Afro American Studies
Course Descriptions
Spring 2007

LOWER DIVISION COURSES.

AFRO-AM 6. Trends in Black Intellectual Thought (4)
Lecture, three hours; Seminar. Overview of major intellectual trends that have shaped ways in which Afro-American thinkers have interpreted experiences of blacks in the U.S., drawing from such fields as history, philosophy, and literature. Letter grading.
Instructor: Streeter, C.A.
Bunche 2160
MW 2:00 - 3:50PM
ID# 104-018-200

UPPER DIVISION COURSES.

AFRO-AM M103B. African American Theater History: Minstrel Stage to Rise of the American Musical. (4)
(Same as Theater M103B.) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Exploration of extant materials on history and literature of theater as developed and performed by African American artists in America from the minstrel stage to the rise of the American musical. Letter grading.
Instructor: Freeman, B.M.
Haines A76
MW 4:00 - 5:20PM
ID#: 104-311-200

AFRO-AM M104A. Early Afro-American Literature (5)
Course Description: (Same as Afro-American Studies M104A.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H. Introductory survey of black American literature from 18th century through World War I, including oral and written forms (folktales, spirituals, sermons; fiction, poetry, essays), by authors such as Phillis Wheatley, David Walker, Frances Harper, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Charles W. Chesnutt, Booker T. Washington, and Pauline Hopkins. P/NP or letter grading.
GE Status: Not a GE course
Instructor: Yarborough
TR 12:00-1:50P
HUMANTS 135
104-314-201

AFRO-AM CM112A. Afro-American Music in California (4)
(Same as Ethnomusicology CM112.) Lecture, four hours. Historical and analytical examination of African American music in California, including history, migration patterns, and urbanism to determine their impact on development of African American music in California. Concurrently scheduled with course CM212A. P/NP or letter grading. Not a GE Course.
Instructor: Djedje,J.C
SMB 1421
TR 11:00-12:50p
104-352-200

AFRO-AM CM112D. African American Art (4)
(Same as Art History CM112D.) Lecture, three hours. Detailed inquiry into work of 20th-century African American artists whose works provide insightful and critical commentary about major features of American life and society, including visits to various key African American art institutions in Los Angeles. Concurrently scheduled with course CM212D. P/NP or letter grading. Not a GE Course.
Instructor: Vonblum, P
DODD 121
MW 12:00-1:50p
104-355-200

AFRO-AM M154C. Black Experience in Latin America and Caribbean. (4)
(Same as Political Science M154C.) Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Culture, history, politics, and identity of African Americans in Spanish and Lusophone Caribbean, South America, and Central America. Exploration of issues of identity in context of Afro/Latino migration to the U.S. P/NP or letter grading.
Instructor: Sawyer, M.Q.
Public Policy 1337
MW 10:00 - 11:50PM
ID# 104-626-200

AFRO-AM M158C. Introduction to Afro-American History. (4)
(Same as History M150C.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Designed for juniors/seniors. Survey of Afro-American experience, with emphasis on three great transitions of Afro-American life: transition from Africa to New World slavery, transition from slavery to freedom, and transition from rural to urban milieus. P/NP or letter grading.
Instructor: Brown, Scot
DODD 175
MW 2:00 - 3:15PM
ID#: 104-597-200

AFRO-AM M159P. Constructing Race. (4)
(Same as Anthropology M159P and Asian American Studies M169). Lecture, three hours. Examination of race, a socially constructed category, from anthropological perspective. Consideration of development of racial categories over time and in different regions, racial passing, multiracial identity in the U.S., whiteness, race in popular culture, and race and identity. P/NP or letter grading. Anthropology majors only.
Instructor: Park, K.
Bunche 3178
W 11:00AM - 1:50PM
ID # 104-640-200

AFRO-AM M164 Afro-American Experience in the U.S. (4)
(Same as Anthropology M164.) Lecture, three hours. Promotes understanding of contemporary sociocultural forms among Afro-Americans in the U.S. by presenting a comparative and diachronic perspective on the Afro-American experience in the New World. Emphasis on utilization of anthropological concepts and methods in understanding the origins and maintenance of particular patterns of adaptation among black Americans. P/NP or letter grading. NOT A GE COURSE
Instructor: Nida, W
Haines 118
MW 12:30-1:45P
104-685-200

