This first-semester course will provide students with an engaged, supportive environment
in which they can make connections with a cohort of students, their instructor, and
key members of the campus community who can help ensure their academic success. Intensive examination of African-American experience as portrayed in slave and contemporary
African-American Literature, fiction and critical essays using various critical approaches
(e.g., multicultural, postcolonial, mythological, historical, and formalist). Such
themes as slavery, alienation, religion, and triumph of the spirit will be explored.
As we discuss African-American experience in the selected fiction, we will also be
engaged in comparative analysis of the images of Blacks presented in selected major
non-Western literatures. Prerequisite: or the equivalent or one course from , , , , , ,, or . Introduction to Black Studies offers a broad interdisciplinary introduction to important
historical, political, cultural, and artistic issues concerning people of African
descent in the United States and on a smaller scope globally. Students will examine
the historical and cultural experiences of African Americans from the beginning of
Ancestral Africa (circa 500 B.C.E) to 21st century Black America. Significant emphasis
will be placed on developing an understanding of the role of protest and resistance
in African American history and the influence of Black Americans activism shaping
numerous socio-political movements of the larger United States. Through readings,
documentaries, and discussion, the course will illustrate the multiple ways in which
African Americans have helped build the socio-cultural fabric of America and through
protest and resistance of oppression represented the true meaning of freedom in the
United States. Typically Offered: Fall, Spring The Black Sport Experience will examine the history and influence of sport and physical
activity on the lives of Black people in the United States and beyond. This course
will examine and critique the narratives and frameworks that shape and alter the sporting
experiences of Black athletes, sport icons, coaches, owners, sport executives, sport
media figures, critiqued and presented when Black lives are the center of discussion.
Additionally, this course will consider the socio-political economic power that Black
athletes have gained and examine what impact this has had on sport, the sport industry,
and larger society. Prerequisite: GE Area F course. This course will examine the historical and cultural aspects and effects of speculative
fiction and futuristic ideology in relation to African Americans. Students will explore
several examples of the centering of African Americans in science fiction and fantasy
in the forms of short stories, novels, artwork, graphic novels, films, music, and
television. Prerequisite: GE Area F course. This course will examine how rap music and hip-hop culture has progressed from East
Coast-based, urban underground art form and youth movement to become one of the most
dominating musical genres and cultural influencers within the upper echelons of mainstream
music and popular culture in America as well as abroad. The course will address how
rap music and hip-hop culture have become integrated into mainstream society and analyze
its overall influence on current culture in broad terms of race, class, gender, and
sexuality. An interdisciplinary analysis focusing on the role of people of African descent in
contemporary American society. Subjects for discussion and lecture include the degree
to which black people are involved in and influence such diverse areas as business,
politics, religion, the arts, law, economics and the future of blacks in America.
The course will also address on a smaller level, black immigrants and black people
globally. Typically Offered: Fall, Spring This course critically examines the definitions and development of black popular culture
from the rise of blackface minstrelsy performances in the 1800s to the present day.
The course will primarily focus on black popular culture in the United States but
will also consider the work of diasporic authors and artists and the international
implications of American media. The course will draw upon theories and concepts in
media studies, cultural studies, and rhetoric to center the critique and discussion
of black popular cultural texts such as television shows, films, music, poetry, theater,
and fashion. Additionally, this course will investigate and interrogate social conceptions
of popular culture, authenticity, Blackness, Black masculinity, Black femininity,
Black queerness, and Black respectability. Typically Offered: Fall, Spring This course focuses on the lives of Black Queer and Trans communities, their experiences
and struggles as well as the cultural, historical, and intellectual contributions
Black Queer and Trans people have made to American and global society. While for many
years the narratives of the lives of Black LGBTQ people have been silenced and erased
due to stigma and intersectional oppression on the basis of race, gender, and sexuality,
scholars and artists in the past four decades have worked to recover the stories of
Black Queer and Trans communities throughout the diaspora. The course will dive into
scholarly and artistic works that highlight these cultural contributions, while also
understanding the compounded systemic violence that Black LGBTQ communities have faced
and continue to face. By the end of this course students will have a strong understanding
of how systems of power work to restrict the freedoms of Black Queer and Trans communities,
and how Black LGBTQ people have lived, organized, and created in spite of and in response
to these oppressions. This interdisciplinary undergraduate upper level course will
utilize academic texts accompanied by poetry, fiction, film, television, and visual
art to understand Black Queer and Trans subjectivities. Typically Offered: Fall, Spring This is a historical survey course of Black power and movements in America. The history,
