The Department of African American Studies is an intellectual community committed to producing, refining and advancing knowledge of Black people in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa. A key component of the mission is to interrogate the meanings and dimensions of slavery and colonialism, and their continuing political, social and cultural implications.
The Department fully embraces the notion that a public institution can lead in shaping and defining disciplines, not just teaching them. It contributes to this mission by investing in a strong faculty and talented and ambitious graduate students from a variety of backgrounds. Faculty is drawn from disciplines as diverse as anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, literature, history, sociology, performance, and education. But, the department is not simply a collection of experts from traditional disciplines; it is united by a relentless commitment to pushing the boundaries of knowledge through excellence in scholarship and pedagogy that are at once interdisciplinary and innovative.
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
This seminar will provide a detailed introduction and working knowledge of the various methodological techniques appropriate for interdisciplinary research on the African Diaspora. Interdisciplinary Research Methods: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2013
This course is intended to provide students with an initial background for the composition of the position paper discussing the concept and study of African Diaspora necessary for passing department qualifying exams. It will introduce some of the theoretical frameworks for, and approaches to, scholarship concerning the African Diaspora. Theories of the African Diaspora: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2012
Topics will vary to suit student demand or interest. The seminar will require solid grounding in linguistic theory. Special Topics in African Linguistics: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Spring 2021, Fall 2011, Spring 2001
The course will examine the development of an intellectual group in African American life from the 18th century to the present. Implicit in the examination is consideration of the social and cultural roles, writers, scholars, artists, and other thinkers have played in American and African American culture. Black Intellectuals: Social and Cultural Roles: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course is designed to encourage the development of an intersectional sensibility among scholars working in the area of race, gender and justice, broadly defined. In addition to providing a theoretical and methodological introduction to sociological literature on the practice of intersectionality in research and writing, we will also use a cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary set of readings, along with discussions and assignments, to examine historical and contemporary trends in how Black women and girls experience institutional and interpersonal threats of violence, policing and punishment; from the convict lease system to the crisis of mass incarceration and ending with a consideration of the experiences of Black women and girls. Researching Race, Gender and Justice: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2008
This seminar analyzes the social construction and reproduction of diasporic communities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. It examines the relations of the diaspora to the homeland in the context of the globalization process. The role of transnational migration and deterritorialization in the production of bipolar, fragmented, and multiple identities will be analyzed. Postnational models of citizenship--differentiated, transnational, and multicultural--will be assessed in light of poststructuralist theories. Diaspora, Citizenship, and Transnationality: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Spring 2010, Spring 2008, Spring 2006
An exhaustive examination of the conditions under which identity constructs (race, ethnicity, nation, religion, language, region, etc.) come to occupy the symbolic center in the organization of mass political movements in non-industrialized Third World societies. The course will be comparative in scope using case histories from Africa and the Caribbean. It will focus on the relationship between the "politics of identity," national economic decision making, and the distribution of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital. Identity Politics in the Caribbean and Africa: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Spring 2009
This course will focus on theories and realities of power, domination, and ideology as they pertain to issues of identity in the post-World War II political economies of Africa and the African diaspora. Power, Domination, and Ideology: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Spring 2009, Fall 2007, Fall 2006
This course will focus on the development of a black feminist criticism(s). We will be specifically concerned with the writings of significant black women critics of the 19th and 20th centuries who have used intersections of class, race, and gender to analyze major issues of their time. Black Feminist Criticism: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
This introductory graduate seminar will engage the research literature on race, diversity, and educational policy to provide a foundation for examining contemporary issues in American public schooling. We will examine research on race, culture, and learning alongside more policy driven research on school structures, governance, finance, politics, and policy. In doing so, we will blend micro level examinations of teaching and learning with macro level considerations of politics and policy. Research Advances in Race, Diversity, and Educational Policy: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Spring 2012, Fall 2010, Spring 2010
This seminar will examine a wide range of perspectives on the education of African American children and adolescents in the United States. Readings will support students in understanding some of the key issues and tensions in African American education and school achievement, including the roles that culture, identity, parents, families, and communities play in the education and schooling of African American students; systemic issues in educational improvement and the perpetuation of "achievement gaps"; and language and power. The Education of African-American Students: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020
Open to qualified students who have been advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and are directly engaged in doctoral dissertation research. Directed Dissertation Research: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Advancement to Ph.D. candidacy
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-8 hours of independent study per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 2.5-20 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2017
This class is designed to prepare second year graduate students for the spring Master's Examination in African Diaspora Studies. Basing our syllabus upon the established reading list, we will meet weekly to discuss individual texts, methods of interpreting and critiquing works across disciplines, strategies for reading, studying, and ultimately taking the exam itself. Master's Examination Preparation Course: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2021
Individual study or research program to be worked out with sponsoring faculty before approval by department chair. Regular meetings arranged with faculty sponsor. Individual Study or Research: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of independent study per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 2.5-10 hours of independent study per week 10 weeks - 1.5-6 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
The seminar provides a systemic approach to theories and practices of critical pedagogy at the university level. Examines the arts of teaching and learning and current disciplinary and cross-disciplinary issues in African/diaspora and Ethnic Studies. Participation two hours per week as practicum in 39, "Introduction to the University: African American Perspectives" is mandatory. The course is required for students expecting to serve as graduate student instructors in the department. Critical Pedagogy: Instructor Training: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers
Grading: Letter grade.
