Courses

Courses

Fall 2007 Courses

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010. Racism
H. Partridge W 1:00 - 3:55 Banister-106
Examines issues of racism in the United States, with attention to the social psychology of racism, its history, its relationship to social structure, and its ethical and moral implications. Note: This course counts toward the major and minor in gender and women’s studies.

016. From Montezuma to Bin Laden: Globalization and Its Critics
David Gordon T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Chase Barn Chamber
Examines the challenge that globalization and imperialism pose for the study of history. How do historians balance the perspectives of victors and victims in past and present processes of globalization? How important are non-European versions of the past that may contradict European Enlightenment historical ideas and ideals? Class discussions interrogate questions about globalization and imperialism raised by proponents and critics, ranging from the Spanish conquest of Mexico to the American conquest of Iraq.

101. Introduction to Africana Studies
Dan Moos T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Hubbard-Conference Room West
Introduction to the field of Africana studies, with a particular focus on African American history, politics, sociology, literature, and culture. Material is covered chronologically, building a historically centered account of African American life in America from 1619 to the present. The goals of this class are: (1) to introduce students to the field, particularly those students considering the Africana studies major or minor; (2) to provide a broad sweep of the field in terms of content, methodology, and intellectual trends; and (3) to provide a general backdrop for understanding American history, politics, and culture.

121. History of Jazz I
James McCalla T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 Gibson-101 Tillotson Room
A survey of jazz's development from its African American roots in the late nineteenth century through the Swing Era of the 1930s and 1940s, and following the great Swing artists—e.g., Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Benny Goodman—through their later careers. Emphasis is on musical elements, but includes much attention to cultural and historical context through readings and videos.

138. Music of the Caribbean
Joanna Bosse M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Gibson-101 Tillotson Room
Surveys various musical traditions of the Caribbean, paying attention to the relation between sociohistorical context and artistic practice. The course is organized by geographic region, but will address such larger issues as colonialism, nationalism, race, gender, and class.

139. The Civil War Era
Patrick Rael M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Mass-Faculty Room
Examines the coming of the Civil War and the war itself in all its aspects. Considers the impact of changes in American society, the sectional crisis and breakdown of the party system, the practice of Civil War warfare, and social ramifications of the conflict. Includes readings of novels and viewing of films. Students are expected to enter with a basic knowledge of American history, and a commitment to participating in large class discussions.

206. The Archaeology of Gender and Ethnicity
Leslie Shaw M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-117
Explores the lives of “people without history,” using archaeological data and emphasizing gender and ethnicity. Focuses on the Americas, and covers both prehistoric and historic archaeological site research, including Native American, and African-American examples. The long temporal aspect of archaeological data allows exploration of such issues as how gender inequality developed and how ethnic identity is expressed through material culture.

207. Francophone Cultures
Karen Lindo M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-127
An introduction to the cultures of various French-speaking regions outside of France. Examines the history, politics, customs, cinema, literature, and arts of the Francophone world, principally Africa and the Caribbean. Readings include newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, and a novel. Students see and discuss television news, documentaries, and feature films.

208. Race and Ethnicity
Seth Ovadia T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Banister-106
The social and cultural meaning of race and ethnicity, with emphasis on the politics of events and processes in contemporary America. Analysis of the causes and consequences of prejudice and discrimination. Examination of the relationships between race and class. Comparisons among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.

239. Comparative Slavery and Emancipation
Patrick Rael T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-313
Seminar. Examines slavery as a labor system and its relationship to the following: the emergence of market economies, definitions of race attendant to European commercial expansion, the cultures of Africans in the diaspora, slave control and resistance, free black people and the social structure of New World slave societies, and emancipation and its aftermath. Spends some time considering how historians have understood these crucial issues. Non-majors invited.

260. African American Fiction: (Re)Writing Black Masculinities
Guy Foster T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-109
Well over a century ago, Frederick Douglass told his white readers: “You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.” By employing a figure of speech known as chiasmus, Douglass highlights the extent to which African American male identity has historically rested on a troubling paradox: although black and white males share a genital sameness, the former inhabit a culturally subjugated gender identity in a society premised on both white supremacy and patriarchy. By examining a range of U.S. literary and other popular texts – from Douglass’s 1845 narrative, to the 1980s interracial buddy film genre, to contemporary works by black and non-black, as well as by male and female writers – students will examine the myriad cultural ramifications of this enduring paradox, included among them: misogyny and homophobia.. Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors.

262. Africa and the Atlantic World, 1400–1880
David Gordon T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55 Sills-205
A survey of historical developments before conquest by European powers, with a focus on west and central Africa. Explores the political, social, and cultural changes that accompanied the intensification of Atlantic Ocean trade and revolves around a controversy in the study of Africa and the Atlantic World: What influence did Africans have on the making of the Atlantic World, and in what ways did Africans participate in the slave trade? How were African identities shaped by the Atlantic World and by the slave plantations of the Americas? Ends by considering the contradictory effects of Abolition on Africa.

266. Topics in African American Literature: The Harlem Renaissance
Elizabeth Muther T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 Mass-Faculty Room
Focuses on the African American literary and cultural call-to-arms of the 1920s. Modernist resistance languages; alliances and betrayals on the left; gender, sexuality, and cultural images; activism and literary journalism; and music and visual culture are of special interest. Note: This course fulfills the literature of the Americas requirement for English majors. Note: This course counts toward the major and minor in gender and women’s studies.

322. African American Literature and Visual Culture
Elizabeth Muther F 1:30 - 4:25 Mass-Faculty Room
Explores the semiotics of racial representation in African American literature and culture over the past century. Focuses on the instruments of militant image-making, both in literary and visual forms. Topics of special interest include “uplift” portrait photography, newspaper comic strips, and modernist resistance languages of the Harlem Renaissance; collage as a mid-century metaphor for invisibility and black subjectivity; and contemporary images—comics, narratives, and illustrations—that introduce alternative socio-political allegories.