Syllabus: City Stories

Using an interdisciplinary approach to examine cities and urban life, this course begins with the capitals of the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) and of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC (Kinshasa). The course then examines the relationship of these cities with the former colonial capitals of Brussels and Paris and Port-au-Prince, whose history and religious practices were shaped in part by slaves from the Kingdom of Kongo. The course draws on literary, cinematic, historical, and anthropological sources and pays special attention to hybrid constructions resulting from violent and peaceful encounters between people, ideas, and artifacts. This document contains five sections: A) background to the development of the syllabus, B) brief reflections on teaching the course, C) the syllabus itself, D) a bibliography, and E) a filmography.