Formerly known as: Ethnic Studies Graduate Group C375/African American Studies C375
Terms offered: Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
Individual study for the master's requirements in consultation with the adviser. Units may not be used to meet either unit or residency requirements for the master's degree. Individual Study for Master's Students: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0-0 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate examination preparation
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020
Individual study, in consultation with group faculty, to prepare students for the doctoral oral examinations. A student will be permitted to accumulate a maximum of 8 units toward examination preparation. Units earned in this course may not be used to meet academic residence or unit requirements for the master's or doctoral degree. Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 201A-201B
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-8 hours of independent study per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 5-20 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 3.5-15 hours of independent study per week 10 weeks - 3-12 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: African American Studies/Graduate examination preparation
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.
Faculty
Brandi N. Catanese, Associate Professor. Critical race theory, African American theater, non-traditional casting, racial performativity, gender studies, sexuality studies, American popular culture. Research Profile
Chiyuma Elliott, Assistant Professor. Poetry and poetics, visual culture, creative writing, intellectual history . Research Profile
Nikki Jones, Associate Professor. African American communities, policing, racial/gender disparities and the criminal justice system, violence and violence interventions. Research Profile
Sam A. Mchombo, Associate Professor. African languages, linguistics, political development, sports and politics, national identity, globalization . Research Profile
G. Ugo Nwokeji, Associate Professor. Atlantic slave trade, historical demography, African history and political economy, oil and gas policy . Research Profile
Tianna Paschel, Assistant Professor. Racial ideology, politics and globalization in Latin America, Black political subjects, transnationalism . Research Profile
John Powell, Professor. Civil rights and civil liberties, structural racialization, racial justice and regionalism, concentrated poverty and urban sprawl, opportunity based housing, voting rights, affirmative action in the United States, South Africa and Brazil, racial and ethnic identity, spirituality and social justice, and the needs of citizens in a democratic society. Research Profile
Leigh Raiford, Associate Professor. Social movements, visual culture, memory, photography, African American history and culture. Research Profile
Darieck Scott, Associate Professor. 20th and 21st century African American literature, creative writing, queer theory, and LGBTQ studies, race, gender and sexuality in fantasy, science fiction, and comic books . Research Profile
Janelle Scott, Associate Professor. Educational policy, charter schools, politics of education, race and education, school choice, desegregation, philanthropy and education, advocacy. Research Profile
Stephen Small, Associate Professor. Public history, collective memory, African diaspora in Europe. Research Profile
+ Ula Taylor, Professor. African American studies, cultural African American history, colonial times, civil rights movement of the 60's, African American women's history, cultural, institutional and individual racism, United States. Research Profile
Lecturers
Michael Cohen, Lecturer SOE.
Aya De Leon, Lecturer.
David Kyeu, Lecturer.
Emeritus Faculty
Robert Allen, Professor Emeritus.
William M. Banks, Professor Emeritus.
Charles Henry, Professor Emeritus. Human rights, Black politics, race and public policy. Research Profile
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