Introductory Courses
| History and Political Science
Literature, Culture, and The Arts
Society and The Economy
Special Topics |
Seminars |
Honors Courses
Introductory
Courses
*0.11 Introduction to Africana Studies (3 hours; 3 credits)
Team-taught introduction to the study and analysis of the experiences of
Africans and people of African descent around the world.
0.12 Introduction to Contemporary Africa (3 hours; 3 credits)
Historical, cultural, religious, social, educational, and economic
background of the African continent. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 0.1.)
0.2 Introduction to African-American Studies (3 hours; 3 credits)
Growth and development of social, political, economic, cultural, and
religious institutions of the African-American community.
0.4 Introduction to Research Studies of African-Americans (3 hours; 3 credits)
Research methods and procedures for study of phenomena characteristic of
the Black community. Development of the young Black child. Interviewing
techniques, participant observation, historiography, quantitative
methods and computer applications.
0.5 Introduction to the Caribbean (3 hours; 3 credits)
Study and analysis of peoples, forces, institutions, and cultures of the
Caribbean. African, European, United States. and Western Hemisphere
influences on Caribbean development. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 17.)
History and Political Science
11.1 Africa to 1800 (3 hours; 3 credits)
Exploration of themes in the history of Africa south of the Sahara from
earliest times to 1800. Salient themes include trans-Saharan linkages in
classical times, Sudanic empires, forest states, Kongo, Ndongo, east
African coastal city-states, Mwenemutapa dynasty. Origins, development,
and consequences of the Atlantic slave trade; abolition. (Not open to
students who have completed Africana Studies 18.1.) Prerequisite: one of
the following: Core Studies 4 or 9, History 1, 2, 3, 4, 41.8, or 41.9,
or permission of the chairperson.
11.2 Africa from 1800 (3 hours; 3 credits)
Themes include the Islamic revolutions, Mfecane, rise of legitimate
trade, intrusion of European missionaries and explorers, Ashanti wars,
political developments in interlacustrine East Africa, imperialism,
colonial experience, nationalist independence movements, and Pan-Africanism.
Selections reflect the experience of all regions of the continent south
of the Sahara from 1800 to the present. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 18.2.) Prerequisite: one of the following:
Core Studies 4 or 9, History 1, 2, 3, 4, 41.8, or 41.9, or permission of
the chairperson.
11.3 The East African Heritage (3 hours; 3 credits)
Survey of cultures and civilizations of East Africa from ancient Egypt,
Ethiopia, Nubia, and Kush to the rise of Islam. Prerequisite: one of the
following: Africana Studies 0.1, 0.11, 0.12, 0.3, or Core Studies 9.
11.4 The West African Heritage (3 hours; 3 credits)
Survey of the cultures and civilizations of West Africa from the rise of
the empire of Ghana to the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. (Not
open to students who have completed Africana Studies 1.3 or
Afro-American Studies 2.) Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana
Studies 0.1, 0.11, 0.12, 0.3, or Core Studies 9.
11.5 Inequality in Southern Africa (3 hours; 3 credits)
Problem of racial discrimination in southern Africa. Critical
examination of the background and pattern of inequality and its legacy
in independent states. Role of various international organizations and
other institutions. (Not open to students who have completed Africana
Studies 1.5.) Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.1,
0.11, 0.12, or Core Studies 9.
11.6 South African Society (3 hours; 3 credits)
Major political, economic, and social developments in the Republic of
South Africa since 1948.
12.1 The African Diaspora (3 hours; 3 credits)
Creation and history of the African diaspora. Economic, political, and
sociocultural interrelationships of Africa and the African disapora.
(Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 2.1.)
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.3, Core Studies 4
or 9.
12.4 Political Systems of Africa (3 hours; 3 credits)
Political developments in the African states. Patterns before and after
independence. Development of nationalism. Political integration,
institution building, one-party systems, role of the military, and
protest movements. Problems of regional and African unity. This course
is the same as Political Science 49.2. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 2.4 or Afro-American Studies 41.)
