Apr 27, 2024

Catalogue 2016-2017

Catalogue 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

Course Filter
Filter this list of courses using course prefix, course code, keywords or any combination.
Prefix:	Code or Number:	Keyword or Phrase:
Choose Course Prefix	Choose Course Number	Choose Keyword
Find whole word or phrase only.


Africana Studies: I. Introductory
	AFRS 100 - Introduction to Africana Studies Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) What is Africana Studies? This course proposes an overview of the field of Africana Studies, emphasizing the historical and cultural connections between Africa and its global diasporas. It covers subjects and themes drawing from disciplinary traditions within the humanities and the social sciences. Articulated on distinct geographical spaces and historical time periods, it focuses on the activities of African peoples and their descendants around the world. Topics include: colonialism, slavery, nationalism and transnationalism, civil and human rights, conflict, and culture. The particular subjects and themes explored vary with each faculty teaching the course. Quincy Mills. Prerequisite(s): The course is required for all majors and correlates. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 101 - Martin Luther King Jr. Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 101 ) This course examines the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. We immediately rethink the image of King who liberals and conservatives construct as a dreamer of better race relations. We engage the complexities of an individual, who articulated a moral compass of the nation, to explore racial justice in post-World War II America. This course gives special attention to King’s post-1965 radicalism when he called for a reordering of American society, an end to the war in Vietnam, and supported sanitation workers striking for better wages and working conditions. Topics include King’s notion of the “beloved community”, the Social Gospel, liberalism, “socially conscious democracy”, militancy, the politics of martyrdom, poverty and racial justice, and compensatory treatment. Primary sources form the core of our readings. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 104 - Religion, Prisons, and the Civil Rights Movement 1 unit(s) (Same as RELI 104 ) African American citizenship has long been a contested and bloody battlefield. This course uses the modern Civil Rights Movement to examine the roles the religion and prisons have played in theses battles over African American rights and liberties. In what ways have religious beliefs motivated Americans to uphold narrow definitions of citizenship that exclude people on the basis of race or moved them to boldly challenge those definitions? In a similar fashion, civil rights workers were incarcerated in jails and prisons as a result of their nonviolent protest activities. Their experiences in prisons, they exposed the inhumane conditions and practices existing in many prison settings. More recently, the growth of the mass incarceration of minorities has moved to the forefront of civil and human rights concerns. Is a new Civil Rights Movement needed to challenge the New Jim Crow? Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 105 - Issues In Africana Studies 1 unit(s) Not offered in 2015/16.
	AFRS 106 - Elementary Arabic Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course is an elementary level course offered during fall semester only. The course builds basic skills in Modern Standard Arabic, the language spoken, read, and understood by educated Arabs throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and other parts of the world. No prior experience in Arabic is necessary. The course focuses on building students’ abilities to (1) communicate successfully basic biographical information: name, place of residence, family members, and daily life activities, using memorized material; (2) understand speech dealing with areas of practical need such as highly standardized messages, phrases, or instructions, such as memorized greetings, pleasantries, leave taking, very basic questions and answers related to immediate need or personal information; (3) derive meaning from short, non-complex texts that convey basic information for which there is contextual or extra-linguistic support; (4) manage successfully a number of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations, such as giving basic personal information, and describing basic objects, a limited number of activities, preferences, and immediate needs. Tagreed Al-Haddad, Mootacem Mhiri. Students who did not complete AFRS 106 may enroll in AFRS 107 , if they demonstrate equivalent knowledge by a placement test. Yearlong course 106-AFRS 107 . Three 50-minute periods, plus one drill period per week.
	AFRS 107 - Elementary Arabic Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This is an elementary level course offered during spring semester only. The course focuses on building students’ abilities to (1) create statements and formulate questions based on familiar material in short and simple conversational-style sentences with basic word order; (2) understand basic information conveyed orally in simple, minimally connected discourse that contains high-frequency vocabulary; (3) understand fully and with ease short, non-complex texts that convey basic information and deal with personal and social topics of immediate interest, featuring description and narration; (4) ask simple questions and handle a straightforward survival situation by producing sentence-level language, ranging from discrete sentences to strings of sentences, typically in present time. Tagreed Al-Haddad, Mootacem Mhiri. Students who did not complete AFRS 106 may enroll in AFRS 107, if they demonstrate equivalent knowledge by a placement test. Yearlong course AFRS 106 -107. Three 50-minute periods, plus one drill period per week.
	AFRS 109 - Beyond the Veil and Islamic Terrorism: Modern Arabic Literature Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course introduces students to major themes, authors, and genres in modern Arabic literature from the late nineteenth century to the present. Readings include autobiography, fiction, drama, and poetry representing the rich Arabic literary heritage of the Middle East and North Africa. We also read various secondary materials and watch several documentary and feature films that will anchor our discussion of the literary texts in their socio-historical and cultural context(s). Some of the major themes (foci) of the course include (1) tradition and change; (2) the colonial and postcolonial encounters with the other; (3) changing gender roles and the politics of (Islamic) Feminism; (4) religion and politics, among others. Mootacem Mhiri. Open only to freshmen; satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 122 - Tradition, Religion, Modernity: A History of North Africa and the Middle East 1 unit(s) (Same as INTL 122 ) This course provides an introduction to the modern history of the Middle East and North Africa covering the period from the end of the eighteenth century until the present. The aim is to trace the genealogy of sociopolitical reform movements across this period of the history of North Africa and The Middle East. The course is designed to familiarize students with major themes spanning the colonial encounter, the rise of nationalisms, and postcolonial nation-building. Our inquiry includes an examination of the rise of political Islam as well as the contemporary popular revolutions sweeping through the region at the moment. Our goal is to achieve a better understanding of the culmination and collision of the historical trends of tradition religion and modernity and their manifestation in the ongoing Arab Spring. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 141 - Tradition, History and the African Experience 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 141 ) From ancient stone tools and monuments to oral narratives and colonial documents, the course examines how the African past has been recorded, preserved, and transmitted over the generations. It looks at the challenges faced by the historian in Africa and the multi-disciplinary techniques used to reconstruct and interpret African history. Various texts, artifacts, and oral narratives from ancient times to the present are analyzed to see how conceptions and interpretations of African past have changed over time. Ismail Rashid. Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 175 - Mandela: Race, Resistance and Renaissance in South Africa 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 175 ) This course critically explores the history and politics of South Africa in the twentieth century through the prism of the life, politics, and experiences of one of its most iconic figures, Nelson Mandela. After almost three decades of incarceration for resisting Apartheid, Mandela became the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa in 1994. It was an inspirational moment in the global movement and the internal struggle to dismantle Apartheid and to transform South Africa into a democratic, non-racial, and just society. Using Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, as our point of departure, the course discusses some of the complex ideas, people, and developments that shaped South Africa and Mandela’s life in the twentieth century, including: indigenous culture, religion, and institutions; colonialism, race, and ethnicity; nationalism, mass resistance, and freedom; and human rights, social justice, and post-conflict reconstruction. Ismail Rashid. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 182 - Centering Black Women and Girls’ Lives Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s) (Same as AMST 182 , ANTH 182 , EDUC 182 , SOCI 182 , and WMST 182 ) Vassar College, as one of the seven sisters, has a long history of being at the forefront of controversial and critical conversations about issues that confront women’s lives. In line with that history, this course contributes to this important tradition by expanding and extending the historical and contemporary discourses on women and intersectionality that have become so vibrant on Vassar’s campus and beyond. Specifically, it provides students with a critical space to consider and be challenged by how they define, understand, think about, talk about and write at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, spirituality, art and literature in the U.S. Colette Cann, Luis Inoa, Candice Lowe Swift, and Samuel Speers. Second six-week course. One 3-hour period.
Africana Studies: II. Intermediate
	AFRS 202 - Black Music Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as MUSI 202 ) An analytical exploration of the music of certain African and European cultures and their adaptive influences in North America. The course examines the traditional African and European views of music performance practices while exploring their influences in shaping the music of African Americans from the spiritual to modern times. Justin Patch.
	AFRS 204 - Islam in America 1 unit(s) (Same as RELI 204 ) This course examines the historical and social development of Islam in the U.S. from enslaved African Muslims to the present. Topics include: African Muslims, rice cultivation in the South, and slave rebellions; the rise of proto-Islamic movements such as the Nation of Islam; the growth and influence of African American and immigrant Muslims; Islam and Women; Islam in Prisons; Islam and Architecture and the American war on terror. Prerequisite(s): one unit in Religion or permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 205 - Arab Women Writers Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as WMST 205 ) This course examines a selection of literary works by modern and contemporary Arab women writers in English translation. We will read fiction, poetry, autobiographies, short stories, and critical scholarship by and about Arab women, from North Africa and the Middle East, in order to develop a critical understanding of the social, political, and cultural context(s) of these writings, and to form an enlightened opinion about the issues and concerns raised by Arab women writers throughout the Twentieth Century, at different historical junctures, and in different locations. Our class discussions will focus—among other themes—on: (1) Arab women writers and feminism. (2) Arab Women and Islamism. (3) Arab women and the West. (4) Arab Nationalism(s), Arab Modernity(s), and Arab women. (5) Arab Women writing in the Diaspora: hyphenated identities and different routes of homecoming. The authors to be read include Assia Djebar (Algeria); Fatima Mernissi (Morocco); Nawal Sadaawi (Egypt); Hanan Al-Shaykh (Lebanon); and Sahar Khalifeh (Palestine); and many others. Mootacem Mhiri. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 207 - Intermediate Arabic Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This is an intermediate level course offered during fall semester only. The course focuses on enhancing students’ abilities to (1) create with the language and communicate personal meaning effectively; (2) satisfy personal needs and social demands to survive in an Arabic speaking environment; (3) understand information conveyed in simple, sentence-length speech on familiar or everyday topics. (4) understand short, non-complex texts that convey basic information and deal with personal and social topics. (5) build intercultural competence through exposure to authentic Arabic expressions, proverbs, and similar linguistic and cultural idioms. Mootacem Mhiri. This course is designed for students who have completed AFRS 107 or its equivalent successfully as demonstrated by a placement test. Three 50-minute periods, plus one drill period per week.
