African/African American Studies Concentration (AFAMc)
The African and African American Studies concentration is designed to complement a student’s disciplinary major through an interdisciplinary specialization on the contexts and experiences of Africans and their many diasporas. Combining area studies and ethnic studies foci, the African and African American Studies concentration provides students the opportunity to explore the rich connections and exchanges among African people, their descendants, and the global locales--in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East--in which they have made and are making their lives. Students can do this through both on-campus courses and off-campus studies programs.
Fostering interdisciplinary critical thinking, the African and African American Studies concentration prepares students for lifetime engagement in scholarship as well as in fields such as law, public policy, education, public health, social work, and the arts. Toward this end, and in addition to coursework, students are encouraged to take advantage of the rich array of speakers, exhibits, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities related to Africans and their diasporas.
Requirements for the Concentration
The African/African American Studies Concentration requires seven courses as follows:
One interdisciplinary course with an "AFAM" designation;
Two survey courses that introduce the "state of the field" of African and/or African Diaspora studies within specific disciplines;
Three distribution courses (from the list of relevant courses) chosen from at least two of the following groups: Literary/Artistic Analysis (LA); Humanistic Inquiry (HI); Social Inquiry (SI). Two of the three courses must be at the 300-level;
A senior seminar at the 300-level with a major paper or project in African and African American Studies.
In developing their program, students should consult the concentration director for courses that have particularly high African, African Diaspora, and/or African American Studies content. They are particularly encouraged to choose these courses from among the list of relevant courses. Courses marked AFAMPERT can complement the concentration, but do not count toward the required seven courses without special permission of the Program Director.
Structure of Courses Applicable to the Concentration
Interdisciplinary Course (6 credits). Each student must complete one interdisciplinary 6-credit course which, in part, specifically discusses African/African-American Studies as a discipline.
AFAM 100 Here, There, and Everywhere: African Diaspora Formations in and Beyond The Atlantic
AFAM 113 Introduction to African/African American Studies (not offered in 2012-2013)
AFAM 220 The Souls of Black Folks: African Diaspora Intellectual Thinkers & Questions of Black Identity and Belonging
Survey Courses (12 credits). Each student must take two of the following 6-credit courses:
ARTH 140 African Art and Culture (not offered in 2012-2013)
ENGL 117 African American Literature
HIST 125 African American History I
HIST 126 African American History II
HIST 183 History of Early West Africa (not offered in 2012-2013)
HIST 184 Colonial West Africa
Distribution Courses (18 credits). Each student should take three 6-credit courses chosen from at least two of the curricular exploration groups. Two of these three distribution courses must be at the 300-level.
Arts Practice
DANC 301 Contemporary Styles and Techniques: African Dance
MUSC 191 Karimba
MUSC 192 African Drum Ensemble
MUSC 193 African Mbira Ensemble (not offered in 2012-2013)
MUSC 196 Jubilee Singers
MUSC 199 African Drum Class
Literary and Artistic Analysis
ENGL 238 African Literature in English
ENGL 243 Text and Film (not offered in 2012-2013)
ENGL 252 Caribbean Fiction (not offered in 2012-2013)
ENGL 258 Contemporary American Playwrights of Color (not offered in 2012-2013)
ENGL 350 The Postcolonial Novel: Forms and Contexts
FREN 235 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean (not offered in 2012-2013)
FREN 245 Francophone Literature of Africa and the Caribbean (not offered in 2012-2013)
FREN 250 Film and Society in Mali (not offered in 2012-2013)
FREN 251 Negotiating the Past--the Challenges of Nation-Building in Mali (not offered in 2012-2013)
FREN 252 Literature and Society in Mali (not offered in 2012-2013)
MUSC 130 History of Jazz
MUSC 131 The Blues From the Delta to Chicago
MUSC 132 Golden Age of R & B
MUSC 183J Ethnic Drumming Instruction
MUSC 245 Music of Africa
MUSC 332 MotownHumanistic Inquiry (not offered in 2012-2013)
Humanistic Inquiry
HIST 100 History and Memory in Africa, Nineteenth-Twenty-first Centuries
HIST 276 The African Diaspora in Latin America
HIST 280 African in the Arab World
HIST 281 War in Modern Africa (not offered in 2012-2013)
HIST 282 Masquerades in Africa (not offered in 2012-2013)
HIST 286 Africans in the Arab World: On Site and Revisited
HIST 322 Civil Rights and Black Power
HIST 381 History, Memory and the Atlantic World: Ghana and the United States (not offered in 2012-2013)
HIST 382 History, Memory, and the Atlantic World: On Site and Revisited (not offered in 2012-2013)
RELG 246 Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle (not offered in 2012-2013)
RELG 247 RAP and Religion: Rhymes about God and the Good (not offered in 2012-2013)
RELG 262 Islamic Africa (not offered in 2012-2013)
RELG 330 Radical Pacifism Social Inquiry (not offered in 2012-2013)
Social Inquiry
EDUC 225 Issues in Urban Education (not offered in 2012-2013)
ENTS 264 Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Africa
ENTS 280 Tanzania Program: Research Projects on Conservation and Development
ENTS 284 Tanzania Program: Cultural Studies
ENTS 285 Wildlife Conservation and Livelihoods
POSC 266 Urban Political Economy
POSC 306 How Race Matters in American Politics
POSC 366 Urban Political Economy
PSYC 384 Psychology of Prejudice
SOAN 256 Transformations in African Ethnography
SOAN 395 Ethnography of ReproductionArts Practice
Senior Seminar/Capstone Experience (6 credits)The African/African American senior seminar/capstone experience can be fulfilled through a 300-level course with high African/African American content and in which a major term paper in African/African American Studies is completed.