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Courses of Study:
Minor
Major (BA)
Wellington Nyangoni, Chair
Africa: economic development. Comparative Third World political economy.
Peniel E. Joseph (on leave 2008-2009)
African-American history. Twentieth-century American social history. African Diaspora.
Mingus Mapps
Urban politics. Race and American politics. Race, inequality, and public policy. Civil rights law and politics. Campaigns and elections.
Wayne Marshall
Ethnomusicology. Cultural study of music. Hip-hop. Regaeton. Electronic popular music.
Faith Smith (on leave 2008-2009)
Literature and popular culture of the Caribbean. African-American literature. African Diaspora.
Ibrahim Sundiata (on leave spring 2009)
Africa: Social history. Slavery. African Diaspora. Afro-Brazil.
A. AAAS 5a (Introduction to African and Afro-American Studies). This should be taken as the first AAAS course, as it provides an introduction to themes and methods of analysis.
B. One of the following: AAAS 70a (Introduction to Afro-American History), AAAS 79b (Afro-American Literature of the Twentieth Century), AAAS 115a (Introduction to African History), or AAAS 133b (The Literature of the Caribbean).
C. The remaining three courses will be selected from among the department's offerings.
Students are required to declare the minor in AAAS no later than the beginning of their senior year. Each student will be assigned a departmental adviser by the undergraduate advising head.
B. At least one course must be taken in each of the following areas: social science, humanities, and history.
C. At least four courses should constitute a field of specialization. Students may elect either (a) four courses in one of the following disciplines: literature, music, history, political science, sociology, and economics or (b) an interdisciplinary focus on Africa or Afro-American affairs. Students must confirm their choice of specialization with the department academic adviser.
D. Five of the nine required courses must be from within the department (e.g., from the AAAS courses below). No course with a final grade below C- can count toward the major.
E. Candidates for departmental honors must satisfactorily complete AAAS 99d (Senior Research).
AAAS 5a Introduction to African and Afro-American Studies
[ ss ]
An interdisciplinary introduction to major topics in African and Afro-American studies. Provides fundamental insights into Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas through approaches and techniques of social science and the humanities. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Joseph
AAAS 18b Africa and the West
[ nw ss ]
Focuses on the relationship between Africa and the "West" from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the postcolonial period. It also assesses the dilemma neocolonialism poses for the West. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata
AAAS 60a Economics of Third World Hunger
[ nw ss ]
Employs the tools of social science, particularly economics, to study causes and potential solutions to problems in production, trade, and consumption of food in the underdeveloped world. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 70a Introduction to Afro-American History
[ ss ]
A survey of the Afro-American experience from the era of slavery to the present. Topics include the rise of a distinct community and its institutions, reconstruction and segregation, the contributions of blacks to American society, and the struggles for freedom and equality. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 79b Afro-American Literature of the Twentieth Century
[ hum ss wi ]
An introduction to the essential themes, aesthetic concerns, and textual strategies that characterize Afro-American writing of this century. Examines those influences that have shaped the poetry, fiction, and prose nonfiction of representative writers. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 80a Economy and Society in Africa
[ nw ss ]
Perspectives on the interaction of economic and other variables in African societies. Topics include the ethical and economic bases of distributive justice; models of social theory, efficiency, and equality in law; the role of economic variables in the theory of history; and world systems analysis. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 81b Religion in African-American History
[ ss wi ]
Prerequisite or corequisite: AAAS 70a.
