Courses & Requirements
Requirements for the Africana Studies Major
A minimum of 32 hours is required for the major, at least sixteen of which must be courses above the 200 level.
Required Courses
AS-170: Afr-Amer Culture & Social Institutions (4.00)
Overall framework for the study of African Americans from slavery to the present. Aspects of the African-American experience are examined from a multidisciplinary perspective.
AS-257: Kingdoms, Coionies and Nations: an Introduction to African History (4.00)
Survey of the main contours of African history from the Sudanic empires to postcolonial nations. Cross-listed with HIS-257.
AS-350: The African Diaspora (4.00)
The history of the dispersal of Africans from the continent to various regions of the world; the catalysts of dispersal; the distribution of Africans, especially in the Americas; and the communities which evolved out of the diaspora. Cross-listed as HIS-350.
Elective Courses
Five electives: three from Group I and two from Group II.
Group I (Historical and Cultural Perspectives)
AS-140: Religions of Africa (4.00)
Basic elements of African religious beliefs and practices. It aims to treat in a coherent, though summary way, the principal themes and topics of African religious teaching and to examine how the various themes and topics cohere with one another and influence African life. The course will survey African Traditional Religions, along with the impact of Islam and Christianity in Africa. Cross-listed with REL-140.
AS-215: African Environmental History (4.00)
This course will survey the evolution of African environmental and ecological systems over the past 200 years. Subjects will include aspects of the physical environment visible through changes in climate and hydrology, as well as key issues of human/environmental interaction, such as agriculture, deforestation, conservation, famine, malaria, and the role of colonialism and economic development in environmental change. The course will also examine the ways in which outsiders have created myths about the African environment and how Africans have managed their natural resources over time. The course will examine the causes and social effects of famine, vector-borne disease and the impact of political ecology of globalization on African environmental management. Course assignments will cover most geographical regions of Africa, but with special attention to East Africa. Materials available to students will include readings and lectures, but will also include films and other visual resources. Cross-listed as HIS/ESS-215.
AS-216: Topics in Black Writing (4.00)
TOPICS IN BLACK WRITING: Exploration of the varieties of American and international black writing across literary periods. Cross-listed with ENG/WS-216.
Description for topic "BLACK WOMEN WRITERS"--Some of the most significant achievements in African-American literature during the past thirty-five years have been made by black women writers, culminating in Toni Morrison's receiving the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. This course purports to connect these recent and contemporary works to the body of black women's literature that precedes it. The scope of this survey will range from literary responses to the experience of slavery to the fictional experiments of the post-civil rights generation. The writers to be scrutinized include Wilson, Butler, Hopkins, Walker, Larsen, Jones, and Youngblood. Their works will be contextualized by way of the intersection of their historical, social, cultural and creative moments.
Description for topic "WOMEN WRITERS OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA"--This course will connect recent works from the rich body of literature produced by black women since 1970 to earlier writing by their predecessors. The scope of this survey will range from literary responses to the experience of slavery to contemporary explorations of the black female presence on the global stage. The writers to be scrutinized will include such writers as Wilson, Butler, Hopkins, Walker, Larsen, Jones, Shockley, Levy and Lee. Their works will be interpreted within their historical, social, cultural and aesthetic contexts. Counts toward post-1800 requirement for English majors.
Course requisites: ENG-110
AS-219: Transatlantic Voodoo (4.00)
Traces Voodoo/Vodun religious traditions from West Africa to the Caribbean and North America, including the history of European contact and the slave trade, European views of African religions, and the cultural and symbolic meanings of Voodoo spirits and dancing. Cross-listed with ANT/REL-219.
AS-251: African Societies From the Colonial Era To the Present (4.00)
Changes which followed Western domination; African responses to the new structures and the road to independence. Cross-listed with HIS-251.
AS-252: African American Women's History (4.00)
An examination of African American women's experiences from slavery to the present, considering the changing historical conditions under which black women challenged racism and sexism and fought for self-determination and autonomy. Meets the Historical Studies/Classical Civilizations standard and the Social/Cultural Analysis standard. Cross-listed with HIS/WS-252.
