Abosede George

for an intro lecture, prof. george's standards are too high. i had friends who got 75% on their discussion posts and she has a 10% participation grade but is quick to judge those who opens their mouth. the content is interesting but you end up stressing more about your grade than enjoying the class. i def won't be taking another class with her. super unapproachable and if she doesn't like you or your ideas, you'll know

Professor George is a compassionate, knowledgeable, and patient person. She is lovely. And she does an excellent job in showing how African history plays out on a global scale - not just in terms of the history of colonization, but also in terms of the history of diplomacy, of the Cold War, and of historiographical/archival challenges that arise. However, the class was taught remotely and in an accelerated fashion ("immersive Spring A course"), and her slides were extremely sparse. Often they only had the keywords. Sometimes, we had no slides at all and only saw her speaking. For a class that spanned from 10:10 am-12:55 pm with only a 10-minute break, it was exceptionally challenging to stay engaged. Even when the content was interesting. For this reason, I have mixed feelings about the course. I am glad I took it, and liked the professor very much as a person, but warn prospective students that they need to be realistic about their capacity for focusing under these conditions before enrolling.

First and foremost: Prof. George is an incredibly nice and easygoing professor. Her lectures are generally interesting and she conveys the material well. She often doesn't use time particularly efficiently (e.g. spending a lot of time on relatively tangential matters, dedicating a whole class to "review" mid-semester in which we basically replicated a discussion section with the whole class, etc.) That being said, this is not a particularly "rigorous" history class, for better or worse. This is rather evident from the very title: it's such a broad subject that necessarily Prof. George picks and chooses specific topics she'd like to talk about, resulting in a very broad, introductory-level course in modern African history. Surprisingly, there also isn't very much reading, so again you aren't getting a whole lot of information. Assignments are minimal (see below), so you also don't write that much. For these reasons, this is a fantastic course if you want a relatively easy and light course which will allow you to fit stories to names and have a general overlook of modern African history. If all you're looking for is to fulfill a requirement or something, this is a good choice. I would not, on the other hand, recommend this to more solid history buffs who are looking for a challenging, intensively informative or generally in-depth history course. They may well be disappointed. My…

Professor George is young, energetic, and a very good lecturer. I took this class to fulfill the global core/diversity requirement. I was initially a bit worried about the sheer amount of reading that was required as well as the "two absences will result in a failing grade" policy, but I stuck it out. The readings were, for the most part, interesting, and Dr. George makes sure that differing views are presented in each section. It's VERY important to READ THE THINGS IN THE ORDER THEY ARE LISTED ON THE SYLLABUS. She never tells you that, but I found that in a series of three readings, the first two will represent two different views and the last will represent a compromise between or a synthesis of the first two. That's KEY in understanding how to engage with the readings in this class. Participation is a full 25% of the grade. If you have something to say: say it. There is also a museum trip and a paper, a map quiz (she provides any number of resources to help with this), a midterm (one page of handwritten notes is allowed) and a final (also one page of notes). The midterm was all essay questions. The final involved IDs and essay questions. This class is not "easy" by any stretch of the imagination, but it will challenge your ideas about Africa and give you a tiny insight into a part of the world that is largely neglected and misunderstood.

The content taught in this course was very interesting. However, I found the professor's lecturing style to be very boring and not engaging. Professor George speaks slowly and is very repetitive, and she lectures for the entire class time with rare student participation. I also think that this course attempts to cover a huge amount of material, and that the professor is often rushed to do so, so what is covered in class oftentimes feels surface level. The quizzes were solely based on memorization of maps, which I found easy but unsatisfying and not worthwhile. Also, the powerpoints used barely included any information and felt useless. However, if you have the option of having Luz as your TA she will make the course 10x better! Luz was a great TA! I found her to be the most worthwhile part of the course. The material covered in lecture always felt surface level but in discussion Luz encouraged us to engage in analysis of historical trends, criticizing primary source, and questioning history and its narratives. The reading responses were fairly easy but interesting. Only criticism is that she didn't give entirely accurate information about what material would be covered on quizzes, and that the only section times offered were at 9am. Overall, Luz improved my experience in this class 100% and I think she would make a great professor.

This is the perfect class for History majors that want to fulfill their Asia/Africa requirement. I came into this class with limited background in African History. I got an A+ in the class because I did the following things: 1. I went to every discussion section and almost every lecture (There's a sign in sheet and you only get 3 absences total if you want perfect participation points) 2. I took notes on my computer (Lots of key terms/concepts on the final and being able to just search my files for the names made studying a breeze.) I did alright on the midterm final but got an A+ because... 3. I did the extra credit (All you have to do is do a 1-2 page write up about an African History "event" you went to. You can do up to 3 and get up to 9 points on your grade total) 4. I only watched one of the four movies we were assigned and wrote a halfway decent paper on that. The class is a lot like a High School history class. But unlike a US or European version, it's not like many of us have taken a class on African History so it should still be interesting. Prof George is great for a class like this. She's passionate about the subject, but also really enjoys went people call her out on stuff that doesn't make any sense and encourages discussion. Take this class if you want to learn about a new subject and get a good grade with relative ease.

I loved this class. It was challenging and had great readings. The professor blends historical/fact-based readings really well with different types of literary readings based in historical concepts, events, and movements we talk about. I came out of the class feeling much better read, having learned a lot, engaging with old ideas in new and exciting ways, but not overwhelmed or exhausted from the course. I also went up to Prof George multiple times after class to talk about things we'd talked about and she would offer really great insights and was always receptive to talking. She also wrote me a great recommendation to a very competitive program I got to and helped me get accepted! Overall I definitely recommend George and this class.

This was one of the best classes I took in my entire college career. Professor George is young, attractive, intelligent and engaging. She hasn't been teaching for long but she definitely knows her stuff. Her lectures are pretty straightforward (seriously just bring a tape recorder, listen and enjoy). You can tell she is actively engaged in African history, she is always supplementing the course with interesting films, clips,etc. I wish I could take a class with her again in a few years. I know she will be phenomenal! I may have gotten lucky but we had a good sized VERY DIVERSE class and I feel like everyone brought something to the table. Discussions were interesting and I was always learning something new from my classmates. The workload is very reasonable and seems less than it is to me because the reading is fascinating and thought provoking. We have two short response papers , 2 map quizzes, a midterm and a final. Everything is very straightforward, we are given plenty of notice and the TA's are okay. We can also attend events and write responses to them for extra credit! (I wish the Professor George did the actual grading though because shes more concerned with concepts and contents than writing style) In conclusion, I would recommend this class to everyone no matter what social or academic background. You don't just learn about Africa, you learn about the world!

Way too much reading and her grading style was sporadic and very random. That being said it is very interesting and she is extremely personable and engaging.

I really enjoyed this class. The only reason I took it originally was because it fit in my class and I found the topic interesting, but after taking this class I decided to major in Africana Studies and I have been incredibly happy with the decision. Professor George was a great lecturer and would talk to us after class if people stuck around even for like ten minutes (mind you, this wasn't office hours). I took another class of hers the next semester and was equally happy and she seems to have improved even more as a professor since then. I learned a lot from this class and came out seeing the world in a more nuanced and engaged way. Almost wish I could take it again just to see what I would get out of it a second time around.