	AFRS 208 - Intermediate Arabic Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This is an intermediate level course offered during spring semester only. The course focuses on enhancing students’ abilities to (1) write short, simple communications, compositions, and requests for information in loosely connected texts about personal preferences, daily routines, common events, and other personal topics; (2) understand simple, sentence-length speech in a variety of basic personal and social contexts and accurately comprehend highly familiar and predictable topics; (3) understand short, non-complex texts, featuring description and narration, that convey basic information and deal with basic and familiar topics; (4) handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations such as exchanges related to self, family, home, daily activities, interests and personal preferences, as well as physical and social needs, such as food, shopping, travel, and lodging; (5) develop their intercultural competence through increased exposure to authentic Arabic literary and journalistic audiovisual material. Tagreed Al-Haddad. Students who did not complete AFRS 207 may enroll if they demonstrate equivalent knowledge by a placement test. Three 50-minute periods, plus one drill period per week.
	AFRS 209 - From Homer to Omeros 1 unit(s) (Same as GRST 209 ) No poet since James Joyce has been as deeply and creatively engaged in a refashioning of Homer as Derek Walcott, the Caribbean poet and 1992 Nobel Laureate. He has authored both a stage version of the Odyssey and a modern epic, Omeros, and in both of them he brings a decidedly postcolonial and decidedly Caribbean idiom to Homer’s ancient tales. In this course we devote ourselves to a close reading of these works alongside the appropriate sections of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Our aim is both to understand the complexities of Walcott’s use of the Homeric models and to discover the new meanings that emerge in Homer when we read him through Walcott’s eyes. Rachel Friedman. Prerequisite(s): any 100-level Greek and Roman Studies course or one unit of related work or special permission. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 212 - Arabic Literature and Culture 1 unit(s) This course covers the rise and development of modern literary genres written in verse and prose and studies some of the great figures and texts. It touches on the following focuses on analytical readings of poetry, stories, novels, articles, and plays. The students gain insights into Arabic culture including religions, customs, media, and music, in addition to the Arabic woman’s rights and her role in society. The course is open to any student who has taken AFRS 207 or AFRS 208 . Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 217 - Prisons, Community Reentry, and Critical issues in the Criminal Justice System Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course examines the prison experience in the United States and critical issues in the criminal justice system in a prison setting with Vassar students and incarcerated men. The course provides historical overviews of the role of prisons in society and critical examinations of some relevant contemporary issues in criminal justice such as the death penalty, felon disenfranchisement, juveniles in adult prisons, children of incarcerated parents, and immigrants in prison. The course meets on Thursday evenings for two hours. A number of field trips are scheduled to local and New York City agencies usually on Fridays. Special permission required.
	AFRS 227 - The Harlem Renaissance and its Precursors 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 227 ) This course places the Harlem Renaissance in literary historical perspective as it seeks to answer the following questions: In what ways was “The New Negro” new? How did African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance rework earlier literary forms from the sorrow songs to the sermon and the slave narrative? How do the debates that raged during this period over the contours of a black aesthetic trace their origins to the concerns that attended the entry of African Americans into the literary public sphere in the eighteenth century? Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 228 - African American Literature Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as DRAM 228 and ENGL 228 ) Topic for 2016/17b: From the Page to the Stage: Turning Black Literature to Black Drama. This course explores the dramatic possibilities of 20th century canonical black literature by means of critical reading, critical writing, and critical performance. Students examine key novels in their historical context paying attention to the criticism and theory that have shaped their reception. They then attempt to transform parts of these texts into scenes as informed by past and present theories of performance and theatre making. Their work culminates in a public performance of the pieces they have conceived. Tyrone Simpson and Shona Tucker. Two 75-minute periods and one 2-hour lab.
	AFRS 229 - Black Intellectual History 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 229 ) This course provides an overview of black intellectual thought and an introduction to critical race theory. It offers approaches to the ways in which black thinkers from a variety of nations and periods from the nineteenth century up to black modernity engage their intellectual traditions. How have their perceptions been shaped by a variety of places? How have their traditions, histories and cultures theorized race? Critics may include Aimé Césaire, Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. DuBois, Frantz Fanon, Paul Gilroy, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ida B. Wells, and Patricia Williams. Diane Harriford. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 232 - African American Cinema 1 unit(s) (Same as FILM 232 ) This course provides a survey of the history and theory of African American representation in cinema. It begins with the silent films of Oscar Micheaux and examines early Black cast westerns (Harlem Rides the Range, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem on the Prairie) and musicals (St. Louis Blues, Black and Tan, Hi De Ho, Sweethearts of Rhythm). Political debate circulating around cross over stars (Paul Robeson, Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Eartha Kitt, and Harry Belafonte) are central to the course. Special consideration is given to Blaxploitation cinema of the seventies (Shaft, Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones) in an attempt to understand its impact on filmmakers and the historical contexts for contemporary filmmaking. The course covers “Los Angeles Rebellion” filmmakers such as Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, and Haile Gerima. Realist cinema of the 80’s and 90’s (Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, and Set it off),is examined before the transition to Black romantic comedies, family films, and genre pictures (Coming to America, Love and Basketball, Akeelah and the Bee, The Great Debaters). Mia Mask. Prerequisite(s): FILM 210 and permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
	AFRS 234 - Creole Religions of the Caribbean 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 234 and RELI 234 ) The Africa-derived religions of the Caribbean region—Haitian Voodoo, Cuban Santeria, Jamaican Obeah, Rastafarianism, and others—are foundational elements in the cultural development of the islands of the region. This course examines their histories, systems of belief, liturgical practices, and pantheons of spirits, as well as their impact on the history, literature, and music of the region. Lisa Paravisini-Gebert. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 235 - The Civil Rights Movement in the United States 1 unit(s) (Same as AMST 235 ) In this interdisciplinary course, we examine the origins, dynamics, and consequences of the modern Civil Rights movement. We explore how the southern based struggles for racial equality and full citizenship in the U.S. worked both to dismantle entrenched systems of discrimination—segregation, disfranchisement, and economic exploitation—and to challenge American society to live up to its professed democratic ideals. Lisa Collins. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 236 - Imprisonment and the Prisoner 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 236 ) What is the history of the prisoner? Who becomes a prisoner and what does the prisoner become once incarcerated? What is the relationship between crime and punishment? Focusing on the (global) prison industrial complex, this course critically interrogates the massive and increasing numbers of people imprisoned in the United States and around the world. The primary focus of this course is the prisoner and on the movement to abolish imprisonment as we know it. Topics covered in this course include: racial and gender inequality, the relationship between imprisonment and slavery, social death, the prisoner of war (POW), migrant incarceration, as well as prisoner resistance and rebellion. Students also come away from the course with a complex understanding of penal abolition and alternative models of justice. Carlos Alamo. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 242 - Brazil in Crisis: Continuity and Change in Portuguese America Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as GEOG 242 , INTL 242 and LALS 242 ) Brazil, a giant of Latin America and the Global South, has long been known as the “land of the future.” Yet frustrating political-economic crises have repeatedly followed periods of rapid growth and social progress. Taking current crises as a point of departure, this course examines Brazil’s contemporary evolution in light of the country’s historical geography, the distinctive cultural and environmental features of Portuguese America, and the political-economic linkages with the world system. Specific topics for study include: the legacies of colonial Brazil; race relations, Afro-Brazilian culture, and ethnic identities; issues of gender, youth, violence, and poverty; processes of urban-industrial growth; regionalism and national integration; environmental devastation and sustainability; controversies surrounding the occupation of Amazonia; and long-run prospects for democracy and equitable development in Brazil. Brian Godfrey. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 244 - Indian Ocean 1 unit(s) (Same as ANTH 244 ) This course re/introduces alternative modalities of belonging through a focus on multiple cultures and peoples interacting across the Indian Ocean. Using historical works, ethnographies, travel accounts, manuscript fragments, and film, we explore the complex networks and historical processes that have shaped the contemporary economies, cultures, and social problems of the region. We also critically examine how knowledge about the peoples and pasts of this region has been produced. Although the course concentrates on northern Africa, eastern Africa, southwest India, the Arabian Peninsula, and islands are included in our consideration of the region as a cultural, economic, and political sphere whose coastal societies were especially interconnected. Topics include: imperialism, globalization, temporality, cosmopolitanism, labor and trade migrations, religious identification, and gender. Candice Lowe Swift. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 245 - Making Waves: Topics in Feminist Activism Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 245 and WMST 245 ) Topic for 2016/17a: Black Women in Feminism. This course explores the role Black women played in the development and growth of feminism in the U.S. from the 19^th Century to the present. We will pay particular attention to the work of Anna Julia Cooper, Audre Lorde and bell hooks. Film, poetry, music, novels as well as articles and books will be among the texts for the course. Diane Harriford. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 246 - French Speaking Cultures and Literatures of Africa and the Caribbean 1 unit(s) (Same as FREN 246 ) Prerequisite(s): FREN 210 or FREN 212 or the equivalent. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 247 - The Politics of Difference Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as POLI 247 ) This course relates to the meanings of various group experiences in American politics. It explicitly explores, for example, issues of race, class, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Among other things, this course addresses the contributions of the Critical Legal Studies Movement, the Feminist Jurisprudence Movement, the Critical Race Movement, and Queer Studies to the legal academy. Luke Harris.
