African Civilizations and the Making of the Diaspora
Omar H. Ali
Session II Thursday, 9:30 a.m.  Fee: $65 (begins April 17)  Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

This course explores the making of the African Diaspora through a combination of lectures, class discussion, images and video documentaries. We will begin with an investigation of the political, religious, economic and cultural history of Africa from the spread of Islam into the continent in the seventh century through the formation of city-states and empires on the eve of the Atlantic slave trade. In the second week, we will turn towards the east and look at the dispersion of Africans in the Indian Ocean world, followed by a westward purview in the third week, looking at the creation of the Atlantic world beginning in the late 15th century. We will conclude the course with a look at the Americas and the role of men and women of African descent in creating a distinctly Afro-American culture. A suggested, but not required text, is Michael Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora (Cambridge University Press, 2004), $19.99.
 

Omar H. Ali, Ph.D., is on the faculty of the history department at Towson University. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, he is a Fulbright scholar and the recipient of research grants from Harvard University, the University of South Carolina, and Columbia University, where he received his doctorate. He has two books to be published, In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third Party Movements and Black Populism in the New South, and has served as a guest editor for Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society. His latest research involves tracing the role of Muslim West Africans in antislavery movements in South America.