Living organisms require resources to fuel the processes necessary for staying alive. We require a certain number of calories to fuel metabolic processes and to provide building blocks to replace old cells and build new ones.  Our food should provide a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals that we need to consume regularly for a healthy existence.

Fall and spring semesters. Members of the Department.

(Offered as ENGL 491 and BLST 461 [CLA])  What would it mean to write in the language in which we dream?  A language that we can hear, but cannot (yet) see?  Is it possible to conceive a language outside the socio-symbolic order?  And can one language subvert the codes and values of another?  Questions like these have animated the creolité/nation language debate among Caribbean intellectuals since the mid-1970s, producing some of the most significant francophone and anglophone writing of the twentieth century.  This course reads across philosophy, cultur

[US] What relationships connect education, self-actualization, and transgressive acts?  How can body centric and Black feminist pedagogies help us (re)imagine education?  What insights and possibilities emerge from placing imagination, transgression, and education in conversation?  "The Radical Black Imagination" ruminates on these questions.  By studying texts and pedagogical practices of Black feminists, in particular, this course endeavors to illuminate under-explored pathways of freedom and transgression as educative tools.

Fall and spring semesters. Members of the Department.

(Offered as HIST 352 [US], AMST 352, and BLST 351.) Focusing on the United States, this course introduces students to foundational questions and texts central to the history of education and education studies. We will explore the competing goals and priorities Americans have held for primary, secondary and post-secondary education and ask how and why these visions have influenced – or failed to influence – classrooms, schools, and educational policy.

(Offered as SOCI 334 and BLST 336 [US]) The passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 was a defining moment in American race relations. By comparison to what preceded it, the post-civil rights era amounted to a great social transformation, leading many to assert ours is now a “colorblind” culture. This course will use the idea of colorblind culture to examine the changing role of race and racism in the contemporary United States.

What is “Black” dance? How is Black expressivity discerned and preserved in American dance? The course explores the history and contributions of African American and African diasporic dance artists in the formation of American dance as a distinctive art form, with emphasis on the cultural, spiritual and social-political philosophies embedded in the traditions and practices of the Black dancing body.

 [A] The interdisciplinary Capstone Colloquium allows students to share their interests in Africa through probing readings and vibrant discussions.  Incorporating African Studies faculty from across the Five Colleges, the course explores both Western perceptions and lived experience in Africa through such themes as African Historiographies and Ethnographies; Governance and Political Conflict; Development and Environment Issues; Health and Society; African Literatures and the Arts; and Youth and Popular Culture.  Students will be asked to give a short presentation on different