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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
This course is an introduction to the history of the peoples of Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present day. During the term, we will consider the ways in which Africans shaped and were shaped by the transformative events of the period. In the second half of the nineteenth century, European powers conquered and colonized much of the continent. Over the next sixty years, Africans lived and died under the yoke of European rule; some resisted, others collaborated, but all influenced the nature of colonialism and its eventual collapse. By the 1960s, most Africans were free of foreign rule. Since then the peoples of Africa have endeavored to achieve political stability, navigate Cold War politics, harness development aid, and adapt to a globalizing economy. In recent years, they have succumbed to brutal wars and endured devastating famines, but they have also inspired the world with their triumph over apartheid, emerging vibrant democracies, rich cultures, and deep history. In this class, we will identify, problematize, and debate these major themes in Modern African history. We also will make use of a variety of texts, from historical documents to classic academic works to works of African art, film, and fiction.
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3.00 Credits
This course will consider the processes that have caused aspects of society to be racialized, or labeled with racial meanings, symbolisms, and/or identities. The class will focus on, but will not be limited to, "black" racialization. We will examine how racialization has shaped the human experience in the largest ex-slaveholding nations of the Americas - the United States and Brazil. Our goal is to understand the ways in which not only people are racialized, but also communities, geographical regions, nations, cultural production (such as music), behavior, labor, and gender, to name a few. With these two nations as our case studies, the class will explore the dynamic nature of racialization, focusing on the impact that space and time has had on the way we identify and live race.
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3.00 Credits
This course explores the history of the Caribbean from the destruction of slavery in 1804 to the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
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3.00 Credits
This course will be a survey of the way black political and social thinkers--from David Walker to Derrick Bell--have theorized these concepts and their relevance for black life in America. In short, the course asks the following two questions: (1) Is there a unified black intellectual tradition on these questions? (2) How has black thought on the questions differed from mainstream intellectual currents?
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3.00 Credits
Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographically massive territory distinguished by a tremendous diversity of cultures, customs, languages, histories, identities, and experiences. In this course, we explore this wealth of diversity, alongside a survey of some of the broad historical and contemporary trends and movements that have characterized the subcontinent. A brief introduction to African geography is followed by an overview of African history in the pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial eras. The remainder of the course is devoted to the study of present-day Africa, including readings on social organization, religion, music, art, popular culture, politics, economics, as well as on the contemporary crises and challenges of warfare, poverty, and HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Readings will include historical, ethnographic, literary, and autobiographical texts, and will be supplemented by a number of African-directed films.
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3.00 Credits
An investigation of selected topics concerning theory, history, and research in film, television, the media, or cultural studies.
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3.00 Credits
This course provides a corrective to the misconception that American film history is solely the history of the mainstream. Specifically, it examines the cultural and industrial factors affecting the production of movies made for (or of special interest to) Black American audiences, from the early silent era up through the 1990s. We will explore a variety of trends, movements, and approaches within African American film history. This designation covers a large number of films with a range of production backgrounds: from Black-cast musicals of the studio system era (e.g., Cabin in the Sky), to the work of the Los Angeles School of completely independent African American filmmakers (e.g., Daughters of the Dust); from the "race movies" produced for Black-only movie theaters in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s (e.g., the films of Oscar Micheaux) to the so-called "blaxploitation" cycle of the 1970s (e.g., the films of Pam Grier). We will pay particular attention to the influence of social factors on African American cinema. Specifically, we will ask how the "Black Power" idea -- loosely defined as the notion, adopted by assimilationists and nationalists alike, that people of African descent should free themselves from the trappings of colonialism and White supremacy and take control of their own destinies -- was negotiated and reflected in the products of twentieth-century American cinema.
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3.00 Credits
This course will explore the role of music in African religious traditions.
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3.00 Credits
This course will allow students to consider how the term Diaspora is used to describe the dissemination of peoples of African descent that started with the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and how such movements have impacted their art making. The African Diaspora has created religions, prompted the formation of political movements, and has coined ideologies: from Ethiopianism, the Harlem Renaissance, Negritude, to the Black Arts Movement, and the post-black era. The course will interrogate these important markers in history and examine their roles in the art of the African Diaspora. Although the course is designed around the concept of the Black Atlantic, we will also consider traditional art forms of Sub-Saharan Africa and investigate the ways in which they influenced artists in Europe and the Americas.
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3.00 Credits
A course exploring the image of black Africa through the lens of white cinematographers.
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