Africana Studies

The Africana Studies minor offers students an interdisciplinary perspective on African, African American, and Afro-Latin American history, culture, literature, and politics. Now housed in the Department of History, the Africana Studies minor draws faculty from academic programs across the university—including English, Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Political Science, Music, and Communications. 

The program develops students’ awareness of the social, political, and cultural issues related to the Africana experience from its historical beginnings to the present day. The Africana Studies minor develops and exposes students to multiple components of the Africana experience, tracing the history and legacies of African diaspora and exploring the broad arenas of black cultural expression. In doing so, the minor prepares students for life beyond UTC, for graduate programs, and for an increasingly global and diverse workforce.

For more information on the minor, please contact Professor Julia Cummiskey ([email protected]).

 

Follow UTC Africana Studies on Instagram @utc_africanastudies!

Africana Studies Classes Spring 2024

 

The following classes count towards the Africana Studies minor (you may need to have your advisor complete a petition). All the classes below (unless otherwise indicated) fulfill the "minority studies" and/or "elective" portions of the minor curriculum. Classes marked with *fulfill the "African studies" portion of the minor. If you have any questions about the classes listed here, please contact the instructor. If you have other questions or want more information about the Africana Studies minor, our program, or our curriculum, please contact [email protected]. 

*ART 2140: The History of Art from Prehistory to 1400CE, taught by Prof. Bart Pushaw

CRN 23193

• This course surveys the art and architecture of global civilizations between 40,000 BCE and 1400 CE. Beginning with prehistoric human production and concluding with the emergence of transatlantic trade and colonialism, the course examines important achievements in sculpture, architecture, painting, and material culture as defined by current art historical and archaeological scholarship. The course emphasizes transregional dialogues and influences between such cultures as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Japan, Byzantium, Africa, North and South America, and medieval Europe. Focus is divided between visual study and critical interpretation, with an emphasis placed on how works of art fit into their historical, religious, socio-political, and cultural contexts. This course is designed to heighten perception, appreciation, and enjoyment of the visual arts, and introduce foundational ideas such as the formal elements, design principles, and other significant technical factors.

ENGL 2520: African-American Literature, taught by Prof. Earl Braggs

CRN 20397

• Readings will be largely fiction with supportive critical works and some poetry and drama to examine the development of African-American literature from the 1850s to the present. Figures may include Harper, Chestnutt, Washington, DuBois, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Brooks, Baldwin, Walker, and Morrison. Spring semester. May be registered as HUM 2520. Credit not allowed in both ENGL 2520 and HUM 2520.

ENGL 3510: The Harlem Renaissance, taught by Prof. Aaron Shaheen

CRN 26248

• An in-depth study of the African American literature produced mainly in Harlem in the 1920s and 30s.  The course focuses on the literary, historical, social, and political impact of this movement. Major figures of study may include James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, and Marita Bonner.

ENGL 4870R: African American Rhetorics, taught by Prof. Heather Palmer

CRN 24095

• An intensive seminar on a focused issue in rhetoric.

HIST 2480: African American History, taught by Prof. Mark Johnson

CRN 25962

• This course provides an exploration of the trials and triumphs that African Americans have experienced from colonial times to the present era; topics include the slave trade, the development of slave societies, the master-slave relationship, Black culture, community, and resistance, the promises and shortcomings of emancipation, Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights Movement.

*HIST 2510: History of Epidemics and Society, taught by Prof. Julia Cummiskey

CRN 25963/25694

• A survey of the history of epidemics in world history, from the ancient world to the present. The course will explore the ways different epidemic diseases reflected social, political, and cultural aspects of human society; how different knowledge, values, and belief systems shaped human responses to epidemic disease; and how epidemic diseases reshaped human society. Topics may include the plague, smallpox, yellow fever, tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, HIV, Zika forest virus, Ebola, and COVID-19. This semester, there will be an extra emphasis on epidemics in African history so the course taken in Spring 2024 will count for the African Studies component of the Africana Studies minor.

LTAM 2200: Afro-Latino Voices: The Caribbean and Beyond, taught by Prof. Carmen Jimenez

CRN 25980

• This course is a survey of primary and secondary texts written by, and/or about Spanish speaking people of African heritage.  This course is taught in English. Main topics will include identity, gender, race, resistance, and representations.

MUS 3170: Survey of Jazz, taught by Prof. Erika Schafer

CRN 24583

• A introductory survey course in jazz from its ethnic origins, through its chronological development, to its current styles. Emphasis placed on the relationship of the music to the individuals who create this form of human expression

PSPS 3320: Civil Liberties, taught by Prof. Michelle Deardorff

CRN 22852

• Case studies of key Supreme Court decisions affecting the rights and freedoms of the individual in American society.

