AAS 170: Topics in African American Studies

Current or specialized topics will differ with the instructor. Open to and appropriate for first-year students. The class may be taken for credit more than once if content differs, but may be taken only once for the AAS minor.

 

AAS 179/HIS 179 (formerly AAS 205): African American History to 1865

An examination of the history of African Americans from their ancestral home in Africa to the end of the United States Civil War. The course encompasses introducing the cultures and civilizations of the African people prior to the opening up of the New World and exploring Black contributions to America up to 1865.

 

AAS 180/HIS 180 (formerly AAS 206: African American History 1865 to the Present)                               

An examination of the history of African Americans from the end of legal slavery in the United States to the civil rights revolution of the 1950s and 1960s. The course is designed to explore the history of African Americans since the Reconstruction and their contributions to the civil rights revolution of the present era.

 

AAS 201/HON 220: African and Diaspora Religious Traditions

This course chronicles the artistic expressions of African, Caribbean, Latin American, and African American people by exploring the links among indigenous African religious values, rituals and worldview, and the visual arts, musical, literary, and dramatic practices created throughout the African Diaspora. The ways in which African religions have informed global artistic preservations of an African worldview and the worldview’s fusion with European and American cultures will be emphasized.

 

AAS 207/HIS 251 (formerly AAS 351/HIS 351): Ancient and Medieval Africa

This introductory course surveys ancient and medieval African history through the eyes of male and female royalty, archaeologists, peasants, religious leaders and storytellers. While the course reconstructs the great civilizations of ancient Africa including Egypt, Zimbabwe, Mali, and others, it is not primarily focused on kings and leaders. Rather, the course explores how ordinary Africans ate, relaxed, worshiped, and organized their personal and political lives.

 

AAS 208/HIS 252 (formerly AAS 352/HIS 352): Colonial and Modern Africa

AAS 210: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the English-Speaking Caribbean

A sociological examination of race, ethnicity, class and gender in the English-speaking Caribbean. The course seeks to understand social inequalities in the English-speaking Caribbean and the consequences of those inequities on human experiences.

 

AAS 211: The Caribbean: A Socio-Historical Overview

A sociological approach to the Caribbean that uses history to explore the evolution of family, community, politics, faith, and the economy.

 

AAS 235/COM 235: African American Film

A survey of the images of African Americans as presented in American film. Emphasizes the viewing of a selected number of works which depict various types of movie-myth African Americans.

 

AAS 240/MUS 245: History of Jazz

An introduction to jazz music through an examination of its content, history and cultural legacy. The course begins with the emergence of jazz out of early African American musical forms, and considers the profound connection between the African American experience and the development of jazz. It is an examination of how jazz evolved through artistic and technological innovations as well as through cultural, commercial and political forces. The course engages students in critical listening and research-based writing skills.

 

AAS 251: Harlem Renaissance When in Vogue

A survey of the philosophical, political, literary, and artistic activities and celebrated figures from the Harlem Renaissance era, 1920 to 1935.

 

AAS 252: Gendering the Harlem Renaissance: Black Paris

An international exploration of the Harlem Renaissance era, 1920 to 1935.

 

AAS 280/WGS 260: Women of African Descent in Global Perspective

Women of African Descent in Global Perspective, (formerly “Africana Women in Historical Perspective”) is a global, cross-cultural survey of the lives and contributions of women of African ancestry. Emphasis will be placed upon shared elements of African culture that, when impacted by colonialism and/or the Atlantic slave trade, resulted in similar types of resistance to oppression, and analogues cultural expression among the women of four locales: Africa, South America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe. Theoretical methodologies, historical narrative, literature, demographic data, material culture, representations of self, and representations by others will be explored to illuminate/explain the: History, Cultural artifacts, Cultural retentions and Self-concept.

 

AAS 281/SOC 281: The Sociology of Race in the U.S.

A broad sociological study of race in the dynamics of American power, privilege, and oppression. The course argues race, as a concept and social phenomenon, is fluid, malleable, and socially constructed and those characteristics have made it a persistent and useful feature in US historical development.

 

AAS 282/HIS 290: History of Race Relations in the U.S.

