Course Schedule

AFAS 160A1 – Traditions and Societies of the World - The Africana Experience

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 1 Traditions and Cultures/160 · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

This course will introduce students to the fundamental issues and concepts in the Africana experience in Africa and the United States from a humanist and interdisciplinary perspectives. Principal topics of discussion will be drawn from areas of history, philosophy, political-economy, literature and the arts, religion and society.

AFAS 160D1 – Introduction to African American Literature

Gen Ed: Tier 1 Traditions and Cultures/160 · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

Introduction to African American literature will explore the linguistic and cultural roots and traditions of literary writing by African Americans in three centuries of American history focusing on select readings in poetry, drama, non-fiction, and fictional prose. The overall goal of the course is to introduce students to different perspectives of American history, through an Africana lens, and apply the different genres, contexts, and content of literary production by African American writers from the 1700s to the late 20th century, to an overall critique of American Culture.

AFAS 200 – Introduction to Africana Studies

Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

Course provides a comprehensive understanding of the African American experience as grounded in the humanities. A broad investigation of Africana history and culture and its subsequent evolution in the United States.

AFAS 209 – African American History (1440-1877)

Cross Listed

This course evaluates the early experiences of peoples of African descent in North America. The culture of African captives, their daily lives under different slave regimes, slave resistance, free blacks, and emancipation are the main subjects addressed in this class.

AFAS 218 – Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Arts · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Artist

When you think of hip-hop, you often think of gangsters, thugs, pimps, drugs, crime, wealth, violence ,and misogyny. Students taking this course will be expected to take the artist perspective to dig deeper into the historical underpinnings of where this contemporary art form comes from as well as its evolution and proliferation nationally and beyond(globally). This beginning level class combines practical movement practices based on actual hip-hop dance styles with straight lectures and lively discussions that help students to be critical, analytical, logical, questioning, reflective and evaluative thinkers This holistic approach which combines theory and practice, will furnish learners with the relevant cultural, historical, and practical knowledge of hip-hop dance and cultures in general. Similarly, in order to fully examine and acquire the different hip-hop dance and movement styles, skills, techniques, vocabulary, and cultures emanating from particular historical and evolutionary periods and geographic regions in the USA and globally, the course will adopt ahistorical-geographical approach. The ultimate objective is to challenge and encourage students to take on the lens of the artists and independently create final dance projects where they dig deeper and get immersed in to the core values, knowledge, theories, world views, concepts, and ideas specific to the Africana Studies discipline. Students are not required to have prior dance knowledge to enroll in this class and will participate at their ability levels. To demonstrate the student's mastery of disciplinary content, methodologies, skills, knowledge and value systems, the class will culminate with an independently conceived practical performance, or a digital project accompanied by a critical/analytical write up.

AFAS 249 – Images of Africa

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Writing · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Building Connections

This course investigates how audiovisual media including feature films, documentaries, music videos, visual albums represent Africa. The emergence of digital technologies with widespread access transformed Africa's media landscape. Through this exploration of African audiovisual media, the course builds connections across the arts, social sciences, and humanities. Upon completing "Images of Africa," students will have an enhanced understanding of contemporary Africa from a variety of social positions as well as the skills to interpret audiovisual media and evaluate their significance in cultural and historical contexts by drawing on a critical repertoire across disciplines.

AFAS 285 – Conceptualizing Caribbean Society

Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

This course will provide students with an introduction to Caribbean society through an exploration of regional experiences tied to social, cultural and political fields. Weekly lectures will interrogate the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on a variety of subjects such as the construction of race, class and gender. Additionally, AFAS 285 will provide an understanding of the intersection between critical theory and Caribbean Studies. Subsequently, this course aligns local identity politics with global cultural flows and, offers a historical guide to themes such as the transatlantic slave trade, creolization, difference, diaspora and imperialism. AFAS 285 is well suited to students who have an interest in Caribbean culture, Global Studies, the Black Diaspora, postcolonial theory and Ethnic Studies.

