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