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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 boring

Really knowledgeable professor. Always has thorough, thoughtful takes about the subject matter. No tests, only 3 papers. Try to show up to lecture though - he won't notice if you're not there but he gives you important material you can use for your papers. Make sure you have adequate knowledge of your readings for your discussion section.

Prof Kodesh is super passionate and knowledgable about African history, and he's a good lecturer, but I just didn't really care for the class. It's cross-listed as PS, so that's what I was expecting when I enrolled. It will definitely be an easy A if you're interested in the content. You don't have to do the readings. No exams, just 3 papers.

Prof. Kodesh is a good lecturer, and he's obviously incredibly knowledgable about the topic. There are no tests, just three essays (which are pretty easy). You'll learn a lot, and it's an easy course!

Amazing professor, very passionate and knowledgable. Lectures are concise and easy to follow but still have enough to keep you interested. Willing to answer any question or challenge with a thoughtful response while respecting students posing questions. If you read material, go to lecture, and put effort into the papers you will get an A.

Professor Kodesh was a very knowledgeable professor. He was able to help me with class content as well as things like study abroad. There were a lot of readings, but they were generally not that bad. I didn't like the TA's, but the class was still manageable. No exams, only 3 relatively simple papers.

Professor Kodesh is a great lecturer: very clear, organized, and comprehensive lectures. TA was a really tough grader and expected a lot out of you. Definitely go talk to Professor Kodesh during office hours, he is so full of knowledge especially about East Africa. If you are at all interested in any part of Africa you should take this class!

Professor Kodesh is an amazing guy. He is so knowledgable about the topics discussed in class and has first hand experience with most of them. I found this class insanely interesting. There is a lot of reading, but it is sure worth it. There are no finals/midterms, just three papers (none of which were terrible). Great teacher.

Very passionate and knowledgable. His heart was in a good place and his lectures were very clear. However, his lectures were very boring to sit through, even as a history major. He's slightly monotone and doesn't have slides or anything to supplement what he's saying. Nice guy, however, and he's very helpful in 1 on 1 situations.

Kodesh is extremely knowledgeable and the material he presents is fascinating and ridiculously clear and organized. Go to his office hours because he's super helpful and will love that you want to discuss course concepts. The class however is TOO BIG. Not only will your exams not be graded by the prof, they won't even be graded by YOUR TA.

I found that the discussions for this class were much more helpful than the lectures. The lectures were very boring and Neil doesn't do much to try to make them interesting. A lot of reading, like most ethics or humanitites classes. MOst of the reading was pretty easy though

Professor Kodesh gives the best lectures. Loud, clear, no stuttering, always prepared, timely pauses, and regularly checks if students have questions. Really helpful at office hours. Texts used in discussion and for citations. Curve isn't generous (93 for A) but exam questions given beforehand. TAs a mixed bag & determine your grade. Learnt a ton.

Small honors course, "History of Health and Healing in Africa". Totally took it on a whim but it ended up being a fantastic experience. Kodesh is so knowledgeable and insightful, but he will certainly challenge you to think critically. He's a great guy and I can't wait to take another class of his.

Class consisted of two exams (largely essay based) and one paper. There were frequent guest speakers whose lectures were sometimes hard to follow and difficult to relate to the rest of the course. As a History major, I enjoyed the historical units but some of the later sections on health and popular culture were not the most interesting for me.

I can tell Kodesh is very knowledgeable about African History, but if you do not share his passion about African history then the lectures seem to drag on and it is difficult to stay focused. By attending discussion, I was able to catch up and fully comprehend what the lectures were about. Good survey class, but just average professor.

Agreed, Neil is awesome. The readings are really interesting, and he's one of the foremost historians of East Africa, so he has an incredible wealth of knowledge to share. This always made seminar exciting, and he asks excellent questions.Grade is based on a presentation and final paper. Would recommend him for anyone interested in E. Africa.

Neil is awesome. His lectures fill the whole class, and are super interesting and engaging. It can be a challenge to keep up in lecture though. The grade is based mainly on papers. Overall I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is even vaguely interested in African History.

Lectures are very hard to keep up with and tend to jump around a lot. He also says "right?" a lot after his statements even though we are just learning it - a bit annoying. Lectures are also a little confusing and don't mesh well with previous lectures. There are 3 large papers but if you spend time on it you should be fine.

Phenomenal Lecturer who takes the time to listen to the students. Enjoys what he does. Only complaint is lectures do not tie in well to each other, and he jumps around "non-chronologically" which does not help the fact his lectures lack cohesion. Nonetheless, one of my favorite classes I have taken, highly recommend!