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INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN AMERICAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES (3,3)
A survey, inter-disciplinary reading course which examines historical experiences of Africa and the African diaspora. Firmly grounded in the social sciences and using multi-media, the course also includes comparative studies of other world cultures.
HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATION (3)
Educational experience of African Americans from the post-Civil War period to contemporary times; educational philosophies of DuBois, Booker T. Washington, and others.
BLACK POLITICAL THOUGHT (3)
Focuses on the writings of recent political thinkers such as Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fanon, Castro, Nkrumah, and Sekou Toure, in an attempt to draw forth ideas of universal political relevance; examines ways in which ideas from each of the black areas represented differ according to their own political situations.
RACE AND GENDER IN AMERICAN FILM (3)
The focus of this course will be to analyze the ways in which ethnic identity is represented in American film over the past 70 years, and to what particular effect. Although this course will focus particularly on the traditional interlocked representations of African-Americans and European-Americans in classic American films, we will also analyze the representation of other ethnic groups so that we may construct an American filmic narrative of race gleaned from a variety of perspectives, ranging from images of blacks in the white imagination to images of whites in the black imagination.
PHILOSOPHY AND THE BLACK EXPERIENCE (3)
Philosophical analysis of issues arising from the African Diaspora, e.g., freedom and slavery, racial integration, racial separatism, racism, and the philosophies and values of cultures of the African Diaspora.
BLACK SUBCULTURES OF THE U.S.A. (3)
Focuses on the cultural and social aspects of black ethnic groups, both indigenous and immigrant; examines historical variation within the black population of the U.S. and how it has been affected by immigration from the West Indies and Latin America. Study of southern blacks, speakers of the Gullah dialect, the Creoles of Louisiana, and various West Indian groups in the U.S.; analyzes social interaction and impact of these groups on one another.
AFRICAN CULTURAL IN THE AMERICAS (3)
Reviews cultural and adaptation process made by blacks in the Americas from the era of the Atlantic slave trade to the present, using an interdisciplinary base of history, anthropology, literature, and music, introductory focus on traditional African culture, identification and importance of Africanisms which have helped to shape both the historic and contemporary identities of blacks in the U.S., Brazil, Haiti, Surinam, and the West Indies.
SPECIAL TOPICS IN BLACK STUDIES (3)
Selected topics are offered each term and chosen to represent a wide range of disciplines. Afro-American and African subject areas include economic development, women's roles, film history, literary genres, social institutions, and urbanization.
ENGLISH-SPEAKING AFRICAN WRITERS (3)
Analysis of the novels, poetry, and plays of contemporary English speaking African writers such as Achebe, Ekwensi, Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, MphahleIe, La Guma, and others; examines the rejection of the concept of Negritude by certain writers.
BLACK WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES (3)
Roles of black women in family life, the workplace, politics, literary and artistic achievement, education, and the struggle for women's rights; incorporates both fictional and nonfictional works to chronologically illuminate the major themes in black women's history and contemporary issues.
COMPARATIVE RACE RELATIONS: SOUTH AFRICA & THE UNITED STATES (3)
Chronological and interdisciplinary study of the major themes in the history of race relations in South Africa and the United States; systematic comparisons of slavery, frontier expansion, and the roots of enduring racism, with assessments of their long-term effects on social relations in both countries. Examines, comparatively, black rights struggles against apartheid, Jim Crow segregation, and impediments to full democracy.
DECOLONIZATION AND CHANGE IN THE WEST INDIES (3)
Study of decolonization-by-states, particularly in West Indian commonwealth countries, through the political arrangement of associated statehood of independent and autonomous Caribbean islands; contemporary factors that have influenced social, economic, and political change, and the direction these changes have taken; the decolonization process in the Caribbean.
MINORITY POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY (3)
Study of political power and its impact on minorities; identification of the central theme of minority politics; analysis of the historical basis of the political situation of black Americans as a minority group; social and economic factors that affect the black minority.
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE OF AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (3)
This course compares the literature of Africa and the Caribbean. It assumes that, in the African and Caribbean context, "literature" must by necessity, encompass both the written and the oral narrative. Through a variety of literary and expressive media -- written and "spoken-word" poetry, films, novels, music--it explores the common themes, histories and cultural influences that link these two areas of the world. Central themes include colonization and decolonization, as well as the conflict between, and the blending of, the traditional and modern cultures of African and Caribbean societies.
EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE AMONG AFRO-AMERICANS (3)
Education and social change in the Afro-American community, issues as they affect the content, function, and impact of education: pedagogy, pedagogical styles, busing, accountability, community, control, and alternative school systems.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIRD WORLD NATIONS(3)
Analysis of nationalistic movements in the third world nations; African leadership and political development since World War II.