	AFRS 249 - Latino/a Formations 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 249 and SOCI 249 ) This course focuses on the concepts, methodologies and theoretical approaches for understanding the lives of those people who (im)migrated from or who share real or imagined links with Latin America and the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean. As such this course considers the following questions: Who is a Latino/a? What is the impact of U.S. political and economic policy on immigration? What is assimilation? What does U.S. citizenship actually mean and entail? How are ideas about Blackness, or race more generally, organized and understood among Latino/as? What role do heterogeneous identities play in the construction of space and place among Latino/a and Chicano/a communities? This course introduces students to the multiple ways in which space, race, ethnicity, class and gendered identities are imagined/formed in Latin America and conversely affirmed and/or redefined in the United States. Conversely, this course examines the ways in which U.S. Latina/o populations provide both economic and cultural remittances to their countries of origin that also help to challenge and rearticulate Latin American social and economic relationships. Carlos Alamo. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 250 - Language, Culture, and Society Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ANTH 250 ) Topic for 2016/17b: Language and Power. How can the study of language and its use advance our understanding of power and political action? This course analyzes how language and rhetorical prowess are essential for the distribution and exercise of power through the discussion of readings on political oratory, rumor and scandal, and satire. Readings on mass media and the public sphere illustrate the role of language in political mobilization, the formation of collective identities, and the enforcement of social inequalities and exclusion. Readings on campaigns and electoral politics explore the use of language for the performance of civility and moral virtue, as well as the covert mobilization of class, racial, gender, and ethnic stereotypes. Finally, readings on democracy promotion campaigns in post-colonial settings explore the use of language in the affirmation and contestation of ideals of secularism, liberal democracy, and modernity. Students apply methodological and theoretical tools of linguistic anthropology to analyze the structural features and the political effects of real world examples of political satire, scandal, and oratory. Louis Römer. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 251 - Topics in Black Literatures Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 251 ) This course considers Black literatures in all their richness and diversity. The focus changes from year to year, and may include study of a historical period, literary movement, or genre. The course may take a comparative, diasporic approach or may examine a single national or regional literature. Topic for 2016/17a: Shawn Carter: Autobiography of an Autobiographer. “He rhymed about nothing – the sidewalks, the benches or he’d go in on kids who were standing around him listening.. And then he’d go on about how nice he was, how clean he was.. how all the girls loved him. Then he’d just start rhyming about the rhymes themselves, how good they were, how much better they were than yours, how he was the best that ever did it..” (Decoded, Jay Z) These words, written in the first few pages of Decoded, are Shawn Carter’s memories of a local rapper from his neighborhood named Slate. Slate and his performances would go on to inspire young Shawn Carter to go home and write himself into a peculiar existence. Twelve #1 albums later, Jay Z has made his autobiography a global myth that is retold, and revised every year. What makes his narrative, the details of the narrative, the (lack of?) morality in the narrative and the way he tells this narrative(s) so compelling? Is Jay’s story simply the traditional American Autobiography told in rhyme? This class is more than an exploration into the life and times of Shawn Carter. It’s more than an attempt to etch out the norms of a nation that helped make Jay Z the most accomplished emcee ever. This class is an explorative look at the man and artist in the center of this global cultural cipher. For close to 15 years, Shawn Carter has used autobiography not simply as a mode of communication, but also as a shield and a global, rhetorical and political weapon. Why are we listeners still listening? What are we watching when we Watch the Throne? How does Jay Z go from exploring his life to using the details and sounds of that life as commerce and ammunition? What is relationship between this hyperbolic anxious “I” and this collective “we.” “Do we see similar literary autobiographers using similar narrative techniques? And possibly, most importantly, are there useful rhetorical tools being used by Jay Z that might help us better understand and chronicle the lives we’ve lived? Kiese Laymon.
	AFRS 252 - Writing the Diaspora: Verses/Versus 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 252 ) Black American Culture expression is anchored in rhetorical battles and verbal jousts that place one character against another. From the sorrow songs to blues, black music has always been a primary means of cultural expression for Afirican Americans, particularly during difficult social periods and transition. Black Americans have used music and particularly rythmic verse to resist, express, and signify. Nowhere is this more evident than in hip-hop culture generally and hip-hop music specifically. This semester’s Writing the Diaspora class concerns itself with close textual analysis of hip-hop texts. Is Imani Perry right in claiming that Hip-Hop is Black American music, or diasporic music? In addition to close textual reading of lyrics, students are asked to create their own hip-hop texts that speak to particular artists/texts and/or issues and styles raised. Prerequisite(s): one course in literature or Africana Studies. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 253 - Topics in American Literature Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 253 ) Topic for 2016/17a: Narratives of Passing. The phrase “passing for white,” peculiar to American English, first appears in advertisements for the return of runaway slaves. Abolitionist fiction later adopts the phenomenon of racial passing (together with the figure of the “white slave”) as a major literary theme. African American writers such as William Wells Brown and William Craft incorporated stories of passing in their antislavery writing and the theme continued to enjoy great currency in African American literature in the postbellum era as well as during the Harlem Renaissance. In this class, we examine the prevalence of this theme in African American literature of these periods, the possible reasons for the waning interest in this theme following the Harlem Renaissance, and its reemergence in recent years. In order to begin to understand the role of passing in the American imagination, we look to examples of passing and the treatment of miscegenation in literature, film, and the law. We consider the qualities that characterize what Valerie Smith identifies as the “classic passing narrative” and determine how each of the texts we examine conforms to, reinvents, and/or writes against that classic narrative. Some of the themes considered include betrayal, secrecy, lying, masquerade, visibility/invisibility, and memory. We also examine how the literature of passing challenges or redefines notions of family, American mobility and success, and the convention of the “self-made man.” Hiram Perez. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 254 - The Arts of Eastern, Southern, Central and Western Africa Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ART 254 ) This course is organized thematically and examines the ways in which sculpture, painting, photography, textiles, and film and video function both historically and currently in relationship to broader cultural issues. Within this context, this course explores performance and masquerade in relationship to gender, social, and political power. We also consider the connections between the visual arts and cosmology, identity, ideas of diaspora, colonialism and post-colonialism, as well as the representation of the “Self,” and the “Other.” Prerequisite(s): ART 105 or ART 106 , one course in Africana Studies, or permission of the instructor. The Non-Recorded Option is available to non-majors. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 256 - Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism 1 unit(s) (Same as INTL 256 and POLI 256 ) Conflicts over racial, ethnic and/or national identity continue to dominate headlines in diverse corners of the world. Whether referring to ethnic violence in Bosnia or Sri Lanka, racialized political tensions in Sudan and Fiji, the treatment of Roma (Gypsies) and Muslims in Europe, or the charged debates about immigration policy in the United States, cultural identities remain at the center of politics globally. Drawing upon multiple theoretical approaches, this course explores the related concepts of race, ethnicity and nationalism from a comparative perspective using case studies drawn from around the world and across different time periods. Zachariah Mampilly. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 257 - Genre and the Postcolonial City Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as POLI 257 and URBS 257 ) This course explores the physical and imaginative dimensions of selected postcolonial cities. The theoretical texts, genres of expression and cultural contexts that the course engages address the dynamics of urban governance as well as aesthetic strategies and everyday practices that continue to reframe existing senses of reality in the postcolonial city. Through an engagement with literary, cinematic, architectural among other forms of urban mediation and production, the course examines the politics of migrancy, colonialism, gender, class and race as they come to bear on political identities, urban rhythms and the built environment. Case studies include: Johannesburg , Nairobi, Algiers and migrant enclaves in London and Paris. Samson Opondo. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 258 - Environment and Culture in the Caribbean 1 unit(s) (Same as ENST 258 ) The ecology of the islands of the Caribbean has undergone profound change since the arrival of Europeans to the region in 1492. The course traces the history of the relationship between ecology and culture from pre-Columbian civilizations to the economies of tourism. Among the specific topics of discussion are: Arawak and Carib notions of nature and conservation of natural resources; the impact of deforestation and changes in climate; the plantation economy as an ecological revolution; the political implications of the tensions between the economy of the plot and that of the plantation; the development of environmental conservation and its impact on notions of nationhood; the ecological impact of resort tourism; the development of eco-tourism. These topics are examined through a variety of materials: historical documents, essays, art, literature, music, and film. Lisa Paravisini. