The following is a sample of courses we offer. Most are 3-credit courses unless noted.

AFRSTY 100, Introduction to African-American Literature
This survey course examines the writings of African-Americans who have made unique contributions to the African-American literary tradition. The course explores these writings in terms of their socio-historical context, making use of analyses of character, plot, and symbolism. It gives particular attention to the writers' roles as social critics. Among the writers whose work may be considered are Frederick Douglass, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Leroi Jones, Ernest Gaines, George Jackson, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

AFRSTY 101, Introduction to Africana Studies
This course presents an overview of the major theories in the field of Africana studies. It seeks to explore the Africana experience in a way that is orderly, systematic, and structurally integrated; and to convey an understanding of the cultural, historical, and political roots of this experience. The course focuses chronologically on major historical episodes through a study of ancient African civilizations, slavery, colonialism, and African liberation movements.

AFRSTY 102, The History of African-American Education
A comparative study of the history of African-American education from earliest times to 1954. (Course offered in the fall only.)

AFRSTY 108, African-American Social Movements
Concepts of social movements as well as the appearance of social movements among African-Americans in the nineteenth century. Examination of twentieth century African-American social movements, especially Marcus Garvey's movement, the Nation of Islam, the Civil Rights movement, and the Black Power movement. (Course offered in the spring only.)

AFRSTY 110, African-American History I
An intensive study of the social, economic, and political history of African-Americans from the slavery period through the Civil War, with particular emphasis on the social and cultural antecedents of African-Americans, Abolitionism and the Civil War.

AFRSTY 111, African-American History II
An intensive study of the social, economic, and political history of African-Americans from the era of Reconstruction to the present. Topics include the African-American during Reconstruction, racism in America, and a critical examination of the variegated patterns of African-American response to American social conditions in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

AFRSTY 115G, Black Consciousness
This course examines the social, economic, cultural and political implications of the development of Black consciousness in twentieth-century United States. It considers the role played in these developments by Ida B Wells, WEB DuBois, Marcus Garvey, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights/Black Power movement, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Arts Movement. This course may count toward the Africana studies major. (4 Credits)

AFRSTY 150, African Images in Literature
This course examines the different ways in which African writers have represented the continent of Africa by focusing on their struggle to develop authentic forms and images. Through the reading of selected folk tales, novels, and poems from different African societies, participants consider such issues as the influence of colonialism on creative writing; the politics of African culture; race and class; the images and status of women

AFRSTY 220, Free and Slave in the New World, 1492-1888
A survey of African-American and Afro-Caribbean societies from the European settlement of the Americas to the abolition of slavery in Brazil. The geographical focus is on Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guyana, Brazil, Cuba, and the English-speaking Caribbean-primarily Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados. The course introduces students to the historical debate over the varieties of slave systems

AFRSTY 225, The Origins of Caribbean Civilizations
This course explores Caribbean society from the Columbian era to the period of emancipation. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it focuses on the foundations of Caribbean civilizations in the English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking areas of the region. Special emphasis is given to the rise of African communities in the New World. (Course offered in the spring only.)

AFRSTY 230, African-American Women's History
This course introduces students to the major issues in the history of African-American women. Topics include the role of women in pre-colonial Africa, the slave trade, the female experience in slavery, free women, African-American women and religion, and the role of African-American women in the early twentieth century.

AFRSTY 250, The Civil Rights Movement
This course examines the American Civil Rights movement as it developed during the period from 1954 to 1965, and as it changed during the period from 1966 to 1986. The course assesses the roles played by individuals, movements, governments, and political leaders in the process of social change.

AFRSTY 260L, African-American Folklore
This course examines the development and the significance of African-American folklore through study of its various genres: music, tales, legends, shorter verbal forms, material culture, folk belief, and folk humor. Emphasis is given to both African survivals and Indo-European influences in these genres.

AFRSTY 270, The African-American Image on Stage, Screen and Television
The evolution and development of African-American characters and caricatures as they have been represented in theatrical, screen, and television presentations.

AFRSTY 292G, African Caribbean Literature
This course examines the development and significance of Afro-Caribbean literature in the 20th century. Texts are examined both individually and in relation to each other. Emphasis is given to the development of post-colonial themes and techniques in Caribbean socio-cultural contexts, asking what "post-colonial" means to writers of different Caribbean nations. This course may count toward the major or minor in Africana studies. Capabilities addressed: Critical reading, critical thinking, clear writing, academic self assessment, collaborative learning, information technology, oral presentation.

