Courses

Africana Studies offers a variety of courses that focus on:

African Diaspora
Literature
Film/Theatre Studies
Rhetoric
Pre-historic Africa (Nubia, Khemet)
Policy
Philosophy
Community Organizing/Development

Below are the Africana Studies course offerings.

Descriptions can be found by clicking on the course title. Please note: course offerings may change.

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(Repeatable for a maximum of 12 credit hours) Guided involvements in urban areas with large African-American populations to provide experience with community service, government agencies, public and private schools, non-profit organizations, etc.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Practicum or Internship

Contact Hours: 3-36 other

Grade Mode: Standard Letter-IP

Attributes: Experiential Learning Requirement

PAS 41192 PRACTICUM IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AFFAIRS (ELR) 1-12 Credit Hours

Students examine role, structure and performance of the African Union in the search for solutions to key economic, social and political-security issues facing Africa. Students attend the annual meeting of the Model African Union Conference in Washington D.C., which is a simulation of proceedings of the African Union, augmented by briefings at African Embassies. Participants gain an understanding of the various determinants, capabilities and constraints shaping the domestic and foreign policies of African countries.

Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Experiential Learning Requirement

PAS 37020 THE MODEL AFRICAN UNION (ELR) 3 Credit Hours

This course will expose students to the basic components of research methods in Pan-African studies utilizing multidisciplinary approaches.

Prerequisite: PAS 37000 AND 37001.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter-IP

Attributes: Experiential Learning Requirement

PAS 37010 RESEARCH METHODS IN PAN-AFRICAN STUDIES (ELR) 3 Credit Hours

Examines the spoken and written English of African-Americans with some emphasis on mastering consensus English writing skills required in upper-division PAS courses.

Prerequisite: ENG 21011 or HONR 10297.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Writing Intensive Course

PAS 37000 ORAL AND WRITTEN DISCOURSES IN PAN-AFRICAN STUDIES (WIC) 3 Credit Hours

An African-centered focus on traditional African institutions as these interact with the Jihad Movements, Western European incursion, the slave trade, colonialism, independence movements and contemporary issues.

Prerequisite: Junior standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 35200 AFRICAN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS 3 Credit Hours

Study of the history and nature of social and political thought of African Americans including an overview of various movements and individuals, as well as their strategies and tactics, in the struggle for social change in the U.S. as it relates to black people.

Prerequisite: junior standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 35100 BLACK SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT 3 Credit Hours

This is a survey course in the appreciation of, as well as an investigation into, that Great Black Tradition in Music. Students explore contemporary Black music from Africa into the New World and consider African world music from the Blues, Gospel, Jazz to Bebop, Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop and Afro-Beat to Reggae. Students also learn the significance of local and individual artists.

Prerequisite: PAS 23001 or PAS 23002.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 34200 BLACK MUSIC REVISITED 3 Credit Hours

Familiarizes students with the cultural and historical specificities of Islamic communities in West Africa. Beginning with the introduction of Islam into West Africa in the eighth century, this course takes a multi-disciplinary point of view and covers contemporary political issues as well as historical topics. Students are provided the analytical tools and documentation to understand contemporary religious issues in West Africa and the diversity in expression of thought and practice of Islamic West Africa.

Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 34100 ISLAMIC WEST AFRICA 3 Credit Hours

Investigates traditional African cosmological world views and aesthetics in global Africa. Students who do not have prerequisites may request permission from instructor.

Prerequisite: PAS 23001 or PAS 23002.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Global

PAS 34000 INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN WORLD VIEW (DIVG) 3 Credit Hours

Examines the historical origins of racial images and anti-black perceptions through newspapers, magazines, songs, plays, literature, textbooks, radio, television, films, comic books, etc. and the role of these images in American culture past and present.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 20300 BLACK IMAGES 3 Credit Hours

Explores the major aesthetic and cultural issues that have historically shaped creative writing in the black world and begins by exploring the African Griot tradition. Students learn about the African-American tradition in literature as an organic part of the larger Pan-African world. Students are expected to write, perform, critique and produce original works in the modes and performance styles of the global African world.

