Marcia Wright

(This is probably irrelevant since I believe Prof. Wright retired in May 2008.) -This class was fairly good. I had been interested in South Africa for a while and definitely walked away with a better understanding of the complex history of that nation than when I started. Prof. Wright could at times be boring, but she is very passionate and VERY knowledgeable about this subject. There was alot of reading but I never did most of it and I don't think it hurt my grade. The workload was a little annoying-a short (3 pages-I think) paper; a longer research paper (12-15 pages), and a final. It's not so bad, just alot at the end with the paper AND the final. If this is every taught, and you are interested in learning more about South Africa, take it. There were optional sections, some with Kevin Etienne-Cummings (not very good) and Amanda Alexander (excellent!).

Professor Wright is great. This class will not be an easy A, and you will work very hard, but it is well worth it. She is very straightforward, and her lectures are engaging. Also, she knows everything! With age on her side, this woman knows East African history backwards and forwards, and she is a very established scholar in her field. Yet she is not intimidating, and she asks each student to meet with her personally about papers. She's also really sweet and entertaining at times -- she did say, "Don't be fooled, I am a tough cookie," in the first class, and in a lecture, she once called a postcolonial development scheme "goddamn hegemonic" in a very funny passionate way. And that is exactly what she has, a passion for both her students and her subject. I love her. Take this class.

Quite simply, one of the best professors I have ever had.

You should get the point by now. What it comes down to is a nice old lady teaching a pretty interesting, yet challenging course. She is probably one of the better professors teaching African Civ, but the class itself may not be the easiest way to fulfill the major cultures requirement. And don't think that just because she's nice that she's an easy grader, because she is quite demanding in terms of discussion, papers, and exams. Think about this one pretty carefully.

I have mixed feelings about this class. On the one hand, I definitely came away from it feeling like I had a decent grasp on the major events of South African history over the past two centuries. But on the other hand, this class should have been absolutely fascinating—it wasn't. Professor Wright's lectures are sort of all over the place. She'll spend a long time talking about small details that must be fascinating to her as an expert in the subject, only to rush through more basic yet important events in the last 10 minutes of class. She speaks incredibly softly, so unless you're in the very first row, you'll find yourself missing lots of details. She also spent so many classes talking about 19th century South Africa that we were rushing by the time we got to the 20th century—the era that most of us were were primarily interested in. The readings ranged from dense and boring to relatively interesting, but there were so many reading assignments that it was difficult to figure out what to focus on. Sections were optional, but I'd STRONGLY advise attending—I really think my section is the reason I ended up enjoying this class. Like I said, I didn't hate this class, and I sort of came out liking it in the end. But it definitely wasn't the riveting class that I expected it to be, so consider yourself forewarned.

The problem with wright is that she teaches linear history (event-driven rather than thematic or analytic) in a non-linear way--her lectures jump mercilessly from one time and place to another and she isn't that willing to answer questions--i actually got shot down once. i'm pretty suprised that no one else has commented on the fact that this professor and course are really difficult to follow. I took pages of notes every day and always felt like i was missing huge chunks, and the nature of the readings (no text book, MANY articles and book chapters) lent absolutely no continuity to the material, so at the end of the semester i had a stack of paper as high as my knees and not much of an idea about what HAPPENED. And it wasn't just me--walking out of class everyday all i heard was "did you understand that?" "wait, so what happened?" "She goes way too fast!" Yes she is feisty and quirky and so ridiculously knowledgeable, and even nice enough when she isn't mocking you for asking a question, but it's a frustrating experience more than anything else.

Professor Wright is indeed a charming woman (despite, or maybe because of, her age) who is extremely knowledgeable in African history and culture. Overall, that is why taking African Civ with her so a pretty good experience. However, there are a few logistical complaints that I wanted to mention. First of all, the midterm and final were quite fair content-wise (she even told us half of what would be on the final) but for me, they always took a lot of time and had too many parts. The final, for example, involved three pretty substantial essays along with a lot of ID's, and we only had 2 hours to complete it, which makes up for a feverish exam period. Another thing that got a bit on my nerves (and kind of hurt my grade) was the lack of direction she gave for the papers, especially the longer one. We could write on any topic in African history and culture in conjuction with her permission, which is a lot of freedom. But this is not necessarily good, because she was often very picky with the grades and comments, often punishing students for omitting something when this was really the result of her misdirection. Unlike some other people, I actually found the visual hour component to be the best part of the class, since we got to watch cool movies and documentaries in numerous African issues. (The evening timing of the visual hour, was on the other hand, a bit burdensome.) Oh, and o…

Don't let the lacy blouses fool you--Professor Wright is great and teaches a fascinating class. She really knows her stuff. I knew next to nothing about South African history coming in, but found myself enjoying lectures and attending the optional discussion section because I found the history so interesting. This class is a great way to fill the C requirement in history--highly recommended for those with any interest in Africa.

One 3-page paper, midterm, one 12-page paper, final. A ton of reading, but you can be selective on the basis of your interests. Her exams aren't set up such that you will fail if you don't do every last bit of the reading.

When a little old white lady in a lace-collared blouse walked into my class, I was slightly worried. After 20min though I realized it was all going to be okay and she knew her stuff. Prof. Wright is a brilliant teacher who wants everyone in the class to be engaged in the conversation. Her enthusiasm for the subject is catching and her discussions interesting. Take this class!