Professor Kodesh is full of information, a clear master of the subject he teaches. However, his lectures are quite boring. He is very willing to help outside of class, which I appreciated very much. This class wasn't time consuming at all, we just had 2 midterms and a final essay. If you want a general synopsis of Africa, take this class!Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Neil Kodesh
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Neil Kodesh is a very knowledgeable about African history - however, he is a very boring lecturer. He has weekly quizzes of varying levels of difficulty, and there are weekly readings (a lot of them). There are two essays which are graded difficultly but fairly.Rate My Professors ↗
Prof. Kodesh is a fine professor and definitely knowledgeable, but I felt that the class was not worth it. Half the lectures were given by guest lecturers (other profs in the department) and the class, while interesting, wasnt memorable compared to others. Your grade came down to your TA (mine was horrible), so Ill give Neil an average rating.Rate My Professors ↗
Neil is an amazing professor and I learned so much about Africa in general from this course, definitely recommend; however, a 75 minute lecture with him talking the whole class period is TERRIBLE. 30 minutes in, I begin falling asleep. You have to attend lecture in order to do good on the assignments, but great course.Rate My Professors ↗
Note that all of Neil's classes with the 277 tag are the same one, it's crosslisted as several different things. His lectures are incredibly informational (if a bit dry), so though attendance isn't mandatory you'll struggle a lot if you don't go. Lots of reading, but it's fairly easy and you can get away with skipping it fairly often.Rate My Professors ↗
This was probably the most boring class I've ever taken. He doesn't post slides at all, so it's pretty necessary to go to lecture to gather information for the essays. The whole class is graded on three essays and participation, so no final, which was probably the best part of the class. The class wasn't really difficult overall, just really boringRate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Neil Kodesh
Senior Honors Thesis
1–3 creditsHISTORY 681 is a mentored independent research and thesis writing course for honors students.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Senior Honors Thesis
1–3 creditsHISTORY 682 is a mentored independent research and thesis writing course for honors students, requiring concurrent enrollment in HISTORY 680.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleSenior Thesis
1–3 creditsHISTORY 691 is a mentored independent research and writing course on an original topic, titled Senior Thesis.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Senior Thesis
1–3 creditsHISTORY 692 is a senior thesis course focused on mentored research and writing on an original topic.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Directed Study
1–4 creditsHISTORY 698 is a directed study course allowing students to conduct independent research under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Directed Study
1–4 creditsHISTORY 699 is a directed study course allowing students to conduct independent research under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleResearch and Thesis
1–9 creditsHISTORY 990 is a research and thesis course where students conduct independent research and write a thesis under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
No recorded grade history
Independent Work
1–6 creditsHISTORY 999 is an independent work course involving directed study under faculty supervision.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleRecorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 681 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 682 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 691 | Senior Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 692 | Senior Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 698 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 699 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | HISTORY 999 | Independent Work |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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