Prerequisite: ENG 11011 or HONR 10197.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 22000 CREATIVE WRITING IN THE BLACK WORLD 3 Credit Hours

Drawing on history, literature and social anthropology, students learn key events and places in W. Africa from the 9th century to the 19th century, covering the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and the development of long distance networks, including Andalusian Spain, the trans-Saharan trade, the expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain, state formation in W. Africa, and the role of Saharan–Savannah relations in the expansion of the Atlantic Slave Trade and the movement of European and African peoples to the Americas. The development of this Atlantic world assured the economic centrality of W. Europe and eventually the US, due to the immense transfer of labor and skills from W. Africa.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 15200 INTRODUCTION TO WEST AFRICAN CULTURES 3 Credit Hours

Students learn about the relationship between the Kiswahili language and the cultures of East African peoples, especially those in Malawi, Mozambique, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This includes geographical, historical and sociological perspectives and an analysis of common cultural elements (music, literature, proverbs).

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 25200 EAST AFRICAN-KISWAHILI CULTURES 3 Credit Hours

Study and analysis of the African experience prior to, and following the arrival of Africans in the New World. Emphasis on North and South America, Africa and Caribbean.

Prerequisite: None.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Global, Kent Core Humanities, Transfer Module Humanities

PAS 23001 BLACK EXPERIENCE I: BEGINNINGS TO 1865 (DIVG) (KHUM) 3 Credit Hours

Covers the Black Experience from 1865 to the present, including events, ideas and persons in Africa, North and South America, and the Caribbean.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Domestic, Kent Core Humanities, Transfer Module Humanities

PAS 23002 BLACK EXPERIENCE II: 1865 TO PRESENT (DIVD) (KHUM) 3 Credit Hours

An Afrocentric survey of visual and aural artistry, course examines cultural context and perspectives, mediums of expression, form, style, content and patronage of African American artists from 1800.

Prerequisite: None.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 22101 AFRICAN AMERICAN VISUAL ARTISTS 3 Credit Hours

Introduces American Indian culture, sovereignty and civil rights. Ensures an understanding of self-determination in the context of the colonization and decolonization process, through the use of American Indian literature, philosophy, politics and other cultural outlets. Being that we all live in a broader community, students also examine historical and contemporary relationships with the African American community and other ethnic communities in the US.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 23310 NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE 3 Credit Hours

Focus on people of African descent in the West Indies and their way of life for the cultural contributions made to Pan-African communities.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Global

PAS 24407 CARIBBEAN STUDIES (DIVG) 3 Credit Hours

Examines the legacy of slavery through literature about the Reconstruction and Jim Crow periods; the writings of Douglass, Washington, DuBois and Garvey; the impact of slavery on modern African American culture; and an investigation of the reparations issue.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 26000 THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY 3 Credit Hours

(Cross-listed with PHIL 31070) Exploration of philosophical issues in African and African-American or Black thought systems. Topics may include the examination of the issue of the existence of a Black philosophy, the nature of traditional African knowledge, beliefs about personhood, the basis and rationality of witchcraft or other metaphysical beliefs, communalism, the nature of Black moral and aesthetic values, and contemporary analysis of race, racism, slavery, civil rights, pan-Africanism, and criticisms of colonialism, Black development, democratic governance and social policies regarding Blacks. Students with Junior standing or above, who have not taken a Philosophy (PHIL) course, should contact the department for a prerequisite override.

Prerequisite: One course in Philosophy (PHIL).

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Domestic

PAS 30010 AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHIES (DIVD) 3 Credit Hours

Study of African-American literature from the early twentieth century to the present. The authors include Toomer, Hughes, Larsen, Wright, Baldwin, Hansberry, Jones, Lorde, Walker, Morrison, Mosley, Youngblood and Carter.

Prerequisite: ENG 21011 or HONR 10297.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 32002 MODERN AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE 3 Credit Hours

Examines the complexities of race relations in the film industry and the need for “Hollywood” and Black filmmakers to create films for mainstream audiences with a multitude of themes from the African American experience in America and around the world.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 30310 BLACK HOLLYWOOD 3 Credit Hours

Examines the social, political and economic influences of and on Hip-hop and analyzes the historical and current relationships between Hip-hop and mainstream America, including the role that corporate America has played. In-depth history of the culture and major pioneers and contributors.