AS-255: African-American History (4.00)
Developments in the history of black Americans from slavery times to the present. Main themes include enslavement and emancipation, cultural formations, gender experiences, migration, resistance and activism. Meets Humanistic Studies standard. Cross-listed with HIS-255.
AS-261: Race & Racism Through a Buddhist Lens: A Multimedia Exploration (4.00)
RACE & RACISM THROUGH A BUDDHIST LENS: A MULTIMEDIA EXPLORATION--This multimedia course will offer an intensive exploration of how a social construct ("race"), when used as a tool of discrimination that advantages one social group over another ("racism"), inflicts tremendous harm and suffering. What insights can ancient Buddhist teachings provide to help us to recognize, and to transform, the challenges of racism, inequality and other social justice issues we face today? Participants will read important pieces, watch films and documentaries, listen to diverse contemporary music as well as do exercises and meditations aimed at helping them to gain insight into the origins and manifestations of the challenging and thorny issues of race and racism in our lives and in our world. Cross-listed with REL-261.
AS-310: The "Other" African Americans (4.00)
Seminar on diversity within black America, focusing on the experiences of Caribbean, African, and Latin American immigrants. We consider the implications of reconceptualizing "the" black community as several overlapping communities made up of African-Americans, West Indians, diasporic Africans, and Afro-Latinos. Cross-listed with SOC-310.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-320: The History of Slavery in the United States (4.00)
An examination of the institution of slavery in American history and memory. Themes include: definitions of freedom; the Atlantic slave trade; slaveholding ideologies; slave communities and culture; abolition; and the impact of slavery on free people throughout the nation. Cross-listed with HIS-320.
AS-324: Topics in African-American History (4.00)
Critical examination of a specific topic in the history of the African-American experience. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit when the content changes. Cross-listed with HIS-324.
AS-325: African Amer Fiction and Film (4.00)
The African American novel has proven to be a vibrant and resilient form, giving expression to the experiences and concerns of black people for more than 150 years. Through the representational potentialities provided by fiction, black writers have given witness and testimony to a people's quest for freedom, identity, justice, and equality. A primary category of analysis will be gender, as the reading list will consist of paired texts by female and male writers. A special film component will be available for film studies credit. Cross-listed with ENG-325.
Course requisites: One 200-level English course.
AS-327: African Americans Abroad (4.00)
This course will focus on the literature produced by African American writers in response to their experiences of expatriation, exile, and travel in Europe and Africa. African American geographical movement is usually associated with the Middle Passage of the slave trade and the Great Migration from the Southern states to the North in the twentieth century. Less attention has been paid an African American diasporic mobility whereby black men and women have ranged far and wide across the Atlantic in search of physical safety, equal treatment, artistic inspiration, political asylum, economic opportunity, spiritual expression, and personal liberation. Some specific issues for scrutiny include: the shifting meaning of an American identity for blacks abroad; the ramifications of encounters with diasporic Africans; the effect of international experience and writing upon the shaping of the African American literary voice and tradition; the critique of America and its institutions and attitudes proffered from a geographically removed vantage point; the heightened ability of expatriate blacks to understand the workings of American racism; and the impact of black women living and traveling abroad. Primary texts will include fiction, essays, travel writing, autobiographies, and memoirs by such authors as David Dorr, Nancy Prince, Pauline Hopkins, W.E.B. Du Bois, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Anita Reynolds, James Baldwin, Shay Youngblood, and Andre Lee. (Cross-listed with ENG-327.)
Course requisites: One 200-level English course
AS-330: Race & a Global War: Africa During WWII (4.00)
RACE & A GLOBAL WAR: AFRICA DURING WORLD WAR II--This course examines African experiences during World War II. Although most histories of World War II have tended to ignore Africa's role in this global conflict, the continent and its people were at the center of major developments during the war. We will examine how Africans and outsiders have conceptualized the continent's role in the war by analyzing a variety of sources, including scholarly writings, archival materials, films, former soldiers' biographies, and propaganda posters. Topics to be covered include: African servicemen; war crimes in relation to Africa and the war; race and racial thought during wartime Africa; the impact of the war on women and gender roles; political protest; and the war's impact on decolonization. Cross-listed with HIS-330.
