Africana Studies @Barnard · Columbia University
Y'all Professor Glover is AMAZING. She is eloquent, engaging, encouraging, precise, and direct. At the beginning of class, she gives a clear outline of what we will focus on for the day and sticks to it. Sometimes the discussion goes so in-depth and rich that we will have to cover one or two things during the next class session, but when you walk into the classroom you will know exactly what you'll be doing and how you're expected to do it. Professor Glover is an excellent discussion leader as well. Even if someone makes an off-topic or derailing comment, she easily redirects the discussion in a manner that won't embarrass the person who said it. Her seminar is an encouraging and engaging space that fosters conversation. She is also amazing at lecturing; she gets precise and specific about the subject, and her diction is beautifully eloquent. It is impossible to get distracted in her class because her lectures are so captivating. The course is a LOT of reading, but she releases the syllabus early, so you can get a headstart if you would like to. The actual assignments are incredibly easy; you only have to do some discussion posts, an oral presentation that gives an overview of your final project, and the actual final project. I cannot recommend this course enough; it's beyond amazing.
Take a class with her if you can, any class. Not only is professor Glover a wonderful person, she is also the most eloquent, brilliant professor I have ever had. She knows what she's talking about, she's wonderful to listen to, and she is kind. She will inspire you and you will want to impress her. Even though she's incredible in her field, she is not full of it and will always listen to student opinions. She is always available to meet outside of class and is helpful. I highly recommend taking any class with her that you can.
An absolutely incredible course! Professor Glover, as the many reviews below accurately describe, is warm and encouraging, kind and funny and so, so brilliant. You will eat up everything she says and then be inspired to analyze the texts she's selected for the syllabus at an even deeper level. All of the texts were interesting and thought-provoking, and the framework for analysis that Glover brings will always hold your attention. Highly, highly recommended -- and take any class with her that you can!
I had Professor Glover for Intro to French and Francophone Studies II. I absolutely loved her as a teacher. She's energetic and extremely knowledgeable and although she speaks really fast her French is so clear and well articulated that I can understand everything she says. As far as the class went though, I often felt overwhelmed. The reading is a lot and was kind of boring (for me, some people might love it) and after the first few weeks of class I gave up doing it at all. Luckily though, Professor Glover goes over all the important points of the reading so even if you don't read AT ALL, if you come to every class, sit in the front, pay lots of attention and take continuous notes, you should still be able to do pretty well in the class (I got a B on the midterm having read nothing - not too bad). The class is a little hard to keep up with due to the enormous amounts of complicated reading but other than that, there's never any homework to turn in. So it's just reading and then a midterm and final. If you're looking to actually improve your French though, this might not be the class for you. The focus is a lot more on the historical material learned rather than how well you speak, read, and write French. Her grading on the exams focuses solely on your understanding of the subject matter and not at all on your writing abilities. Because the class is mainly a lecture class, you…
professor: SMART, FUNNY, BEAUTIFUL and ARTICULATE syllabus: WONDERFULLY VARIED ENGAGING readings by American European Caribbean and Latin American authors workload: 2 SHORT papers, 1 LONG paper, 1 EASY presentation readings: about 1 BOOK per WEEK (meet once a week for 2 hrs) discussions: short lecture background info by Glover (you'll wish she kept on talking forever, its that good!) then a class discussion (we always run out of time) what you get out of it: critical reading and thinking, historical and literary discourse on Haiti, construction of perceptions of Haiti), fun books! Overall: best class of my semester. Read the books on time, pick an interesting topic for your papers, get to know ur classmates and you'll be fine
Imagine sitting in a small, hot, over-crowded classroom in the late afternoon for two hours, two days a week. The petite black woman in front of you makes you feel unintelligent and inadequate every minute you are there. She speaks too fast for you to follow her with notes. She occasionally makes up words. You love EVERY minute of it. She is simply brilliant. She is one of three professors for whom I would give rave, unblemished reviews. You know when that kid brings raises her hand in class and brings up that book that's only mildly related to the subject matter and is probably not even originally in English? Glover knows it back to front. She is really passionate about the material. Following her thought process is pure entertainment because she is vivacious and funny. I would take any class with her given the opportunity.
A really great class, with very minimal effort involved. There's a little bit of reading at the beginning of the semester, but otherwise it's watching movies once a week and then discussing them the other day of the week. I wouldn't recommend taking this class to improve your French, however. It's a joint class between African Studies and French, so it's taught in English with discussions and reaings in English. You have to write your papers in French for it to count towards the minor or major, however. Most of the movies have some French in them, but are all subtitled, which doesn't encourage much use of French either. Take this class if you're interested in learning more about Africa than just economics and politics, but really understanding the lives and struggles of people in the postcolonial era. The discussions are also really engaging and Prof Glover definitely knows how to direct them. Professor Glover as a whole is very intelligent and engaging as well, although her field definitely isn't cinema, it's francophone studies, which is a nice touch to the class, as she's able to contextualize a lot of the films.
Kaiama is a fabulous teacher. I was lucky enough to get her first semester, and signed up for her class again the next semester even though it was at 9am. She makes sure everyone understands the material, keeps in close communication with the students through office hours and email, and is a fair grader. Take her class if you can!
A lot of reading, 5-6 discussion posts (~400-600 words each), oral presentation, final project (can be a creative project or an essay)
Long but interesting readings, papers that are graded fairly, and a final exam. She has high expectations but also appreciates effort.