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 259 - Settler Colonialism in a Comparative Perspective Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as POLI 259 ) This course examines the phenomenon of settler colonialism through a comparative study of the interactions between settler and ‘native’ / indigenous populations in different societies. It explores the patterns of settler migration and settlement and the dynamics of violence and local displacement in the colony through the tropes of racialization of space, colonial law, production/labor, racialized knowledge, aesthetics, health, gender, domesticity and sexuality. Attentive to historical injustices and the transformation of violence in ‘postcolonial’ and settler societies, the course interrogates the forms of belonging, memory, desire and nostalgia that arise from the unresolved status of settler and indigenous communities and the competing claims to, or unequal access to resources like land. Case studies are drawn primarily from Africa but also include examples from other regions. Samson Opondo. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 260 - International Relations of the Third World: Bandung to 9/11 1 unit(s) (Same as INTL 260 and POLI 260 ) Whether referred to as the “Third World,” or other variants such as the “Global South,” the “Developing World,” the “G-77,” the “Non-Aligned Movement,” or the “Post-Colonial World,” a certain unity has long been assumed for the multitude of countries ranging from Central and South America, across Africa to much of Asia. Is it valid to speak of a Third World? What were/are the connections between countries of the Third World? What were/are the high and low points of Third World solidarity? And what is the relationship between the First and Third Worlds? Drawing on academic and journalistic writings, personal narratives, music, and film, this course explores the concept of the Third World from economic, political and cultural perspectives. Beginning at the dawn of the 20th century with the rise of anti-colonial movements, we examine the trajectory of the Third World in global political debates through the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror. Zachariah Mampilly. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 264 - African American Women’s History 1 unit(s) (Same as WMST 264 ) In this interdisciplinary course, we explore the roles of black women in the U.S. as thinkers, activists, and creators during the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Focusing on the intellectual work, social activism, and cultural expression of a diverse group of African American women, we examine how they have understood their lives, resisted oppression, constructed emancipatory visions, and struggled to change society. Lisa Collins. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 265 - Slavery and Freedom in the U.S. Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 265 ) This course explores the history of American slavery and freedom from the Atlantic slave trade through Reconstruction. We examine the history of African-descended people to understand key developments and regional differences in the making of race and slavery as a commodity form and foundation of an emerging nation-state in North America, resistance movements among enslaved and free Blacks (such as rebellions and the abolitionist movement), black institutional and economic development, and the multiple ways gender, race, and slavery informed the meanings of freedom. In addition to reading secondary sources, we analyze such primary sources as slave voyage records, legal records, slave narratives, and speeches and essays from free Blacks. Quincy Mills.
	AFRS 266 - Art, Urgency, and Everyday Life in the United States Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as AMST 266 and ART 266 ) An interdisciplinary exploration of how a range of U.S. based creators–through their artistic practices, aesthetic choices, and expressive interventions–are grappling with urgent issues of our time. Lisa Collins. Prerequisite(s): ART 105 or ART 106 or coursework in Africana Studies, American Studies, Women’s Studies, or permission of the instructor. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 267 - African American History, 1865-Present 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 267 ) This course examines some of the key issues in African American history from the end of the civil war to the present by explicating selected primary and secondary sources. Major issues and themes include: Reconstruction and the meaning of freedom, military participation and ideas of citizenship, racial segregation, migration, labor, cultural politics, and black resistance and protest movements. This course is designed to encourage and develop skills in the interpretation of primary sources, such as letters, memoirs, and similar documents. The course format, therefore, consists of close reading and interpretation of selected texts, both assigned readings and handouts. Course readings are supplemented with music and film. Quincy Mills. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 270 - The Black Power Movement 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 270 ) This course examines the Black Power Movement as a burgeoning social movement in the post World War II period, while also placing it in the long traditions of black political thought and radicalism within American democracy. In addition to studying black radicalism in the early twentieth century, the course explores the philosophies and tactics of civil rights activism; questions of feminism and masculinity; radicalism and conservatism; violence, nonviolence, and self-defense; and community control, nationalism, and internationalism. Major sites of inquiry include education, arts and media, police brutality, welfare rights, electoral politics, and economic empowerment. By engaging the ideologies, politics, and culture of the Black Power Movement, we gain a deeper understanding of how people claim their rights and personhood against seemingly insurmountable odds. Quincy Mills. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 271 - Perspectives on the African Past: Africa Before 1800 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 271 ) A thematic survey of African civilizations and societies to 1800. The course examines how demographic and technological changes, warfare, religion, trade, and external relations shaped the evolution of the Nile Valley civilizations, the East African city-states, the empires of the western Sudan, and the forest kingdoms of West Africa. Some attention is devoted to the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade, which developed from Europe’s contact with Africa from the fifteenth century onwards. Ismail Rashid. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 272 - Modern African History 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 272 ) Africa has experienced profound transformations over the past two centuries. Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Africans lost and regained their independence from different European colonial powers. This course explores the changing African experiences before, during, and after European colonization of their continent. Drawing on primary sources, film, memoirs, and popular novels, we look at the creative responses of African groups and individuals to the contradictory processes and legacies of colonialism. Particular attention will be paid to understanding how these responses shape the trajectories of African as well as global developments. Amongst the major themes covered by the course are: colonial ideologies, African resistance, colonial economies, gender and cultural change, African participation in the two world wars, urbanization, decolonization and African nationalism. We also reflect on some of the contemporary developmental dilemmas as well as opportunities confronting post-colonial Africa. Ismail Rashid. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 275 - Caribbean Discourse 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 275 and LALS 275 ) Study of the work of artists and intellectuals from the Caribbean. Analysis of fiction, non-fiction, and popular cultural forms such as calypso and reggae within their historical contexts. Attention to cultural strategies of resistance to colonial domination and to questions of community formation in the post-colonial era. May include some discussion of post-colonial literary theory and cultural studies. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 283 - Gender, Sexuality and Abolitionist Activism Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 283 and WMST 283 ) This course arrives at the study of Abolition by way of questions of gender and sexuality often disappeared by both mainstream antislavery and anti-prison movements. We engage firsthand accounts of resistance to slavery, human trafficking, convict leasing, lynching, prisons, solitary confinement, and torture as movements out of racial injustice, labor exploitation, and gender violence and towards new imaginations of collective identity, class, ability, nationality and sexuality – movements that begin with captivity but do not end with emancipation. Readings train students in interdisciplinary methods of research and grassroots analysis scholars and activists have amassed to theorize the complex intersections of public safety and social justice that converge on the lives of racially profiled and gender non-conforming bodies. Jasmine Syedullah. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 289 - Youth, Crisis, and Resistance Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) This course examines the political responses of Black youth and students to major crises in South Africa and the United States from the mid-twentieth century to the present. We explore the transformative ways in which these youth analyzed the challenges they faced, and organized themselves to resist systemic forces that threatened their well-being and aspirations for the future. We look at the distinctive features of these different movements, their connections with each other as well as with past Black political formations. Among the key questions that we want students in the course to engage are: What new questions did these students and their movement ask? What did they learn from the past? How did they reimagine their future? The focus is on four key youth movements: the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter. We are particularly concerned with the role of grassroots organizing, leadership development , ideological development and communication styles in these movements. Ismail Rashid and Diane Harriford Second six-week course One 2-hr period
	AFRS 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Individual or group field projects or internships. The department. Unscheduled. May be selected during the academic year or during the summer.
	AFRS 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Individual or group project of reading or research. The department. Unscheduled. May be selected during the academic year or during the summer.
	AFRS 299 - Research Methods Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) An introduction to the research methods used in the disciplines represented by Africana Studies. Through a variety of individual projects, students learn the approaches necessary to design projects, collect data, analyze results, and write research reports. The course includes some field trips to sites relevant to student projects. The emphasis is on technology and archival research, using the Library’s new facilities in these areas. The course explores different ideas, theories and interdisciplinary approaches within Africana Studies that shape research and interpretation of the African and African diasporic experience. Students learn to engage and critically utilize these ideas, theories and approaches in a coherent fashion in their own research projects. They also learn how to design research projects, collect and analyze different types of data, and write major research papers. Emphasis is placed on collection of data through interviews and surveys as well as archival and new information technologies, using the facilities of Vassar libraries. The course includes some field trips to sites relevant to student projects. Required of majors and correlates, but open to students in all disciplines.