AFAS 302 – Africana Studies Research Approaches

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis

This course is designed to provide students with skills in conducting social science research in the field of Africana Studies. The course will consist of discussions of the role of knowledge, the various methods by which knowledge is acquired, and the manner that interpretations of knowledge occur.

AFAS 303 – Black Womanist Writers

Cross Listed

This course examines the lives and writings of Black women from selected ethnicities such as Caribbean, Canadian, Latin American and African American who, despite geography, form bridges to meet and develop a dialogue which enlightens us.

AFAS 304A – The Social Construction of Race: Whiteness

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

In constructing this course, the recognition of Whiteness/Blackness is not solely a reactionary response to challenges from persons of color; it is also a reflection of the need to provide a narrative of Whiteness/Blackness that intends an understanding of the notion of Whiteness/Blackness as a racial category and the implications of this categorization and association. For example, naming Whiteness displaced it from the unmarked, and unnamed status that is itself an effect of dominance. Within the particular disciplines of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, Whiteness, Blackness and Race have come to be earnest subjects of study. Being White or Black in the 21st Century, however, is far from straightforward. It is riddled with ambiguity and marked by a general sense of racial angst as to what it means to be White or Black. This course will attempt to respond to the question: What does it mean to be Black/White in our global climate?

AFAS 306 – African-American Autobiographies: Women and Their Histories

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies

Students will gain insight into the historical and cultural factors that have created, and continue to perpetuate gender and ethnic inequity. Students will come to understand African American writers, particularly women, as historical agents and self-defined individuals. While the course will emphasize the multiple roles of African American women, as portrayed autobiographically it also incorporates the historical struggles of those around them. It is my goal that through the course material students will see how African Americans are constantly recreating themselves in the face of adversity.

AFAS 330 – Minority Groups and American Politics

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Writing Emphasis Course

Political problems of the poor; analysis of systematic poverty in the U.S. and theories of causation; selected policy problems: education, housing, job training, enforcement of anti-discrimination statutes; future of "power" movements.

AFAS 335 – Rap, Culture and God

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed: Building Connections

This course is a study of popular culture and religion in African-American and Latin@ communities, with a focus on the place of rap music in the cultural identity of these traditions. The class will begin with a study of some major themes in cultural studies concerning identity, class, race, and gender in addition to a study of the role of religion in Black and Latin@ communities. We will consider the approaches and self-understandings of identity and culture in rap music with special attention to the voices of protest, resistance, and spirituality among rap artists.

AFAS 342 – Writers, Women and the Gods

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities

In order to conceptualize the way gender and ethnicity has shaped women's lives in the public and private domain students will "hear" the voices of African American women in ethnography, history and literature as we discuss the Africana concepts of life, health, beauty and family. The experiences of these women, as expressed in literature have become "formidable" presences in African American culture and history. The self-expression and self-definition, expressed by African American women's voices have generated social and political changes in American history that have also impacted the dominant Euro-American culture of American society.

AFAS 371 – Hip-Hop Cinema

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Arts · Gen Ed Attribute: Writing · Gen Ed: Building Connections

This course provides a strong foundation in the history and development of hip-hop cinema from Africana Studies, Cinema and Cultural Studies perspectives. Major films, theories, and movements are studied in their historical, social, and cultural context, with a particular focus on the aesthetics of visual language and cinematic techniques. Interdisciplinary analysis will allow for viewing hip hop and cinema in revolutionary but academic ways.

AFAS 373 – US & Francophone Hip-Hop Cultures

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Artist

Examination of the historical, ethical, social, and political impacts and perspectives of hip-hop artistic practices and works on communities and societies in the United States and in the French-speaking world. Taught in English.

