This course will examine the economic activities of women in traditional societies that preceded and laid the foundations for early industrialization. In a variety of pre-industrial societies from Europe, Africa, and the Americas, we will examine closely the participation of women as they contributed to their community’s economic and social well being. The course will investigate the claim that women’s economic contribution was a primary determinant of the nature and pace of the shift from “household work” to “market places,” and ultimately to a “market economy.”

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 203

6ENS 216 (I, II-1) Mbira Ensemble May be repeated for credit.

BUILDING: ET | ROOM: 12

Dynamic dance traditions of Guinea, West Africa. Accompanied by live music, students learn footwork and movements for several rhythms and acquire familiarity with the physical stance common to many styles of West African dance. Learn to execute movements together with the rhythmic foundation provided by our drummers and become familiar with the origins and cultural significance of each dance, and the songs that accompany them.

BUILDING: SPURR | ROOM: DANCE

A continuation of Dance 181.

BUILDING: SPURR | ROOM: DANCE

In the context of the global economy, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is blessed with vast mineral resources and agricultural lands able to produce a wide variety of tropical products and foods. The country's large population is made up of talented and highly resourceful individuals, who are quick to respond to economic incentives. Thus, it is hard to understand why the country has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world and why the country's economy occupies such a lowly position within the global economy. We focus on the historical development of socio-economic/political structures over time to explain why the giant of Africa continues to slumber. Some of the country's central problems, such as ethnic and religious contradictions, are similar in some way to those in the U.S. The solutions attempted by the governments of both countries, such as affirmative action, are also somewhat similar. We will conduct a comparative analysis of contemporary historical issues in the two countries.

BUILDING: GAVET | ROOM: 301

Course Description: During the civil rights era, African Americans also viewed their struggle for freedom in global terms. This seminar explores African Americans as protagonists in the international arena from the 1940s through recent times. The course pays particular attention to African American internationalism at specific moments during the black liberation movement and the Cold War. We will focus on African American relationships with anti-colonial and anti-imperial currents in Africa, Asia and Latin America – what has historically been termed the “Third World” and come to be called the “Global South.” Drawing on primary and secondary historical sources, as well as literary and visual materials, this course will explore the possibilities and limitations of African American internationalism on the global geopolitical stage and in the radical imagination.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 208

This course will explore inscriptions of madness in post-colonial African and Caribbean texts. Beyond the obvious and visible signs of what is generally termed "madness" (from the pathological to the political or cultural), we will ask ourselves if the postcolonial arena cannot be interpreted as a pervasive manifestation of madness, that is to say, of something fundamentally "alien, foreign" to the Known, to the imperial destructuring order, and to the disarticulated colonial and post-independent communities. By bringing together texts from different and diverse cultural and intellectual areas such as France, Guadeloupe, and Africa, we seek to confront the various "scriptures." Issues of witch-hunt, of disintegration of Juletane, the Antillean women in West Africa, from Foucault's normative panopticism to Fanon's discussion of the black experience, the postcolonial situation, articulated or silenced, will be the focus of this course. Taught in English.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 224

The origins of the Blues in the context of African-American culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it's rapid rise to becoming the dominant popular music in the African- American community, and the discovery of blues by white audiences.

BUILDING: HUTCH | ROOM: 473

This course examines the historical experiences of Africans and their descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean. The guiding questions of this course are: What is the African diaspora? What is the utility of such a framework for writing the histories of African descended peoples living in Latin America? What do the experiences of Afro-Latin Americans living in the region reveal about the grand narrative of Latin American history? While the course will begin with the era of colonial slavery, most of our attention will focus on the histories of Afro-Latin Americans after emancipation. Topic we will explore include: the particularities of slavery and emancipation in the Americas, gender and the formation of African-descended communities, the role of race and Afro-Latin American peoples in processes of nation formation, and the transnational dimensions of African diaspora history. (cross listed with HIS 248)

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Adherence to the “rule of law”, along with democracy and development, has come to be seen as crucial to ensuring countries’ political and economic stability and prosperity. This course uses anthropological approaches to examine the power of “the law” in the contemporary world. Specifically, we will explore practices that cross the boundary between legal and illegal, and challenge the assumed alignment between law/order and illegal/disorder. This draws our attention to how legality is constructed and allows us to raise questions about power, control, and justice at local, national, and global levels. We examine case studies with specific emphasis on Africa, looking at (il)legal practices within national borders as well as transnationally.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 504

Historical survey of religions as practiced by people of African descent living in North America. Christianity, Islam, and African-derived religions will be examined. Through its canvassing of doctrinal and ritual frameworks, students are afforded an opportunity to view the diverse and complex terrain of African American religion. Class format includes lectures, discussions, and film/music.

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African-American Art: This course surveys African-American art, including decorative arts created by slaves, mainstream nineteenth-century artists, the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro movement, the Black Art movement, postmodern art, and contemporary art. We will read primary sources ranging from W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke to Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett. Central topics will include the conditions of artistic practice, the relationship to the overall narrative of American art, and the art historical reception of African-American art.

BUILDING: ESM | ROOM: 305

One rehearsal per week. Two concerts per semester. In addition, there may be off-campus performances in local colleges, churches, and other venues in the greater-Rochester community. The Gospel Choir performs a varied repertoire of sacred music -- spirituals, hymns, traditional and contemporary Gospel, music of the praise-and-worship genre. (Fall and Spring) (1 credit)

BUILDING: HUTCH | ROOM: 140

This course will introduce students to the application of archival research to literary study, with a special focus on 20th-century African-American writer John A. Williams. We will read and discuss a selection of Williams’ fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; for each text, we will visit Rush Rhees Library’s Department of Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation, where the Williams archive is located. We will also discuss a selection of works of literary theory and criticism that addresses the significance of an author’s life to the analysis of that author’s work. Primary texts include Night Song, The Man Who Cried I Am, Captain Blackman, Sons of Darkness / Sons of Light, Sissie, Clifford’s Blues, Safari West, and more. Course requirements include class participation, four one-page response essays, an in-class presentation on a selected item from the Williams archive, and a research paper to be evaluated at various stages of the composition process (proposal, outline, draft, revision).