Africana Studies: III. Advanced
	AFRS 300 - Senior Thesis or Project Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 1 unit(s)
	AFRS 307 - Upper-Intermediate Arabic Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Upper-intermediate language and culture course in Modern Standard Arabic. Designed to consolidate students’ reading and listening comprehension, and their oral skills at the intermediate-mid level of proficiency; and to help them reach intermediated- high level proficiency by the end of the course. Tagreed Al-Haddad.
	AFRS 308 - Upper-Intermediate Arabic Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) Upper-intermediate language and culture course in Modern Standard Arabic. Designed to consolidate students’ reading and listening comprehension, and their oral skills at the intermediate-mid level of proficiency; and to help them reach intermediated- high level proficiency by the end of the course. Tagreed Al-Haddad.
	AFRS 311 - Advanced Arabic 1 unit(s) This is an advanced level course offered during fall semester only. The course focuses on enhancing students’ abilities to (1) Read and understand various types of discourses, such as newspaper articles (descriptive, narrative, argumentative, etc.), essays and short stories on various topics; (2) Listen to and understand the main ideas of a speech, lecture or news broadcast; (3) Present personal opinion and construct a nuanced argument about a range of topics about literature, history, politics, culture and society in various parts of the Arab World; (4) Write cohesive and articulate summaries and critical reports about the same topics. Students will continue to develop their communicative skills (speaking, listening, writing and reading) in Modern Standard Arabic through different types of course assignments aimed at helping them reach advanced levels of proficiency. Tagreed Al-Haddad. This course is designed for students who have successfully completed two courses in upper intermediate Arabic or its equivalent as demonstrated by a placement test. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AFRS 319 - Race and Its Metaphors 1 unit(s) Re-examinations of canonical literature in order to discover how race is either explicitly addressed by or implicitly enabling to the texts. Does racial difference, whether or not overtly expressed, prove a useful literary tool? The focus of the course varies from year to year. Prerequisite(s): Open to juniors and seniors with 2 units of 200-level work in English; or, for juniors and seniors without this prerequisite, 2 units of work in allied subjects and permission from the associate chair of English. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 326 - Challenging Ethnicity Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 326 ) An exploration of literary and artistic engagements with ethnicity. Contents and approaches vary from year to year. Topic for 2016/17b: Racial Melodrama. Often dismissed as escapist, predictable, lowbrow or exploitative, melodrama has also been recuperated by several contemporary critics as a key site for the rupture and transformation of mainstream values. Film scholar Linda Williams argues that melodrama constitutes “a major force of moral reasoning in American mass culture,” shaping the nation’s racial imaginary. The conventions of melodrama originate from popular theater, but its success has relied largely on its remarkable adaptability across various media, including print, motion pictures, radio, and television. This course investigates the lasting impact of such fictions as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Fannie Hurst’s Imitation of Life, the romanticized legend of John Smith’s encounter with Pocahontas, and John Luther Long’s Madame Butterfly. What precisely is melodrama? If not a genre, is it (as critics diversely argue) a mode, symbolic structure, or a sensibility? What do we make of the international success of melodramatic forms and texts such as the telenovela and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain? How do we understand melodrama’s special resonance historically among disfranchised classes? How and to what ends do the pleasures of suffering authenticate particular collective identities (women, the working-class, queers, blacks, and group formations yet to be named)? What relationships between identity, affect and consumption does melodrama reveal? Hiram Perez. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 330 - Religion, Critical Theory and Politics Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as RELI 330 ) Topic for 2016/17a: Race and Political Theology. In recent years, “political theology” has emerged as a crucial notion in the humanities. Most narrowly, political theology refers to Carl Schmitt’s claim that all “significant political concepts” of the modern nation-state have theological and religious roots. Until very recently, theorists of political theology have ignored the ways in which race functions as a significant political concept of the state. This seminar explores the intersection between race and political theology. We examine multiple conceptions of political theology. And we ask most centrally: In what ways are constructions of race rooted in theological concepts and histories? We ask this question both from the perspective of the state as well as from accounts of African American experience in historical and literary texts. We consider writings by Carl Schmitt, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Albert Raboteau, and Toni Morrison. Jonathon Kahn. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 351 - Africana Studies Seminar Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as POLI 351 ) This seminar explores both historical and contemporary debates within the field of Africana Studies. Students examine a variety of subjects and themes encompassing different disciplinary and interdisciplinary works drawn from the humanities and social sciences. The critical perspectives that the seminar engages draw attention to the political, representational and explanatory value of a variety of genres of expression and knowledge practices. By delving into philosophical, historical, aesthetic and political analyses of Africa and African Diaspora societies, subjects and practices, students acquire a deep understanding of Africana research methods culminating in a substantive research project. The particular subject and themes explored vary with the faculty teaching the course. Samson Opondo. Prerequisite(s): AFRS 100 or permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 352 - Redemption and Diplomatic Imagination in Postcolonial Africa 1 unit(s) (Same as POLI 352 ) This seminar explores the shifts and transformations in the discourse and practice of redemptive diplomacy in Africa. It introduces students to the cultural, philosophical and political dimensions of estrangement and the mediation practices that accompany the quest for recognition, meaning and material well-being in selected colonial and postcolonial societies. Through a critical treatment of the redemptive vision and diplomatic imaginaries summoned by missionaries, anti-colonial resistance movements and colonial era Pan-Africanists, the seminar interrogates the ‘idea of Africa’ produced by these discourses of redemption and their implications for diplomatic thought in Africa. The insights derived from the interrogation of foundational discourses on African redemption will be used to map the transformation of identities, institutional forms, and the minute texture of everyday life in postcolonial Africa. The seminar also engages modern humanitarianism, diasporic religious movements, Non-Governmental Organizations and neoliberal or millennial capitalist networks that seek to save Africans from foreign forces of oppression or ‘themselves.’ Samson Opondo. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 360 - Black Business and Social Movements in the Twentieth Century 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 360 ) From movies to music, bleaching cream to baseball, black entrepreneurs and consumers have historically negotiated the profits and pleasures of a “black economy” to achieve economic independence as a meaning of freedom. This seminar examines the duality of black businesses as economic and social institutions alongside black consumers’ ideas of economic freedom to offer new perspectives on social and political movements in the twentieth-century. We explore black business activity and consumer activism as historical processes of community formation and economic resistance, paying particular attention to black capitalism, consumer boycotts, and the economy of black culture in the age of segregation. Topics include the development of the black beauty industry; black urban film culture; the Negro Baseball League; Motown and the protest music of the 1960s and 1970s; the underground economy; and federal legislation affecting black entrepreneurship. Quincy Mills. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 362 - Text and Image Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 362 ) Topic for 2016/17b: Because Dave Chappelle Said So. (Same as AFRS 362) The course will explore the history and movement of black, mostly male, satirical comic narratives and characters. From Hip Hop to Paul Beatty’s White Boy Shuffle to Spike Lee’s Bamboozled to Dave Chappelle to Aaron McGruder’s Boondocks to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character, black masculinity seems to be a contemporary site of massive satire. Using postmodernism as our critical lens, we will explore what black satirical characters and narratives are saying through “tragicomedy” to the mediums of literature, film, television and politics. We will also think about the ways that black archetypes (coon, mammy, sapphire, uncle tom, pickaninny, sambo, tragic mulatto, noble savage, castrating bitch) have evolved into cutting edge comedy on the internet like Awkward Black Girl. We start to see the beginnings of this strategic evolution taking place in the Civil Rights movement when black leaders use television and visual expectations of blackness to their national and global advantage. How did black situation comedies and black comedians of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s speak to and/or disregard that history. Are contemporary comic narratives, narrators and characters, while asserting critical citizenship, actually writing black women’s subjectivities, narratives and experiences out of popular American History? Does satire have essentially masculinist underpinnings? How are these texts and characters communicating with each other and is there a shared language? Is there a difference between a black comic text and a black satirical text? Have comic ideals of morality, democracy, sexuality, femininity and masculinity changed much since the turn of the century? Did blaxploitation cinema revolutionize television for black performers and viewers? How has the internet literally revolutionized raced and gendered comedy? These are some of the questions we will explore in Because Dave Chappelle Said So. Kiese Laymon. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 365 - Race and the History of Jim Crow Segregation Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 365 ) This seminar examines the rise of racial segregation sanctioned by law and racial custom from 1865 to 1965. Equally important, we explore the multiple ways African Americans negotiated and resisted segregation in the private and public spheres. This course aims toward an understanding of the work that race does, with or without laws, to order society based on the intersection of race, class and gender. Topics include: disfranchisement, labor and domesticity, urbanization, public space, education, housing, history and memory, and the lasting effects of sanctioned segregation. We focus on historical methods of studying larger questions of politics, resistance, privilege and oppression. We also explore interdisciplinary methods of studying race and segregation, such as critical race theory. Music and film supplement classroom discussions. Quincy Mills.
