middCourses
Struggles in Southern Africa
BLST 0276

Struggles for Change in Southern Africa In this course we will examine the tumultuous period of social struggle in southern Africa in the decades following World War II. Major topics to be covered include: the rise of apartheid and the mobilization of anti-apartheid resistance in South Africa; the liberation struggle against white settler rule and its legacies in post-colonial Zimbabwe; the fight for freedom from Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique; and Mozambique’s protracted civil war following independence. A central purpose of the course is to explore how these different arenas of struggle transformed individual lives and social relations in complex and diverse ways, generating enduring impacts and challenges within the region. (formerly HIST/BLST 0375)

0 reviewsS25
Health/Healing in African Hist
BLST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

0 reviewsS25
Struggles in Southern Africa
HIST 0276

Struggles for Change in Southern Africa In this course we will examine the tumultuous period of social struggle in southern Africa in the decades following World War II. Major topics to be covered include: the rise of apartheid and the mobilization of anti-apartheid resistance in South Africa; the liberation struggle against white settler rule and its legacies in post-colonial Zimbabwe; the fight for freedom from Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique; and Mozambique’s protracted civil war following independence. A central purpose of the course is to explore how these different arenas of struggle transformed individual lives and social relations in complex and diverse ways, generating enduring impacts and challenges within the region. (formerly HIST/BLST 0375)

0 reviewsS25
Health/Healing in African Hist
HIST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

0 reviewsS25
Everyday Life in South Africa
HIST 0347

Everyday Life in South Africa, Apartheid and Beyond In this course we will explore some of the social worlds of South Africans amid the country’s recent decades of turbulent and dramatic change. We will look at how different groups within the nation’s diverse population have understood and experienced the rise of the apartheid system, its demise, and its legacies in their “everyday” lives and interactions. The course will draw from various sources – non-fiction, fiction, film, and other forms of popular culture -- to interpret these social dynamics and their ongoing significance in a post-apartheid society.

4 reviewsF24
African Environment Histories
HIST 0441

African Environmental Histories In this seminar we will explore the complex histories of human-environmental interaction on the African continent. Through a variety of interdisciplinary readings – incorporating anthropology, geography, ecology, and cultural and literary studies – we will grapple with the diverse interpretive and methodological challenges of interpreting Africans’ linked social and environmental histories. We will start with a look at how scholars have begun to unravel dominant historical understandings of African pre-colonial ecologies, economies, and cultures. We will then explore how colonial relations shaped conflicts over environmental control and rural ecological change in the 19th and 20th centuries and the legacies of such dynamics in the post-colonial era. Additional readings will touch on such topics as gender relations, rural social networks, landscape memories, and the contested histories of conservation and development interventions.

1 reviewF24
History of Modern Africa
BLST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

0 reviewsS24
Health/Healing in African Hist
BLST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

0 reviewsS24
History of Modern Africa
HIST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

4 reviewsS24
Health/Healing in African Hist
HIST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

2 reviewsS24
History of Africa to 1800
BLST 0113

History of Africa To 1800 This course offers an introductory survey of African history from earliest times to 1800. Through lectures, discussions, readings, and films, we will explore Africa’s complex and diverse pre-colonial past. Themes examined in the course include development of long-distance trade networks, the linkages between ecological change and social dynamics, the formation of large pre-colonial states, and the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on social and economic relations within Africa. A broader concern in the course is how we have come to understand the meaning of “Africa” itself and what is at stake in interpreting Africa’s pre-colonial history. Pre-1800.

0 reviewsF23
South Africa in the World
BLST 0317

South Africa in the World Despite the unique trajectory of the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa, scholars have increasingly moved away from viewing the country’s past as exceptional or isolated from broader world historical developments. Taking up this challenge, our course will explore some of the significant global and transnational dimensions of the making of modern South Africa over the past few centuries. Some of the major topics will include: the expansion of different strands of European colonialism and missionary work; Africans’ engagement with transnational imperial networks; the wider international influences behind the state’s creation and implementation of apartheid; and popular resistance against apartheid and how it intersected with global activist movements.

1 reviewF23
History of Africa to 1800
HIST 0113

History of Africa To 1800 This course offers an introductory survey of African history from earliest times to 1800. Through lectures, discussions, readings, and films, we will explore Africa’s complex and diverse pre-colonial past. Themes examined in the course include development of long-distance trade networks, the linkages between ecological change and social dynamics, the formation of large pre-colonial states, and the transatlantic slave trade and its impact on social and economic relations within Africa. A broader concern in the course is how we have come to understand the meaning of “Africa” itself and what is at stake in interpreting Africa’s pre-colonial history. Pre-1800.

4 reviewsF23
South Africa in the World
HIST 0317

South Africa in the World Despite the unique trajectory of the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa, scholars have increasingly moved away from viewing the country’s past as exceptional or isolated from broader world historical developments. Taking up this challenge, our course will explore some of the significant global and transnational dimensions of the making of modern South Africa over the past few centuries. Some of the major topics will include: the expansion of different strands of European colonialism and missionary work; Africans’ engagement with transnational imperial networks; the wider international influences behind the state’s creation and implementation of apartheid; and popular resistance against apartheid and how it intersected with global activist movements.