AFRO-AM M165 Race and Labor (4)
(Same as Soc and Labor Studies M165). Lecture 3 hours a week; Discussion, One hour. Limited to Juniors and Seniors. The exploration of the relationship between race/ethnicity, employment, and U.S. labor movement. Analysis of underlying racial divisions in workforce and how they evolved historically. Consideration of circumstance under which workers and unions have excluded people of color from jobs and unions, as well as circumstances under wechich workers and unions have organized people of color into unions in efforts to improve their wages and working conditions. The impact of the globalization on these dynamics. P/NP or letter grading. Not a GE Course.
Instructor: Bonacich, E
TR 9:30-10:45
Haines 118

AFRO-AM M179A. Topics in Afro-American Literature (5)
Course Description: (Formerly numbered M197A.) (Same as Afro-American Studies M179A.) Seminar, four hours. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H. Variable specialized studies course in Afro-American literature. Topics include Harlem Renaissance; Afro-American Literature in Nadir, 1890 to 1914; Contemporary Afro-American Fiction. May be repeated for credit. P/NP or letter grading.
Instructor: Mullen
T 9:00-11:50A
Humanities A60
ID #: 104-774-200

AFRO-AM C191. Sem 1: Afrocentricity (4)
Afrocentricity is a contemporary intellectual challenge to the dominant Eurocentric mainstream social science academia that marginalized the place and role of Africans in human history and civilization. Afrocentricity and its variant Black Studies call for a paradigm shift by making Africa the subject instead of the object of studies and the need for an autonomous African agency in place of being a mere addition to Eurocentric academia. Its corpus of data includes decades of efforts by continental African and Diaspora African scholarship including those of W.E.B. Du Bois, Cheikh Anta Diop, Maulana Karenga, Molefi Asante, Marimba Ani, Ivan van Sertima, C.T. Keto-to name a few.
Instructor: Ayele, N.
PUB POL 1337
TR 11-12:50P
ID # 100-846-201

C191. Sem. 2: Women of the African Diaspora (4)
This course explores the development and connections of women of African descent. They may be in the United States, Brazil, the Caribbean, or Europe. What do they have in common and what dissimilarities do they face? How may they unite around issues from identity to political development?
Instructor: Radcliffe, K
Kinsey Pavilion (Old Knudsen Lecture Hall)
TR 9-10:50A
ID# 104-846-200

AFRO-AM C191. Sem 3: Biography and Autobiography by People of Color (5)
In this course we'll examine biography and autobiography by and about people of color (including African American, Asian American, and Latinos). From slave narratives to today's memoirs, people of color and other marginalized people have written themselves into history through these important genres. We will look at their various forms: personal essay, spoken word, and even film with an eye as to how they were written and how they function as a true narrative in contrast to the conventions of a fictional narrative. We'll look at current controversies concerning falsified biography and autobiography, and we'll examine the current mistrust of conventional fiction in the area of "reality" television and other "reality" based entertainments. We'll attempt to define what genuine "biography" and "autobiography" is today, and we'll consider the merit and personal aesthetic of student research and writing projects in a lecture/workshop environment designed to engender frank and constructive discussion.
Instructor: Tervalon, J
Bunche 3156
T 6:00- 8:50P
ID# 104-846-203

