Director: Professor Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg
Committee Members: Deborah Appleman, Elizabeth Ciner, Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Richard A. Keiser, Chérif Keïta, Kofi Owusu, Melinda Russell
African/African American Studies (AFAM)
The program in African/African American Studies provides a cross-cultural and comparative framework for systematically studying the traditions and experiences of Africans in the New and Old Worlds. Students in this program are encouraged to develop their analytic, research and literary skills through a critical study of patterns of Western and African civilizations in their interwoven complexity. The program provides a forum for addressing topics such as cultural and artistic creativity, construction of self, marginality, responses to exclusion, and the conjunction of issues related to gender, class, race and ethnicity.
The African/African American Studies Committee is composed of faculty and administrative members. It acts as a focal point for the encouragement of African/African American studies at Carleton by actively urging departments and faculty members to offer courses in this field, by preparing each year a list of available courses and faculty resources, and by supporting the hiring of specialists in the field by various departments.
Numerous courses taught at Carleton have a bearing on African/African American Studies in addition to those offered by the program itself. Students majoring in African/African American Studies have been able to create programs, on an individual basis, out of the available Carleton offerings, independent study, and, in some cases, off-campus study. Students interested in majoring in the field should consult the Director of African/African American Studies before declaring their major.
Requirements for a Major
I. Admission to the program will depend upon the acceptance, by the African/African American Studies Committee, of a written proposal outlining the student's program of study.
II. Survey Courses (18 credits). Students must take three of the following courses:
ARTH 140 African Art and Culture
ENGL 117 African American Literature
HIST 180 An Historical Survey of East Africa (not offered in 2011-2012)
HIST 183 History of Early West Africa (not offered in 2011-2012)
HIST 184 Colonial West Africa (not offered in 2011-2012)
MUSC 130 The History of Jazz
MUSC 245 Music of Africa
RELG 122 Muhammad and the Qur'an: An Introduction to Islam
III. Interdisciplinary Course (6 credits). Each student must complete one interdisciplinary course which, in part, specifically discusses African/African American Studies as a discipline:
AFAM 113 Introduction to African/African American Studies
ENGL 243 Text and Film
IV. Distribution Courses (30 credits). Each student should take five courses that are essential to his or her major from the following groups:
Arts and Literature
ENGL 238 African Literature in English
ENGL 252 Caribbean Fiction (not offered in 2011-2012)
ENGL 258 Contemporary American Playwrights of Color
ENGL 350 The Postcolonial Novel: Forms and Contexts
FREN 235 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean (not offered in 2011-2012)
FREN 245 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean (not offered in 2011-2012)
MUSC 232 Motown (not offered in 2011-2012)
THEA 242 Twentieth Century American Drama
Humanities
HIST 125 African American History I (not offered in 2011-2012)
HIST 221 African American History II (not offered in 2011-2012)
HIST 276 The African Diaspora in Latin America
HIST 280 African in the Arab World
HIST 281 War in Modern Africa
HIST 322 Civil Rights and Black Power (not offered in 2011-2012)
HIST 324 The Concord Intellectuals (not offered in 2011-2012)
RELG 246 Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle (not offered in 2011-2012)
RELG 247 RAP and Religion: Rhymes about God and the Good
RELG 262 Islamic Africa
Social Sciences
EDUC 238 Multicultural Education: Race, Gender and Education
POSC 207 Urban Politics in a Global Era (not offered in 2011-2012)
POSC 266 Urban Political Economy (not offered in 2011-2012)
POSC 306 How Race Matters in American Politics*
POSC 366 Urban Political Economy* (not offered in 2011-2012)
PSYC 384 Psychology of Prejudice
SOAN 139 Society and Social Problems
SOAN 256 Transformations in African Ethnography
SOAN 395 Ethnography of Reproduction
At least one course must be chosen from each of the three groups, and at least two of the total of five courses must be at the 300-level.
V. Senior Seminar in African/African American Studies (6 credits)
To be announced
VI. Comprehensive Exercise (6 credits).
Defense of a substantial (approximately 34-40 page) research paper, written in consultation with two faculty advisers. The paper must be grounded in two complementary disciplines. Students prepare by taking a 300-level capstone seminar with a research component in one of the disciplines in which they will write the comprehensive exercise. Work on the exercise begins once a proposal is accepted in fall term, continues in winter term, and concludes in spring term. Students in the performing, visual, or studio arts may create an alternative exercise in the appropriate medium if the proposal demonstrates significant familiarity with related disciplinary perspectives.
African/African American Studies Courses
AFAM 113. Introduction to African/African American Studies This core course employs interdisciplinary approaches to critically examine selected intellectual and cultural themes in African, African American, and Black Diaspora studies. The course combines lecture and discussion formats. Members of the faculty deliver guest lectures in their own areas of specialization. Themes may vary from year to year. Note: Required of majors and concentrators in the African and African American tracks. 6 cr., AL, WR, RAD; HI, WR2, IDS, Spring—Staff