influence, and impact of Black socio-political activism and political power will be
examined and critiqued in its historical context as well as over long-term historical
eras in America. There will be a particular focus on anti-racism, social justice,
civil rights, the Black Power movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other
actions of socio-political power created and led by Black Americans. Additionally,
there will be a close study of Black leadership and grassroots organizing in the Black
community. There will be a challenge to address the effectiveness of Black power and
movements as well as a space to suggest improvements or different tactics for collective
power activism of Black America. Typically Offered: Fall, Spring This course will examine major schools of Black feminist theory and womanist approaches
to research and critique the lives and issues that Black women face within their own
communities and broader society. The courses focuses on the origins, development,
history and influence of Black Women's experiences, Black Feminism, Womanism, Black
Feminist thought/theory, Intersectionality, Hip Hop Feminism, Hood Feminism, Black
Queer theory, and the long historical practice of Black female activism and political
dedication. The course explores the history of African decolonization between 1922 and 1994, a
process through which 54 new nations were born, resulting in the demise of imperial
and settler colonies in Africa. The course will examine the causes of African decolonization,
the various factors that shaped it, its impact throughout the African continent, and
the relationship of decolonization to freedom for the African peoples. (Africa/Middle
East/War and Freedom) This course seeks to challenge misconceptions about European history by seriously
engaging with the history of Afro-Europeans, especially looking at how race in Europe
related to processes such as democratization, industrialization, imperialism, and
decolonization and seminal events like the two World Wars and the Cold War. Though
the geographic focus of this course may vary within Europe, it will predominantly
focus on the history and politics of Blackness in one or more countries in the 19th
and 20th century. Prerequisites: Complete at least 45 units; prerequisite or corequisite GE A2. General Education Attribute(s): Junior Year Diversity Reflection Typically Offered: Fall Even Year This course examines the history of African Americans from the colonial era to the
recent past. It will examine the historical experiences of African Americans and their
changing status in American history. These experiences include slavery, emancipation,
gaining citizenship rights, segregation, and civil rights movements. This is a broad history survey course of Muslims in African History. It starts with
Muhammad, the birth of Islam and the basic institutions formed to sustain it. The
course then focuses on four major themes, the spread of Islam in Africa, African influences
on Islam, Muslim African identity and the slave trade, and Western view of Africa
and Islam, and oral traditions in African Islam. The second part of the course engages
in case studies, using where possible primary source documentation, Particular attention
will be paid to Islam and Muslims in Morocco, North Africa, Muslim majority rule and
Muslim minorities in West Africa, transmission of Islamic knowledge in Africa, and
the slave trade. (Africa/Middle East/Identities/pre-1700) Focus on the political experiences of Latinos and African-Americas with comparisons
to ethnic whites, Asians, and others. This course examines the major theories explaining
American politics in light of race and ethnicity. Particular emphasis on intra-and
intergroup conflict and cooperation and the nature and dynamics of American political
values, discourse, leadership, organizations, institutions, and policies, when analyzed
from the perspectives of the two largest U.S. ethnic and racial groups. Prerequisite:
sophomore standing or higher. Carries credit in Power and Justice Emphasis. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or higher. Typically Offered: Spring An examination of the social, historical, political, economic, and cultural experiences
and conditions of Black Americans in the pre-Civil Rights and post-Civil Rights Eras.
Course content will cover but is not limited to: defining "Blackness" and the social
construction of Black racial identity; wealth inequality; intersectionality; forms
of racism (systemic, anti-Black, institutional), Black popular culture and social
media; and Black activism. Typically Offered: Spring Study of American ethnic writers, their viewpoints, and their aesthetics. The social
and cultural contexts of the literature will also be studied. Prerequisite: Post-baccalaureate
standing or permission of instructor. May be repeated with permission of advisor when
course content changes, as in African-American Literature, Chicano Literature, Asian-American
Literature, etc. up to a maximum of 15 units. Introduces important issues, themes, and debates in literature in African American
History. Reading in selected topics to be announced each semester. May be repeated
for a maximum of 6 units, if instructor or subject matter is different. Introduces important issues, themes, and debates in the literature of the history
of the Middle East. Reading in selected topics to be announced each semester. Introduces important issues, themes, and debates in the literature of the history
of Africa. Reading in selected topics to be announced each semester. May be repeated
for credit with different topics or subject matter up to a maximum of 6 units.ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ 1029 Courses
African-American/Black Undergraduate Courses
Prerequisite: GE Area F course.African-American/Black Graduate Courses
Requisite(s): Post-baccalaureate standing or permission of instructor.
Repeatable for Credit: Yes, up to 6 units
Typically Offered: To Be Determined 2024-2025 ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ Academic Catalog