Academic Courses

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. 

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.

Prerequisite: GE Area F course.

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