WOMEN'S LITERATURE OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA (3)
This course shall look at intersecting issues of gender and race in the novels of black women from across the African global community --known as the "diaspora". Some of the founding questions of this course shall be, Is there such a thing as "diaspora literature", particularly in the case of black writers of various nationalities and cultures? Moreover, is there an identifiable tradition of black women's literature, distinctively different from black men's literature? What are the ramifications, literary, political or otherwise, of conclusions either way? Our readings will necessarily encompass an analysis of contemporary issues in feminist and black nationalist discourses.
The internship is geared towards preparing majors and minors for a career that requires, to a significant degree, a comprehensive understanding of African-descended people. It allows students to work for an organization or company that provides practical experience which in turn may lead to a career abroad or in the United States working on African-descended cultures. Sophomore standing and good academic sanding are prerequisties.
SURVEY OF BLACK POLITICAL ECONOMY (3)
Not open to first-year students. Exploration of political initiatives that impact on the economic status of the black community; responses developed by the community to economic problems. Analyses of approaches to black economic development: black capitalism, ghetto industries, and community-owned businesses.
PSYCHOLOGY AND VALUES OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN (3)
Background information of various theories, concepts, and psychological definitions; emphasis on the black experience viewed in a historical context, with consideration given to the formation of self-concepts and sources of strength in the survival of the black psyche.
ISLAM IN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (3)
Islam in the African-American Experience is presented as an historical account of the ways in which Islam and Black identity have been interpreted, internalized and lived by American-born Muslims of African descent. While we will look at the origins of the African Muslim presence in the West, a large part of our focus will be on the 19th and 20th century Muslim-American experience. Historically proclaimed by some of its 20th century adherents as the Black man’s religion and by others of that century as a universal way of life for all, Islam nevertheless has come to enjoy a unique and special relationship with Black America. We will explore the ways in which adherents of the religion attempted to negotiate their multiple identities as Black, Moorish, Hametic, Bilalian, American and Muslim as they founded religious and cultural institutions in their quest to reinvent themselves and preserve a distinct identity in a paradoxically xenophobic and “color struck” American society. The complexity of the African-American Muslim experience, therefore, will be examined in the context of this broader American culture and experience as we evaluate how African-American Muslims have fared in their struggle to realize and make real the promise of American freedom for all.
THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY (3)
Patterns of development that characterize African-American communities in large urban areas of the U.S.; structure and organization of these communities in terms of their responses to the larger culture; distinctive problems affecting black communities and initiatives adopted to overcome them.
TOPICS IN BLACK STUDIES (3,3)
Selected topics are offered each term and chosen to represent a wide range of disciplines. African-American and African subject areas include economic development, women's roles, film history, literary genres, social institutions, and urbanization.
THE THIRD WORLD AND THE MEDIA (3)
Prerequisite. Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor. Focuses on the importance of the third world and how it is covered by the media. Areas to be covered include Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia. The industrial and strategic importance of these areas is explored; significance of the use of stringers instead of regular staff to provide media coverage, relationship of the U.S. business community and military to the third world reviewed in terms of impact on the news.
21:014:411,412. SENIOR SEMINAR (3,3)
Prerequisite: Senior status or permission of instructor. Interdisciplinary study highlights both the methodological and theoretical approaches supporting research in the field.
THE HISTORY OF BLACKS IN THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT (3)
Prerequisite: junior or senior standing or permission of instructor. Traces the itinerary of blacks in American labor organizations; contributions of black Americans to the development of the labor movement. Examines ideology of the labor movement and its relationship to social and political developments, and to the economic structures and forces of American society.
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN, THE LAW, AND THE COURTS (3)
Prerequisite: junior or senior standing or Permission of instructor. Historical and contemporary relationship and impact of the American judicial system on the black community; review of constitutional, federal, state, and municipal legislation affecting the evolving legal status of black people, and the philosophical and political themes that precipitated their enactment. Case studies examined and systematic appraisal made of the dynamic process the law, courts, execution, and enforcement of justice.
AFRICAN RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHY (3)
General interweave of religion, culture, and the philosophical system of African societies, and how these elements fuse into an organic whole. Similarities and differences in ideological systems that structure and reflect the society are pinpointed; African religions and philosophy are used to depict the African's relationship to the universe.
INDIVIDUAL STUDY IN BLACK STUDIES (3,3)
Independent reading or research under the direction of a faculty member.
OTHER RELATED COURSES
Department of English
AFRO-AMERICAN LITERATURE (3,3)
Department of History
21:510:263,264. HISTORY OF AFRICA (3,3)
21:510:385,386. A HISTORY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (3,3)
21:512:333,334. AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORY (3,3)
21:512:472. TOPICS IN AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORY (3)
Department of Political Science
21:790:317,318. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF AFRICA (3,3)
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
21:070:316. PEOPLES AND CULTURES OF AFRICA (3)
21:920:316. RACE RELATIONS (3)
Department of Visual & Performing Arts
21:082:275. BLACK ART IN AMERICA (3)
21:082:285. ART OF AFRICA (3)
21:700:265. JAZZ (3)
323 Conklin Hall, 175 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102
Phone: 973.353.5528, Fax: 973.353.1193