AS-342: African Literature (4.00)
This course introduces students to a selection of postcolonial texts from across the African continent. It examines systemic structures of domination and exploitation, colonial and local, and investigates issues of race, class, tribal affiliation, identity, and gender in order to understand both the nature of the societies depicted and the motivating impulses behind the texts we study. The interdisciplinary approach will allow us to identify the residual effects of colonization as well as the internal dynamics of various postcolonial societies in Africa within a historical context. At the same time, we will examine the stylistic, formal, and technical elements to appraise the aesthetic and imaginative qualities of the assigned material. Texts originally produced in English as well as those translated from local languages may be used. Counts toward post-1800 requirement. Cross-listed with ENG-342.
Course requisites: Complete any 200-level English course.
AS-355: Topics in Francophone Literature and Culture (4.00)
Francophone literary and other texts will be analyzed with particular emphasis on colonization, decolonization, neocolonialism and nationalism, slavery, marginalization, identity and otherness, language and orality. Specific regions of Francophone production may include Canada, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and Asia. This course may be repeated when specific content varies. Cross-listed with FRE-355.
Course requisites: French 230 and one 200-level literature course
AS-359: Topics in African & Afr Diaspora History (4.00)
Critical examination of a specific topic in African history or the history of the African Diaspora. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit when the content changes. Cross-listed with HIS/WS-359.
AS-380: Culture and Ethnography of Africa (4.00)
This course offers an examination and appreciation of African cultures in the present context and in historical perspective. Course topics include kinship, gender, politics, religion, economics, and colonialism. Students read several ethnographies for an in-depth understanding of specific cultures. Cross-listed with ANT/REL-380.
Course requisites: Sociology 101, Anthropology 101, History 250, History 251 or Religous Studies 140
ENG-317: Studies in Restoration and Eighteenth Century Literature (4.00)
STUDIES IN RESTORATION AND 18TH CENTURY LITERATURE--Thematic, generic or period studies (for example: The Colonial Imagination or Forms of Fiction). Cross-listed with WS-317
Description for "THE COLONIAL IMAGINATION"--A study of how fiction, drama, letters, poetry, and nonfiction of the late seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries represent English encounters with other peoples and cultures. We will explore how these representations are themselves part of the colonial project, reinforcing English domination and exploitation; how factors such as gender and class complicate our understanding of colonial situations, and how colonized peoples co-opt and subvert elements of English culture in their own literature. Authors include Behn, Defoe, Swift, Equiano.
Course requisites: 200-level English course
GER-340: The History, Literature and Culture of Afro-Germans (4.00)
THE HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND CULTURE OF AFRO-GERMANS--This course focuses on the history, literature and culture of people of African descent living in German-speaking countries and on discourses of German identity. Cross-listed with AS-340.
Description when topic is "'OTHER GERMANS' AFRICAN DIASPORA IN GERMAN-SPEAKING EUROPE". This course investigates the long and multifaceted history and culture of the African diaspora in the German-speaking countries, including the influence of African science and culture in 18th-century Germany, the German-African/African-American connections during colonialist times, African peoples' marginalisation and persecution under National Socialism, the experience of African-American soldiers as post-World-War II occupation troops, and black Germans as members of 20th/21st-century re-unified Germany. Taught in English. (German Majors/Minors will have opportunities to apply language skills by working with German-language texts/films and some writing in German.)
SPA-365: Black Literature in Cuba and Puerto Rico (4.00)
This course provides an examination of the Caribbean literary movement of "negrismo." Literary texts and interdisciplinary readings examine the impact of ethnicity on Cuban and Puerto Rican national identities. More contemporary media illustrate the present role of Afro-Caribbean religious traditions, such as SanterÃa.
Course requisites: 323
SPA-480: Topics in Hispanic Themes (4.00)
A detailed critical analysis of a specific topic, genre or period in Spanish or Latin American literature and other media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.