1 reviewF23
History of Modern Africa
BLST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

0 reviewsS23
Health/Healing in African Hist
BLST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

0 reviewsS23
History of Modern Africa
HIST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

7 reviewsS23
Health/Healing in African Hist
HIST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

1 reviewS23
Struggles in Southern Africa
BLST 0375

Struggles for Change in Southern Africa In this course we will examine the tumultuous period of social struggle in southern Africa in the decades following World War II. Major topics to be covered include the rise of apartheid and the mobilization of anti-apartheid resistance in South Africa and Namibia; the liberation struggle against white settler rule in Zimbabwe; the fight for freedom from Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique; and Mozambique's protracted civil war following independence. A central purpose of this course is to explore how these different arenas of struggle transformed individual lives and social relations in complex and diverse ways, generating enduring impacts and challenges within the region.

1 reviewF22
Readings in African History
GSFS 0443

Readings in African History: Women and Gender in Africa This course takes up the challenge of understanding women's experiences and the role of gender in Africa's past. We will read from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives and literary forms, including ethnographies, life histories, and fiction, in order to explore different methodological and interpretive approaches to these subjects. Themes will include: changes in the structure of patriarchy and women's status in the pre-colonial period, the gendered impact of colonial rule on African economies and ecologies, historical identities of masculinity and femininity, and gendered experience of postcolonial "development." Prior experience in African history is not required.

2 reviewsF22
Struggles in Southern Africa
HIST 0375

Struggles for Change in Southern Africa In this course we will examine the tumultuous period of social struggle in southern Africa in the decades following World War II. Major topics to be covered include the rise of apartheid and the mobilization of anti-apartheid resistance in South Africa and Namibia; the liberation struggle against white settler rule in Zimbabwe; the fight for freedom from Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique; and Mozambique's protracted civil war following independence. A central purpose of this course is to explore how these different arenas of struggle transformed individual lives and social relations in complex and diverse ways, generating enduring impacts and challenges within the region.

1 reviewF22
Readings in African History
HIST 0443

Readings in African History: Women and Gender in Africa This course takes up the challenge of understanding women's experiences and the role of gender in Africa's past. We will read from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives and literary forms, including ethnographies, life histories, and fiction, in order to explore different methodological and interpretive approaches to these subjects. Themes will include: changes in the structure of patriarchy and women's status in the pre-colonial period, the gendered impact of colonial rule on African economies and ecologies, historical identities of masculinity and femininity, and gendered experience of postcolonial "development." Prior experience in African history is not required.

0 reviewsF22
History of Modern Africa
BLST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

2 reviewsS22
History of Modern Africa
HIST 0114

History of Modern Africa We begin looking at revolutions in the early 19th century and the transformations surrounding the slave trade. Next we examine the European colonization of the continent, exploring how diverse interventions into Africans' lives had complex effects on political authority, class and generational dynamics, gender relations, ethnic and cultural identities, and rural and urban livelihoods. After exploring Africans' struggles against colonial rule in day-to-day practices and mass political movements, the last few weeks cover Africa's transition to independence and the postcolonial era, including the experience of neo-colonialism, ethnic conflict, poverty, and demographic crisis.

1 reviewS22
Health/Healing in African Hist
HIST 0315

Health and Healing in African History In this course we will complicate our contemporary perspectives on health and healing in Africa by exploring diverse historical examples from the continent's deep past. Our readings, discussions, and papers will cover a range of historical contexts and topics, such as the politics of rituals and public healing ceremonies in pre-colonial contexts, state and popular responses to shifting disease landscapes in the colonial era, long-term cultural and economic changes in healer-patient dynamics, the problematic legacies of environmental health hazards in the post-colonial period, and Africans' engagement with global health interventions in recent decades.

0 reviewsS22
Everyday Life in South Africa
FYSE 1247

Everyday Life in South Africa, 1948-Present In this seminar we will explore some of the social worlds of South Africans amid the country's recent decades of turbulent and dramatic change. We will look at how different groups within the nation's diverse population have understood and experienced the rise of the apartheid system, its demise, and its legacies in their "everyday" lives and interactions. We will draw from various sources - non-fiction, fiction, film, music, and other forms of popular culture - to interpret these social dynamics and their ongoing significance in a post-apartheid society.

0 reviewsF21
HIST0375last month

do not take this class if you are looking for a distribution requirement. so much reading and lectures were just him talking the whole time with no slides with words just with pictures which made it very hard to follow all the material and dates since its a fast paced course. he is very tough on grading and no matter how hard you try it never seems good enough. I would not take this course again. Readings are long, sometimes hundreds of pages a week.

do not take this class if you are looking for a distribution requirement. so much reading and lectures were just him talking the whole time with no slides with words just with pictures which made it very hard to follow all the material and dates since its a fast paced course. he is very tough on grading and no matter how hard you try …Read more

Fast-PacedConstant ReadingTough Grading
9hrs / week Extremely difficulty Average value Would not take again
HIST0347last month

Although the material was worthwhile, the class was very difficult due to the quantity of readings and the grading style. The material was very dense, and Professor Tropp was not clear about what he wanted in our papers. Although I met with him during office hours, I would leave without much clarity. I would not take this class again.

Constant ReadingTough GradingNo Exams
7hrs / week Hardcore difficulty Above average value Would take again
HIST0441last month

Love this course - but only take it if you have the time, are passionate about the course material, or really want a challenge. Prof Tropp is extremely accomodating and through taking a few courses with him I am proud to say how much my writing has improved.

Endless WritingTough GradingNo Exams
8hrs / week Extremely difficulty Average value Would not take again
Login to access 29 more reviews of Jacob Tropp