Africana Studies Courses
All courses offered by the Department of Africana Studies satisfy Harpur College of Arts and Sciences requirements. A cross-disciplinary major (BA program), a minor in African Studies and a concentration in Africana Studies are available.
Please refer to the Spring or Fall Schedule for the list of courses being offered that semester. Then, refer to the list below as it provides the course description for all Africana Studies courses and cross-listed courses:
Undergraduate Courses
AFST 101, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICANA STUDIES
A broad survey of some of the major themes in African, African American, and other
African diasporic experiences over a period of several hundred years. It centers on
systems, movements and ideas that have transcended national, continental and oceanic
boundaries—including slavery and emancipation, politics and religion, culture and
identity, colonialism and nationalism. Overall, the course is an introduction to the
making of the modern world, from the standpoint of black experiences globally.
AFST 171, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN RELIGION
Wallis Budge defined African religion as "Ancestor Worship," while a Greek historian
also wrote that blacks were "the first to...honor the gods and to hold sacrifices
and processions and festivals and other rites by which men honor the deity." Thus,
students are introduced to African conceptions of God and gods, ancestors and elders,
witchcraft, sacrifices and wellness rituals.
AFST 175, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN ART
A survey of some of the key concepts in art and aesthetics in the African and African
Diaspora, focusing on certain art works and art forms. It attends to three basic questions:
How was art conceived of historically? How was it conceived of in different African
cultures and in the diaspora? And what are the critical aesthetic concepts and responses
that are relevant in art appreciation in these regions of the world. It also examines
the dispersal and deployment of African symbols and ideas in the works of artists
around the world.
AFST 180R, MUSIC OF AFRICA, CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA
An introduction to the study of world music through an examination of both traditional
and popular music styles from different music cultures within Africa, the Caribbean,
and the Americas, with emphasis on the specific social and cultural backgrounds that
have generated and sustained them. Topics include the influences between traditional
and popular music, the social status and training of musicians and performers cross-culturally,
the world music business, and musical exchanges between musicians from diverse cultural
backgrounds.
AFST 188B, AFRICAN MUSIC ENSEMBLE
This ensemble focuses on various styles of traditional music from the African continent
and the Diaspora including Cuba, Brazil, and Haiti. Emphasis is on rhythmic development,
as well as notation, and ensemble cohesiveness. It explores both drumming and melodic
instruments such as the xylophone and Mbira, as well as singing. No prior musical
experience is necessary.
AFST 203, AFRO-BRAZILIAN & CARIBBEAN RELIGIONS
In a journey more than geographic, Africans in the New World lost all symbolic means
of their religious expressions. Still, African religions and cultures survived to
play critical roles in forging new religions. How? For answers, students explores
the hermeneutical ways in which African descended groups contextualized their environment
and created syncretistic religions like Candomblé, Santeria, Voodoo, Obeah, and Rastafari.
AFST 205, AFRICAN & WESTERN RELIGIONS
The course introduces students to African religion, Christianity and Islam in Africa,
and the resultant religious and cultural transformation of Africa. This "triple" religious
and cultural heritage has seriously affected African attitude toward religion and
spirituality. Therefore, the course explores African theological concepts and ancestor
worship, Christian and Islamic beliefs, and the dynamic transformation of Christianity
and Islam on Africans.
AFST 212, AFRICAN INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS
Introduction to key ideas in African intellectual and philosophical traditions, centered
on conceptions of person, society, community, knowledge, art, gender relations and
spirituality. Readings will vary from year to year at the discretion of instructor
and are determined in advance.
AFST 225, AFRICANS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN
Africans travelled (both voluntary and forced) in the Indian Ocean world for more
than a millennium before the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This course
is a general introduction to the history of African migration in the Indian Ocean
region from antiquity to the nineteenth century. It proceeds in three parts, mainly
through the method of the ‘foundational thematic question’ that structures each day’s
readings. In part one, we examine the definitional issues of terms like slavery, race,
and diaspora. In part two, we examine the history of the Indian Ocean world and the
place of Africa and Africans in it, before 1800. In part three, we examine the nineteenth
century East African slave trade and its creation of diasporic communities of African
descent. The course argues that though African migration across the Indian Ocean has
a pre-modern origin, most African diaspora communities in the Indian Ocean world today
are a legacy of the nineteenth century slave trade. The racialized attitudes that
exist today against Africans in some Indian Ocean countries are largely also a legacy
of this trade, rather than having deep roots in the region.