Examines religious development in African-American history in order to understand how religion has influenced African-American life. Topics include religious experience and identity, religion in popular culture, institutional developments, political activism among religious figures, theological innovations, and religious conflict. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 82a Urban Politics
[ ss ]
Examines urban politics in the United States from the early twentieth century to the present. Topics include urban political machines; minority political participation; the evolution of American suburbs; and racial, economic, and political inequities that challenge public policymaking. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Mapps
AAAS 85a Survey of Southern African History
[ nw ss ]
Explores the roots of segregation and apartheid in South Africa, the development of a regional political economy dominated by South Africa, labor migrancy and land alienation in southern Africa, and the rise of African and Afrikaaner nationalisms. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata
AAAS 98a Independent Study
Independent readings and research on a topic within the student's interest under the direction of a faculty supervisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff
AAAS 98b Independent Study
Independent readings and research on a topic within the student's interest under the direction of a faculty supervisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff
AAAS 99d Senior Research
Usually offered every year.
Staff
AAAS 105a The Black Power Movement
[ ss ]
A study of the Black Power Movement's promotion of racial pride, self-determination, unity, and revolution in American society and abroad from 1955-1975. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Joseph
AAAS 114b Race, Ethnicity, and Electoral Politics in the United States
[ ss ]
Explores the role that racial and ethnic politics play in American political campaigns and elections. Readings provide historical, theoretical, and empirical overviews of racial and ethnic politics in four contexts: political parties, presidential elections, congressional campaigns, and state legislative contests. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Mapps
AAAS 115a Introduction to African History
[ nw ss ]
Explores the history of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the present era. Topics include African participation in antiquity as well as early Christianity and preindustrial political, economic, and cultural developments. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata
AAAS 117a Communications and Social Change in Developing Nations
[ ss ]
Examines the role of communications and information systems within and between developed and underdeveloped nations. Addresses the larger perspective of global communications. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 120b Race in African-American History
[ ss ]
Is race un-American? Explores the meanings and functions of race through the critical lens of African American racial thought. Analyzes primary sources from the antebellum period to the present to answer such questions as: Is race racist? What is black culture? Does justice require "colorblindness"? Usually offered every third year.
Staff
AAAS 122a Politics of Southern Africa
[ nw ss ]
Study of clashing nationalisms, alternative patterns of development, and internationalization of conflict in southern Africa. The political economy of South Africa in regional context and its effect on the politics of its neighbors, particularly Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 123a Third World Ideologies
[ nw ss wi ]
Analyzes ideological concepts developed by seminal Third World political thinkers and their application to modern political analysis. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 125b Caribbean Women and Globalization: Sexuality, Citizenship, Work
[ ss wi ]
Utilizing perspectives from sociology, anthropology, fiction, and music to examine the relationship between women's sexuality and conceptions of labor, citizenship, and sovereignty. The course considers these alongside conceptions of masculinity, contending feminisms, and the global perspective. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 126b Political Economy of the Third World
[ nw ss wi ]
Development of capitalism and different roles and functions assigned to all "Third Worlds," in the periphery as well as the center. Special attention will be paid to African and Afro-American peripheries. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 131b American Freedom before Emancipation
[ ss ]
Prerequisite or corequisite: AAAS 70a or HIST 51a.
What did it mean to be free in an age of slavery? The experiences of free African Americans focus our investigation of this founding myth of America. Explores what freedom meant to criminals, reformers, laborers, slaveholders, artists, abolitionists, soldiers, and statesmen. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 132b Introduction to African Literature
[ hum nw ss ]
Examines the cultural production of African writers and filmmakers and their critiques of the postcolonial state. Topics include their exploration of gender, sexuality, language choice, the pressures placed on "authentic" identities by diasporic communities, and the conflicting claims of tradition and modernity. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 133b The Literature of the Caribbean
[ hum nw ss ]
An exploration of the narrative strategies and themes of writers of the region who grapple with issues of colonialism, class, race, ethnicity, and gender in a context of often-conflicting allegiances to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 134b Novel and Film of the African Diaspora
[ hum nw ]
Writers and filmmakers, who are usually examined separately under national or regional canonical categories such as "(North) American," "Latin American," "African," "British," or "Caribbean," are brought together here to examine transnational identities and investments in "authentic," "African," or "black" identities. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 135b Global Hip-Hop
[ ca wi ]
Does not satisfy the school of social science requirement. Does satisfy the school of creative arts requirement.
