Courses
African American Studies Courses
Fall 2006
ART 265-01 Intro to Sub-Saharan African Art
Gena Hill-Thomas
TuTh 11:00-12:15
This course will explore the art of Sub-Saharan Africa from ancient sculpture to modern textile techniques. It will emphasize late 19th and early 20th century arts from four main regions: West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa, and South Africa. We will spend more time in West and Central Africa because this is where the majority of research on African art has been done. By the end of this course, you will have a solid base of the art of several renown peoples, a working knowledge of the context in which the objects were used, and an overall idea of the current issues and theories within the field.
ENGLISH 364-01 African American Writers
Yvonne Jones
TuTh 9:30-10:45
This course is a chronological survey of the works, mainly twentieth century fiction (novels), of African American writers. The analysis of the artistic expression and vision of such writers as James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison will include an investigation of the ways in which these authors treat personal, racial, political, and gender-based issues. In addition, we will explore the influences of black folk culture in twentieth century African American fiction. As the course progresses, we will be examining the historical context from which these texts have evolved and the critical and theoretical issues they present in the American literary tradition.
HISTORY 242 African American History
Charles McKinney
MWF 11:00-11:50
The experiences of African-American people in the United States can be described as a continuous quest for empowerment; this quest has been affected by myriad factors (e.g., gender roles, class divisions, secular and non-secular ideologies, regionalism) in addition to racism. This course, through the use of secondary and primary material, historical documentaries, and critical analyses, will chart the historically complex journeys of African Americans, from the impact of the African diaspora on colonial America to the Black student sit-ins and the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960, and beyond.
HISTORY 247 The American South
Timothy Huebner
MWF 12:00-12:50
This course examines the social, political, and cultural history of the South as a distinct region of the United States. The central dilemma in the South′s historical development has been the issue of race; this course, therefore, focuses on the evolving relationship between black and white southerners from the seventeenth century to the late twentieth century. The course includes discussions of the origins of a slave society, the culture of slavery and the Old South, the Civil War and Reconstruction era, political and cultural change in the New South, the Civil Rights Movement, and the recent South.
HISTORY 305.2 African American History through Sports
Russell Wigginton
M 4:00-6:30pm
The purpose of this course is to attain a fundamental understanding of the important connection between the institution of sport and race relations in American society. Through examining books, periodicals, and films, we will study examples of the social, economic, and political implications of sports on American culture and African Americans over time.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 245-01 Government and Politics of Africa
Shadrack Nasong’o
MWF 11:00-11:50
The African mosaic in its complexity is introduced to students in this course. Beginning with a brief review of African history, the politics, economics and social transitions on the continent since 1945 will be examined. The role of both external and internal factors in shaping these transitions provides the theoretical focus for an investigation of present political economy, and future possibilities.
Prerequisites: International Studies 200 or permission of the instructor.
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 431-03 Africa and the Global System
Shadrack Nasong’o
TuTh 2:00-3:15
This course is designed as a survey and examination of the place of Africa in the global system. It focuses on the evolution of the linkages between Africa and the global system; the dynamics of these linkages; their impact on Africa’s socio-economic and political development; and Africa’s contribution to the global system. Themes such as colonialism, neocolonialism, globalization in its multifaceted trajectories, brain drain, diplomacy, trade and investment, and geopolitical issues among others will be examined. To equip students with the requisite analytical tools, particular emphasis is laid on the theoretical, conceptual, and institutional approaches to the study of global issues. At the end of the course, it is expected that students will have gained a firm understanding of the dynamics of the global system in relation to Africa; they will have enhanced their analytical skills and critical appreciation of the workings of the global system and the place of Africa therein; and they will have developed adequate knowledge on the critical impact of the global system on individual lives of people generally.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES 258-02 African American Religious Tradition
Luther Ivory
MWF 11:00-11:50
This course represents an historical approach to investigating the development of black religion and the black church in America. We intend to consider the impact of the Black Religious Tradition upon the total fabric of black life in the U.S. Our AIM is to: examine historical antecedents, investigate the emergence and subsequent development of what scholars refer to as the “Institutional black church,” explore the extent to which various modalities of black religious expression represent both symptoms and responses, and consider the prominent role of BLACK WOMEN as integral shapers of black religious consciousness in both historical and contemporary African American life.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES 259-01Theology and Ethics of Martin Luther King and the Modern Civil Rights Movement
Luther Ivory
TuTh 2:00-3:15
This course is concerned with an investigation and examination of the life and thought of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In so doing, we may expect to encounter four (4) primary movements in the course: Historical Contexts, Polemical Threads, Doctrinal Emphases, and Relevancy.