Prerequisite: None.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 30311 HIP HOP: THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES 3 Credit Hours

Students learn how to listen to jazz by exploring cultural and musical elements and gain an understanding of raw musical materials from West Africa, how they arrived in the western hemisphere through the "cultural memory" of Africans in bondage, and how those elements blended with materials from European music to inspire the development of jazz. Students also explore Caribbean "bush reggae," a precursor to what became reggae, which contains some of the same root elements as jazz.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 24500 JAZZ IMAGINES AFRICA 3 Credit Hours

(Cross-listed with ENG 33010) Study of African-American literature from its beginning to 1900, including such writers as Wheatley, J. Hammon, Terry, B. Hammon, Jones, Marrant, Allen, Hall, Walker, Truth, Garnet, Douglass, Delany, Harper, Stewart, Turner, Jacobs, Keckley, Brown, Wilson, Griggs, Chesnutt and Dunbar.

Prerequisite: ENG 21011 or HONR 10297.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 32001 AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900 3 Credit Hours

(Repeatable for a maximum of 12 credit hours)Exposes students to fundamental techniques of stage through auditory,visual and physical participation. (Students are evaluated in performance and related theater activities.)

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Practicum or Internship

Contact Hours: 3-6 other

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Experiential Learning Requirement

PAS 31092 PRACTICUM IN AFRICAN THEATRE ARTS (ELR) 3-6 Credit Hours

(Cross-listed with ENG 33015) Examines works of major 20th-century African, African American and Caribbean writers and intellectuals. Authors include Niane, Achebe, Emecheta, Prince, Hurston, Hughes, Cesaire, Senghor, Soyinka and many others.

Prerequisite: ENG 11011 or HONR 10197.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Global

PAS 32050 AFRICAN LITERATURES (DIVG) 3 Credit Hours

Examines social, political, cultural and historical factors that have influenced the development of African-American family organization, from African shores through the American experience.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Domestic

PAS 33100 AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES (DIVD) 3 Credit Hours

Using lectures, videos, discussions, readings and application this course explores ways in which gender and sexuality in Africa and the African Diaspora have and can be constructed, performed, articulated and researched. Attention is also paid to the existence of LGBTQ identities within the global black community.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 33130 GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN DIASPORA 3 Credit Hours

(Cross-listed with HIST 31081) Survey of African American history from 1877 to the present. Course provides a general knowledge of social, political and cultural history of African Americans from the end of the Reconstruction to the present.

Prerequisite: PAS 33101 or HIST 31080.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 33102 AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: RECONSTRUCTION TO THE PRESENT 3 Credit Hours

Explores problems of African-American communities: public administration, transportation, health, public finance, crime and justice, geography, black/demography and education.

Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Domestic

PAS 33171 THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY (DIVD) 3 Credit Hours

Course surveys the experiences of African-American women throughout various periods of history, and their roles in shaping the social, economic, political and cultural development of societies.

Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Diversity Domestic

PAS 33110 THE BLACK WOMAN:HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES (DIVD) 3 Credit Hours

(Cross-listed with HIST 31080) Survey of African American history form the colonial period to 1877. Course provides a general knowledge of the social, political and cultural history of African Americans from colonial times to the end of the Reconstruction.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 33101 AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: SLAVERY TO FREEDOM 3 Credit Hours

(Repeatable for a total of 12 credit hours when topic varies) Study of selected topics related to contemporary Africa.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 44095 SPECIAL TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA 3 Credit Hours

Students prepare a capstone portfolio of their work to be presented to PAS faculty and develop individual topical PAS research papers for presentation before departmental faculty, students and general public. Prerequisite: PAS 37010

Schedule Type: Seminar

Contact Hours: 3 other

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Attributes: Writing Intensive Course

PAS 47091 SENIOR SEMINAR IN PAN-AFRICAN STUDIES (WIC) 3 Credit Hours

(Repeatable for a maximum of 12 credit hours)Selected topics in the intellectual, cultural, political and historical development of Pan-Africanism, its diverse theoretical approaches and multiple applications including the Organization of African Unity.

Prerequisite: none.

Schedule Type: Lecture

Contact Hours: 3 lecture

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

PAS 47095 SPECIAL TOPICS IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED RESEARCH 3 Credit Hours

(Repeatable once for credit)Research in areas of interest not available in departmental courses. Approval by the faculty member or chairperson necessary prior to registration.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing.

Schedule Type: Individual Investigation

Contact Hours: 1-3 other

Grade Mode: Standard Letter-IP

PAS 49096 INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION 1-3 Credit Hours

Courses

Below are the Africana Studies course offerings.

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