I have to agree with many of the posters below that she is quite opinionated and takes the side that says Africa is and always has been a victim of wealthier, exploitative countries. I took this class alongside a political science class about African politics (PS151A) and these two classes were essentially polar opposites of each other. One says Africa is the victim of external actors (Carney) the other saying that Africa internally self-inflicted most of its damage. With that being said all you need to do to get an A in this course is write down exactly what you think Carney would like to hear even if you don't agree with everything she thinks (like me).

The course reader is really a joke and is a lovely collection of newspaper clippings and tiny articles from African environmentalists and anti-neoliberalists who essentially are on the same small boat that Carney is on. Even after saying all of this I did find Carney to be a good teacher and one that truly cares about the material she teaches (even though it may be very close-minded).

Lectures are long (3 hours but only once a week) and can get boring but she does a good job of finding movies (and there are around 3) that are relevant to the course and give the class a rest after taking 2 hours of notes from a fairly disorganized lecture. It may be a good idea to bring a computer because her way of lecturing is very convoluted and fragmented and she talks quite fast (Mac's with recording capability would have been very helpful in filling in parts of lecture I couldn't keep up with). All in all, I got an A, and it's easy to get an A if you skim the reader, take decent notes (mine were fairly bad) and regurgitate Carney's view on Africa. bada bing

I agree with the review below. Carney ain't so hot. She really thinks her opinion of the state of Africa and how to fix it is the only thing that matters. Lectures consist of her just repeating, every week, on how everyone who does stuff for Africa is wrong.

That being said, I thought some of the topics she mentioned were interesting (though I didn't appreciate her interrupting these topics with her random "fight the power" rantings). She's a cool person but GAH. Come on.

The class was okay. 3 hour lecture is pushing it, though, even with a quick break. My notes all tend to look good for the first half and consist of doodles for the second half. The exams were pretty straightforward, with a good mix of definitions, multiple choice, essays. Gotta do the readings and watch the films shown in lecture though, to write a decent and acceptable essay. Oh, and you gotta agree with Carney's opinions. Of course.

Prof. Carney is truly inspirational. She knows a lot and does go through the material fast, but use your common sense to pick out what is important. She even gave us a take home final! Take this class- it's worth it, and aside from the readings (which aren't even that crucial to the test), this class is not a lot of work.