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: PLUTZ

How do human beings experience, make sense of, cope with and shape birth, illness, and death in their own lives and in the lives of those who are close to them? How do experts manage birth, illness, and death in the lives of others and in the aggregate? Historical and contemporary examples from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

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Students will draw upon their exposure to the theory methods of AAS to produce an interdisciplinary research paper on a topic of their own choosing. Open only to senior majors. Permission of Department required.

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The course suggests that there existed two distinct views as to how the new nation would be structured. Once these views clashed and became sectional, the nation was thrown into a political, theological, and, ultimately, a military contest the demands of which led to the incorporation of structural changes that had the effect of resolving the very issues that had propelled the nation into war. As we identify and discuss the causes, conduct, and consequences of the Civil War, we will examine the changing ideas about nation, government, work, race, and gender, and ask: How different were Northern and Southern institutions and, to what extent were northern and southern Americans fundamentally different people?

BUILDING: GAVET | ROOM: 301

In this course, we will examine the key role played by race and ethnicity across various facets of American political life. We will explore the distinct political and social identities of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and others, and how these identities translate into contrasting political beliefs and different political actions. Other topics include the interaction between race and ethnicity and employment, health policy, access to criminal justice, and educational inequalities. Readings will draw upon political science, law, economics, sociology, and public health.

BUILDING: DEWEY | ROOM: 2110E

A survey of African-American literature, fiction, and nonfiction, beginning with the late eighteenth century.

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The concept of a Third World. The origins of colonialism and "underdevelopment" in the rise of European capitalism. The struggles of the colonial and postcolonial peoples for political independence, cultural autonomy, and economic development.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 163

Is President Barack Obama a black leader or a leader who happens to be black? This course will help students understand where the nation\'s first African-American president fits in a long stream of black political thinkers, activists, and leaders. Black elected officials, such as Barack Obama, are among the most recent leaders in the historic black struggle for civil rights and political and economic equality in the United States. Other sources of black leadership include preachers, scholars, and community organizers. In this course, we will systematically examine the strategies, agendas, and styles of black leadership from the 19th century to the present. We will attempt to answer the following questions: What is black leadership? Who are black leaders? And, how are leaders held accountable and to whom? We will consider black leaders from Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. DuBois, Martin L. King, Jr., to Malcolm X, Septima Clark to Ella Baker, and Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.

BUILDING: GRGEN | ROOM: 110

As literary and visual art, plays provide some of the most potent content in all of the arts, to which readers have nearly unmediated access. This course explores the history of playwriting and dramatic performance as creative outlets for artists of African descent. The course surveys the tradition of African-American theatre, paying particular attention to the formal aspects of drama and covering a range of historical and thematic contexts, including slavery, social protest, inter-racial relations, intra-racial differences (of class, gender, and sexuality), and contemporary attitudes toward African-American history. Featured playwrights include James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Suzan-Lori Parks, Ntozake Shange, Anna Deavere Smith, August Wilson, George C. Wolfe, and others. Students will be evaluated on class participation, weekly reading responses, and two formal papers.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

Engaging an extraordinary diversity of sound, this course explores some of the world's major traditions of musical performance, including classical, ritual, and ceremonial music from around the globe. Through weekly reading and listening assignments, we will study musical sound structures within a variety of social, political, and religious contexts, investigating relationships between music, people, and place. In addition to well-known modes of music making, we will look at many fascinating but less familiar forms of musical expression, such as aboriginal pop music from Australia, the throat-singing traditions of Tuva and Mongolia, and the freedom songs of South Africa. The course will culminate in a semester-long final project.

BUILDING: GRGEN | ROOM: 108

Ensemble dedicated to dynamic percussive traditions of Guinea, combining the iconic djembe hand drum with a trio of drums played with sticks, known as dunun, sangban, and kenkeni. The powerful, multi-part relationships established by this trio of drums provide a rhythmic foundation, enabling djembe players to develop technique in executing accompaniment and solo parts. Fana engages ensemble players with a wide repertory of music from various regions of Guinea, including the rhythms of the Susu, Malinke, and Baga language groups. Intro and Advanced sessions offered each semester.

BUILDING: STRNG | ROOM: LOWER

Ensemble dedicated to dynamic percussive traditions of Guinea, combining the iconic djembe hand drum with a trio of drums played with sticks, known as dunun, sangban, and kenkeni. The powerful, multi-part relationships established by this trio of drums provide a rhythmic foundation, enabling djembe players to develop technique in executing accompaniment and solo parts. Fana engages ensemble players with a wide repertory of music from various regions of Guinea, including the rhythms of the Susu, Malinke, and Baga language groups. Intro and Advanced sessions offered each semester.

BUILDING: STRNG | ROOM: LOWER

6ENS 216 (I, II-1) Mbira Ensemble May be repeated for credit.

BUILDING: ET | ROOM: 12

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Independent studies on some aspect of the problems of energy resource development in lower-income countries, solutions to it, and relationship to development issues, including work with the instructor’s Access to Hydrocarbon Energy for African Development project, can be done within this course.

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May be an independent course with a faculty sponsor or may be taken in an advanced research seminar in which the student elects to write the essay but not to do all the required readings; as such it does not meet the 300-level seminar requirement, but it may be used as a distribution requirement within the area.

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Experience in an applied setting supervised on site. Approved and overseen by a University instructor.

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