AFST 235 (also HIST 235), MUSLIM PEOPLES
Cross-disciplinary survey of Muslim people from seventh to 20th century. Part I introduces
Islam as a religious, ethical, legal, social, political and economic system. Part
II surveys Muslim people and communities in Central Asia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia,
Iran, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South America, Sudan, Swahili-speaking
East Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Topics include ethnicity,
gender, relations with the West, legal and social reforms, internal Muslim/non-Muslim
relations and Muslim perceptions of the future.
AFST 251, ISLAMIC CULTURES IN AFRICA
Islam has a rich cultural and artistic heritage in Africa. With a history that goes
back to the seventh century, it is now a vital part of the African cultural landscape.
This introductory course explores a range of Islamic cultural productions in different
regions of Africa—North, West, East and South—from the advent of Islam to modern times.
It will focus on not only the local practices of Islam but on literature, music, architecture
and films in studying the syncretism of Islam and indigenous African religions and/or
cultures, and in highlighting the unifying cultural influences of the religion. The
course will also attend to the distinctive character of contemporary, cultural productions
in music, film, architecture and literature in large African metropolises with significant
Islamic populations, and it will devote attention to the underlying factors and issues
of artistic production.
AFST 273, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN LITERATURE
Introduction to the major forms of literary activity on the African continent. Begins
with an examination of the oral literature, then moves to a study of modern African
creative writing through readings of some published fiction, drama and poetry, paying
close attention to the ways in which the writers relate to the oral traditions.
AFST 280D, YOUTH, POPULAR CULTURE IN NORTH AFRICA
This course will provide students an introduction to critical issues and approaches
in the study of recent North Africa and Arabic youth culture, their response and participation
in the modern popular culture of that area. We will explore the ways in which young
North Africans and youth in the Arab world [Arabs] are both users of and are used
by popular culture. As well, we will explore their attitudes, interests and aspirations
through the various media: film, TV, print, music to examine cultural expressions
within young people's groups throughout the North African and Arabic World. Collective
and individual responses to the post-colonial nation state and globalization are among
the themes we will examine. The course will also compare cultural characteristics
(shared and regional) as manifested in new identities, traditions, customs, social
character, artistic and creative expression and—even—language.
AFST 280F, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN CINEMA
This course offers a basic view of the development of the art of the film in Africa.
We shall examine the history of the form on the continent, then explore its major
themes and concerns with showings of several videos from various parts of Africa to
ensure adequate coverage of the continent.
AFST 282 (also ENG 282), AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1920 TO PRESENT
Introduces African American literature of the period through poetry, the novel, short
story and drama in the context of social, political and literary developments. Topics
include the Harlem Renaissance, Richard Wright and the Naturalists, the Black Arts
Movement, black women writers.
AFST 283A, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN HISTORY
African social, political and economic history from the Pharaonic period to the mid-20th
century. Social, political and economic organization; religion and philosophy; education;
women's roles and achievements; inter-African and international relations; slavery;
internal and external migrations; resistance to European rule; nationalism; liberation
movements; effects of European rule; problems of independence and post- independence;
African peoples' contributions to civilization.
AFST 284C, BLACK NATIONALISM IN THE UNITED STATES
This course traces the evolution of black nationalism from the era of the United States
revolution to the 1960s. Though a persistent theme in the African American experience,
black nationalism has tended to become especially influential at certain historical
junctures, most notably the 1850s, the 1920s, and the 1960s. The course is centered
on these junctions, called black nationalist moments, and is organized around the
core issues of race, nationality, class, and gender.
AFST 317, AFRICAN WOMEN AND FEMINISM
An interdisciplinary approach to issues of importance to African women, drawing extensively
from a range of theoretical writings, literary and/or filmic works to study the political,
social and economic roles of women. Paying close attention to culture, it examines
the impact of colonialism, nationalism, dictatorship and military rule on women's
autonomy, agency and rights within and outside the family.
