(Offered as ENGL 258 and BLST 213 [D]) The very idea of the future presents a particular challenge when thinking about Black populations characterized by multiple overlapping experiences of displacement, including displacements in space—diaspora, migration, enslavement—and displacements in time—the middle passage as temporal fracture but also as beginning, the materiality of African pasts. How have futures been conceptualized by Black diasporic communities? What does it mean to transform heavy presents and pasts into visions for better, more livable worlds?

(Offered as BLST 210 [A] HIST 210 [AF] and RELI 220) The course will examine the transformative impact of Christianity and Islam on West African societies since the wave of Muslim reformist and Christian evangelical movements in the nineteenth century. While providing a regional West African overview, the course will focus on a detailed case study of the Nigerian region (the diverse communities that constitute contemporary Nigeria).

[R] In this course students will focus closely on major debates that have animated the field of Black Studies, addressing a wide range of issues from the slave trade to the present. Each week will focus on specific questions such as: What came first, racism or slavery? Is African art primitive? Did Europe underdevelop Africa? Is there Caribbean History or just history in the Caribbean? Should Black Studies exist? Is there a black American culture? Is Affirmative Action necessary? Was the Civil Rights Movement a product of government action or grass-roots pressure?

(Offered as BLST 146 and SOCI 204) This introductory course explores role power, race-relations, and identity in qualitative research. Through readings, methodological practices, and discussion, students will consider the ways research can reproduce and disrupt the status quo. We will examine how we walk through the world; explore the skill sets we need to conduct race-related inquiry; and reflect upon the motivations behind methodological decisions.

(Offered as BLST 131 [US] and HIST 131 [US/TS]) This course will explore the rise and fall of African American social movements over the course of the twentieth century.  It will survey the critical organizations, institutions, and figures of the black freedom struggle and will examine the ideological diversity of a movement that encompassed ever-shifting combinations of uplift politics, black nationalism, liberalism, and leftism. We will explore a number of critical black lives over the course of the semester, including Ida B. Wells, Booker T.

[R] This interdisciplinary introduction to Black Studies combines the teaching of foundational texts in the field with instruction in reading and writing. The first half of the course employs How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren as a guide to the careful reading of books focusing on the slave trade and its effects in Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Important readings in this part of the course include Black Odyssey by Nathan Huggins, Racism: A Short History by George Frederickson, and The Black Jacobins by C. L. R.

Honors students take three courses of thesis research, usually, but not always, with the double course load in the spring (499D). The work consists of seminar programs, individual research projects, and preparation of a thesis on the research project.

Open to seniors. Fall semester. The Department.

Independent reading or research course. A full course. Does not normally count toward the major.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

This seminar will focus on understanding germ cells. Although germ cells do not contribute to the form or function of an individual, they have the important role of providing the continuity of life between generations. In many animals, they are among the first cells to be differentiated from others during embryonic development. Elaborate mechanisms ensure that the genetic information in these reproductive cells is protected and packaged in unique ways to be used in the next generation.

This course will explore the relationship between an animal's behavior and its social and ecological context. The topic for 2018 will be the evolution of sexual dimorphism in animals. Sexual dimorphism is widespread in animals, yet its causes remain controversial and have generated much debate. In this seminar, we will examine a variety of sexual dimorphisms in different groups of animals and consider hypotheses for how these sexual dimorphisms may have evolved.