Prerequisite: one of the following: Political Science 1.5, 1, 5, Core
Studies 3, Africana Studies 0.1, 0.11, or 0.12.
12.5 Early African-American History (3 hours; 3 credits)
Black Americans from the era of the Atlantic slave trade to the Civil
War. Topics include the African origins of African-Americans, defining
African-Americans, the slave trade, free Blacks in antebellum America,
origins of the Black church, and slavery. Prerequisite: Core Studies 4
or 9, or permission of the chairperson.
12.6 African-American History from 1865 to 1920 (3 hours; 3 credits)
Black Americans between the Civil War and World War I. Topics include
Blacks and Southern Reconstruction, Blacks and redemption, "The Nadir,"
emigration and colonization, Black cowboys, the Great Migration, Blacks
and World War I, Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement
Association. Prerequisite: Core Studies 4 or 9, or permission of the
chairperson.
12.7 Recent African-American History (3 hours; 3 credits)
Recent history of African-Americans, from World War I to the present.
Topics include Blacks and the Great Depression, the New Deal, the Harlem
Renaissance, Blacks and World War II, the modern civil rights era, and
the evolution of Africana-Black Studies. Prerequisite: Core Studies 4 or
9, or permission of the chairperson.
14.3 The Struggle for Liberation (3 hours; 3 credits)
Analysis of Black protest and liberation movements from the slave
revolts to recent urban rebellions. Immediate underlying causes of
specific events. Such major trends as the civil rights movement, Black
Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and the Third World movement. (Not open to
students who have completed Africana Studies 4.3 or Afro-American
Studies 21.2.) Prerequisite: one of the following: Core Studies 3, 4, 9,
Sociology 5, Political Science 1 or 1.5, or Social Science 1 or 2, or
Africana Studies 0.12 or 0.2.
17.3 Caribbean Societies in Perspective (3 hours; 3 credits)
Emergence of Caribbean societies during the era of indentured servants
in the islands. Imported institutions and their changing character in
the new environment. (Not open to students who have completed Africana
Studies 73.)
17.4 Caribbean Political Systems (3 hours; 3 credits)
Comparative approach to the government and politics of the contemporary
Caribbean. Major states in the Caribbean: Cuba, Haiti, Dominican
Republic, the Commonwealth Caribbean; and selected members of other
territories. The political economy of these societies and the growth of
mass movements. Foreign policies of various Caribbean states. This
course is the same as Political Science 49.8. Prerequisite: one of the
following: Core Studies 3, 9, Africana Studies 17, 17.3, Political
Science 1.5.
17.5 Haitian Heritage (3 hours; 3 credits)
Creation and development of the Haitian experience as shaped by the
African connections. Analysis of the societal forces impinging on Haiti
as the first Black independent republic in the New World. (Not open to
students who completed Africana Studies 71 before spring, 1982.)
Prerequisite: Africana Studies 0.5 or 17 or permission of the
chairperson.
Literature,
Culture, and The Arts
23 African-American Folklore (3 hours; 3 credits)
African-American oral tradition and African-American culture. Survival
of the African culture. Oral history, spirituals, folktales, blues,
toasts, dozens, etc. Uses of the oral tradition in literature.
23.1 African Religion and Culture in the New World (3 hours; 3 credits)
Historical survey of African religious and philosophical beliefs. Their
impact on African-American, Caribbean, and Latin American societies.
(Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 14.)
24.1 African-American Literature to 1930 (3 hours; 3 credits)
Literature from the colonial period through the Harlem Renaissance.
