Spring 2018 Course Offerings
Blks288: Race, Racism, and Black Experience in the Americas WF 10-11:15 Melanie Medeiros
This course examines race, racism and the black experience in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean from an anthropological perspective. Comparing and contrasting the lived experiences of contemporary members of the African diaspora, it will examine issues such as: the scientific and social construction of race; racism and social inequality; whiteness and privilege; and blackness as an individual and social identity; and the intersection of race, gender, and class. The course also examines the relationship between identity and the production of cultural products such as music, dance, and religion across the Americas. Lastly, the course explores social justice movements and acts of resistance against discrimination and pervasive inequality. Reading and written assignments, films, and discussions, will underscore how the politics of race and ethnicity, as well as the discourse on culture and identity, shape and influence social relations and individual experiences throughout the Americas.
Danc303: Jazz Dance III TR 4-4:25 Mark Broomfield Schrader 152
Danc303: Jazz Dance III TR 4:30-5:20 Mark Broomfield Schrader 152
Principles and movement techniques of leading styles of jazz dance on an intermediate-advanced level. Participation at dance concerts, reading and writing assignments, and video evaluation will be required. (May be taken two times.) Prerequisites: DANC 203 or an equivalent and permission of instructor. Offered fall, even years
Engl203: Reader and Text Black British Writing MWF 9:30-10:40 Maria Lima Sturges 105
“Reader & Text” explores different strategies for cultural and literary interpretation, having genre as a starting point to approach contemporary Black British Writing. The writers on our syllabus have embraced “Blackness” as a process of becoming, when their “otherness” creates an almost unconscious coalition, a constructed space, where identity is inscribed by political kinship and not by any “natural” identification. We will notice less of an attempt by contemporary writers (through their characters or speakers) to self-define in the 21st century. “Black Britishness” is important but hardly at the forefront of their consciousness, except in moments of self-assertion or direct confrontation. Unlike the literature of the previous century, which was primarily concerned with exposing the injustices leveled against their ancestors, 21st-century writers are more concerned with the business of everyday living and succeeding. We will also explore how readers' situations (differences of culture, national history, gender, race, class, and sexuality) precondition the questions we put to texts and thus what we see in them. Teacher and students should be able to foreground our literary and ideological assumptions (as much as possible!), to speak of meanings as constructed by both reader and text, and of criticism as historically situated and culturally-produced.
Engcol-lg-342: World Literature: Literatures of the African Diaspora MWF 12:30-1:40 Maria Lima Welles 133
The term "African diaspora" has been used to refer to the grouping of diverse peoples and cultures that have, although dispersed throughout the world, retained a consciousness of shared origins and are identified as part of a cultural and social continuum within and among other communities of African origin. This course will take up a diverse group of works from the African diaspora, inviting students to make connections and distinctions about themes, formal devices, political outlooks, etc.
The concept of an African diaspora is powerful in that it allows us to speak of continuities and connections within the African world experience, without compromising the uniqueness and historical specificity of each culture under its rubric. We will also engage questions about linguistic and cultural dominance, the translation of oral cultures into writing, the representation of "otherness," access to history, the legacy of colonialism, and the problem of multiple audiences in a globalized literary economy.
Engcol-lg-432: Metropolis MF 2:30-4:10 Beth McCoy Welles 134
Centered first around questions posed by art and literature emerging from the New Orleans metropolitan area in Katrina's wake, this course will widen its circulation to consider storm-affected metropolises such as New York City and San Juan. Though the course largely considers the Atlantic basin, tropical cyclones that have affected metropolises in the Pacific basin are also significant to our thinking. It's hard to tell where things will go at this early date, but the anticipated trajectory includes grappling with mappings of urban/rural; assumptions about dependence and autonomy; freedom and mobility.
Geog263: M/Geog of Sub-Saharan Africa MW 4-5:15 Jennifer Rogalsky
This course provides a systematic analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa’s changing landscape, including the study of culture, social well-being, population, urbanization, environment, politics, and economics. The course will also focus on post-colonial development issues associated with globalization and regional integration, with special attention to issues of equality and culture change. Current events will be placed into a locational context in an attempt to understand the interrelationships among people, cultures, economies, and the environment within Africa, and between Africa and the rest of the world. Prerequisites: GEOG 102 or GEOG 111 and GEOG 112 or GEOG 123 or permission of instructor.
Hist162: S/U/ Issues in American History II (Black Lives Matter) TR 8:30-9:45 Emilye Crosby Sturges 8
This course will develop students' reasoning capacities and awareness of historical debates through an examination of selected issues, events, and problems in American history. It will take a chronological approach, using materials that span the period from 1877 to the present, that is, from the end of the Reconstruction period.