AFRSTY 301, African-American Intellectual Thought
A survey course of the significant writings of African-Americans from the period of Emancipation to the present, with special reference to issues concerning the educational, political, sociological, and psychological status of African-Americans in the United States.

AFRSTY 302, Martin and Malcolm X
An examination of the philosophical and ideological frameworks of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Their impact on African-American social movements, on modern American social and political life, and on the Third World is also considered. (Course offered in the spring only.)

AFRSTY 310, Modern Caribbean Society
This course undertakes a descriptive and interpretive analysis of the growth of the modern English-speaking Caribbean society. Although the focus is specifically on the period 1918-1962, the class looks at that period in the historical context of colonialism and slavery in the new world (the Americas), and of the social and political attitudes shaped and derived from that period. Special attention is therefore given to the salient racial, social, political, economic, and religious issues that have significantly influenced and contributed to the complex social relations of present day Caribbean society.

AFRSTY 320, Problems in Urban Education
This course looks at the relationship between young people growing up in the cities and the efforts to reform urban schooling. The course examines the cultural, social, economic, and political dimensions of formal "education" in the city. Questions posed include: What is education? Why educate? Who is educated in the city? What impact does urban education have upon its recipients and their families, culture, community? What is the relationship between urban education and the American social order? (Course offered in the fall only.)

AFRSTY 330, Boston's Asian American Communities
This advanced research seminar examines the dynamics of ethnicity and community change in Asian American communities. Using theories of community development and methods of community research, students analyze Boston's Asian American communities as case studies of complex social systems. The course also looks at current research on immigrant acculturation, ethnic enclave economies, and the community control movement.

AFRSTY 350, African-American Nationalism Before Garvey
This course explores the theme of African-American nationalism and the question of racial identity in the period from the American Revolution to World War I. Topics include the emergence of "back-to-Africa" movements, African-American communities in Canada, resettlement in the French- and English-speaking Caribbean, the African-American response to white colonizers, the establishment of African-American utopian communities, and western migration during Reconstruction.

AFRSTY 350L, Race, Class, and Gender: Issues in US Diversity
This course deals with the interrelationship of race, class and gender, exploring how they have shaped the experiences of all people in the United States. Focusing on race, class and gender as distinct but interlocking relationships within society, the course examines both the commonalities and the differences that different historical experiences have generated.

AFRSTY 352L, Harlem Renaissance
This course focuses on major texts of the Harlem Renaissance within contexts of modernism, history, and the development of an African American literary tradition. The course will examine how literature creates and represents real and "imagined" communities and will explore the diverse and often contradictory roles that literature plays in shaping, resisting, and reinforcing cultural discourses.

AFRSTY 355L, Black Popular Culture
This course requires students to engage with Black/African diasporic cultural products intended for a mass audience. The macro-contents of American and global consumer capitalism and the micro- categories of ethnicity, gender, and sexualities are used as a framework for the critical analysis of production, consumption, and reception of African American popular culture in the US and abroad.

AFRSTY 410, African-American Urban Politics
An examination of the dynamics of African-American politics in the urban setting.

AFRSTY 420, Race, Class, and Political Modernization
An exhaustive treatment of the evolution of the American sociopolitical system and the role and function of African people and Third World nationalities within that system. Special attention is given to the interplay between racial oppression and class exploitation as factors in the political process.

AFRSTY 430, Race and the American Legal System
This course focuses on the historical relationship between race and the American legal system. It examines the social forces and events that precipitated major court decisions and legislative enactments from slavery to the present.

AFRSTY 440, Post-Colonial Literature: Africa and the Caribbean
This course examines contemporary African and Caribbean literature in its historical, cultural, and intellectual context. Emphasis is on the ways different writers have attempted to develop new literary forms in order to create authentic images of their cultures and communities. The course also looks at the continuing influence of colonialism on the literary and social life of these communities. There is no prerequisite, but AFRSTY 290 is strongly recommended.

AFRSTY 478, Independent Study

AFRSTY 479, Independent Study (1 to 3 credits)

AFRSTY 480, Topics in Africana Studies
Intensive study of special topics varying each year according to instructor.

AFRSTY 498, Africana Studies Honors Seminar I
An interdisciplinary seminar for students admitted to honors, and to a limited number of other highly qualified students.

AFRSTY 499, Africana Studies Honors Seminar II
See AFRSTY 498

AFRSTY 555, African-American History II
An intensive study of the social, economic, and political history of African-Americans from the era of Reconstruction to the present. opics include the African-American during Reconstruction, racism in America, and a critical examination of the variegated patterns of African-American response to American social conditions in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.