Joint section African Studies A3 and African Cultural Expressions and Artistic Creativity spring 2026

A young man and woman on a motorbike with bull horns.

Photo: Africa is a Country

Still from Djibril Diop Mambety's "Touki Bouki". A tale of youth in pursuit of happiness.

 

Welcome to the course in African Cultural Expressions and Artistic Creativity 7,5hp

 

The course “African Cultural Expressions and Artistic Creativity” is run as part of the third module of the full semester course in African Studies and as a freestanding course. During this course you will have a unique opportunity to get more knowledge of, and deeper insights into, African cultural expressions and artistic creativity. Traditions from different cultural and language areas, as well as social and political movements, are described and compared. A special focus concerns African cinema. Read course plan here.

 

Themes

The course engages with four areas of research within African Studies. The purpose is to give the students an opportunity to focus on and gain an understanding of four important research areas within the vast field of African Studies. In some cases, a theme overlaps into the next week.

Theme 1: African Literature, with Oulia Makkonen and Nicklas Hållén

Theme 2: 'Everyday Cultural Expressions', with Sten Hagberg

Theme 3: African Screen Media, with Oulia Makkonen and Dani Kouyaté

Theme 4: African Performance, with Oulia Makkonen

 

Schedule

  • A detailed course schedule, including readings for every week, can be found under the 'Instructions' for each week of the course and under 'Modules > 'Lectures'. This is always the most updated schedule.
  • The administration at the department also creates a schedule when they book rooms for the course. The Schedule in Time Edit can be found under 'Schedule'. 

 

Teachers

The teachers are researchers with long first-hand experience of researching and working in African countries and/or with African issues. This course is being offered by researchers of the Forum for Africa Studies an inter-disciplinary center whose purpose is to support research on Africa at Uppsala University. We lead research projects, organize lectures and round-tables, and host the seminar series Friday Seminar in Africa Studies. You may follow Forum for Africa Studies' Facebook page to get updated information.

 

The two main teachers on the course are

Photo of Sten Hagberg  Photo of Oulia Makkonen

Prof. Sten Hagberg  Dr. Oulia Makkonen

 

The following two guest lecturers will also teach at this course: 

Filmmaker, director and teacher, Dani Kouyaté

Associate Professor  Nicklas Hållén Links to an external site.

If you have questions about the course administration contact:  Angelika Holm.

If you have questions about the course literature and material, contact Oulia Makkonen

 

Teaching

The teaching is composed of lecture-seminars, group discussions, reaction papers and film screenings. Most lecture-seminars will be conducted on-site at the Engelska Parken Campus, but one class will take place on Zoom. Attendance is mandatory. 

If you miss a teaching session, please write and submit a "missed lecture-seminar assignment", see Assignments. You may miss no more than two lecture-seminars.

  • We expect you to be actively engaged and present at all our course events. This is key for the learning process and makes the course more lively and interactive. 
  • The lecture-seminars should complement and deepen perspectives, questions and themes that are presented in the literature. They do not summarize the course literature - you read the course literature yourself.
  • It is not allowed to record the lectures without the teacher’s explicit permission.
  • Presentations (power-point, etc.) can be used for learning purposes, but should not be spread beyond the classroom, be it virtual or physical. They will be uploaded here. 

 

The course is assessed through participation in seminars, completion of seminar assignments and a home exam, where you write essay answers to a number of questions by drawing on the literature, the lectures and the seminars.

 

Course Start

The course starts with an introductory lecture on Monday 30 March at 13:15-15.00, room 2-0076, Campus Engelska parken. Prior to that, please take some time to explore this virtual class-room (Studium). Make sure that you have access to all the course literature.

 

Don't forget to register yourself on the course

To start the course, you need to be registered. Go to Ladok for students to register. It is not enough that you are only admitted to the course. On the page Admissions and registration there are instructions on how you do this. The registration period is open February 23 through Mars 22 2026.

 

Study Support

If you need special support in your studies, you need to obtain a certificate to receive it, a so-called NAIS certificate. You can read more and apply for support on our student page Study Support. If you have questions, contact Uppsala University’s coordinators for targeted study support. Apply as early as possible after you have registered on the course. That way you will get help the fastest.

 

Most welcome!

Sten Hagberg, Oulia Makkonen and guest lecturers