 290-313. Week 7 Migration Murray and Myers: chapter 2 Southern African Migration Project, Selected Papers (http://www.queensu.ca/samp/) Week 8 Popular culture Murray and Myers: chapters 3 and 4 David Coplan ch.1 In Township Tonight Week 9 Urban aesthetics Readings TBA Colonial notions of beauty and modernity Murambatsvina (Operation Clean Up Trash) Shopping malls spring up across Africa as middle class grows Week 10 Economic development: livelihoods and informality Murray and Myers: chapters 5, 6 and 9 Week 11 Food insecurity and new health issues African Food Security Urban Network, Selected Papers (http://www.afsun.org/) Goebel, Allison, Belinda Dodson and Trevor Hill. “Urban Advantage or Urban Penalty? A Case Study of Female-Headed Households in a South African City” Health & Place 16 (3) May: 573–580. Mkwambisi, David D. Fraser, Evan D.G.; Dougill, Andy J. 2011. “Urban agriculture and poverty reduction: Evaluating how food production in cities contributes to food security, employment and income in Malawi,” Journal of International Development, v 23, n 2, p 181-203. Week 12 African Cities, Globalization and Protest Freund: chapter 6 Alexander, Peter, 2010. “Rebellion of the poor: South Africa’s service delivery protests—a preliminary analysis.” Review of African Political Economy, 37(123): 25-40. Week 13 Summing up |
| Learning objectives | Students understand the challenge of urbanisation in Africa with a specific focus on gender, health and environment. |
| Bibliography | Freund, Bill 2007. The African City. A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Murray, Martin J and Garth A. Myers (eds) 2007. Cities in Contemporary Africa. New York: Palgrave/MacMillan. Selected web materials and journal articles will be made available via www.isis.unibas.ch. |
| Comments | The course is taught by Prof. Marc Epprecht and Alisson Goebel, Queen's University Canada. The two experts on gender and environment in Southern Africa are visiting scholars at the Centre for African Studies Basel in Spring Semester 2013. Participants must register on www.isis.unibas.ch. |
| Admission requirements | Adequate english language skills The course is geared to MA students, BA students in their final year may join depending on available space. |
| Course application | Please register via isis.unibas.ch where you will have access to the readings. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Ausserwestliches Christentum und Austauschprozesse (ÖM 1) (Bachelor's degree subject: Theology) Modul Ausserwestliches Christentum und Austauschprozesse (ÖM 1) (Bachelor Theology) Modul Culture and Society (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Environment and Human Well-Being (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Lebensverhältnisse, Umwelt und Ökonomie (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul Reflexion interkultureller Gegenwartsfragen in der Theologie (ÖM 2) (Master's degree subject: Theology) Modul Reflexion interkultureller Gegenwartsfragen in der Theologie (ÖM 2) (Master Theology) Modul Regionalthemen der Ethnologie (Master's degree subject: Social Anthropology) Modul Subjekt, Körper und Identität (Master's degree subject: Gender Studies) Modul Themenfelder der Geschlechterforschung (Bachelor's degree subject: Geschlechterforschung) Modul Wirtschaft, Kultur und Wissen (Master's degree subject: Sociology) Modul Wirtschaft, Politik und Entwicklung (Master's degree subject: Sociology) Vertiefungsmodul (Transfakultäre Querschnittsprogramme im freien Kreditpunkte-Bereich) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Participants are expected to make active contributions to the learning process through various activities every week. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Kompetenzzentrum Afrika |