Slave narratives, rhetoric of abolition, formal and vernacular
aesthetics. Such writers as Phyllis Wheatley, David Walker, Frederick
Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, Paul L. Dunbar, Charles
W. Chesnutt, James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Countee Cullen, Jean
Toomer, Claude McKay, Sterling Brown, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston
Hughes. This course is the same as English 64.2. (Not open to students
who have completed Africana Studies 24.) Prerequisite: one of the
following: English 2,2.4,3.4,4.4, or 10.3, Core Studies 1 or 6.
24.2 Modern African-American Literature (3 hours; 3 credits)
Literature from 1930 to the present. Naturalism and protest, the Black
Aesthetic, women's literature. Such writers as Richard Wright, Ralph
Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka,
Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison. This course is the same as
English 64.3. Prerequisite: one of the following: English 2,2.4,3.4,4.4.
or 10.3, Core Studies 1 or 6.
24.3 African-American Music (3 hours; 3 credits)
African-American music from its African roots to the present. Synthesis
of tradition and distinct African elements in American musical culture.
This course is the same as Music 10 1. (Not open to students who have
completed Music 50.)
24.4 African-American Art (3 hours; 3 credits)
Historical survey of the contributions of Black art to American culture.
Study of the Black experience through works of art. This course is part
of the joint program in elementary education with a specialization in
African-American studies and is open to all students.
24.5 Black Theater (3 hours; 3 credits)
Lectures, studies, and workshops in Black theater. Liaison with
professional and community theater. This course is the same as Theater
41.4. Prerequisite: permission of the chairperson.
24.8 African Literature (3 hours; 3 credits)
Survey of twentieth-century fiction, drama, poetry of sub-Saharan
Africa. Works by such authors as Achebe, Ekwensi, Emecheta, Ngugi, Oyono,
Laye, Dadie, Clark, Sembene. Senghor, Soyinka. This course is the same
as Comparative Literature 32.2. (Not open to students who have complete
Comparative Literature 15 or 15.2.)
27 Black Women's Lives in Fiction (3 hours; 3 credits)
Identity of the modern Black-woman novelist as seen in the works and
lives of African-American women novelists. Some cross-cultural
comparisons with African and Caribbean women novelists. Readings of
selected essays in Black feminist criticism. A research paper is
required. This course is the same as English 64.4. Prerequisite: one of
the following: Africana Studies 24,24.1, 24.2,44.6; English 2,2.4,
3.4,4.4, or 10.3; Core Studies 1.6.
29 Black Expression in Caribbean Literature (3 hours; 3 credits)
Black culture and writings in the Caribbean. Reflections on alienation
and independence. Literary liberation movements, Negrism, Indigenism,
and Negritude as the first step towards emancipation from a European
cultural vision. Writers from the English-, French-, and
Spanish-speaking countries will be examined. All readings will be in
English. This course is the same as Puerto Rican Studies 38 and
Comparative Literature 38.3. (Not open to students who have completed
Puerto Rican Studies 54.)
Society and
The Economy
33 Black Entrepreneurship in America (3 hours; 3 credits)
History and development of African-American business enterprise and
entrepreneurs from Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business
League to the present. Topics include political philosophy of "black
capitalism;" small and large businesses and the black community; the
impact of governmental programs on business development; case studies of
successful African-American businesses. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 34.) Prerequisite: one of the following:
Africana Studies 0.11,0.2, 0.4, or Core Studies 3.
37.2 Caribbean Economics (3 hours; 3 credits)
Comprehensive examination and appraisal of major theories and models of
economic development in the Caribbean. The role of foreign investment,
foreign aid, and economic institutions in the area.
41 The Black Urban Experience (3 hours; 3 credits)
An interdisciplinary study of African-Americans and urban life. Drawing
on the methodological approaches of history, literature, and folklore
primarily, although not exclusively, this course will examine the
African-American experience in United States cities in the 19th and 20th
centuries. Where appropriate, comparisons will be made with non-United
States cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, or London. Topics
chosen from: urban slavery, free blacks in Northern cities, race riots,
"the great migration," Caribbean migration, urban economics, urban
politics, the urban novel, the black family in the city, the blues,
contemporary urban folklore. Prerequisite: two of the following: Core
Studies 3, 4, and 9, or their equivalents.