	AFRS 366 - Art and Activism in the United States Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as AMST 366 , ART 366 , and WMST 366 ) Topic for 2016/17b: Exquisite Intimacy. An interdisciplinary exploration of the work and role of quilts within the US. Closely considering quilts as well as their creators, users, keepers, and interpreters, we study these integral coverings and the practices of their making and use with keen attention to their recurrence as core symbols within American history, literature, and life. Lisa Collins. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 370 - Transnational Literature 1 unit(s) This course focuses on literary works and cultural networks that cross the borders of the nation-state. Such border-crossings raise questions concerning vexed phenomena such as globalization, exile, diaspora, and migration—forced and voluntary. Collectively, these phenomena deeply influence the development of transnational cultural identities and practices. Specific topics studied in the course vary from year to year and may include global cities and cosmopolitanisms; the black Atlantic; border theory; the discourses of travel and tourism; global economy and trade; or international terrorism and war. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AFRS 373 - Slavery and Abolition in Africa 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 373 ) The Trans-Saharan and the Atlantic slave trade transformed African communities, social structures, and cultures. The seminar explores the development, abolition, and impact of slavery in Africa from the earliest times to the twentieth century. The major conceptual and historiographical themes include indigenous servitude, female enslavement, family strategies, slave resistance, abolition, and culture. The seminar uses specific case studies as well as a comparative framework to understand slavery in Africa. Ismail Rashid. Prerequisite(s): standard department prerequisites or permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 374 - The African Diaspora Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 374 ) This seminar investigates the social origins, philosophical and cultural ideas, and the political forms of Pan-Africanism from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. It explores how disaffection and resistance against slavery, racism and colonial domination in the Americas, Caribbean, Europe, and Africa led to the development of a global movement for the emancipation of peoples of African descent from 1900 onwards. The seminar examines the different ideological, cultural, and organizational manifestations of Pan-Africanism as well as the scholarly debates on development of the movement. Readings include the ideas and works of Edward Blyden, Alexander Crummell, W. E. B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Amy Garvey, C.L.R. James, and Kwame Nkmmah. Ismail Rashid. Prerequisite(s): permission of the instructor.
	AFRS 378 - Black Paris 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 378 and FREN 378 ) This multidisciplinary course examines black cultural productions in Paris from the first Conference of Negro-African writers and artists in 1956 to the present. While considered a haven by African American artists, Paris, the metropolitan center of the French empire, was a more complex location for African and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals and artists. Yet, the city provided a key space for the development and negotiation of a black diasporic consciousness. This course examines the tensions born from expatriation and exile, and the ways they complicate understandings of racial, national and transnational identities. Using literature, film, music, and new media, we explore topics ranging from modernism, jazz, Négritude, Pan-Africanism, and the Présence Africaine group, to assess the meanings of blackness and race in contemporary Paris. Works by James Baldwin, Aime Césaire, Chester Himes, Claude McKay, the Nardal sisters, Richard Wright. Ousmane Sembène, Mongo Beti, among others, are studied. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 382 - Race and Popular Culture 1 unit(s) (Same as LALS 382 and SOCI 382 ) This seminar explores the way in which the categories of race, ethnicity, and nation are mutually constitutive with an emphasis on understanding how different social institutions and practices produce meanings about race and racial identities. Through an examination of knowledge production as well as symbolic and expressive practices, we focus on the ways in which contemporary scholars connect cultural texts to social and historical institutions. Appreciating the relationship between cultural texts and institutional frameworks, we unravel the complex ways in which the cultural practices of different social groups reinforce or challenge social relationships and structures. Finally, this seminar considers how contemporary manifestations of globalization impact and transform the linkages between race and culture as institutional and intellectual constructs. Carlos Alamo. Not offered in 2016/17. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 383 - Creolizing the World: Language, Empire, Globalization Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ANTH 383 ) The era of mass migration, multilingualism, and hybrid identities that we live in today began with European imperial expansion into the Americas five centuries ago. Our globalized world today cannot be understood separately from the histories of imperialism and colonialism. This course examines the role of language in imperial projects, anti-colonial resistance, post-colonial states, and multilingualism in postcolonial settings. This course also traces how imperial legacies continue to inform attitudes about language in today’s transnational global economy. Themes include language contact and language change, anti-colonialism, and nationalism, the creolization of language and culture, post-nationalism, global languages, language shift, and language revitalization. The first section of the course discusses colonial linguistic policies and missionary efforts. The second focuses on language contact and the emergence of pidgins and creoles in colonial situations. The third section treats the role of language in anti-colonial movements, and in post-colonial discourses of modernization and development. The fourth section examines colonial legacies that shape ongoing conflicts surrounding language rights and language policy. Drawing on readings on language death and language revitalization as legacies of imperial rule and post-colonial state formation, the final weeks of the course address the relationship between imperialism, the emergence of English as a global lingua franca, and the emergence of transnational linguistic blocs such as La Francophonie and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Louis Römer. Prerequisite(s): prior coursework in Anthropology or Africana Studies, or permission of the instructor. One 3-hour period.
	AFRS 384 - Prophetic Praxis of Liberation Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 384 ) In the West, teachings of liberation have transcended their geographic, religious, and cultural origins. Liberation theology, nonviolence, sustainability, yoga and mindfulness emerge out of intersections between American and African indigenous traditions, Eastern and Western religious traditions, and secular visions of liberation. In the face of strident demagogues, desperate fundamentalist takeovers, massive cultural disruption, human displacement, faceless wars, and planetary crisis prophetic traditions give voice to new imaginations of power and justice. This course draws on literatures from across several prophetic traditions, from the Civil Rights Movement to #BlackLivesMatter, from struggles for tribal sovereignty to national decolonization to trace the prophetic tradition from the roots of its contemplative social imagination of power through its many movements for justice and liberation. Jasmine Syedullah. One 2-hour period.
	AFRS 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Senior independent study program to be worked out in consultation with an instructor. The department.
American Sign Language: I. Introductory
	ASL 105 - Beginning American Sign Language Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) Special permission. Yearlong course 105-ASL 106 .
	ASL 106 - Beginning American Sign Language Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) Special permission. Yearlong course ASL 105 -106.
American Studies: Required Courses
	AMST 100 - Introduction to American Studies Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course reveals and challenges the histories of the categories that contribute to the definition of “America.” The course explores ideas such as nationhood and the nation-state, democracy and citizenship, ethnic and racial identity, myths of frontier and facts of empire, borders and expansion, normativity and representation, sovereignty and religion, regionalism and transnationalism as these inform our understanding of the United States and American national identity. One goal of the course is to introduce students to important concepts and works in American Studies. Either AMST 100 or AMST 105 will satisfy the 100-level core requirement of the American Studies major. Topics vary with expertise of the faculty teaching the course. Topic for 2016/17a: People, Culture, and Place. A dynamic introduction to the interdisciplinary field of American Studies by focusing on the key concerns of people, culture, and place. Lisa Collins. Open to freshmen and sophomores only. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 105 - Introduction to Native American Studies Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) This course is a multi-and interdisciplinary introduction to the basic philosophies, ideologies, and methodologies of the discipline of Native American Studies. It acquaints students with the history, art, literature, sociology, linguistics, politics, and epistemology according to an indigenous perspective while utilizing principles stemming from vast and various Native North American belief systems and cultural frameworks. Through reading assignments, films, and discussions, we learn to objectively examine topics such as orality, sovereignty, stereotypes, humor, language, resistance, spirituality, activism, identity, tribal politics, and environment among others. Overall, we work to problematize historical, ethnographical, and literary representations of Native people as a means to assess and evaluate western discourses of domination; at the same time, we focus on the various ways Native people and nations, both in their traditional homelands and urban areas, have been and are triumphing over 500+ years of colonization through acts of survival and continuance. Either AMST 100 or 105 will satisfy the 100-level core requirement of the American Studies major. Molly McGlennen. Open to freshmen and sophomores only. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 250 - America in the World Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 1 unit(s) This course focuses on current debates in American Studies about resituating the question of “America” in global terms. We explore the theoretical and political problems involved in such a reorientation of the field as we examine topics such as American militarization and empire, American involvement in global monetary organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, the question of a distinctive national and international American culture, foreign perspectives on American and “Americanization,” and the global significance of American popular culture including film and music such as hip-hop. Tyrone Simpson (a); Maria Höhn (b). Required of students concentrating in the program. Generally not open to senior majors. Open to other students by permission of the director and as space permits. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 302 - Senior Thesis or Project Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s) Required of students concentrating in the program. The senior project is graded Distinction, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory. Yearlong course 302-AMST 303 .
	AMST 303 - Senior Thesis or Project Semester Offered: Spring 0.5 unit(s) Required of students concentrating in the program. The senior project is graded Distinction, Satisfactory, or Unsatisfactory. Yearlong course AMST 302 -303.