Course requisites: SPA-323
Group II (Critical and Theoretical Perspectives)
AS-145: Philosophy of Race (4.00)
What is race? An examination of the evolution of the concept of race in the United States (focusing particularly on science and law) and contemporary philosophical treatments of race as a social construction with moral and political implications. Topics include: ethnicity vs. race; the intersection of race with gender, class, sexuality, disability and nationality; white privilege; and a current policy issue such as affirmative action. Cross-listed with PHI-145.
AS-225: Urban Lives (4.00)
An exploration of social changes in urban settings in the United States, the Caribbean, and Western Europe, particularly the ways societal processes and social structures influence community and cultural life. Issues such as urban poverty, environmental pollution, "global city" formation and residential segregation will be discussed. Cross-listed with SOC-225.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-230: Race, Class and Gender (4.00)
Survey of the history, basic theories and recent research integrating these key concepts for modern society. Systematic examination of the effects of these variables on different groups in society. Cross-listed with WS-231/SOC-230.
Course requisites: Sociology 101 or Anthropology 101
AS-333: Race and Place in the New South (4.00)
This course is designed for majors. By focusing on questions of race and place, we will examine the "New South" using an approach that is sensitive to issues of representation, local histories, and racial mythologies. As a class, our goal will be to develop a critical understanding of the region and its redevelopment in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. Our work will include, but is not limited to, issues of segregation, gentrification, "Latinization," and community organizing. Atlanta, the so-called capital of "New South," will be a particular focus. The central assignment for this class is an independent "place study" of a metro Atlanta neighborhood. Some field trips and film screenings will take place outside of class time. Cross-listed with SOC-333.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-356: Comparative Black Feminisms (4.00)
Interdisciplinary analysis and critique of the history of ideas which make up African and African diasporic feminist thought and practice. Cross-listed with SOC/WS-356.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or WS-100
AS-370: African American Images in Popular Culture (4.00)
Emphasis given to the influence of race on U.S. culture and the interplay of race and culture with politics. Pervasive attention paid in this course to representations of women and to the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and gender. Cross-listed with SOC-370/WS-377.
SOC-301: Collective Behav & Soc Mvments (4.00)
This course examines organized collective efforts to bring about social change. It applies social science research methods, perspectives, and case studies to evaluate the effectiveness of activists' practices and outcomes. Analysis will include, but is not limited to, U.S. and international collective action such as the civil rights, workers', environmental, and women's movements.
Course requisites: SOC-101 or ANT-101
Requirements for the Africana Studies Minor
A minimum of 20 hours is required for the minor, at least eight of which must be courses above the 200 level.
Required Courses
AS-170: Afr-Amer Culture & Social Institutions (4.00)
Overall framework for the study of African Americans from slavery to the present. Aspects of the African-American experience are examined from a multidisciplinary perspective.
AS-257: Kingdoms, Coionies and Nations: an Introduction to African History (4.00)
Survey of the main contours of African history from the Sudanic empires to postcolonial nations. Cross-listed with HIS-257.
AS-350: The African Diaspora (4.00)
The history of the dispersal of Africans from the continent to various regions of the world; the catalysts of dispersal; the distribution of Africans, especially in the Americas; and the communities which evolved out of the diaspora. Cross-listed as HIS-350.
Elective Courses
One elective from Group I and one from Group II.
Group I (Historical and Cultural Perspectives)
AS-140: Religions of Africa (4.00)
Basic elements of African religious beliefs and practices. It aims to treat in a coherent, though summary way, the principal themes and topics of African religious teaching and to examine how the various themes and topics cohere with one another and influence African life. The course will survey African Traditional Religions, along with the impact of Islam and Christianity in Africa. Cross-listed with REL-140.
AS-215: African Environmental History (4.00)
This course will survey the evolution of African environmental and ecological systems over the past 200 years. Subjects will include aspects of the physical environment visible through changes in climate and hydrology, as well as key issues of human/environmental interaction, such as agriculture, deforestation, conservation, famine, malaria, and the role of colonialism and economic development in environmental change. The course will also examine the ways in which outsiders have created myths about the African environment and how Africans have managed their natural resources over time. The course will examine the causes and social effects of famine, vector-borne disease and the impact of political ecology of globalization on African environmental management. Course assignments will cover most geographical regions of Africa, but with special attention to East Africa. Materials available to students will include readings and lectures, but will also include films and other visual resources. Cross-listed as HIS/ESS-215.