Explores hip-hop's international reach and social significance; specifically, how the genre resonates as a quintessentially American and African-American form in local contexts around the world. Through various case studies, the course examines how hip-hop animates local cultural politics in an age of globalized media, migration, and transnationalism. Special one-time offering; was offered spring 2008.
Mr. Marshall
AAAS 145b What Is Race?
[ ss wi ]
What is race? How has it shaped what it means to be American? Explores nineteenth- and twentieth-century interpretations of race in science, law, reform initiatives, and popular literature. Issues include eugenics, census categories, race loyalty, polygenesis, immigration, passing, and miscegenation. Usually offered every third year.
Staff
AAAS 155a Slavery in America
[ ss ]
Examines the rise of slavery in America, the formation of slave and free-black communities, the emergence of the planter class, the role of slavery in the economy and politics, the relationship between slavery and racism, and the legacy of slavery. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 156a The Civil Rights Movement
[ ss ]
Explores the civil rights movement through primary readings and films. Includes an assessment of the consequences of the movement and the ongoing controversies over the best ways to achieve equality for black Americans. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 158a Theories of Development and Underdevelopment
[ nw ss wi ]
Humankind has for some time now possessed the scientific and technological means to combat the scourge of poverty. The purpose of this seminar is to acquaint students with contending theories of development and underdevelopment, emphasizing the open and contested nature of the process involved and of the field of study itself. Among the topics to be studied are modernization theory, the challenge to modernization posed by dependency and world systems theories, and more recent approaches centered on the concepts of basic needs and of sustainable development. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 163b Africa in World Politics
[ nw ss ]
Explores the impact of African states in world affairs; the African and Afro-Asian groups in the United Nations; relations with Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the Americas; the Afro-Asian movement; nonalignment; the Organization of African Unity; and Pan-Africanism. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 167a African and Caribbean Comparative Political Systems
[ nw ss ]
Introduces students to the literature and method of comparative political analysis. Case studies central to the course will be Ghana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe; and Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 170b Seminar: Political Economy of Developing Countries
[ ss ]
Offers analysis of political and economic issues in developing countries with special emphasis on the major explanations for underdevelopment and alternative strategies for development. Topics include colonialism, nationalism, developing countries in the international system, state-building, rural development, and gender perspectives on underdevelopment. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 171a Reggae Representation, Race and Nation
[ ca ]
This course examines the various narratives of reggae, and by extension Jamaican music and nationhood, including academic, journalistic, and filmic perspectives. We will also appraise reggae's own musical representations of race, gender, sexuality, religion, nation, and diaspora. Special one-time offering, fall 2008.
Mr. Marshall
AAAS 175a Comparative Politics of North Africa
[ nw ss ]
Explores the formation and development of political cleavages and cleavage systems, and of mass-based political groups, analyzing the expansion of mass political participation, elections, the impact of the military on political groups, and international factors. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Nyangoni
ANTH 112a
African Art and Aesthetics
ANTH 133a
Culture and Power in Africa
ECON 69a
The Economics of Race and Gender
ENG 16a
Nineteenth-Century African-American Literature: Texts and Contexts
ENG 87a
Sex and Race in the American Novel
ENG 127b
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
ENG 138a
Making Modern Subjects: Caribbean/Latin America/U.S.A. 1850-1950
ENG 147b
South African Literature and Apartheid
ENG 167b
The Postmodern African-American Novel
ENG 197b
Within the Veil: African-American and Muslim Women's Writing
HIST 115a
History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
HIST 116a
Black Homeland: West Africa
HS 120a
Race and the Law
MUS 160a
Digital Pop from Hip-Hop to Mashup
PHIL 18a
Philosophy of Race and Gender
POL 124b
Race, Inequality, and Social Policy
POL 140a
Politics of Africa