Department of Africana Studies
Master of Arts in Africana Studies

M.A. in Africana Studies Courses

AFH 520 The Caribbean and the Literary Imagination

An examination of the literary representation of the Caribbean through an extensive study of selected fictional and theoretical writings. This seminar will include an examination of the representations of the Caribbean by African American as well as Caribbean writers.
Spring Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFH 524 Contemporary African Diasporic Literature and Film

Contemporary African American Diasporic Literature and Film offers a comparative analysis of twentieth and twenty-first century African Diasporic writers and filmmakers and their explorations of race, class, and gender. To establish the shifting nature of African Diasporic intellectual thought, we shall consider how each successive generation of writers and filmmakers builds upon discussions of racial identity, black sexuality, and social mobility. To demonstrate how discussions of race have evolved over time texts will be read in conjunction with each other. So for example, Fanon's seminal test Black Skin White Masks, a text that seeks to explain the racialization of society, the double consciousness of black people, and the superiority complex of white people will be read against Paul Gilroy's Against Race, a text arguing for the deconstruction and recognition of race as a cultural construct. Other topics for discussion focus on how 'newer' writers delve into questions of sexuality from a fresh perspective. Comparing Morrison's Sula with Cheryl West's play Before it Hits Home, for example, demonstrates that writers are now exploring questions of sexuality in more provocative ways. West's uncovering of the 'downlow' life-style lived by Black men, and the health concerns related and the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Permission from advisor required.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFH 528 Contemporary Black Literary and Cultural Criticism

The course would be designed to introduce students to some of the major contemporary literary and cultural theorists from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Fanon, Patterson, Baker, Christian, Gilroy, Mercer, Morrison, Gates, Patterson, CLR James, etc). Earlier scholars from the nineteenth century such as Anna Julia Cooper or Du Bois will be referenced also, but the main focus will be on twentieth and twenty-first century writers. Through an examination of major literary and cultural global movements such as Negritude, the Caribbean Artists Movement, The Black Arts Movement, and The Post-Black Artists Movement, students will gain insight into how black scholars both critique and contribute to the artistic, political, and social discourse of the day. An application of Postcolonial, Feminist/Womanist, and Cultural Criticism will aide the students in their reading of the critical materials.
Spring Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

Core course required of all students pursuing a master's degree in Africana Studies. The two Semester foundation sequence will introduce students to the theoretical issues and historiography of the Africana Diaspora. The parameters of Africana Diaspora studies will cover the historical, political, literary, sociological, cultural, and economic perspectives of the black experience. The course will provide a critical examination of the historical experience and promote an understanding of the Black Diaspora. The students will read the works of scholars who shaped the broad intellectual world. The required readings will emphasize the cannons of Diaspora literature, including works by W.E.B. Dubois, George Padmore, C.L. R. James, Marcus Garvey, and others. Permission of advisor required.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFS 501 Foundations in Africana Studies, II

Core course required of all students pursuing a master's degree in Africana Studies. The two Semester foundation sequence will introduce students to the theoretical issues and historiography of the African Diaspora. The parameters of Africana Diaspora studies will cover the historical, political, sociological, literary, economic, and cultural perspectives of the black experience. The course will provide a critical examination of the global experience and promote an understanding of the Black Diaspora, focusing on scholarly works such as Paul Gilroy's Black Atlantic, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Henry Louis Gates, The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of a Literary Critism, Angela Davis' Women, Race and Class, and Cornell West's Democracy Matters. Permission of advisor required.
Spring Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFS 502 Research Methods in Africana Studies

This is an introductory graduate course that introduces students to the basic concept of research methodology. A central purpose of this course is for students to demonstrate knowledge about the fundamentals of research design, specifically as they pertain to the African Diaspora. This interdisciplinary course will expose students to the various critical approaches applied to sociology, history, literature, and political science. Students will raise methodological questions such as how do race, class, and gender shape the kinds of questions we ask and the types of materials we use to assess the experience of those from the African Diaspora. Students will be required to develop a research proposal that will be critiqued by the instructor and students in the class.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFS 530 The World of Atlantic Slavery

This course will examine the experiences of people of African descent as participants in a coerced migration that created the African Diaspora. The transatlantic slave trade led to an enduring image of black men and women as transported commodities. Therefore, it has had the greatest impact on the construction of the African Diaspora givng rise to new communities of people across the globe.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFS 533 Race, Gender and Globalization

This seminar explores current issues and debates relating to the racialized and gendered effects of globalization. Topics include an overview of the sociology of globalization and theories of globalism/the global system, transnational classes and a transnational state, global culture and ideology, transnational migrations and the new global labor market, globalization and race/ethnicity, women and globalization, local-global linkages, and resistance to globalization.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABC grading

Alternate years

AFS 536 Africa and Globalization

This seminar will discuss the interconnection between this enduring crisis of the modern African state and the impact of globalization, especially after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. We will critically explore the implications of these complex regional and global political and economic forces for emerging African social formation, the viability of African states and societies, new migration patterns, transnationalism, and diasporic connections especially since the decolonization process in the 1950s.
Spring Semester
3 Credits, ABCF grading