AS-216: Topics in Black Writing (4.00)
TOPICS IN BLACK WRITING: Exploration of the varieties of American and international black writing across literary periods. Cross-listed with ENG/WS-216.
Description for topic "BLACK WOMEN WRITERS"--Some of the most significant achievements in African-American literature during the past thirty-five years have been made by black women writers, culminating in Toni Morrison's receiving the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature. This course purports to connect these recent and contemporary works to the body of black women's literature that precedes it. The scope of this survey will range from literary responses to the experience of slavery to the fictional experiments of the post-civil rights generation. The writers to be scrutinized include Wilson, Butler, Hopkins, Walker, Larsen, Jones, and Youngblood. Their works will be contextualized by way of the intersection of their historical, social, cultural and creative moments.
Description for topic "WOMEN WRITERS OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA"--This course will connect recent works from the rich body of literature produced by black women since 1970 to earlier writing by their predecessors. The scope of this survey will range from literary responses to the experience of slavery to contemporary explorations of the black female presence on the global stage. The writers to be scrutinized will include such writers as Wilson, Butler, Hopkins, Walker, Larsen, Jones, Shockley, Levy and Lee. Their works will be interpreted within their historical, social, cultural and aesthetic contexts. Counts toward post-1800 requirement for English majors.
Course requisites: ENG-110
AS-219: Transatlantic Voodoo (4.00)
Traces Voodoo/Vodun religious traditions from West Africa to the Caribbean and North America, including the history of European contact and the slave trade, European views of African religions, and the cultural and symbolic meanings of Voodoo spirits and dancing. Cross-listed with ANT/REL-219.
AS-251: African Societies From the Colonial Era To the Present (4.00)
Changes which followed Western domination; African responses to the new structures and the road to independence. Cross-listed with HIS-251.
AS-252: African American Women's History (4.00)
An examination of African American women's experiences from slavery to the present, considering the changing historical conditions under which black women challenged racism and sexism and fought for self-determination and autonomy. Meets the Historical Studies/Classical Civilizations standard and the Social/Cultural Analysis standard. Cross-listed with HIS/WS-252.
AS-255: African-American History (4.00)
Developments in the history of black Americans from slavery times to the present. Main themes include enslavement and emancipation, cultural formations, gender experiences, migration, resistance and activism. Meets Humanistic Studies standard. Cross-listed with HIS-255.
AS-261: Race & Racism Through a Buddhist Lens: A Multimedia Exploration (4.00)
RACE & RACISM THROUGH A BUDDHIST LENS: A MULTIMEDIA EXPLORATION--This multimedia course will offer an intensive exploration of how a social construct ("race"), when used as a tool of discrimination that advantages one social group over another ("racism"), inflicts tremendous harm and suffering. What insights can ancient Buddhist teachings provide to help us to recognize, and to transform, the challenges of racism, inequality and other social justice issues we face today? Participants will read important pieces, watch films and documentaries, listen to diverse contemporary music as well as do exercises and meditations aimed at helping them to gain insight into the origins and manifestations of the challenging and thorny issues of race and racism in our lives and in our world. Cross-listed with REL-261.
AS-310: The "Other" African Americans (4.00)
Seminar on diversity within black America, focusing on the experiences of Caribbean, African, and Latin American immigrants. We consider the implications of reconceptualizing "the" black community as several overlapping communities made up of African-Americans, West Indians, diasporic Africans, and Afro-Latinos. Cross-listed with SOC-310.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-320: The History of Slavery in the United States (4.00)
An examination of the institution of slavery in American history and memory. Themes include: definitions of freedom; the Atlantic slave trade; slaveholding ideologies; slave communities and culture; abolition; and the impact of slavery on free people throughout the nation. Cross-listed with HIS-320.
AS-324: Topics in African-American History (4.00)
Critical examination of a specific topic in the history of the African-American experience. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit when the content changes. Cross-listed with HIS-324.
