Professor Mason is intimidating and can seem condescending at times, but he truly wants his students to succeed. His lectures can get a little dull depending on the unit, and the weekly readings and corresponding writing assignments can get a little tedious. Still, you really do learn a lot through them, and they're very helpful when writing essays, each of which had very niche prompts. He gave thorough feedback on each assignment, sent a weekly email discussing what to focus on in every assignment, and provided extra context for areas that might've been unclear in the readings.

He's harsh when grading the first essay and weekly reading journal, which can be discouraging. However, he does take a student's effort and sustained improvement over the semester in mind when calculating final grades, which can be a big boost. If you go to his (very helpful) office hours and take the time to show that you're serious about his class, he will work with you to ensure you get the most out of it.

Overall, Professor Mason was very knowledgeable, and his passion for the subject carried through into lectures, which made it easier to grasp concepts since he went into so much detail and connected everything to the bigger picture. I usually don't leave reviews, but the rest of these made Professor Mason look really bad, so I wanted to relay my positive experience.

complete narcissist, talks about himself and his personal experiences rather than any of the actual content. super unclear about expectations for the exams, gives you formatting and then thats it, no sort of guide at all on how to revisit the readings so they all take a really long time the first time you go through them because you have to make sure your notes are really in depth or you won't get it right on the exams--- if you read really in depth and are okay with being disappointed with a B+ or B then take this class

I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Mason's class. While many think he comes off as narcissistic, he utilizes an unconventional way of teaching. He does not spend every class lecturing on material, but teaches through pictures some days. The readings for this class are simple and enjoyable. The only work was weekly we had to email a summary paragraph per reading to Professor Mason, one midterm exam (in class, blue book), and the final was take home (time limit, but no page limit). He holds a review session in class before the exams, in which he goes over what you need to know. Take notes and study and you will be fine. Overall, this class was an awesome experience.

The professor is a narcissist. He gives a lot of sassy back handed comments to students. He gives a bad names to Nelson Mandela.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. This is a nightmare of a class and I would not wish it upon my worst enemies. Mason has no devotion in teaching this class. All he cares about is African music, photography, and his personal experiences in S. Africa. His lecture was so far behind the syllabus that it made the discussion section highly irrelevant (or vice versa). If you actually spend your entire week reading the text, you might get a B.

Professor Mason is incredibly arrogant and is not welcoming when students go to office hours to discuss course materials further. His lectures NEVER correspond with the readings or discussions. The readings and discussions are usually a few decades ahead of Mason's lectures which often caused confusion. The actual material of the class is interesting, just not in this format or with this professor.

Also, the class is entitled "History of Southern Africa," but we only talked about South Africa and no other southern African country which was annoying.

Interesting subject would be the reason to recommend it. However really bonded with the class over how much we weren't enjoying the course. Mason is super smart, but his ego is tangible. He can be very full of himself and dry during his lectures.

Do not take any class with this professor. His grading is unpredictable and he is NOT clear about his expectations, even when asked.

Mason's lectures are decently engaging and the latter half of the course has fantastic reading (Mandela's autobiography). However, grading seems arbitrary - on the exams, Mason just writes a grade next to IDs and essay without any point basis for them. IDs can also come out of nowhere. Easy B but don't count on an A

This class is really interesting. There are weekly quizzes every Tuesday (he forgets to write them sometimes/just gets lazy and doesn't give them), so you need to go to class and do the reading. The readings are spread out over time so some weeks you may have only 30 pages, while other weeks you have 130 pages. I really did enjoy this class, because while Prof. Mason has a rep. for being a bit arrogant at times, I think he has earned it. He's brilliant and a great lecturer.