Harvard University Africa-focused Courses

Spring 2026 African Studies Courses

**Registration Deadline is November 19, 2025**

AFRAMER 11: Introduction to African Studies

Instructor: Daniel Agbiboa

Thursdays 9:45am - 11:45am

· Class Number:17596 Course ID:123591

Description: This course introduces students to the rich diversity and complexity of Africa, including its historical dynamics, economic developments, social and political practices, and popular cultures. Throughout, we assume that Africa is not a unique isolate but a continent bubbling with internal diversity, historical change, entrepreneurial spirit, and cultural links beyond its shores. Our goal is to train students to think rigorously about Africa from interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives. We also aim to equip students with the analytical tools necessary for recognizing and deconstructing reductionist and stereotyped narratives of Africa. The course is open to all students who are interested in exploring various dimensions of African life, politics, peoples and cultures from the past to the postcolony. 

AFRAMER 66: History of Sport in Africa

Instructor: David Glovsky

Monday & Wednesday 1:30pm-2:45pm

· Class Number:15689 Course ID:226220

Description: This course studies African histories of politics, culture, economics, colonialism, decolonization, and more through the histories of sports. Sports and games of various kinds have played a key role in African societies for many centuries, and this course will begin with those earlier histories before looking at the role of Africa and Africans in modern sports history, a period that began in the late 19th century around the development of the Olympic games and professional leagues globally. European empires in Africa sought to impose their ideas of "civilization" and "modernity" on Africans through organized athletics, and yet Africans themselves - both during and after the period of European rule - used athletics for their own purposes. Notable athletes played a key role in both combating and supporting colonialism, and in establishing national identities following independence. In recent decades, Africans have starred globally at the Olympic Games, the World Cup, and many other global athletic competitions. And increasingly, individuals from more recent African diasporas have starred for countries around the globe, raising important questions about belonging, diaspora, and nationalism. This course will provide an introduction to these questions and more, through understanding the social, political, cultural, and economic history of sports in Africa.

AFRAMER 111Y: Introduction to African literature and film

Instructor: Tinashe Mushakavanhu

Tuesdays 12:00pm - 2:45pm

· Class Number:20435 Course ID:227667

Description: From traditional folktales reimagined on Netflix to groundbreaking novels and bold Nollywood productions, we’ll discover how African writers and filmmakers have shaped and reshaped the continent’s image from the 1950s to today. Together, we’ll read powerful works by authors like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Dambudzo Marechera, Ama Ata Aidoo, Binyavanga Wainaina, Namwali Serpell among others, and engage with cinematic works by directors such as Ousmane Sembene and Tsitsi Dangarembga. We’ll explore how these creators respond to colonial histories, challenge stereotypes, celebrate culture, and imagine new futures. Students will gain tools to think critically about representation, identity, language, and power and to appreciate Africa not as a single story, but as a continent of vast creative voices and visions. No prior knowledge is expected - just curiosity, openness, and a willingness to see the world differently.

AFRAMER 119X: Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food

Instructor: Carla Martin

Thursday 12:45pm - 2:45pm

· Class Number:12974 Course ID:108879

Description: This course will examine the sociohistorical legacy of chocolate, with a delicious emphasis on the eating and appreciation of the so-called “food of the gods.” Interdisciplinary course readings will introduce the history of cacao cultivation, the present day state of the global chocolate industry, the diverse cultural constructions surrounding chocolate, and the implications for chocolate’s future of scientific study, international politics, alternative trade models, and the food movement. Assignments will address pressing real world questions related to chocolate consumption, social justice, responsible development, honesty and the politics of representation in production and marketing, hierarchies of quality, and myths of purity.

AFRAMER 143Y: African Landscape Architecture: Alternative Futures for the Field

Instructor: Gareth Doherty

Tuesdays 9:00am - 11:45am

· Class Number:13913 Course ID:224017

Description: A central aim of this seminar is to reveal the plurality of ways landscapes are shaped across the African continent and how they help mitigate the impacts of changing climates and social injustice now and in the future. Africa is a continent rich in landscape projects and practices but only eight out of fifty-four African nations have professional associations of landscape architects. The course is framed around three central questions: 1.) How is landscape architecture currently practiced in African countries? (2.) What lessons can we learn from landscape practices in various African societies that can help mitigate the impacts of climate change and social inequities? (3.) As landscape architecture unfolds across the continent in the next 50–200 years, how can it continue assert its agency in the fight against changing climates and social inequity and claim a central space in the shaping of African cities of the future? Each week we will focus on a different country including South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. In collaboration with several landscape architecture university programs across Africa and including practitioners and academics from across the continent, this seminar will explore what it means to practice and teach landscape architecture in societies in which the profession is nascent or non-existent and speculate on the future of the shaping of landscapes in the Global South.

