African American Studies (AAS)

African American Studies (AAS) Courses

AAS 2013. Introduction to African American Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Offers an interdisciplinary introduction to major topics in African American Studies. Course materials will address basic contours of the black experience in the United States. Topics that may be investigated include historical, autobiographical, political, cultural, sociological, literary, and/or popular responses to and representation of African Americans in the United States. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture. Generally offered: Fall, Spring. Course Fees: DL01 $75; LRC1 $12; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 2113. African American Culture, Leadership and Social Issues. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines topics related to twentieth-century African American culture, leadership, and social experiences. The focus of this course includes emphasis on civic engagement, leadership, and/or cultural expression (i.e., music, performance arts, film, visual arts) that informs collective identities, social movements, and/or relevant social issues. May be applied toward the Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy and Culture. Course Fees: LRC1 $12; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

AAS 3013. Black Communities and Culture. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines Black communities and their cultural expressions (e.g., art, music, film, literature, cultural identity). The substantive and disciplinary emphasis can vary from one semester to another. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

AAS 3023. Global Blackness and Afro-Latinidad. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course offers a survey of the African Diaspora from a cultural perspective exploring the ways African descendent peoples in the Americas have created Black selves, community, and struggle through transnational imagination and action. The role of Afro-Latinidad, Black social movements, culture, music, and the arts will be considered in terms of how they have come to shape the African Diaspora as an evolving space of Black social making and moving. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 3113. Doing Black Studies Research. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course introduces students to the practice of conducting independent research. Though it concentrates on the empirical study of Black communities and experiences, this course provides useful introductions to both quantitative and qualitative methods for students in the humanities and social sciences, regardless of major. Students will learn and practice a diverse set of methodologies, and consider the ethics of Black Studies research before proposing their own project. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81; DL01 $75.

AAS 3123. Civil Rights Movement and African American Education. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course provides an introduction to the period of struggle in American history known as the Civil Rights Movement. The objective is to survey the major historical figures, organizations, locations, strategies and ideas that coalesce to make the history of the movement. The course will analyze the historical trajectory of educational policies with particular emphasis on the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and its implications over the following 20 years. Course Fees: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 3133. African Americans in Higher Education. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course explores the history of African Americans in higher education. The course examines especially significant post-secondary issues and topics in the twentieth century, such as access, equity, diversity, student organizations, institutional leadership, and current events. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4013. Topics in African American Studies. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course analyzes historical and contemporary issues and phenomena associated with African Americans. It explores different methodological approaches by inquiring about these issues and phenomena, and presents varying arguments and ideological positions concerning these public-affairs matters. May be repeated for credit when topics vary. Two or more topics courses may be taken concurrently. Generally offered: Fall, Spring. Course Fees: DL01 $75; LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4023. Black and Brown Youth Resistance. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines theories of youth resistance, and specifically the ways in which youth of color have and continue to resist, whether through organizing social justice movements, self-expression, and/or cultural production. Drawing from Critical Youth Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Women of Color feminisms, this course explores how youth as a whole, and youth of color specifically are socially constructed in the U.S. and the impact of these constructions of race, gender, sexuality, and age structurally on youth in terms of the policies that are created that impact their everyday lives. This course also explores the contributions youth of color have made and continue to make in society, not only through organizing but also through their everyday forms of resistance such as their behaviors, languaging, forms of self-expression, engagement with popular culture, and resulting cultural production. Same as MAS 4023, credit cannot be earned for both AAS 4023 and MAS 4023. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4033. Women of Color Feminisms. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course centers feminist epistemological contributions of Women of Color. As a result of their positionalities, Women of Color have developed their own organizations, printing presses, research approaches, and critical theories, and have contributed to social change. This course examines critical theories that make up Black, Chicana/x and Latina/x, Indigenous, and Asian/Asian American feminisms. Women of Color feminisms have advanced change through their scholarship, activism, community organizing, participation in mutual aid, cultural production, and critique of and resistance to coloniality in all of its forms. This course uses an intersectional approach to examining the contributions of Women of Color feminisms across disciplines to include, but not limited to, education, public health, popular culture, community organizing, policy, and cultural production. Same as MAS 4033 and WGSS 4033, credit cannot be earned for both AAS 4033, WGSS 4033, and MAS 4033. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4043. Intersectionality. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Beginning with the violence of the Jim Crow South, and the ongoing segregation in the north and west, this course examines a variety of Black social movements through the current day. Readings, discussions, and assignments will explore the life cycle and impact of each Black social movement, as well as the historical, economic, and political contexts in which they developed. Ethnographies and oral histories from movement participants will be at the center of this exploration. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4103. Writing Black Lives. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course is an examination of selected works detailing the complexities of Black lives across the Diaspora. Focused on developing both critical reading and critical writing skills, this course allows students to study Black life writers and simultaneously consider how self-invention, creativity, and imagination are used in the writing of Black lives. Black life writing, as practice, combats white supremacist stereotypes about Black characters, both historical and present day. We will read various approaches to Black life writing, and students will develop life writing skills in areas critical to Black experiences, culminating in a writing project in the genres of their choosing (essay, short story, folk tale, novel, or autobiography, for example). Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4113. The Black Church and Social Change in the 20th-Century. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course examines key characteristics, leaders, and theological shifts across a wide of array of religious institutions known as the "Black Church." The course focuses on the Black Church's varied influences on the development of social organizations, cultural expressions, localized, national leadership, and educational institutions that serve the needs and desires of Black communities throughout the 20th century. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4133. Black Social Movements. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Beginning with the violence of the Jim Crow South, and the ongoing segregation in the north and west, this course examines a variety of Black social movements through the current day. Readings, discussions, and assignments will explore the life cycle and impact of each Black social movement, as well as the historical, economic, and political contexts in which they developed. Ethnographies and oral histories from movement participants will be at the center of this exploration. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4213. Senior Capstone. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisites: AAS 2013, AAS 3013, and REGS 2003. This course is designed to facilitate the work of African American Studies majors as they complete their capstone projects. Working with the professor, and in collaboration with their classmates, students will produce an original contribution to the field grounded in African American Studies methods and theory. Over the course of the semester, we will examine and work through the challenges of producing original research. Course fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4911. Independent Study. (0-0) 1 Credit Hour.

Prerequisites: Permission in writing (form available) from the instructor, the student’s advisor, the program director, and Dean of the College in which the course is offered. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 semester credit hours of independent study, regardless of discipline, will apply to a bachelor’s degree. A maximum of 3 semester credit hours may be applied to the minor. Course Fee: STSH $10.

AAS 4912. Independent Study. (0-0) 2 Credit Hours.

Prerequisites: Permission in writing (form available) from the instructor, the student’s advisor, the program director, and Dean of the College in which the course is offered. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 semester credit hours of independent study, regardless of discipline, will apply to a bachelor’s degree. A maximum of 3 semester credit hours may be applied to the minor. Course Fee: STSH $20.

AAS 4913. Independent Study. (0-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisites: Permission in writing (form available) from the instructor, the student’s advisor, the program director, and Dean of the College in which the course is offered. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 semester credit hours of independent study, regardless of discipline, will apply to a bachelor’s degree. A maximum of 3 semester credit hours may be applied to the minor. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.

AAS 4933. Internship in African American Studies. (0-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: Consent of internship coordinator. Supervised experience relevant to African American studies within selected community organizations. A maximum of 3 semester credit hours may be applied to the minor. Course Fees: LRH1 $20.54; STSH $30.81.