AAS 100 | Introduction to African American Studies
Course Description: Offers an overview of the major themes, debates, and issues animating the discipline of African-American Studies and an introduction to the social, cultural, and political history of the African diaspora.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: LectureInstructor: Y G Lulat (Associate Professor Transnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & EthnicityPopulation Group/Region: African AmericanCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Summer 2018Spring 2018Winter 2019Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: YesCognates: None
AAS 117 | Hip Hop and Social Issues
Course Description: This course explores the foundations/origins of Hip Hop Culture, making connections to current social problems as interpreted by the Hip Hop Generation. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students will interrogate issues of race, class, privilege and power in the context of what is now a global cultural phenomenon. This course is the same as AMS 111 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: Mopelolade Oreoluwa Ogunbowale (StudentAmerican Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & Ethnicity, Socioeconomic StatusPopulation Group/Region: African AmericanCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Summer 2018Spring 2018Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: NoCognates: AMS 111
AAS 199 | African Americans and the City
Course Description: This seminar explores the social, political, and economic development, as well as the transformation of African American urban experiences from the early 19th century through the 20th century. Emphases will be placed on the social conditions of urban life, the impact of economic policies, geographical location, labor, migration, family and institutional development, and responses to new forms of social control. The course explores the relationship between racial identification and community formation, and assesses the impact of notions of community and community solidarity. It also examines the impact of class and gender on community formation and how communities evolve over time as populations, the economy, and government policies and change in a climate of disinvestment and reinvestment.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: Lillian S Williams (Chair and Associate Professor Transnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & Ethnicity, Sex & Gender Identity and Expression, Socioeconomic StatusPopulation Group/Region: African AmericanCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: YesCognates: None
AAS 199 | The American Image: Art, Media
Course Description: How do images affect culture, society, and identity in America? As Americans, how do we sort out whom we are, while constantly bombarded with images and symbols telling us who we should be? These are a few of the questions we will explore in this cross-cultural course on American diversity. Investigating the roles of race, class, religion, gender, and sexuality in the world of images. Throughout the semester, we will pay particular attention to visual mediums such as art, television, movies, printed images, and a host of cultural symbols affecting us everyday. Readings and other course materials are interdisciplinary, including anthropological and historical perspectives, documentary films, literary material, and most of all, art.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: Nestor E Zarragoitia (Visiting Assistant ProfessorTransnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & Ethnicity, Religion, Sex & Gender Identity and Expression, Sexual Orientation, Socioeconomic StatusCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Spring 2018Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: YesCognates: None
AAS 261 | African American History
Course Description: Surveys the history of African Americans from African origins to the present. The course focuses on the often overlooked but crucial role of African Americans in shaping US and world history. Topics include: West African civilizations, the slave trade and slavery, abolitionism and the Underground Railroad, Emancipation, post-slavery migrations and labor systems, the rise of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: LectureInstructor: Lillian S Williams (Chair and Associate Professor Transnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & EthnicityPopulation Group/Region: African AmericanCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Summer 2018Spring 2018Winter 2019Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: YesCognates: None
AAS 264 | Black Child in America
Course Description: Focuses on the great variety of black children’s experiences in the United States, including their experiences both during slavery in the Southern country towns and in the emerging “ghettos” in the North. The course also discusses historical development of social service programs such as Aid to Dependent Children and other government policies. It also explores various issues that contribute to the welfare of African American children. This course is the same as AMS 264, and GGS 264, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: N/ADimension of Diversity: Age, Race & Ethnicity, Socioeconomic StatusPopulation Group/Region: African American, ChildrenCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Not OfferedSemester(s) Typically Offered: FallDiversity Course: YesCognates: AMS 264GGS 264
AAS 271 | African American Literature
Course Description: Introduction to the study of African American Literature, with focus on major writers such as Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison. For example: Prof. H. Young, Contemporary African American Literature and Culture This class introduces students to contemporary African American literature, looking at the diversity of literary production that falls under the category of black. What does it mean to be black and how does the literature we read explode any preconceptions we might have about its various meanings in different locations and time periods? Attention will be paid to topics such as immigration, sexuality, gender and slavery. In addition to novels and graphic novels, the class will include critical analyses of popular culture such as hip-hop, music videos and blogs. Many of the topics can become controversial but the classroom will be a safe place to work through some of the messiness of race and gender. For example: D. Squires, The Black American Autobiography Perhaps the most vital genre in black American literature, autobiography has been central to understanding the development of American history and African American autobiography is central to this understanding. Key historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson offered personal accounts of America’s foundation. Instead of starting with the founding fathers, however, we’ll begin in the cotton field on a journey that will take us all the way to the White House. Starting with texts written by former slaves (Douglass, Jacobs, Wells), this course will explore American life before and after the Civil War, and into the 20th century. Ida B. Wells and Richard Wright provide formidable accounts of segregated America. We will then turn to stories about civil rights movements and the struggle to desegregate the U.S. (Haley, Moody, Angelou). Well tackle questions about sex in the aftermath of the rights movements with Audre Lorde and well ask what exactly Barack Obama, and America more generally, has inherited from this exemplary tradition of American autobiography. This course is the same as ENG 271, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: LectureInstructor: N/ADimension of Diversity: Race & EthnicityCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Not OfferedSemester(s) Typically Offered: FallDiversity Course: YesCognates: ENG 271
AAS 275 | Black and Female
Course Description: N/A
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: N/ADimension of Diversity: Race & Ethnicity, Sex & Gender Identity and ExpressionPopulation Group/Region: African American, WomenCourse Typology: Cultural ExplorationsSemester(s) Offered: Not OfferedSemester(s) Typically Offered: VariesDiversity Course: YesCognates: None
AAS 293 | Race, Law, and Society
Course Description: Explores that part of U.S. law that has dealt with the human and civil rights of African Americans (and by implication other racial ethnic groups in U.S. society: Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, etc.) We do this by examining the relevant legislation and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. However, where appropriate, decisions of the Executive branch made under various ‘Executive Orders’ are also considered. Any understanding and appreciation of U.S. constitutional democracy requires us to acknowledge the powerful role of race in the evolution of this democracy. Consequently regardless of the time period–the lives of all in the U.S. (of whatever color and sex) have been touched by the interaction between law and race. In Part One of the course we concentrate on an area of legal studies called ‘Critical Race Theory,’ where our concern is to explore the interaction of law and race from the perspective of issues such as culture, history, gender, identity, politics, class, the media, etc. In Part Two we examine the interaction between race and law from the perspective of the historical evolution of democracy in the U.S. This course is the same as AMS 293, GGS 285 and HIS 304 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: Y G Lulat (Associate Professor Transnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & EthnicityPopulation Group/Region: African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Native AmericanCourse Typology: Deeper DivesSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Semester(s) Typically Offered: FallDiversity Course: YesCognates: AMS 293GGS 285HIS 304
AAS 295 | Black Gender Studies
Course Description: Introduction to how gender shapes the experiences of women and men of African descent. Emphasis is placed on Black women’s experiences in families, at work, with the media, with sexuality and fertility, and with political activism.
School/College: College of Arts and SciencesDepartment: Transnational StudiesCourse Type: SeminarInstructor: James E Ponzo (Lecturer Transnational Studies)Dimension of Diversity: Race & Ethnicity, Sex & Gender Identity and Expression, Sexual OrientationPopulation Group/Region: African American, WomenCourse Typology: Deeper DivesSemester(s) Offered: Fall 2018Semester(s) Typically Offered: Fall, SpringDiversity Course: YesCognates: None