A socio-historical examination of race as a category in the United States. The course approaches the United States as a multiracial society and discusses how the various racial groups negotiate their differences politically, economically, intellectually, socially, and culturally.

 

AAS 310: Great Lives African American History I

A biographical study of notable African American contributions to, and participation in, the struggles for justice and freedom from colonial times to the present.

 

AAS 321/JPW 321: Topics: Race, Gender, and the News

Through interactive discussion, case study analysis, ongoing research, and old-fashioned reporting, this class explores the role and influence of the news media as it covers stories related to race, gender and religion.

 

AAS 335/LIT 335: Caribbean Women Writers

Anglophone and English translations of Hispanophone and Lusophone writings by Caribbean women writers of African descent will be examined. Post-Colonial and Africana feminist literary criticism will be used to explore the intersectionalities of race, gender, class, and sexuality of this literature as well as its connection to the writings African and other Diaspora women.

 

AAS 348: African American Music

A survey of African American music as a social document. The types of music discussed in the course include Negro spirituals, the work song, blues and jazz, various forms of religious music, and popular music. Field trips may be required at student expense.

 

AAS 353/CRI 352: Advanced Criminology: Race and Crime

A critical examination of the correlation between race and crime in America. The course will focus on four major areas: race and the law, race and criminological theory, race and violent crime, and myths and facts about race and crime. Through critical examination of readings and official statistics, students will come to understand the complexity of the relationship between race and crime within the American criminal justice system and broader social context.

 

AAS 365/INT 365: African Cinema: Francophone African Experience Through Film

An in-depth exploration of Francophone African cinema by Africans in front of and behind the camera. Cinema, as an ideological tool, has played a major role in Africa during colonial times and after the independence of African nations. It extends the spectrum of choices for students as well as laying the foundations of African history and culture from a filmic perspective. Does not count toward a French minor, but can be taken for LAC.

 

AAS 370: Topics in African American Studies
Cross-list: Varies

Focuses on different topics of significance to Africa and its diaspora.

 

AAS 375/WGS 365: Womanist Thought

Prerequisites: AAS 280, WGS 280/Africana Women in Historical Perspective, or WGS 375/Global Feminisms, or by permission of the instructor

This course traces the evolution of feminist consciousness among Africana women. Students will trace the thoughts, social and political activism and ideologies generate by women of African ancestry from the early 19th century free black “feminist abolitionists” to contemporary times. “Womanist,” “Feminist,” “Critical Race Feminist,” and “Black Feminist” ideologies will be emphasized through course readings and assignments that explore the emergence and perpetuation of an Africana women’s feminist consciousness.

 

AAS 376/HIS365/WGS 361: Topics: African American Women’s History

This course is a study of the experience of African American women in the US, from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Through a survey of critical time periods, key social institutions, and crystallizing experiences the course will explicate the role of African American women in shaping present American society. Readings, lectures, discussions, recordings and movies will be used to present a comprehensive and cohesive understanding of African American women.

 

AAS 377/LIT 377 (formerly AAS 221/LIT 281): Early African American Literature to 1920

A study of selected African American Literature from the colonial period to the Harlem Renaissance, this course will build your knowledge and confidence as readers and critics of African American culture and society in the US. We will focus on the oral folk productions of the colonial period, slave narratives, poetry, speeches, autobiography, essays of the 19th century and the poetry and prose of the Harlem Renaissance.

 

AAS 378/LIT 378 (formerly AAS 222/LIT 282): African American Literature 1920-1980

A study of literature in the African American tradition, focusing on the realist, naturalist and modernist writings of the 1940s, the prose, poetry, essays and speeches of the Black Arts Movement and contemporary African American literature. The course will also explore the canon of African American Literature, its literary tradition, and the intersections with and diversions from the canon of American Letters.

 

AAS 390: Advanced Research in African Studies

Seminar or lecture based format specific to interdisciplinary research in African and Diaspora studies.

 

AAS 391: Independent Study

Individual pursuit of topics in African and/or Diaspora studies that transcends the regularly available curriculum. Faculty direction and evaluation required but not intensive mentoring.