AFST 362, LITERATURE OF N. AFRICA & THE M. EAST
The course will focus on the Arabic literature of North Africa and the Middle East
and will provide an overview of the wide range and themes of this literature as presented
by the authors whose works we will examine this semester. The course will focus on
a century of modern Arabic literature and the development of representation of women,
men in their various ascribed roles in Arabic-Islamic societies and how these roles
are being challenged by colonialism, post colonialism and Imperialims/globalization.
The remarkable experiences the characters go through and the struggles that the writers
document to make their voices heard within their respective societies is quite an
achievement in its own. A new model of the Arabic person emerged encouraging (albeit
timidly) both men and women to liberate themselves, manage their own lives, unravel
societal hypocrisies and to do away with things past that restrict their pursuit of
happiness and self-realization (e.g. career, social or political movement or, even,
new styles of love and life defying convention and social norms). As the West grew
more powerful it began launching expeditions to investigate how non-Western societies
functioned and how to overcome them and eventually add them to its growing empires.
The seminar explores many themes and works by Arabic writers who created new narratives,
poetic and visual languages and a new consciousness about the modern Arabic World
both in Africa and Asia. Some of the works we will read will examine not only the
relationship of the West with the Arabic World, but issues that existed before colonialism
and during the difficult birth of the various Arabic ¨Nation States¨.
AFST 367, AFRICAN KINGSHIP
As living ancestors, African kings and queens were seen as socio-political and spiritual
leaders. However, the kingship nowadays does not enjoy the same power and authority
as the past. Why? The course, therefore, studies divine kingship, systems of succession,
king-making rites, and how the West undermined the authority of traditional rulers
through policies like assimilation and direct and indirect rule.
AFST 370, CONVIVENCIA IN ISLAMIC SPAIN
This course acquaints students with the culture of cohabitation of Muslims, Christians
and Jews in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain & Portugal) and the contribution of each of
the groups to its greatness.
AFST 372, ARABIC CIVILIZATION & CULTURE
This course aims to give an overview of the Civilization and Culture of the Arab people,
starting with the advent of Islam—we will, nevertheless, examine pre-Islamic Arabic
societies—and continuing through the present. A selection of texts—print and electronic
in English—dealing with and pertaining to different aspects and areas of Arabic life,
civilization and culture, will be read and discussed. These texts have been selected
with the intent to compare and analyze approaches in those written by Arabic writers
and those written by non-Arabic writers. Among the topics to be covered are—but not
limited to: The origins of the Arabs; pre-Islamic Arab society; Arab-Islamic society
and the Islamic Empire; Arab culture and its contribution to world culture; Baghdad
and Cordoba; Arabic Africa; Some causes of decadence and fall of the Arab-Islamic
Empire; Western Infiltration and Colonialism (18-20 C); "Independence" and the creation
of Nation-States. We will also analyze and discuss modern post-colonial concerns and
problems and challenges that the area has confronted in the wake of neo colonialism.
AFST 373, THE AFRICAN NOVEL
Exploration of the development of the novel in Africa. Formal growth of the genre
from the oral narrative traditions of the continent, through its attachment to European
forms, to its present achievement in blending various traditions in the articulation
of key issues – such as colonialism and post-colonialism, social and political crisis,
and the role of women – in contemporary African society.
AFST 375 (also HIST 375), MUSLIM SOCIAL HISTORY TO THE 19th CENTURY
Survey of evolution and development of selected Asian (Middle Eastern) and African
Muslim societies from seventh to 19th century. Social structure institutions and concepts
of Muslim societies. Prerequisites: at least sophomore standing. Recommended prerequisites:
completion of basic course in history, sociology or anthropology.
AFST 376, AFRICAN CULTURAL TRADITIONS
Course examines African culture traditions through select representative African ethnic
groups. It focuses on psychosocial and developmental ritual practices – gestation,
naming, puberty, marriage, eldership, funerary and medico-magical rites – undergirding
life cycles. The course looks at the viability of some of these cultural practices
such as female genital mutilation (clitoridectomy), scarifications and killing and
harvesting of albino bones for magico-medical rituals, as peoples attempt to re-order
their lives in a rapidly changing world.
AFST 377 (also HIST 377), WEST AFRICAN HISTORY, 16th-20th CENTURIES
Course divided into two parts. Part I, survey of West African history, deals with
social-political organization; trade; religion; kingdoms/empires/states; interstate
and interregional relations; relations with Asia, Europe and Americas. Part II focuses
on Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal, and deals with servility/slavery; ethnic relations;
education; women's activities; colonial impact; government; post-independence relations
with selected Eastern and Western states and organizations.