AS-325: African Amer Fiction and Film (4.00)
The African American novel has proven to be a vibrant and resilient form, giving expression to the experiences and concerns of black people for more than 150 years. Through the representational potentialities provided by fiction, black writers have given witness and testimony to a people's quest for freedom, identity, justice, and equality. A primary category of analysis will be gender, as the reading list will consist of paired texts by female and male writers. A special film component will be available for film studies credit. Cross-listed with ENG-325.
Course requisites: One 200-level English course.
AS-327: African Americans Abroad (4.00)
This course will focus on the literature produced by African American writers in response to their experiences of expatriation, exile, and travel in Europe and Africa. African American geographical movement is usually associated with the Middle Passage of the slave trade and the Great Migration from the Southern states to the North in the twentieth century. Less attention has been paid an African American diasporic mobility whereby black men and women have ranged far and wide across the Atlantic in search of physical safety, equal treatment, artistic inspiration, political asylum, economic opportunity, spiritual expression, and personal liberation. Some specific issues for scrutiny include: the shifting meaning of an American identity for blacks abroad; the ramifications of encounters with diasporic Africans; the effect of international experience and writing upon the shaping of the African American literary voice and tradition; the critique of America and its institutions and attitudes proffered from a geographically removed vantage point; the heightened ability of expatriate blacks to understand the workings of American racism; and the impact of black women living and traveling abroad. Primary texts will include fiction, essays, travel writing, autobiographies, and memoirs by such authors as David Dorr, Nancy Prince, Pauline Hopkins, W.E.B. Du Bois, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Anita Reynolds, James Baldwin, Shay Youngblood, and Andre Lee. (Cross-listed with ENG-327.)
Course requisites: One 200-level English course
AS-330: Race & a Global War: Africa During WWII (4.00)
RACE & A GLOBAL WAR: AFRICA DURING WORLD WAR II--This course examines African experiences during World War II. Although most histories of World War II have tended to ignore Africa's role in this global conflict, the continent and its people were at the center of major developments during the war. We will examine how Africans and outsiders have conceptualized the continent's role in the war by analyzing a variety of sources, including scholarly writings, archival materials, films, former soldiers' biographies, and propaganda posters. Topics to be covered include: African servicemen; war crimes in relation to Africa and the war; race and racial thought during wartime Africa; the impact of the war on women and gender roles; political protest; and the war's impact on decolonization. Cross-listed with HIS-330.
AS-342: African Literature (4.00)
This course introduces students to a selection of postcolonial texts from across the African continent. It examines systemic structures of domination and exploitation, colonial and local, and investigates issues of race, class, tribal affiliation, identity, and gender in order to understand both the nature of the societies depicted and the motivating impulses behind the texts we study. The interdisciplinary approach will allow us to identify the residual effects of colonization as well as the internal dynamics of various postcolonial societies in Africa within a historical context. At the same time, we will examine the stylistic, formal, and technical elements to appraise the aesthetic and imaginative qualities of the assigned material. Texts originally produced in English as well as those translated from local languages may be used. Counts toward post-1800 requirement. Cross-listed with ENG-342.
Course requisites: Complete any 200-level English course.
AS-355: Topics in Francophone Literature and Culture (4.00)
Francophone literary and other texts will be analyzed with particular emphasis on colonization, decolonization, neocolonialism and nationalism, slavery, marginalization, identity and otherness, language and orality. Specific regions of Francophone production may include Canada, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and Asia. This course may be repeated when specific content varies. Cross-listed with FRE-355.
Course requisites: French 230 and one 200-level literature course
AS-359: Topics in African & Afr Diaspora History (4.00)
Critical examination of a specific topic in African history or the history of the African Diaspora. Topics vary from year to year, and the course may be repeated for credit when the content changes. Cross-listed with HIS/WS-359.
AS-380: Culture and Ethnography of Africa (4.00)
This course offers an examination and appreciation of African cultures in the present context and in historical perspective. Course topics include kinship, gender, politics, religion, economics, and colonialism. Students read several ethnographies for an in-depth understanding of specific cultures. Cross-listed with ANT/REL-380.