AFRAMER 166X: African Language Archives in disciplines and professions

Instructor: John Mugane

Tuesdays & Thursdays 10:30am - 11:45am

· Class Number:19365 Course ID:224461

Description: Language is a fundamental for thought and communication, playing a vital role in human achievements and societal progress. This course explores African languages as rich sources of knowledge that require collection and cataloguing using current AI technologies. By examining archives of African thought and life, students will delve into how archival information can be shared across languages. The course emphasizes the significance of African languages as instruments of thought, expressed through signs and sounds, in various domains such as constitution writing, food production, governance, religion, and environmental use/protection. Students will critically engage with the organic sociality of vernacular spaces, including church rooms, courtrooms, classrooms, hospital rooms, and entrepreneurial spaces, where African languages are linguistically accessible. Course Objectives: - Understand the role of language as an instrument of thought and communication in African societies. - Explore African languages as archives of knowledge and their importance in preserving cultural heritage. - Gain knowledge of AI technologies and their application in collecting and cataloguing African language archives. - Examine the significance of archival information sharing across different African languages. - Analyze the critical engagements that take place in vernacular spaces and their impact on African communities. - Understand the linguistic accessibility of African languages in various social contexts.

AFRAMER 186: Religion, Culture, and Society in Africa

Instructor: Jacob Olupona

Thursdays 3:00pm - 5:45pm

· Class Number:14860 Course ID:222688

Description: Exploring the meaning of religion and its impact of on African culture and society broadly, this course will highlight both religious traditions and innovations. Instead of treating each of the religions of Africa, the triple heritage in the words of Ali Mazrui of indigenous African religions, Islam, and Christianity, as distinct and bounded entities, we will explore the hybridity, interaction, and integration between categories throughout Africa. Using case studies, a unique perspective on religious diversity on the African continent and diaspora will emerge.

WOMGEN 1200WH: Women in African History

Instructor: Marius Kothor

Tuesdays: 3:00pm - 5:45pm

• Class Number:15683  Course ID:226218

Description: From matriarchs to monarchs, spiritual mediums to anti-colonial activists, African women have always been central figures in the histories of their societies. But who is defined as a woman in African societies and when and where does this matter? In this course we will explore the idea of womanhood across various African communities and think through the ways that the category “woman” changes overtime and functions differently in relation to other social categories like class, age, and religion. Using these key concepts, we will also examine the ways African women participated in, responded to, and contested major historical processes such as slavery, colonialism, and decolonization.

WOMGEN 1471: Art, Culture, and the Global Struggle for Black Liberation

Instructor: Marius Kothor

Wednesdays, 3:00pm - 5:45pm

Class number: 17053   Course ID: 226219

Description: Black people around the world have long drawn connections between their struggles and those of other marginalized groups, forming powerful solidarities that cross national and cultural boundaries. This course explores how Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, and African Americans have built transnational alliances for a range of political and cultural purposes, with particular attention to the roles that women, and gendered forms of resistance have played in shaping these connections. From anti-colonial movements to Black feminist internationalism, we will explore how gender and sexuality shape the ways solidarity is imagined, performed, and sustained. Through case studies in visual art, music, and literature, the course investigates the histories, aesthetics, and ideas that have animated Black transnational movements, and how these expressions challenge dominant narratives of power, identity, and liberation.

African Language Program

Harvard University, through the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS), boasts the world’s foremost African Language Program, with over 30 languages offered.  Established in 2003, the African Language Program offers instruction in more than ten languages every semester.  African languages can be taken to fulfill the foreign language requirement for Harvard College. These languages are a core part of the African Studies Track in the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS) and relate well to a variety of courses within Harvard College, and other constituents of Harvard University.

The new my.harvard allows easy browsing of course offerings at Harvard. Simply go to https://courses.my.harvard.edu and enter "aaas" into the search box.

This online catalog is expected to expand to include other Harvard professional schools. In the meantime, search for region-related courses in the Harvard University Course Catalog, which includes offerings from all Harvard schools. For more detailed searching, you may wish to go directly to the course catalog for the individual school that interests you.

For more about ALP, visit our page at africa.harvard.edu/african-language-program or the Department of African Language Program's website page.