PSY 2420: Psychology of Black Experience, taught by Prof. Dorthy Stephens

CRN 20331

• Impact of cultural differences from a psychological perspective. Principles, theories, and research in psychology applied to black experience. Differences in socialization, personality, and social processes. Topics include intelligence, racial identity, and psycholinguistics.

REL 3340: Religion in Southern Culture, taught by Prof. Donna Ray

CRN 26141

• Examination of the role of religion in Southern culture, past and present. Attention to the evangelical influence, African-American religion, mountain religion, Southern-based sects, the Pentecostal experience, and the cultural impact of religion in the South.

SOC 3050: Race and Ethnicity, taught by Prof. Chandra Ward

CRN 26152

• This course explores how race and ethnicity are socially constructed, focusing primarily on its iterations in the United States. Students will understand how race and ethnicity are linked to social power and inequality, and discuss issues such as immigration, identity formation, and inter-group relations (including racism). 

UHON 3640R: Sociology of the Black Community, taught by Prof. Lori Waite and Prof. Darrell Walsh

CRN 26152

• This course will examine Sociological studies of Black community life in the United States. The focus will be on social institutions such as the family, education, religion, economy, media, government, and the military. The course will also examine the ways in which social movements in the United States have impacted the structure of Black communities. The course will primarily, but not exclusively, use the scholarship of Black Sociologists. Because the course is sociohistorical, it has interdisciplinary implications.

 

 

 

CRMJ 3170: Minorities and Criminal Justice – Taught by Prof. Sherah Basham; CRN 45009; Hybrid

• This course involves a critical analysis of issues of race and ethnicity within the criminal justice system. In this course, students will explore how victimization, offending, and working within the system are impacted by issues of race and ethnicity. Other factors such as gender and social class may be discussed in relation to how they factor into issues of race/ethnicity and the criminal justice system. 

 

ENGL 2520: African-American Literature – Taught by Prof. Earl Braggs; CRN 40069; Tuesday, Thursday 9:25-10:40

• Readings will be largely fiction with supportive critical works and some poetry and drama to examine the development of African-American literature from the 1850s to the present. Figures may include Harper, Chestnutt, Washington, DuBois, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Brooks, Baldwin, Walker, and Morrison.

 

HIST 3960R: Topics in Black History: Slavery & Freedom – Taught by Prof. Mark Johnson; CRN 46137; Tuesday, Thursday 10:50-12:05

• In this course on slavery and freedom and the Civil War Era, students will explore the contested spaces of freedom and slavery, such as refugee camps, border cities, and the secret locations just beyond supervision and control. It will also contest a linear progression from slavery to freedom by examining cases in which people move back and forth and do not fit into either category. Finally, it will examine the ways in which freedpeople defined freedom on their own terms and exercised it in a way meaningful to them.

 

PSPS 4051: Black Political Thought – Taught by Prof. Leniece Smith; CRN 46082; Monday 2-4:30

• An examination of how some major Black thinkers—historic and contemporary—have attempted to determine the meanings of justice, liberty, equality, and the role of government, with a focus on the major streams of thought and their influence on current debate.

 

PSY 2420: Pschology of Black Experience – Taught by Prof. Dorthy Stephens; CRN 40589; Monday 5:30-8:00

• Impact of cultural differences from a psychological perspective. Principles, theories, and research in psychology applied to black experience. Differences in socialization, personality, and social processes. Topics include intelligence, racial identity, and psycholinguistics.

 

SOC 3000: Urban Sociology – Taught by Prof. Chandra Ward; CRN 46117; Online, Asynchronous

• Analysis of how urban areas grow and are spatially organized. Examination of the cultures, social stratification systems, and modes of governance in contemporary American cities. Emphasis on urban problems. 

 

SOC 3450: Social Inequality – Taught by Prof. Lori Waite; CRN 45189; Monday, Wednesday 2:00-3:15

• Examination of the causes and consequences of inequality including the distribution of resources and opportunities, both comparatively and historically; the systematic disadvantages associated with race, gender, wealth and income; and the major theoretical perspectives addressing inequality in society.

