New Course! Trafficking & Destruction of African Heritage

The new course, Trafficking, and Destruction of African Heritage (AFST 120) will be launched in Spring 2022 by Dr. Bugarin, Associate Professor in the Department of African Studies along with Dr. Eleanor King, Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology.

The interdisciplinary course will explore the trade in illicit antiquities and the destruction of archaeological, heritage, and cultural sites in Africa. The smuggling of cultural property and the destruction of tangible culture, long considered profound and intractable problems, have reached critical proportions worldwide. The illicit trade in antiquities is a multi-billion-dollar criminal industry that is often ranked as the third-largest black-market trade following the trafficking in drugs (both narcotics and counterfeit medicines) and weapons. The curriculum will examine how this material has been modified, destroyed, commodified, and lost due to the political, cultural, and economic impacts of Western expansionism, imperialism, and colonialism, followed by post-colonialism, social and environmental injustice, Apartheid, conflict/war, and international development.