AFS 540 The Black Power Movement

This course examines the Black Power Movement. Stokely Carmichael's call for Black Power! broke through commotion of everyday politics during 1966's Meredith March Against Fear. Soon after, and for the next decade, Black Power Galvanized African American politics, engendering radical movements for social, political, and cultural transformation that impacted blacks in the United States and beyond. An emerging historiography traces the roots of Black Power in the postwar black freedom movement, finding cultural and political touchstones for future Black Power activism among civil rights renegade, trade unionists, and black nationalists. We will examine works produced during the Black Power era and this new scholarship to analyze the Black Power Movement's legacy in the politics and culture of African Americans. Permission of advisor is required.
Spring Semester
3 credits - cross-listed with HIS 540, ABCF grading

AFS 550 Women of Color in The Modern World

Shifting Identities and Feminist Visions This course explores the various ways in which gender, race, and class, along with other aspects of identity, shape the lives and experiences of women of color in the United States and globally. It presents the ongoing debates concerning the interconnections of gender, race and shifting identities. It will examine the relationships between the construction of personal identities, identity statuses, cultural and ideological meaning systems, and the search for alternative images. Permission from advisor required.
Fall Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading - cross-listed with WST 550

AFS 555 The Sociology of Gender and Development

The 1960s marked a transition in global economic relations from one characterized by colonial extraction and exploitation, to sustainable development emphasizing economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. It was quickly discovered, however, that the effects of development were beneficial for some but devastating for others, especially poor women. This discovery led many scholars and practitioners, especially thoses who embrace feminist ideologies, to demand that development agencies and policies be sensitive to gender issues. This seminar will focus on gender and development, in theory and practice, in the global South. It will promote students understanding of the central role that gender plays in the success and assessment of development strategies.
Spring Semester
3 credits, ABCF grading

AFS 570 The Black Radical Tradition

This course examines the black radical tradition from slavery to the present, paying particular attention of twentieth century social movements and the intersection between trade unionism, black nationalism, internationalism, and Marxism. Black radicalism has a long history in the United States and beyond. At its core, this tradition has housed diverse, at times conflicting, ideological strains, personalities, and organizations ranging from black feminists, Marxists, socialists, liberals, trade unionists, artists, and intellectuals. In the process this tradition has run afoul of more mainstream expressions of Black protest (although in certain eras' such as during the Black Power Movement - it as represented the mainstream), the black radicals are often marginalized as wild-eye dreams, naive to the ways of the world.
Spring Semester
3 credits - cross-listed with HIS 570, ABCF grading

AFS 599 Thesis Research

Master's thesis under the direction of advisor.
Fall Semester
6 credits, ABCF grading

Elective Course - Other Departments

Elective courses offered by other departments may be accepted for the MA PHI 501 Theories of Race- Cormier This course is designed to introduce the student to different currents of analyses of race and racism. It focuses particularly on the relationship between philosophy and the development, legitimacy and legitimacy of racial categories. The seminar may focus on moral and political philosophy, questions of epistemology or metaphysics, the intersections between the social and the psychological, or culture and representations of raced subjects as they are negotiated in different cultural media (film, literature, architecture, music, etc.).
Fall, 3 credits; ABCF grading

PHI 504 Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender - Kittay

This course, which is analogous to an honors senior seminar, seeks to integrate into a productive dialogue the different methds, traditions and perspectives used to analyze race, ethnicity, and gender, while also juxtaposing and comparing the similarities and differences between them. The approach, as in the whole program, will be interdisciplinary and comparative.
Fall, 3 credits; ABCF grading

MUS 507 Studies in Music History: African Music - Moehn

This is a selective introduction to African music, and the music of the African Diaspora. We will read from major scholars in the field of African music studies such as Simha Arom, Christopher Waterman, Gerhard Kubik, Michele Kisliuk, Ruth Stone, Kofi Agawu, and others. Students will get a broad overview of the music of the major regional subdivisions of Africa (for instance North Africa, Central Africa, South Africa, etc.), as well as a historical perspective on the musicological issues that have been central to Africanist musicology and ethno musicology. There will be regular reading, listening, and short writing assignments, occasional quizzes, a book review, and a final research project of 16-18 pp. For the book review, students will write about a monograph on African Music such as John Miller Chernoff's African Rhythm and African Sensibility or Paul Berliner's The Soul of Mbira. Students will present their research to class towards the end of the term. Permission from course instructor required.
Fall or Spring, 3 credits; ABCF grading

HIS 515 Race, Citizenship, and Global Culture- Lim

This theme seminar will explore the historical construction of race, gender and culture. Topics will include race and gender within the United States, imperialism and colonialism, gender and performance, de-colonizing and subalternness, and global civil rights. Though this seminar takes the United States as its starting point, it follows racialized global culture into Europe, Africa, and Asia. We will use texts written by historians of race, gender, and culture as well as texts by anthropologists and literary critics.
Spring, 3 credits; ABCF grading

