Department of Africana Studies — Cross-Listed Courses

Courses preceded by an “L” are cross-listed with another department or program, as indicated by the parentheses in the course title: for example, “AFRSTY L350 (AMST L350),” which is cross-listed with the Program in American Studies.

AFRSTY G115
African-American Consciousness

AFRSTY G292
African Caribbean Literature

For a complete description of these courses, see the “First-year and Intermediate Seminars” section of this publication.

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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 sociohistorical 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.
Distribution Area: The Arts.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Azuonye

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.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Johnson

AFRSTY 102
The History of African-American Educatio

A comparative study of the history of African-American education from earliest times to 1954. (Course offered in the fall only.)
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

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.)
Prerequisite: A course in sociology, political science, or history.
Distribution Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

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.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Pilgrim and staff

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.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Pilgrim and Staff

AFRSTY 112
African-American Religion Since 1900

This course identifies and discusses the growth of African-American religious beliefs and traditions, and considers their significance in terms of pluralism within the African-American community. It also assesses the birth, growth, and role of Black faith within the context of Islam and African traditional religions.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

AFRSTY 120
African-American Religion Before 1900

An in-depth study of the origins, development, and expansion of the African-American church, as well as an examination of its function as a pillar of strength for African-Americans.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

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.
Distribution I Area: The Arts.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Azuonye

AFRSTY 201
The Roots of the African-American Family

An exploration of the social, economic, and religious issues affecting the African-American family.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

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.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

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.)
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Distribution II Area: World Cultures.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

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.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Ms Pilgrim

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.
Distribution I Area: Historical and Cultural Studies.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Kamara and Staff

AFRSTY L260 (AmSt L260)
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.
Distribution I Area: Philosophical and Humanistic Studies.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Azuonye

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.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of instructor.
Distribution I Area: The Arts.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits|
Staff

AFRSTY 280
The African-American Experience Through Music

An analysis of the varieties of African-American music. The course also examines the African roots of African-American music.
Distribution I Area: The Arts.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

AFRSTY 290
Introduction to Caribbean Literature

An introduction to Caribbean literature in the twentieth century with emphasis on its social and cultural origins, the forces that have shaped it, and its ideological function. Through the reading of literature from a number of different Caribbean islands, participants seek to understand the diversity of approaches to such issues as national identity, the nature of the self, history, and the status of women.
Distribution I Area: The Arts.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

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.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Kamara

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.)
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Kamara and Staff

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.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

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.)
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Prou

AFRSTY 330
The Politics of Southern Africa

A study of politics in modern southern Africa. The nature and rise of national consciousness and the process of liberation in Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa are explored. Also analyzed are the implications of the political process of southern Africa throughout the world.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

AFRSTY 335
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.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Johnson and Staff

AFRSTY 340
Free People of Color in the Era of Slavery

This course focuses on the emergence of free African-American communities in the United States from the early colonial era to the Civil War. Topics include the development of free and slave status, African-American involvement in the Revolution, the abolition of slavery in the North, the position of Southern free African-Americans, the growth of independent African-American churches, African-American abolitionists, the convention movement, and the response of free African-Americans to the Civil War.
Prerequisite: AFRSTY 101 or 110.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 341
Building Democracy in Africa

This class will review the problems of state development in Africa and the extent to which democratic solutions can resolve those problems. We will do so by examining two broad themes in literature on African politics: political structures and political cultures. We will review these themes across three categories of states in Africa—successful states, marginal states, and failed states. This class will appeal to students who wish to expand their understanding of Africa and non-Western political and economic systems.
Distribution II Area: Humanities.
Diversity Area: International.
Mr Kew

AFRSTY L350 (AMST L350)
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.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

AFRSTY L352 (AMST/ENGL L352)
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.
Prerequisites: ENGL 101/102, and ENGL 200 or 201 or 206 or 235 or AFRSTY 100; or permission of the instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 360
African-Americans in US Military History

This course explores the role of African-Americans in the military, and the impact of war on the African-American community, from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam.
Prerequisite: AFRSTY 110; junior standing or permission of instructor.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

AFRSTY 410
African-American Urban Politics

An examination of the dynamics of African-American politics in the urban setting.
Diversity Area: United States.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Kamara

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.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Staff

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.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Johnson and Staff

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.
Diversity Area: International.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Mr Azuonye

AFRSTY 480
Topics in Africana Studies

Intensive study of special topics varying each year according to instructor.
Prerequisites: AFRSTY 110 and junior or senior standing as an Africana studies major.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 484
Departmental Seminar

A dialogical examination of selected topics as they impinge upon segments of the African-American community. These topics are treated with a view toward solutions.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 488
Africana Studies Senior Thesis I

Study in depth of a topic chosen by the student in consultation with an honors advisor, and a paper written with the approval and under the direction of an honors advisor, normally related to work done in the honors seminar (AFRSTY 498-99). Honors are awarded on the basis of performance in the honors seminar, evaluation of the paper by the Africana Studies Concentration Committee, and 3.0 overall average.
Prerequisites: AFRSTY 498 and 499 and permission of the department. Hrs by arrangement, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 489
Africana Studies Senior Thesis II
See AFRSTY 488.

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.
Prerequisites: 3.0 overall average and permission of the department.
3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits

AFRSTY 499
Africana Studies Honors Seminar II

See AFRSTY 498.