AFAS 376 – Global Soccer

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Social Scientist

While the British invented "football" (as soccer is known around the world), the French were key players in structuring it worldwide. This interdisciplinary course is about the emergence and growing notoriety of soccer in France, the French - speaking world, and as a worldwide global phenomenon through explorations in the following areas: cultural and global studies, philosophy, history, institutions, anthropology, sociology, and language. The course presents several important themes that allow to understand the popularity and identification of the populations with soccer worldwide, as well as the human values it represents: olympism, pacifism, imperialism, colonialism and post - colonialism , national identities, race, politics, gender, and globalization.

AFAS 386 – Soundtrack of the Caribbean

Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

AFAS 386 introduces students to various Caribbean music cultures from the perspective of the French-, Spanish- and English-speaking islands in the Caribbean. The sounds that emanate from the region have descended from various folk traditions and refined by global processes. As a result, sonic products like reggae, soca, chutney, salsa and zouk, nurture cultural practices in religious, political, familial and festival spaces. A key ingredient of the Caribbean's cultural soundtrack is Afro-folk traditions which anchor the experiences of the colorful society. Caribbean music also showcases inheritances from India, the US and UK. This course is well suited to students with an interest in the Caribbean, music traditions, Global Studies and creative work. Moreover, AFAS 386 can enhance the knowledge of students in the Humanities and Social Sciences as it explores cultural, economic and political happenings in the region.

AFAS 436 – Civil War and Reconstruction, U.S. 1861-1878

Cross Listed

Political, constitutional, economic, and military developments in the U.S. and the Confederacy during and after the Civil War.

AFAS 444 – Rethinking Race and Health in the United States

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies

This course is designed to expose undergraduates to the complexity of cultural and ethnic considerations as they pertain to the health and well being of underrepresented groups in the U. S., such as, African Americans. Drawing on perspectives from public health, the social/behavioral sciences, and perspectives from Africana Studies, we will engage in the comparative study of health cultures. We will explore the historical and contemporary multilayered social, cultural, political, and economic systems that engender the social and cultural determinants that shape health status, health behavior and health inequalities of Africana peoples in the United States.

AFAS 466 – Racism and Resistance in Latin America

Cross Listed · Writing Emphasis Course

In this course, we will explore race and resistance across the Americas. Taking the Brazilian situation as a springboard, this class will critically analyze notions of race, racism, and anti-racism. Students will have the opportunity to work on a variety of written and oral projects that explore racial ideology, structural/institutional racism, and anti-racist resistance across the Americas. Through a social science lens, students will select, examine, and share examples of racial injustice in a particular country, paying attention to how race has been a determining factor in discrimination, exclusion, and resistance. Course materials are organized around critical discussions of the deeply seated racial inequality and discrimination that impact all aspects of economic and social life, as well as the ways in which different forms of mobilization confront racism.

AFAS 493 – Internship

Engagement: Community Partnership · Engagement: Diversity and Identity

Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of training and practice in actual service in a technical, business, or governmental establishment.

AFAS 498 – Senior Capstone

A culminating experience for majors involving a substantive project that demonstrates a synthesis of learning accumulated in the major, including broadly comprehensive knowledge of the discipline and its methodologies. Senior standing required.

AFAS 498H – Honors Thesis

Honors Course · Writing Emphasis Course

An honors thesis is required of all the students graduating with honors. Students ordinarily sign up for this course as a two-semester sequence. The first semester the student performs research under the supervision of a faculty member; the second semester the student writes an honors thesis.

AFAS 566 – Racism and Resistance in Latin America

Cross Listed

In this course, we will explore race and resistance across the Americas. Taking the Brazilian situation as a springboard, this class will critically analyze notions of race, racism, and anti-racism. Students will have the opportunity to work on a variety of written and oral projects that explore racial ideology, structural/institutional racism, and anti-racist resistance across the Americas. Through a social science lens, students will select, examine, and share examples of racial injustice in a particular country, paying attention to how race has been a determining factor in discrimination, exclusion, and resistance. Course materials are organized around critical discussions of the deeply seated racial inequality and discrimination that impact all aspects of economic and social life, as well as the ways in which different forms of mobilization confront racism.