Hist164: S/U/ African American History from 1877 WF 10-11:15 Catherine Adams Sturges 221
This course will examine the African American experience from emancipation to the present day. Some major themes to be covered include: Reconstruction, segregation; disfranchisement; lynchings; urban and northern migrations; the Harlem Renaissance; the impact of war on race and citizenship; the black freedom struggle; and black nationalism.
Hist263: S/U/ Civil War/Reconstruction: 1848-77 MW 10-11:15 Justin Behrend Sturges 8
A study of the causes and course of the American Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction with an emphasis on the political and cultural aspects and implications. Topics include slavery and abolition, sectionalism, the breakdown of the party system, the war itself as experienced by both soldiers and civilians, political and military leadership, the course of Reconstruction, the conflicts generated by Reconstruction, and the ambiguous legacy of the entire period for American culture.
Hist302: Interp. In History: African Environmental Hist MW 8:30-10:10 Amanda Lewis Sturges 14
This is one of two required skills-based seminars in the History major that form prerequisites for upper level classes. This course is focused on critical analysis of historical evidence and instruction in historical research methods and writing. Students read, evaluate, and critique a range of different types of primary source evidence, practice locating and retrieving reliable primary and secondary sources, and use these skills to support the crafting of historical arguments in both short papers and longer research projects. All sections will focus on a specific set of historical issues and/or events chosen by the instructor and class content emphasizes work with primary sources specific to the seminar topic. The class is reading and writing intensive. Majors may take HIST 301 and 302 in any sequence, and should plan to complete both HIST 301 and 302 during the sophomore or junior year. Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or higher.
Hist430: Adv Stud AmerHist: SNCC and Social Justice TR 2:30-3:45 Emilye Crosby Sturges 8
This course will combine an intensive examination of SNCC-the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee-with a look at its influence on subsequent social movements, including those initiated in the 1960s and 1970s as well as those that have emerged in recent years. Founded in 1960 by college students, SNCC was arguably the most important organization of the modern Civil Rights Movement. The organization inspired a generation of young people and provided a model for subsequent movements for justice. SNCC had a direct impact on the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, the anti-Vietnam War Movement, the Women's Liberation Movement, Gay Rights, Environmental Justice, Black Power, and more. Prerequisites: HIST 302 or HIST 221.
Hist480: Adv Stud LACAANA His: Dev. And Aid in Africa MW 1-2:15 Amanda Lewis Sturges 8
This course is an examination of development and aid in Africa from the late 19th century to the present. This course will provide an intensive exploration of colonial engagement with Africans through development of agricultural and economic systems. Then the course will turn to post-colonial development plans both within newly independent states and from the international community. Topics will range from colonial anti-erosion campaigns to contemporary refugee settlement debates through a close study of historical literature.
Intd105: Writ Sem: Civil Rights History and Movies TR 10-11:15 Emilye Crosby Milne 213
We will use the lens of bottom-up Civil Rights Movement history (based on reading) to analyze popular movies about the movement, with particular attention to Mississippi.
Intd105: Writ Sem: Underground Railroad MW 1-2:15 Justin Behrend Sturges 14
The Underground Railroad is a very important story about America. At the core of this story is the movement of people from slavery to freedom. It's a story that we celebrate, that we teach in our schools, and one that we like to tell ourselves. But does the history of the Underground Railroad match this story? And how might this story obscure other, more difficult, aspects of our past? To better examine these questions, we will read an acclaimed history of the Underground Railroad as well as a Pulitzer-prize winning novel on the topic.
Musc336: Music, Gender, and Sexuality (focused on Gender and Jazz) TR 2:30-3:45 Brodie 214 Brooke McCorkle
Jazz is often touted as "America's classical music." It is also a genre with deep ties to African-American music-making. Yet when it comes to the circulation of jazz in popular and scholarly realms, the central focus has typically been on virtuosic male instrumental performers, such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane. If women are mentioned, typically it is in regards to vocal performers like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. This class will examine how jazz music and discourse has historically engaged with these gendered divisions of performance couched in histories of race in American popular music. Music by everyone from Charles Mingus to Beyoncé will serve as a platform for students to interpret theories of gender and the race. A MUSC 227 prerequisite will be waived for any student demonstrably interested in the topic.
Plsc224: Government and Politics in Africa TR 4-5:15 Reverien Mfizi Wadsworth 21
The course analyzes the major determinants of social and political change and conflict in the states of Sub-Saharan Africa (i.e. the countries of the region south of the North African Arab-Islamic Region, including South Africa). Focus is directed to the nature and effects of the pre-colonial and post-colonial economic, social, and political institutions on contemporary politics.
Socl201: Black Women in Amer Society MW 10-11:15 Elaine Cleeton
An examination of the status of black women, focusing on the themes of gender, race, and class. The experiences of black women will be explored from an historical and cross-cultural perspective, from slavery through the present. Prerequisites: Any 100-level Sociology course or permission of instructor.