AFST 378, AFRICAN METAPHYSICS
The course explores African view of the universe and the principles that shape the
spiritual and corporeal worlds. Far from dualism or a bicameral cosmos, Africans perceive
of the universe as a single cosmos, with the spiritual as their ideal home, however.
This African perception of the universe also reflects their view of what it means
to be a human. Thus, students are introduced to holistic personality concepts, their
influence on society, religion, and the meaning of existence.
Prerequisite: AFST 171, Introduction to African Religion, or any 100- or 200-level
Africana Studies course.
AFST 379, CONTEMPORARY ART: AFRICA/DIASPORA
This course explores contemporary visual arts of Africa and the African diaspora in
the last three decades. It studies how African and African Diaspora artists and art
theorists in Africa, Europe, America and the Caribbean have influenced and interacted
with one another in this globalized world of migrations, global co-operations, biennales,
and exhibitions. While studying how these interactions have been informed by the cultures
and civilizations in the respective regions, the course also highlights the conceptual
and methodological issues that are of interest to artists in this expansive tri-dimensional
world.
AFST 380B, GLOBAL AFRICA IN THE LONG 1960s
The decade of the 1960s, along with the years before and after, were among the most
tumultuous and epoch- making of the modern era. Indeed, the long 1960s marked something
of a turning point, and its impact remains very much with us in ways large and small.
This course focuses on the long 1960s in the black world – mainly Africa and the Americas
– through an examination of various themes. Notable among those are decolonization
and desegregation, the rise of new political and social movements, the emergence of
novel cultural and artistic form, and the renaissance in feminism.
AFST 380N, ENCOUNTERING THE ORIENT
For centuries, Europe looked at the Arab-Islamic lands as a place of romance and exotic
beings, a fascination that was mixed with fear and resentment that led to the demonization
of both space and people. The course focuses on how Western travelers perceived the
observed societies and people of North Africa and how they passed their perceptions
to their countrymen.
AFST 381A, ORAL HISTORIES & AFRICAN DIASPORA
Course looks at the Black Experience in terms of oral histories provided by people
who lived and worked during the 1940s through the 1960s; fighting for workers rights,
human rights and diasporic workings of society and its views at the times. We will
listen to recorded interviews, televised documentaries and readings from citizens
who strove to achieve equality and peace through movements associated with the Black
Movements during the early 1960s and beyond.
AFST 384H, GLOBAL BLACK MOVEMENTS
This course examines black movements globally over a three-decade period, from the
end of World War II to the mid-1970s. Major themes include the impact of World War
II and the Cold War on global Africa and on black movements, decolonization in Africa
and the Caribbean, the challenges of independence, guerrilla warfare and national
liberation in the African territories untouched by decolonization, apartheid in South
Africa, Civil Rights in the United States, and Black Power in North America, South
Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean.
AFST 385E, AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE IN POETRY & JAZZ
Jazz music and poetry are two forms of artistic expression that have developed side
by side in the movement of African American culture from the oral tradition. Following
this parallel development through the crucial stages of African American history,
the course examines the ways the two art forms have responded to successive social
and political contexts; and some modes of interaction between the music and the poetry,
especially in the phenomenon of "jazz poetry."
AFST 386A, MAKING OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
The seminar focuses on the central question of the identity of descendants of Africa
? Is this identity dependent on where these individuals live today or where they originated?
Do they have a national or a global identity? Is it static or dynamic? What are the
forces within and without these communities that shape this identity? Gender? Economics?
Culture? We will also assess the ways in which scholars and other writers have formulated
theories of the African Diaspora.
AFST 386F, ISSUES IN FEMININE WRITINGS & FILMS
Common themes found in writing and cinema by Arabic Women in the Middle East and North
Africa include the questioning of tradition, recovery of identity, re-description
of stereotypes and resistance to further "servitude/colonization". The themes beg
immediate questions, such as recovery of identity from what? Re-description of which
stereotypes? Resistance to which servitude and colonization? These questions—among
many—are springboards to criteria that may be used to examine representative Middle
Eastern and North African feminism, artistic and literary production by and about
women such as fiction, essays, poems and films. Relations of the North African "plural"
female self and other are expressed in formal properties as well as in the subject
and contents of written as well as cinematic texts by those women.