 

UHON 3620R: Rhetoric of the Black Power Movement – Taught by Prof. Tiffany Mitchell; CRN 46125; Tuesday, Thursday 10:50-12:05

• Rhetoric of the Black Power Movement (BPM) will primarily study and explore the far-reaching impacts of the Black Power Movement of the U.S. in the 1960s and 70s, which was the height of the BPM. We will study and explore the BPM in the U.S. of the 1960s and 70s, its impacts on American culture at the time and today, as well as past and modern movements in the U.S. and abroad that had/have similar goals as BPM. Further, this course seeks to understand the historical and societal events that caused and impacted the BPM’s actions and principles, such as systemic inequality; separate but equal policies; fraudulent charges, incarceration and assassinations of Black leaders; etc. Some of the key historical people/events this course will cover: Negritude; Marcus Garvey’s UNIA; the Black Panther Party and its free community programs; WattsStax and Harlem Music Festival; works of the Black Arts Movement; as well as specific movements from South Africa, and European and Caribbean nations that were influenced by the BPM in the U.S. 

 

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Africana Studies Classes Fall 2023

 

LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

ENGL 2520 or HUM 2520: African American Literature - Taught by Prof. Earl Bragg

• Readings will be largely fiction with supportive critical works and some poetry and drama to examine the development of African-American literature from the 1850s to the present. Figures may include Harper, Chestnutt, Washington, DuBois, Hurston, Wright, Ellison, Brooks, Baldwin, Walker, and Morrison.

ENGL 3560: African Literature - Taught by Prof. James Arnett

• A study of selections from the literature of Africa. Emphasis on historical fiction and the oral tradition.

ENGL 4970 or ENGL 5970: Literature of Early Black Atlantic - Taught by Prof. Hannah Wakefield

• In “Literature of the Early Black Atlantic,” we will explore the transatlantic Black literary culture of the 1700s, a relatively new field within Black studies. We will read canonical Black writers like Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano, but we'll also analyze other early slave narratives, founding documents of Black institutions like Prince Hall Freemasonry and the African Methodist Episcopal church, and many examples of Black protest rhetoric in letters, newspapers, and essays by Ignatius Sancho, Benjamin Banneker, and others. 

LTAM 1250: Introduction to Latin American Studies - Taught by Prof. Jose-Luis Gastanaga and Prof. Edwin Murillo

• This course is a multidisciplinary introduction to Latin American Cultures. Through a variety of disciplines, students will explore the vibrant cultures (i.e. Native-American, African, Mulatto & Mestizo) of the many countries of Latin America, with special attention to their literatures (in translation), music and films. Topics will vary, but may include migration, social movements, literary traditions, revolutions, race, histories, gender, religions, and linguistic backgrounds (e.g. French, Portuguese, Spanish, Quechua, Nahuatl, etc.).

 

HISTORY

HIST 2860: Latin America from Independence to Present - Taught by Prof. Edward Brudney

• This course is designed as a survey of Latin American history from the movements for independence from Spain and Portugal beginning in the first quarter of the nineteenth century until the present. Specific topics will include the colonial heritage of Latin America, the roots of independence, the growth of nationhood, nineteenth- and twentieth-century economic development, caudillismo, and twentieth-century politics (particularly instances of dictatorship).

 

ARTS

MUS 3170: Survey of Jazz Taught by Prof. Erika Schafer

• An introductory survey course in jazz from its ethnic origins, through its chronological development, to its current styles. Emphasis placed on the relationship of the music to the individuals who create this form of human expression.

MUS 3200: African American Music - Taught by Prof. Erika Schafer

• An overview of vocal and instrumental genres rooted in the African American experience, spotlighting African American contributions from slavery to the present.

 

SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

PSPS 3320: Civil Liberties - Taught by Prof. Kody Cooper

• Case studies of key Supreme Court decisions affecting the rights and freedoms of the individual in American society.

PSY 2420: Psychology of the Black Experience - Taught by Prof. Dorthy Stephens

• Impact of cultural differences from a psychological perspective. Principles, theories, and research in psychology applied to black experience. Differences in socialization, personality, and social processes. Topics include intelligence, racial identity, and psycholinguistics

SOC 3050: Race and Ethnicity - Taught by Prof. Chandra Ward

• This course explores how race and ethnicity are socially constructed, focusing primarily on its iterations in the United States. Students will understand how race and ethnicity are linked to social power and inequality, and discuss issues such as immigration, identity formation, and inter-group relations (including racism).

PSPS 4100 or PSPS 5010: Urban Politics - Taught by Prof. Leniece Smith

• The purpose of this course is to study the urban political context and enduring urban issues and problems. This course considers key concepts and theories in the field of urban politics such as: rapid urbanization, power, urban governance, regimes, machine and ward politics, and current urban issues such as blight, urban service delivery, aging infrastructure, community revitalization, poverty. This course also considers urban politics globally. A key goal of the course is to learn and understand urban theories in the study of contemporary urban issues.

 

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