The course introduces students to the main theoretical interpretations of culture in the Caribbean and gives an overview of Caribbean cultural history. Students are expected to analyze the impact of colonialism, race, class, gender and sexuality in the formation of Caribbean cultural practices, and to interpret cultural expression in its broadest political sense. Key theoretical terms that are central to any understanding of Caribbean cultural thought – the plantation, diaspora, creolization – are addressed in detail in the course.

Why has the construction of archives that center on the experiences of people of African descent been so critical to black political, cultural and social life? What do black archives look like and what do they offer? How do they expand the way the archives are considered in general? This course seeks to address these questions by examining the conception and development of black archives, primarily, although not exclusively, as they arose in the United States across the twentieth century. Enrollment limited to 20.

Black artist-activists have long used art and media as a means of chronicling, demanding and inducing change. Examining film, photography, visual art, theater, literature and social media, among other forms, this course considers the work of Black artists and activists, their relationship to the political and the reception of their work. The course critically engages performances and representations of Blackness to explore Black subjectivity and think through how artists and activists craft space for Black agency.

Designed to introduce students to the methods of inquiry used for research in Africana Studies. Through intensive study of a single topic (past examples: Toni Morrison's Beloved, the American South, The Black Seventies) students consider the formation of the field, engage canonical texts, attend lectures and learn from scholars whose work is based in a variety of disciplines. Focus is on the challenges and opportunities made possible by doing multi- and interdisciplinary research: how and why scholars ask and approach research questions and have conversations with each other.

Offered as AFR 170 and ENG 235. An introduction to the themes, issues and questions that shaped the literature of African Americans during its period of origin. Texts include poetry, prose and works of fiction. Writers include Harriet Jacobs, Frances Harper, Charles Chesnutt, Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley.

This course examines historical, critical and theoretical perspectives on the development of Black feminist theory/praxis. The course draws from the 19th century to the present, but focuses on the contemporary Black feminist intellectual tradition that achieved notoriety in the 1970s and initiated a global debate on Western and global feminisms. Central to the exploration is the analysis of the intersectional relationship between theory and practice, and of race, gender and class.

An introduction to some of the major perspectives, themes and issues in the field of Afro-American studies. The focus is on the economic, social and political aspects of cultural production, and how these inform what it means to read, write about, view and listen to Black culture.