Chair, Professor ALEX WILLINGHAM
Advisory Committee: Professors: SINGHAM, D.L. SMITH***, A. WILLINGHAM**. Associate Professors: E. D. BROWN, MUTONGI. Assistant Professor: HICKS***. Senior Lecturer: E. GRUDIN.
African-American Studies is an interdisciplinary program that examines the history, the cultures, and the social and political experiences of people of African ancestry in the Western Hemisphere. The program encourages students to take advantage of its interdisciplinary focus and to examine the vibrant and varied intellectual traditions that constitute the study of the African Diaspora.
All candidates for a concentration in African-American Studies must complete a total of five courses: one United States subject, one Caribbean or South American, one African, and two electives. At least one of these courses must be in the performing or fine arts.
Students may select their required courses from the following:
One course in a United States or Canadian subject:
English/American Studies 109 Now and Then: Classic African American Literature
English/American Studies 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English/American Studies 367 Harlem Renaissance
History 281 African-American History, 1619-1865
History 282 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
Music 122 African-American Music
Music 130 History of Jazz
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Religion/American Studies 227/History 382 Religion and Revolution: Black
Theology from 1969 to the Present
Theatre/American Studies 211 Topics in African American Performance: The 1960s, the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movement*
One course in a Caribbean/South American subject:
History 242 Latin America From Conquest to Independence
History 249 The Caribbean From Slavery to Independence
History 331 The French and Haitian Revolutions
History 342 Creating Nations and Nationalism in Latin America
History 346 History of Modern Brazil
History 443 Slavery, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
History 472 Slavery, Capitalism, and Revolution: The Impact of the New World on Europe, 1700-1900
One course in an African subject:
History 202 Early-African History Through the Era of the Slave Trade
History 203 Sub-Saharan Africa Since 1800
History 304 South Africa and Apartheid
History 308 Gender and Society in Modern Africa
History/AMES 402 African Political Thought
Music 125 Music Cultures of the World
Music 232T Latin Music USA
Two electives (from the above or the following):
AAS 491 or 492 Senior Project
Economics 204/Environmental Studies 234 Economic Development in Poor Countries
English 236 Witnessing: Slavery and Its Aftermath
English 238 American Women Writers
English 324 Black Literary Texts of the Eighteenth Century
English/American Studies 345 Black Arts
English 355 Fictions of Race
English/American Studies 372 African-American Literary Criticism and Theory
History 164 Slavery in the American South
History 165 The Quest for Racial Justice in Twentieth-Century America
History 166 The Age of Washington and Du Bois
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History 370 Studies in American Social Change
History/Women's and Gender Studies 383 The History of Black Women in America: From Slavery to the Present
History 456 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 467 Black Urban Life and Culture
Music 140 Introduction to the Music of Duke Ellington
Music 141 Introduction to the Music of John Coltrane
Music 209 Music in History III: Musics of the Twentieth Century
Music 212 Jazz Theory and Improvisation I
Music 213 Jazz Theory and Improvisation II
Political Science 235 Multiculturalism and Political Theory
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science 318 The Voting Rights Act and the Voting Rights Movement
Political Science 331T Non-Profit Organization and Community Change
Political Science 343T Multiculturalism in Comparative Context
Psychology 341 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Theatre 210 Multicultural Performance
HONORS PROGRAM IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
A candidate for honors in African-American Studies must maintain at least a B+ average in the concentration and be admitted to candidacy by the program faculty. An honors candidate must complete her/his project in a semester (and Winter Study). A candidate will enroll for either AAS 491 or 492 (and Winter Study) during her/his senior year to write a forty-page thesis or to do an equivalent project in the performing and studio arts. A faculty advisor, in consultation with the chair, can change the particulars of an honors project.
An honors project should demonstrate unusual creativity, depth, and intellectual rigor. A candidate for honors is permitted and encouraged to pursue non-traditional projects, such as presentations in the performing arts, visual arts, or creative writing, as well as more traditional interdisciplinary studies. The advisor will evaluate an honors project, and the program faculty will decide whether to confer honors. A student wishing to become a candidate for honors in African-American Studies should secure a faculty sponsor and inform the program chair in writing before spring registration of her/his junior year.
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES CONCENTRATION AND THE AMERICAN STUDIES MAJOR
Several courses in African-American Studies count for credit in the American Studies major. Therefore, students in American Studies can easily complete requirements for an African-American Studies concentration by electing one course in an African subject and by taking African-American Studies 491. Another three courses must be chosen which satisfy both American Studies and African-American Studies requirements.