If you're taking this to fill a major/minor requirement like I am, you can probably take this class and do fairly well. I'd suggest it unless something significantly easier pops up. If this is for a GE, genuinely I beg you to find another. This class was genuinely so much unnecessary work and the professor stumbles on her words so much. She just reads off of the slides and doesn't really supplement them with further analysis for note taking. She also goes sort of fast because of it, but somehow always runs out of time and goes over by a few minutes. The class consisted of a 3 page paper due week 3, an in-person midterm during week 6 (which was lowkey hard and the grading was VERY skewed), a 5-6 page paper due week 9, and a take-home final that was 6 pages of essay writing. The topic was (in my opinion) not the most fascinating for the entire quarter, but some moments were good. The only enjoyable part of this class was the section led by our TA. That consisted of a map quiz of Africa (which typically takes place week 2, but was week 3 in our case due to the fires) and a group presentation with questions for the class on the readings for a week. Overall, I'd only recommend if you need this class or are super interested in African history. Otherwise, find something else.

Literally the worst class I have ever taken in my life. I would honestly avoid taking this class at any cost.

Honestly don't bother taking this class. Take another class to fulfill your GE requirement. She stutters too much and you don't have to go to lecture as long as you read your book you should be find. Not engaging at all.

I mean...I joined the class in week 2 and the first thing that she did was apologize for using the n-word in the last class. Lectures are rather uninspired and dull. On the other hand, Dawit was the coolest TA ever. He was pretty much the only reason why I even bothered staying in the class. He was pretty much the real professor and an awesome one too.

Literally the worst class I have taken at UCLA. Easy class but the lectures are SO boring. She does NOT know how to lecture. She can hardly make coherent sentences at times and usually reads off her slides. You literally could miss 10 lectures and be okay in the class.The midterm had a study guide and was super easy. Just focus on the essays. The final consisted of 3 essays and a mini one about a proverb. I had such high expectations for this class but found myself falling asleep. I hardly did the reading and got an A+. Just show up to discussion and do the in class activities. To give reference, 50% attendance and participation and 25% midterm and final. Was this an easy class? Yes if you do the work for the midterm and final. Would I recommend it? No, there was a lot of reading assigned, I learned nothing, she makes the content extremely boring, and I walked away hating the class.

Very boring lectures. Knows what shes talking about but stares at computer entire time and speaks quietly. Hard to focus during lectures. Gave study guide for midterm. LOTS to study but you know exactly what is going to be on test. Included a map quiz, ID terms and essay. Gave all possible ID terms and all possible essay questions beforehand. The homework is reading chapters from book. Way too many pages to read But you can get by without reading anything if you just attend lectures and discussion. Usually a waste of time, don’t need to do reading