Course Schedule

AFAS 150B1 – Contemporary Afro Brazil

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 1 Individuals & Societies/150 · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

This course challenges historical and contemporary popular culture perceptions of Brazil as a tourist haven and paradise replete with festivities and beautiful beaches while also reinforcing an interdisciplinary and multiple perspective approach to the study of Afro-Brazilian people's history, cultures, arts, music, dance, cinema, cuisines, and sports, and the protracted systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic rights, as well as the racial and educational inequalities and disparities that Brazilians of African descent have experienced over the years.

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: Diversity and Equity · 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 Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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 Attribute: Diversity and Equity · 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 218 – Introduction to Hip-Hop Dance

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Arts · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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 220 – Introduction to African American Studies

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

Introductory survey of the literature, history, culture and social issues affecting Black Americans.

AFAS 245 – African Literature Matters

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

Introduction to African literature coming from the African continent and the diaspora, which explores the representation of Black experience in a variety of geographical and cultural settings. Select themes (such as liberation, oppression, identity) will invite students to reflect on current debates in historical perspective. Taught in English.

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 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 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 308 – The African Slave Trades

Cross Listed · Writing Emphasis Course

This course examines the history of the African slave trade. The trans-Atlantic slave trade was the world's largest forced migration between continents, but it was only one of many slave trades that shaped societies throughout the world. In order to understand the historical significance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, we will compare it to other slaveries. In examining the historical significance and legacies of the slave trade, we will link the histories of Africa to that of the New World and to Europe. There continue to be heated debates about the volume and impact of the slave trade on African and New World societies. We will explore these debates. The course will also examine the changing meaning of the term "slavery" and examine some modern forms of slavery that persist to this day.

AFAS 310 – Afro-Latin American Literature

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

A bio-critical discussion/study of writers of African decent/extraction from Latin America.

AFAS 314 – Caribbean Literature and Culture (West Indies)

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

The course examines how literature captures the multifaceted social, cultural, and political life of the Caribbean region.

AFAS 335 – Rap, Culture and God

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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: Diversity and Equity, US · 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: Diversity and Equity, US · 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: Diversity and Equity · 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 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

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 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 150B1 – Contemporary Afro Brazil

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 1 Individuals & Societies/150 · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed Attribute: World Cultures and Societies · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

This course challenges historical and contemporary popular culture perceptions of Brazil as a tourist haven and paradise replete with festivities and beautiful beaches while also reinforcing an interdisciplinary and multiple perspective approach to the study of Afro-Brazilian people's history, cultures, arts, music, dance, cinema, cuisines, and sports, and the protracted systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic rights, as well as the racial and educational inequalities and disparities that Brazilians of African descent have experienced over the years.

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: Diversity and Equity · 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 Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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 Attribute: Diversity and Equity · 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 Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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 220 – Introduction to African American Studies

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

Introductory survey of the literature, history, culture and social issues affecting Black Americans.

AFAS 222 – African American Studies: A History of Ideas

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

This course is concerned with the history of oppression of African and other Indigenous peoples in the world and examines ideas by radical philosophers and scholars from the African Diaspora directed toward liberation from oppression.

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 304A – The Social Construction of Race: Whiteness

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · 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 304B – The Social Construction of Race: Blackness

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

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 displaces it from the unmarked 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 310 – Afro-Latin American Literature

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

A bio-critical discussion/study of writers of African decent/extraction from Latin America.

AFAS 314 – Caribbean Literature and Culture (West Indies)

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

The course examines how literature captures the multifaceted social, cultural, and political life of the Caribbean region.

AFAS 320 – The African American Slave Narrative: History and Literature

Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities

This course is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the history of narratives by African slaves before and after the American Civil War. This course will benefit majors/minors in American/African Literature or other interdisciplinary majors who wish to study the historical experiences of minority ethnic cultures in America.

AFAS 335 – Rap, Culture and God

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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 345 – Caribbean Politics

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

This course provides an introduction to the politics of Caribbean states, from 1960 to the present. It will discuss major issues that affect the Caribbean region, namely, migration, poverty, regional economic cooperation and political integration, democratic institutions, and U. S. foreign policy towards the region.

AFAS 351 – Race and Class in Latin America

Cross Listed

The impact of commercial expansion, urbanization, industrialization, and ideological change on race and class relations in Latin America from the 16th to early 20th century.

AFAS 363 – #Black Lives Matter Across The Americas: Race & Racism in Latin America

Cross Listed

How are race and racism perceived and experienced in countries in Latin America particularly such as Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia where a mixed-race ideology and the myth of racial equality have traditionally been at the core of national identity? This class critically analyzes notions of race and anti-racist activism to examine the ideologies and circumstances of the political structure, race-targeted public policies, and black activism in contemporary Latin America.

AFAS 371 – Hip-Hop Cinema

Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Arts · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · 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: Diversity and Equity, US · 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: Diversity and Equity · 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 377 – Digital Africana Studies: Experiencing the Harlem Renaissance

Cross Listed · Gen Ed: Diversity Emphasis · Gen Ed: Tier 2 Humanities · Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity and Equity, US · Gen Ed: Exploring Perspectives, Humanist

Dive into the Harlem Renaissance, a whirlwind of African American artistry and intellect in the Roaring Twenties! This electrifying era, sparked in Harlem, NY, was more than just a cultural movement - it was a redefinition of African American identity through music, art, literature, and thought. Imagine streets pulsating with jazz and blues, where writers, musicians, and artists forged a new legacy in the aftermath of WWI. It was a time when black pride soared, exemplified by significant parades and the rise of influential organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League. Discover why Harlem, the heart of this cultural revolution, was not just a neighborhood, but a vibrant, black metropolis. Join us in exploring this groundbreaking chapter in American history, where every lecture feels like stepping into a scene of unbridled creativity and resilience!

AFAS 378 – AfroFuturism and Black Speculative Fiction

Gen Ed: Tier 2 Individuals and Societies

This course explores the aspirations that people of African descent have for the future, speculation, utopias and dystopias. Part of the resilience of black culture and black life is about imagining the impossible, imagining better places, situating oneself on different levels of existence and interacting with other life forms, be they alien, artificial or human, in ways not fully embraced or understood by Western culture. Afrofuturism encompasses art, music, literature, religion, technology and the future in new and exciting ways in order to further understand the human condition, more specifically the place of people of color in the 21st century and beyond. Overall, this course explores the construction of modern and future worlds from the perspective of global black experiences.

AFAS 441 – The History of African American Women from Slavery to Freedom

Cross Listed

The objective of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of the history of Black people in American with a particular eye towards the experiences of Black women. The course will review some of the major historiographical issues presented by scholars of African American Women's History.

AFAS 475 – USA & South Africa: Comparative Historical & Political Perspectives

Cross Listed

This course will focus on the historical and political developments of colonialism, racism, and racial segregation in the United States and in South Africa *(Azania) since the beginning of the colonialism-slavery epochs to the present. It will illumine the striking similarities and differences particularly between the slave and Jim Crow South and apartheid South Africa and between dispossession of Indigenous peoples in North America and those of Azania, paying special attention to issues of ideology, color, class, and gender. This class does satisfy requirements for the Africana Studies minor, Study Area I, Africana History, Politics and Economics.