	AMST 313 - Multidisciplinary Research Methods 1 unit(s) This course explores the challenges of conducting multi- and interdisciplinary inquiry within the field of American Studies. Drawing on key texts and innovative projects within the field, the course examines the ways in which varying disciplines make meaning of the world and puts specific modes of inquiry into practice. Students learn how to seek, produce, and evaluate different forms of evidence and how to shape this evidence in the direction of a broader project. Specific forms of inquiry may include: interpreting archival documents, conducting interviews, making maps, crafting field notes, analyzing cultural texts, among others. Prerequisite(s): or co-requisite: a discipline-specific methods course appropriate to the student. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AMST 315 - Senior Project Seminar Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) This course is required for all senior American Studies majors. The seminar engages current debates in the field of American Studies, as it prepares students to undertake the Senior Project. The course is designed to help students to identify a compelling research problem, locate appropriate critical resources, deepen their engagement with the disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods appropriate to their focus within the major, and locate their projects within a broader field of inquiry. Texts include Bruce Burgett and Glen Hendler, Keywords for American Culture Studies; Wayne Booth et al., The Craft of Research. Taught by the Director, Hua Hsu. Corequisite: Senior Project; offered in the fall semester in the senior year. One 2-hour period.
American Studies: Core Courses
	AMST 101 - The Art of Reading and Writing Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) Development of critical reading in various forms of literary expression, and regular practice in different kinds of writing. Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.
	AMST 160 - Art and Social Change in the United States Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as ART 160 ) In this first-year seminar, we explore relationships between art, visual culture, and social change in the United States. Focusing on twentieth and twenty-first century social movements, we study artists and communities who have sought to inspire social change–to cultivate awareness, nurture fresh ideas, offer new visions, promote dialogue, encourage understanding, build and strengthen community, and inspire civic engagement and direct action–through creative visual expression. Lisa Collins. Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 177 - Special Topics Semester Offered: Fall and Spring 0.5 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 177 and URBS 177 ) Topic for 2016/17a & b: Imagining the City. This six-week course surveys various approaches to thinking and writing about the city. How do our surroundings change us? What power does an individual have to reshape or reimagine the vast urban landscape? We consider a diverse array of depictions: the ethnic underground of Chang-rae Lee’s Queens; the forlorn Baltimore depicted in the television show The Wire; the midnight wanderings of Teju Cole and Junot Diaz; the global bustle of Jessica Hagedorn’s Manila; present-day graffiti artists and urban farmers reclaiming their “right to the city.” Hua Hsu. First six-week course. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 203 - These American Lives: New Journalisms 1 unit(s) (Same as ENGL 203 ) This course examines the various forms of journalism that report on the diverse complexity of contemporary American lives. In a plain sense, this course is an investigation into American society. But the main emphasis of the course is on acquiring a sense of the different models of writing, especially in longform writing, that have defined and changed the norms of reportage in our culture. Students are encouraged to practice the basics of journalistic craft and to interrogate the role of journalists as intellectuals (or vice versa). Amitava Kumar. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AMST 207 - Commercialized Childhoods 1 unit(s) (Same as SOCI 207 ) This course examines features of childhoods in the U.S. at different times and across different social contexts. The primary aims of the course are 1) to examine how we’ve come to the contemporary understanding of American childhood as a distinctive life phase and cultural construct, by reference to historical and cross-cultural examples, and 2) to recognize the diversity of childhoods that exist and the economic, geographical, political, and cultural factors that shape those experiences. Specific themes in the course examine the challenges of studying children; the social construction of childhood (how childhoods are constructed by a number of social forces, economic interests, technological determinants, cultural phenomena, discourses, etc.); processes of contemporary globalization and commodification of childhoods (children’s roles as consumers, as producers, and debates about children’s rights); as well as the intersecting dynamics of age, social class, race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in particular experiences of childhood. Eréndira Rueda. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 252 - The American Military at Home and Abroad 1 unit(s) After 1945 the U.S. created the world’s largest and most far-reaching network of military bases. Today, more than 700 military bases in over 150 countries are hosts to American troops, civilian employees of the Department of Defense, and private military contractors. Readings explore the development of this unprecedented global network of military bases, the differing Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) that govern the relationship between the U.S. military and the local populations, as well as the impact of the U.S. troops on these communities. By taking a transnational perspective, we explore the possibilities and limits for democratic change due to the U.S. presence, but also the way in which America’s military deployments abroad brought about change at home. Assigned readings draw on the writing of scholars of the U.S. military, texts produced by opponents of the U.S. military, as well as artistic responses (films, plays, novels, poems) to the U.S. global base structure. Maria Höhn. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 258 - Studies in Sound 1 unit(s) (Same as MEDS 258 ) This course familiarizes students with the emerging field of sound studies. We spend the first eight weeks exploring the different facets of sound culture: histories and ethnographies of listening; theories of sound capture and reproduction; the political economy of recording media (particularly the MP3); the experience of the modern American soundscape. We conclude with case studies of contemporary sonic experiences: “glitch”-based digital music and the aesthetics of failure; new developments in sonic weaponry; art and activism that “listens” to drones and the US-Mexico border. Hua Hsu. Prerequisite(s): 100-level course work within the multidisciplinary programs, or permission of the instructor. Not offered in 2016/17. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 262 - Native American Women Semester Offered: Fall 1 unit(s) (Same as WMST 262 ) In an effort to subjugate indigenous nations, colonizing and Christianizing enterprises in the Americas included the implicit understanding that subduing Native American women through rape and murder maintained imperial hierarchies of gender and power; this was necessary to eradicate Native people’s traditional egalitarian societies and uphold the colonial agenda. Needless to say, Native women’s stories and histories have been inaccurately portrayed, often tainted with nostalgia and delivered through a lens of western patriarchy and discourses of domination. Through class readings and writing assignments, discussions and films, this course examines Native women’s lives by considering the intersections of gender and race through indigenous frameworks. We expose Native women’s various cultural worldviews in order to reveal and assess the importance of indigenous women’s voices to national and global issues such as sexual violence, environmentalism, and health. The class also takes into consideration the shortcomings of western feminisms in relation to the realities of Native women and Native people’s sovereignty in general. Areas of particular importance to this course are indigenous women’s urban experience, Haudenosaunee influence on early U.S. suffragists, indigenous women in the creative arts, third-gender/two-spiritedness, and Native women’s traditional and contemporary roles as cultural carriers. Molly McGlennen. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 266 - Art, Urgency, and Everyday Life in the United States Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as AFRS 266 and ART 266 ) An interdisciplinary exploration of how a range of U.S. based creators–through their artistic practices, aesthetic choices, and expressive interventions–are grappling with urgent issues of our time. Lisa Collins. Prerequisite(s): ART 105 or ART 106 or coursework in Africana Studies, American Studies, Women’s Studies, or permission of the instructor. Two 75-minute periods.
	AMST 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Permission of the director required.
	AMST 297 - Readings in American Studies Semester Offered: Fall 0.5 unit(s)
	AMST 298 - Independent Study Semester Offered: Fall or Spring 0.5 to 1 unit(s) Permission of the director required.
	AMST 338 - German-American Encounters since WW I 1 unit(s) (Same as HIST 338 ) This seminar explores the many ways in which Germans envisioned, feared, and embraced America in the course of the twentieth century. We start our readings with WWI and its aftermath, when German society was confronted and, as some feared, overwhelmed, by an influx of American soldiers, expatriates, industry, and popular culture. The Nazi Regime promised to overcome Weimar modernity and the alleged Americanization of German society, but embraced nonetheless aspects of American modernity in its quest to dominate Europe militarily and economically. For the period after WWII, we study in depth the U.S. military occupation (1945-1955), the almost seventy-year lasting military presence in West Germany, and the political, social and cultural implications of this transatlantic relationship. Maria Höhn. Not offered in 2016/17.
	AMST 352 - Indigenous Literatures of the Americas Semester Offered: Spring 1 unit(s) (Same as ANTH 352 and LALS 352 ) This course considers a selection of creation narratives, historical accounts, poems, and other genres produced by indigenous authors from Pre-Columbian times to the present, using historical, linguistic and ethnographic approaches. We examine the use of non-alphabetic and alphabetic writing systems, study poetic and rhetorical devices, and examine indigenous historical consciousness and sociopolitical and gender dynamics through the vantage point of these works. Other topics include language revitalization, translation issues, and the rapport between linguistic structure and literary form. The languages and specific works to be examined are selected in consultation with course participants; they may include English translations of works in Nahuatl, Maya languages, Quechua, Inuit, and/or other American indigenous languages. David Tavárez. One 2-hour period.
	AMST 365 - Racial Borderlands 1 unit(s) Borders have been made to demarcate geographic and social spaces. As such, they often divide and separate national states, populations, and their political and cultural practices. However, borders also serve as spaces of convergence and transgression. Employing a comparative and relational approach to the study of American cultures, this seminar examines concepts, theories and methodologies about race and ethnicity that emerged along the U.S. racial borderlands between the 18th and 20th centuries. We also consider the historical and contemporary ways in which discourses about race have been used to define, organize, and separate different social groups within the U.S. racial empire state. Throughout the semester we ask the following questions: How does race emerge as an idea in the U.S. political and social landscape? What is the relationship between race, gender and empire? What are the relational and historical ways in which ideas about race have been used to arrange and rank distinct social groups in the U.S. imperial body? How have these hierarchies shifted across space and time and how have different groups responded to these racial formations? Lastly, this seminar considers the future potential and limits of solidarity as a practice organized around ideas about race and exclusion for different marginalized populations within the U.S. empire state. Carlos Alamo. Not offered in 2016/17.

