BLST - Black Studies

A historical survey of the experiences of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean.

Prerequisite: Permission of department. Consideration of topics in which courses are not otherwise offered, but for which there is a current need at the freshman/sophomore level.

A study of the African-American experience from enslavement in Africa until the end of Reconstruction. Major themes will include: the creation of African American identity, black resistance, white oppression, the impact of gender on the black historical experience, African American cultural expression, and black community life in both slave and free communities. This course is non-repeatable.

A study of the African-American experience from the end of Reconstruction until the present. The topics covered will include: African-American political activism, economic and labor struggles, and cultural and intellectual life. This course is non-repeatable.

An examination of racial and ethnic population composition with emphasis on the origin and maintenance of conflict-based race relations. (Equivalent to SOCI 3444.) This course is non-repeatable.

This course is designed to introduce students to fundamental concepts of African world view and to see how the traditional educational system in Africa relies on these concepts. Students will become aware of the essential role of symbolism in the African cultures, and will focus on the notion of multiple meanings for each symbol and each experience in African culture. Students will also be introduced to the changes in African culture as the European educational system (a result of colonialism) began to dominate the formative years of children in Africa. Students will learn about the problems that occur when a very different world view is juxtaposed onto a traditional world view. Students should exit the course with an enhanced understanding of the foundations of traditional African culture and how subsequent generations of colonialism, and then independence, have altered that world view.

A survey of the development and evolution of jazz as an American art form. Emphasis will be placed upon the musical styles and major innovations in each of the various eras of jazz history. This course can be taken for three credits by special arrangement with the instructor. (Cross-listed as MUSC 3650.) This course is non-repeatable for credit.

A detailed study of a selected African country paying attention to issues such as history, political organization, literature, art, social systems, religion, position of women, economic development and agriculture, education, health, and the environment. This will be a research course done by independent study, with the coordinator of African Studies serving as supervisor, though another faculty member with expertise in the field may be appointed. In consultation with the coordinator the student may decide to focus research on a major issue or a few major issues. A student can also fulfill the requirements of the African Country Project by preparing for and attending one South Eastern Model of the African Union. (Cross-listed as AFST 4010.)

Prerequisite: PHIL 2010 or permission of instructor. The goal of this course is to facilitate discussions that will help students be able to better articulate a response to current concerns about race and racism. In order to establish both a framework and a purpose for class discussions, content will alternate between theories from the history of race and racism of philosophers such as Immanuel Kant with current theories and events that influence thoughts about race.

Prerequisite: PHIL 2010 or permission of the instructor. This course will survey the writings of African American thinkers in such areas as African American Feminism and Womanism, Black Theology, Pan-Africanism, and Race philosophies, among others. This course will introduce students to the voices of African Americans in the discipline in philosophy, which, in turn, will help them understand how necessary it is to include diverse perspectives in the discipline.

Prerequisite: ENGL 2110 or IDST 2305. A comparative study of texts from different backgrounds and cultures. (Cross-listed as ENGL 4447.)

Prerequisite: ENGL 2110 or IDST 2305. In-depth study of African literature, with attention to its social, political, historical, and economic backgrounds. Attention to the historical development of African literature and aesthetics, and the differences and continuities between Anglophone and Francophone writers. (Cross-listed as ENGL 4451)

The course deals with the African woman writer's preoccupation with the condition of African womanhood. (Cross-listed as ENGL 4452.)

A survey of slavery in the United States from its origins until its demise with a particular emphasis on slave culture and the slave community.

An overview of the experience of African-Americans during the era of de jure segregation in the United States South. The course will also broach the topic of segregation in the north and continued patterns of de facto segregation in the post-civil rights era. This course is non-repeatable.

An examination of the major figures, organizations, campaigns, and ideological debates associated with the Civil Rights and Black Power era of the 1950’s-1970’s. This course is non-repeatable.

A comparative study of the thought and work of major African-American writers, intellectuals, artists, and musicians with a particular emphasis on the protest tradition apparent in black intellectual and cultural life. This course is non-repeatable.

Prerequisite: ENGL 2110 or IDST 2305. A study of selected works of African American literature. (Cross-listed as ENGL 4667.)

Prerequisite: ENGL 2110 or IDST 2305. A study of ethnically diverse American literature. (Cross-listed as ENGL 4669.)

An overview of general information on African-American visual arts and material culture in the United States. (Cross-listed as ARTS 4840.)

An introduction to the arts and material culture of sub-Saharan Africa from ancient times to the present. Emphasis on relationship of art forms to social and cultural contexts.

Examines the dominant perceptions of Africa as the backward, "dark" continent that easily succumbed to the advanced technology exhibited by Europeans to bring "the light of civilization," and addresses the development of technology in Africa throughout history.