Course requisites: Sociology 101, Anthropology 101, History 250, History 251 or Religous Studies 140
GER-340: The History, Literature and Culture of Afro-Germans (4.00)
THE HISTORY, LITERATURE, AND CULTURE OF AFRO-GERMANS--This course focuses on the history, literature and culture of people of African descent living in German-speaking countries and on discourses of German identity. Cross-listed with AS-340.
Description when topic is "'OTHER GERMANS' AFRICAN DIASPORA IN GERMAN-SPEAKING EUROPE". This course investigates the long and multifaceted history and culture of the African diaspora in the German-speaking countries, including the influence of African science and culture in 18th-century Germany, the German-African/African-American connections during colonialist times, African peoples' marginalisation and persecution under National Socialism, the experience of African-American soldiers as post-World-War II occupation troops, and black Germans as members of 20th/21st-century re-unified Germany. Taught in English. (German Majors/Minors will have opportunities to apply language skills by working with German-language texts/films and some writing in German.)
SPA-365: Black Literature in Cuba and Puerto Rico (4.00)
This course provides an examination of the Caribbean literary movement of "negrismo." Literary texts and interdisciplinary readings examine the impact of ethnicity on Cuban and Puerto Rican national identities. More contemporary media illustrate the present role of Afro-Caribbean religious traditions, such as SanterÃa.
Course requisites: 323
SPA-480: Topics in Hispanic Themes (4.00)
A detailed critical analysis of a specific topic, genre or period in Spanish or Latin American literature and other media. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.
Course requisites: SPA-323
Group II (Critical and Theoretical Perspectives)
AS-145: Philosophy of Race (4.00)
What is race? An examination of the evolution of the concept of race in the United States (focusing particularly on science and law) and contemporary philosophical treatments of race as a social construction with moral and political implications. Topics include: ethnicity vs. race; the intersection of race with gender, class, sexuality, disability and nationality; white privilege; and a current policy issue such as affirmative action. Cross-listed with PHI-145.
AS-225: Urban Lives (4.00)
An exploration of social changes in urban settings in the United States, the Caribbean, and Western Europe, particularly the ways societal processes and social structures influence community and cultural life. Issues such as urban poverty, environmental pollution, "global city" formation and residential segregation will be discussed. Cross-listed with SOC-225.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-230: Race, Class and Gender (4.00)
Survey of the history, basic theories and recent research integrating these key concepts for modern society. Systematic examination of the effects of these variables on different groups in society. Cross-listed with WS-231/SOC-230.
Course requisites: Sociology 101 or Anthropology 101
AS-333: Race and Place in the New South (4.00)
This course is designed for majors. By focusing on questions of race and place, we will examine the "New South" using an approach that is sensitive to issues of representation, local histories, and racial mythologies. As a class, our goal will be to develop a critical understanding of the region and its redevelopment in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. Our work will include, but is not limited to, issues of segregation, gentrification, "Latinization," and community organizing. Atlanta, the so-called capital of "New South," will be a particular focus. The central assignment for this class is an independent "place study" of a metro Atlanta neighborhood. Some field trips and film screenings will take place outside of class time. Cross-listed with SOC-333.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or AS-170
AS-356: Comparative Black Feminisms (4.00)
Interdisciplinary analysis and critique of the history of ideas which make up African and African diasporic feminist thought and practice. Cross-listed with SOC/WS-356.
Course requisites: ANT-101, SOC-101 or WS-100
AS-370: African American Images in Popular Culture (4.00)
Emphasis given to the influence of race on U.S. culture and the interplay of race and culture with politics. Pervasive attention paid in this course to representations of women and to the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and gender. Cross-listed with SOC-370/WS-377.
SOC-301: Collective Behav & Soc Mvments (4.00)
This course examines organized collective efforts to bring about social change. It applies social science research methods, perspectives, and case studies to evaluate the effectiveness of activists' practices and outcomes. Analysis will include, but is not limited to, U.S. and international collective action such as the civil rights, workers', environmental, and women's movements.
Course requisites: SOC-101 or ANT-101