43 Blacks and the Law (3 hours; 3 credits)
Examination of the relationships between the American legislative and
judicial processes and the socioeconomic status of Blacks. Social and
cultural impact of crime and prison. Impact of Blacks on the making of
public policy. Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.2,
0.11, Core Studies 3.
44 The Black Family (3 hours; 3 credits)
The Black family as a social unit in the experience of Black Americans
from slavery to the present. Comparison with African family patterns
past and present. (Not open to students who have completed Afro-American
Studies 20. 1.) Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.
11, 0. 12, or 0.2, Core Studies 3.
44.5 Caribbean Communities in North America (3 hours; 3 credits)
Analysis of the factors responsible for the movement of Caribbean
peoples to mainland North America; achievements, frustrations, and
contributions of Caribbean communities to the host country; linkages
between Caribbean-Americans and the Caribbean. Prerequisite: Africana
Studies 0.5 or 17.
44.6 The Black Woman in America (3 hours; 3 credits)
Interpretation and critical evaluation of the treatment, role, and image
of the Black woman in America; emphasis on the burdens of racism,
sexism, welfare, the Black matriarch sterilization, women's liberation,
and the contemporary scene. Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana
Studies 0.2. 0. 12. Core Studies 9.
45 Foundations of Africana Research Methods (3 hours; 3 credits)
Introduction to basic research procedures. Review of elementary
mathematics and elementary statistics. Selecting a research problem.
Developing a research design. Defining concepts. Formulating hypotheses.
Data collection, analysis and interpretation, research applications,
computer use, and library skills. Prerequisite: Africana Studies 0.4 or
44.5.
54 The Black Child and the Urban Education System (3 hours; 3 credits)
Study and evaluation of school curricula from preschool through high
school in terms of their historical background and contribution to the
development of Black children. Finding and writing bibliographical
materials relevant to the curricula. This course is part of the joint
program in elementary education with a specialization in
African-American studies and is open to all students. This course is the
same as Education 36.4. (Not open to students who have completed
Africana Studies 64 or Education 36.1.)
Special Topics
60.1 Special Topics in Africana Studies (3 hours; 3 credits)
Study of selected topics in Africana Studies. Students may take this
course for credit twice, but may not repeat topics. (Not open to
students who have completed Africana Studies 84.5 or Anthropology 84.5.)
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced courses and
permission of the chairperson.
Seminars
70.1 Seminar in Humanities (3 hours; 3 credits)
Study of a topic in Africana studies related to the humanities. Students
may take this course for credit twice, but may not repeat topics.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced courses and
permission of the chairperson.
71 Seminar in Social Sciences (3 hours; 3 credits)
Study of a topic in Africana Studies related to the social sciences.
Students may take this course twice, but may not repeat topics.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced courses and
permission of the chairperson.
73 Summer Seminar (6 hours; 6 credits)
Lectures, research, and study in selected historical, political,
economic, and social aspects of life in a selected country or in a
region of the United States. Lectures by Brooklyn College and
host-country scholars, in cooperation with a university in Africa, the
Caribbean, South America, or the United States. May be supplemented by
fieldwork and library and empirical research. Course may not be taken
more than once. Consult department for locale of a specific offering.
Prerequisite: Africana Studies 0.11, or permission of the chairperson.
Honors Courses
Students with superior records and the recommendation of a department
faculty member may apply to the chairperson for permission to register
for the course described below. Students may not register for more than
six credits in honors courses in the department in one term.
88 Independent Study (Minimum of 9 hours conference and independent work; 3 credits)
Reading of advanced material supervised by a faculty member. Written
report or final examination. Prerequisite: completion of an approved
program of advanced Africana Studies Department courses and permission
of the instructor and the chairperson.