AFST 389F, ISSUES IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH
This course is designed to address issues involved in the health of African Americans.
Students will be provided with a comprehensive overview of historical forces and social
factors related to the health behavior and status of African-Americans. Students will
analyze the impact of cultural, educational, social, economic, political and environmental
influences on health of African Americans. A multi-disciplinary perspective entailing
history, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, biology and genetics, epidemiology,
and public health will be offered by way of reading assignments, didactic instruction,
class discussions and course assignments.
AFST 397, INDEPENDENT STUDY
Meets special needs and interests of advanced students on tutorial or seminar basis.
It can only be taught by Africana faculty. Prerequisites: consent of instructor.
AFST 477, MEDIUMISTIC TRADITIONS
As seers, healers, reformers, musicians, and advisors, mediums announce the will of
the ancestors and deities, perform rituals, call society to order, sing and dance
to ancient tunes, and admonish elders and rulers to follow traditions of their ancestors.
The course, then, is a critical study of the clerical vocation and role of mediums
as final religious arbiters in Africa.
AFST 480A, GLOBAL HEALTH
This course is designed to explore the impact of globalization on health while examining
the relationships between culture and health promotion/disease prevention issues globally.
Students will analyze the cultural, educational, social, economic, political and environmental
impact of health and development in Non-Western contexts. A multi-disciplinary perspective
entailing but not limited to, history, sociology, social psychology, anthropology,
and public health will be offered by way of reading assignments, didactic instruction,
class discussions, and course assignments.
AFST 480T, AFRICA AND THE WORLD
This is an advanced seminar for Africana studies majors or minors. It examines Africa in
a global context, in early, early modern and modern world history, by reading some
of the latest transnational historical approaches to the African past and present.
Students will explore the historical roots of contemporary issues of trade, politics,
international relations, slavery, colonialism and development in Africa and the African
diaspora. The goal of the seminar is to relate current events and contemporary geopolitics
to their historical antecedents, in order to understand Africa’s changing place in
the contemporary global order.
AFST 481E, AFRICAN FEMINISM
Explores the development of feminist discourses in Africa with respect to problems
in contemporary African social, political, and cultural life. Some of the key concerns
center on the manipulation of tradition, family relations, cultural values, and the
role of the law. The course examines how some of the compelling issues have engaged
African women scholars as they battled the gender discrimination of the postcolonial
state as well as of African men.
AFST 482B, IDEOLOGIES OF BLACK CREATIVITY
Seminar explores the underlying ideologies informing and regulating forms of creative
expression in diverse regions of Africa and or the African Diaspora.
AFST 483E, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES – AFRICAN, AFRICAN AMERICAN, CARIBBEAN
The two basic objectives of this course are (1) to understand the logic and nature
of autobiographical statements – why do people write autobiographies, and to what
extent are these autobiographies accurate accounts of their lives? And (2) to understand
the peculiar nature of autobiographies produced in black societies with histories
of racial or colonial domination. What do they have in common with standard Western
autobiographies, and what are the noticeable differences between them?
AFST 490, SENIOR SEMINAR
Advanced general survey and analysis of critical problems in Africana studies. Prerequisites:
senior standing.
AFST 491, TEACHING PRACTICUM
Independent study through teaching in particular Africana studies course. Course instructor
directs students in preparation of syllabi, other course materials, devising and reading
examinations; lecturing and/or leading
discussion; academic counseling. May be repeated for a total of no more than eight
credits. Credit may not be earned in conjunction with course in which student is currently
enrolled. Does not satisfy major or Harpur
Distribution requirements. Prerequisites: consent of instructor. Pass/Fail only.
AFST 495, INTERNSHIP PROJECT
Internship project under guidance of faculty member, in an institution, agency or
program. Written analytical term report of project work required. Prerequisites: prior
arrangement with and consent of chosen instructor. Four credits of internship may
be counted toward major.
AFST 497, ADVANCED INDEPENDENT STUDY
Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
AFST 499, HONORS THESIS
Honors essay for seniors, under supervision of faculty member. Prerequisites: approval
must be given by director of undergraduate studies and the faculty member concerned.
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