MUS 541 Topics in Cross-Cultural Study of Music: Music & Race - Moehn

This seminar will examine how certain widely held conceptualizations about race (and in some instances ethnicity) are articulated, reinforced, or challenged in music making and consumption, on the one hand, and in scholarship about music on the other. Writings on race and music have tended to be about 'black' culture(s). In this course we will critique this focus and the construct of black music in great detail. The course requires extensive readings on these topics; listening to musical examples (in-depth knowledge of music theory is not necessary); vigorous class discussion and written reaction papers; a final research paper and class presentation. Students may choose to explore other aspects of music and race besides black music in their final papers (for example, how Orientalism has been constituted in music and musical criticism and scholarship). Prerequisite: Permission of advisor required.
Spring, 3 credits; ABCF grading

ARH 547 Topics in Global, Colonial, and Diasporic Art - Frank

This course examines various issues in the appreciation, interpretation and appropriation of non-Western art. Emphasis is on developing a critical approach to these arts and the manner in which they have been represented and misrepresented in the Western imagination. Topics vary, but may include exploration of themes in the so-called traditional arts of Africa, Oceania, Native and Latin America, the transformations of these arts during the colonial period, issues of identity and the consequences of dislocation versus sense of place in the Diaspora, and contemporary expressions of non-Western artists on the global scene.
Spring, Alternate yrs., 3 credits; ABCF grading

HIS 562 Introduction to Modern African History - Vaughan

This seminar is an extensive exploration of African Political history in the twentieth century. It examines the major themes that have shaped the formation and the decline of the modern African state since the imposition of colonial rule in the late nineteenth century. Drawing from monographs and journal articles on twentieth century African social and political history, and the recent scholarship on state/society relations, the seminar will explore the interactions between state institutions and `structures of society in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The seminar is broadly structured around key themes which are presented in chronological order. These themes are divided into three major sections. The first section deals with the colonial period will examine the following themes: partition and conquest, African resistance to early colonialism, the colonial economy and world religions (Christianity and Islam) and colonial rule. The second section which deals with the post colonial period will examine the following themes: the formation of the modern state; rural producers, urban workers and the state; gender, tradition and politics; and the crises of political legitimacy and economic production in the 1980s and 1990s. Finally, major political changes in Africa will be examined in their appropriate regional, continental and global context. The relevant themes here include the impact of key international organizations and political economic developments in African states; and the role of the super powers and European states in the five sub-regions of the continent in both the Cold War ad the post-containment eras. Since this is a course on the history of state/society relations and international politics, the seminar will make reference to the appropriate theoretical literature where this is useful. Prerequisite: Permission of advisor.
Spring, 3 credits; ABCF grading

FRN 564 Seminars in Francophone Literature- Hurley

Close examination of the literature written in French of the Francophone world outside of France, with special emphasis on the literature of the Caribbean and Africa. This course will pose and explore questions such as: What is Francophone literature and what are the implications of a literature considered as Francophone? What are the functions of writing in French in a postcolonial context? Permission of advisor required.
Fall or
Spring, 3 credits; ABCF grading

HIS 616 Twentieth Century African Political History- Vaughan

This seminar is an extensive exploration of African Political history in the twentieth century. It examines the major themes that have shaped the formation and the decline of the modern African state since the imposition of colonial rule in the late nineteenth century. Drawing from monographs and journal articles on twentieth century African social and political history, and the recent scholarship on state/society relations, the seminar will explore the interactions between state institutions and `structures of society in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The seminar is broadly structured around key themes which are presented in chronological order. These themes are divided into three major sections. The first section which deals with the colonial period will examine the following themes: partition and conquest; African resistance to early colonialism; the historical processes of state formation in Africa; the colonial economy; and the interaction between the world religion (Christianity and Islam) and colonial rule. The second section on the postcolonial era examines the following themes: the historical processes of state formation in Africa; communal identities and social change since decolonization; the patriarchal society and the crisis of the state; and the new debates on democratization and civil society in the post-Cold War era. The final section examines the international politics of African states from both theoretically and historical perspectives. The relevant themes here include the impact of the major powers on African subregions in the Cold War and post-containment eras; the impact of multilateral agencies on African political, economic and social developments; regional organizations and African states. The structure of the course is intended to be coherent but flexible, so that we can identify some basic trends in the reading assignment and construct consistent themes on the interplay of political transformation in the twentieth century. Permission of advisor is required.
Fall, 3 credit; ABCF grading

FALL		SPRING		FALL		SPRING
Course Title	Credits	Course Title	Credits	Course Title	Credits	Course Title	Credits
AFS 500 Foundations I	3	AFS 501 Foundations II	3	Master’s Research	6
AFS 502 Research Methods in AFS	3	Three courses from the following; AFH 520, AFH 528, AFS 536, AFS 540, AFS 555, AFS 570 or 1 course with approval of advisor.	9
One course from the following; AFH 524, AFS 530, AFS 533, AFS 550	3	Three courses from the following; AFH 520, AFH 528, AFS 536, AFS 540, AFS 555, AFS 570 or 1 course with approval of advisor.	9
One course with approval of advisor	3
Total Credits	12	Total Credits	12	Total Credits	6	Total Credits	30