Page: 1 \| 2 \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| 9 \| 10 \| 11 … Forward 10 -> 22

Contract All Courses | Print this page.

Print this Page

Course Descriptions

AFRS 100 - Introduction to Africana Studies

AFRS 101 - Martin Luther King Jr.

AFRS 104 - Religion, Prisons, and the Civil Rights Movement

AFRS 105 - Issues In Africana Studies

AFRS 106 - Elementary Arabic

AFRS 107 - Elementary Arabic

AFRS 109 - Beyond the Veil and Islamic Terrorism: Modern Arabic Literature

AFRS 122 - Tradition, Religion, Modernity: A History of North Africa and the Middle East

AFRS 141 - Tradition, History and the African Experience

AFRS 175 - Mandela: Race, Resistance and Renaissance in South Africa

AFRS 182 - Centering Black Women and Girls’ Lives

AFRS 202 - Black Music

AFRS 204 - Islam in America

AFRS 205 - Arab Women Writers

AFRS 207 - Intermediate Arabic

AFRS 208 - Intermediate Arabic

AFRS 209 - From Homer to Omeros

AFRS 212 - Arabic Literature and Culture

AFRS 217 - Prisons, Community Reentry, and Critical issues in the Criminal Justice System

AFRS 227 - The Harlem Renaissance and its Precursors

AFRS 228 - African American Literature

AFRS 229 - Black Intellectual History

AFRS 232 - African American Cinema

AFRS 234 - Creole Religions of the Caribbean

AFRS 235 - The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

AFRS 236 - Imprisonment and the Prisoner

AFRS 242 - Brazil in Crisis: Continuity and Change in Portuguese America

AFRS 244 - Indian Ocean

AFRS 245 - Making Waves: Topics in Feminist Activism

AFRS 246 - French Speaking Cultures and Literatures of Africa and the Caribbean

AFRS 247 - The Politics of Difference

AFRS 249 - Latino/a Formations

AFRS 250 - Language, Culture, and Society

AFRS 251 - Topics in Black Literatures

AFRS 252 - Writing the Diaspora: Verses/Versus

AFRS 253 - Topics in American Literature

AFRS 254 - The Arts of Eastern, Southern, Central and Western Africa

AFRS 256 - Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism

AFRS 257 - Genre and the Postcolonial City

AFRS 258 - Environment and Culture in the Caribbean

AFRS 259 - Settler Colonialism in a Comparative Perspective

AFRS 260 - International Relations of the Third World: Bandung to 9/11

AFRS 264 - African American Women’s History

AFRS 265 - Slavery and Freedom in the U.S.

AFRS 266 - Art, Urgency, and Everyday Life in the United States

AFRS 267 - African American History, 1865-Present

AFRS 270 - The Black Power Movement

AFRS 271 - Perspectives on the African Past: Africa Before 1800

AFRS 272 - Modern African History

AFRS 275 - Caribbean Discourse

AFRS 283 - Gender, Sexuality and Abolitionist Activism

AFRS 289 - Youth, Crisis, and Resistance

AFRS 290 - Field Work

AFRS 298 - Independent Work

AFRS 299 - Research Methods

AFRS 300 - Senior Thesis or Project

AFRS 307 - Upper-Intermediate Arabic

AFRS 308 - Upper-Intermediate Arabic

AFRS 311 - Advanced Arabic

AFRS 319 - Race and Its Metaphors

AFRS 326 - Challenging Ethnicity

AFRS 330 - Religion, Critical Theory and Politics

AFRS 351 - Africana Studies Seminar

AFRS 352 - Redemption and Diplomatic Imagination in Postcolonial Africa

AFRS 360 - Black Business and Social Movements in the Twentieth Century

AFRS 362 - Text and Image

AFRS 365 - Race and the History of Jim Crow Segregation

AFRS 366 - Art and Activism in the United States

AFRS 370 - Transnational Literature

AFRS 373 - Slavery and Abolition in Africa

AFRS 374 - The African Diaspora

AFRS 378 - Black Paris

AFRS 382 - Race and Popular Culture

AFRS 383 - Creolizing the World: Language, Empire, Globalization

AFRS 384 - Prophetic Praxis of Liberation

AFRS 399 - Senior Independent Work

ASL 105 - Beginning American Sign Language

ASL 106 - Beginning American Sign Language

AMST 100 - Introduction to American Studies