Objectives
The department offers an interdisciplinary examination of the relationship of Africa and the African diaspora, aimed at uniting, in one curriculum, the basic knowledge of both. It explores history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics, religions, economics, languages, and the arts. Pan-African in assumptions, it relates the experience and aspirations of black America to the experience and aspirations of African people elsewhere in the world--particularly in Africa, in Asia, in South America, and in the Caribbean. It uses traditional and innovative teaching styles, directing the full potential of academic inquiry to human needs.
How to Become a Concentrator
The department welcomes all members of the student body who have an interest in Africa and/or African-America. Concentration is arranged through consultation with the departmental advisor or another professor. Concentrators may ask for guidance in the selection of elective courses with related content or approach within their chosen disciplines.
Faculty
Wellington Nyangoni, Chair
Africa: Economic development. Comparative Third World politics.
Joan Bryant
African American history. Reform Movements. Race and ethnicity.
Faith Smith
African and Afro-American literature. Anglophone Caribbean literature.
Requirements for Concentration
A. Required of all candidates: Eight semester courses from among the AAAS and cross-listed courses below. One of the eight courses must be AAAS 5a (Introduction to African and Afro-American Studies), which should be taken as the first AAAS course, as it provides an introduction to themes and methods of analysis.
B. At least one course will be taken in each of the following areas: social science, humanities, and history.
C. At least four courses will be taken in one of the following disciplines as a field of specialization: literature, music, history, political science, sociology, and economics. A candidate may elect a five-course interdisciplinary focus on Africa or Afro-American affairs as a specialization. Always confirm your choice of specialization with the department academic advisor.
D. Five of the eight 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 concentration.
E. Candidates for departmental honors must satisfactorily complete AAAS 99d (Senior Research).
Requirements for the Minor
Five semester courses are required, including the following:
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. AAAS 70a (Introduction to Afro-American History).
C. The remaining three courses will be selected from among the department's offerings in literature, history, political science, and music.
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 advisor by the undergraduate advising head.
Courses of Instruction
(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students
AAAS 5a Introduction to African and Afro-American Studies
[ ss ]
An interdisciplinary introduction to major topics in African and Afro-American studies, providing fundamental insights into Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas through approaches and techniques of social science and the humanities. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Bryant
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 neo-colonialism poses for the West. Usually offered every year.
Staff
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 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 year.
Ms. Bryant
AAAS 79b Afro-American Literature of the Twentieth Century
[ hum ss ]
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 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 year.
Mr. Nyangoni
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 year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 89a Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
[ ss ]
A comparison of how different voting models account for racial and ethnic political behavior in the United States. The course also examines whether ethnic politics generates equal outcomes for equal participation and how the "nature of the game" changes across time. Usually offered every fourth year. Last offered in the spring of 1998.
Staff
AAAS 98a Independent Study
Signature of the instructor required.
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
Signature of the instructor required.
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
Signature of the instructor required.
Usually offered every year.
Staff
(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students
AAAS 115a Introduction to African History
[ nw ss ]
The history of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the present era. Topics include African participation in antiquity and early Christianity and preindustrial political, economic, and cultural developments, among others. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 116b Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
[ ss ]
Explores and understands the origin and nature of racial and ethnic differences in the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. The course will explore how theoreticians explain and account for differences and how race and ethnicity relate to economic class and social institutions. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
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 and addresses the larger perspective of global communications. Usually offered every second year.
Staff
AAAS 120b Race in African-American History
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: AAAS 70a (may be taken concurrently) or AAAS 145b.
Is race un-American? African-American racial thought provides a critical lens for understanding the meanings and functions of race. Analyzing primary sources from the antebellum period to the present, we ask: Is race racist? What is black culture? Does justice require "colorblindness?" Usually offered every second year. Last offered in the spring of 2001.
Ms. Bryant
AAAS 123a Third World Ideologies
[ nw ss ]
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 126b Political Economy of the Third World
[ nw ss ]
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 132b Introduction to African Literature
[ nw hum ss ]
An introduction to African literature in English and French (English translations of African writers will be utilized) by selected African authors whose works discuss such themes as negritude. Usually offered every third year. Last offered in the fall of 1997.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 133b The Literature of the Caribbean
[ nw hum 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
[ nw hum ss ]
Writers and filmmakers 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. Last offered in the spring of 2000.
Ms. Smith
AAAS 143a Economies of African Countries
[ ss ]
Enrollment limited to 25.
Combines lectures and discussions of general themes with student research and presentations on specific countries in comparing and contrasting the economic experience of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. Topics include the economic impact of colonialism, land tenure institutions and agricultural production, food policy, primary product exports, migration and urbanization, and industrialization. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 145b What is Race?
[ ss ]
What is race? How has it shaped what it means to be American? We explore 19th and 20th-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 second year.
Ms. Bryant
AAAS 147b Women in African Societies
[ nw ss ]
Enrollment limited to 25.
Explores women's ways of thought in different African societies. Studies how elite and non-literate women articulate their cultural and historical experiences. 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.
Ms. Bryant
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.
Ms. Bryant
AAAS 158a Theories of Development and Underdevelopment
[ nw ss ]
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
[ 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 164a Changing Institutions of Contemporary Africa
[ nw ss ]
Analyzes the influence of traditional cultures on new institutions developing in contemporary Africa. Emphasis on the impact of traditional cultures on post-independence social, religious, economic, and political institutions. Usually offered every third year. Last offered in the fall of 1998.
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; Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 170b Seminar: Political Economy of Developing Countries
[ ss ]
Signature of the instructor required.
Analysis of political and economic issues in developing countries. 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. Will be offered in the spring of 2002.
Mr. Nyangoni
AAAS 175a Comparative Politics of North Africa
[ nw ss ]
Formation and development of political cleavages and cleavage systems, and of mass-based political groups. Analysis of the expansion of mass political participation, elections, the impact of the military on political groups, and international factors. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nyangoni
Cross-Listed Courses
Tradition and the Contemporary Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa
Nineteenth-Century African-American Literature: Texts and Contexts
African Novel
Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Afro-American Literature
Migrating Bodies, Migrating Texts
U.S.-Caribbean Relations
Women Leaders and Transformation in Developing Countries