Afro-am C191 Sem 4. The Language of Hip Hop Culture (4)
Hip Hop Culture is sometimes defined as having four major elements: MC'ing (rappin), DJ'ing (spinnin records), breakdancing (also known as "streetdancing," an array of acrobatic dances associated with the Hip Hop cultural domain) and graffiti art (also known as "writing" or "tagging" by its practitioners). To these, pioneering Hip Hop artist KRS-One adds knowledge as a fifth element, and Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the Hip Hop Cultural Movement, adds overstanding (more than a cursory understanding of something, an ability to read between the lines to arrive at a deeper, sometimes hidden, meaning; used frequently by Rastafarians). It is useful to distinguish between the terms "Hip Hop" and "Rap." Rappin, one aspect of Hip Hop Culture, consists of the aesthetic placement of verbal rhymes over musical beats. Hip Hop Culture refers not only to the various elements listed above, but also to the entire range of cultural activity and modes of being that encompass the Hip Hop Culture-World. This is why Bloods be sayin, "Hip Hop ain't just music, it's a whole way of life!" Hip Hop music is a vast field that covers multiple genres from "party rap" to "politically conscious rap," as well as multiple styles from "commercial" to "underground" and regions from the "West Coast" to the "East Coast" and "Dirty South.
Instructor: Alim, H.S
Royce 362
R 10:00-1:50
ID # 104-685-200

AFRO-AM M194C. Culture, Communications, and Human Development Research Group Seminars (5)
Course Description: (Same as Education M194C.) Seminar, three hours; laboratory, two hours (when scheduled). Enforced co requisite: course M182C or M183C. Research seminar designed to provide opportunity to combine theory and practice in study of human development in educational contexts. Focus on relationship between theories of development, culture, and technologies. May be taken independently for credit. Letter grading.
Instructor: Asato, J.A
Moore 2120
TR 11:00-12:50p
104-866-200

GRADUATE DIVISION

AFRO-AM M211. African American Music (4)
(Same as Ethnomusicology M211.) Seminar, three hours. Requisites: Ethnomusicology CM110A, CM110B. Designed for graduate students. In-depth examination of intellectual history of African American music scholarship. Intensive investigation of problems, theories, interdisciplinary methods/schools of research, and bibliography related to study of African American music. Letter grading.
Instructor: Keyes
SMB 1421
R 3:00-5:50
504-066-200

AFRO-AM CM212A. Afro-American Music in California (4)
(Same as Ethnomusicology CM112.) Lecture, four hours. Historical and analytical examination of African American music in California, including history, migration patterns, and urbanism to determine their impact on development of African American music in California. Concurrently scheduled with course CM212A. P/NP or letter grading. Not a GE Course.
Instructor: Djedje,J.C
SMB 1421
TR 11:00-12:50p
504-072-200

AFRO-AM CM212D. African American Art (4)
(Same as Art History CM112D.) Lecture, three hours. Detailed inquiry into work of 20th-century African American artists whose works provide insightful and critical commentary about major features of American life and society, including visits to various key African American art institutions in Los Angeles. Concurrently scheduled with course CM212D. P/NP or letter grading. Not a GE Course.
Instructor: Vonblum, P
DODD 121
MW 12:00-1:50p
504-075-200

AFRO-AM C291. Sem 1: Afrocentricity (4)
Afrocentricity is a contemporary intellectual challenge to the dominant Eurocentric mainstream social science academia that marginalized the place and role of Africans in human history and civilization. Afrocentricity and its variant Black Studies call for a paradigm shift by making Africa the subject instead of the object of studies and the need for an autonomous African agency in place of being a mere addition to Eurocentric academia. Its corpus of data includes decades of efforts by continental African and Diaspora African scholarship including those of W.E.B. Du Bois, Cheikh Anta Diop, Maulana Karenga, Molefi Asante, Marimba Ani, Ivan van Sertima, C.T. Keto-to name a few.
Instructor: Ayele, N.
PUB POL 1337
TR 11-12:50P
ID # 100-846-201

AFRO-AM C291 Sem 2: Women of the African Diaspora (4)
This course explores the development and connections of women of African descent. They may be in the United States, Brazil, the Caribbean, or Europe. What do they have in common and what dissimilarities do they face? How may they unite around issues from identity to political development?
Instructor: Radcliffe, K
Kinsey Pavilion (Old Knudsen Lecture Hall)
TR 9-10:50A
ID# 104-846-200

AFRO-AM C291. Sem 3 Biography and Autobiography by People of Color (5)
In this course we'll examine biography and autobiography by and about people of color (including African American, Asian American, and Latinos). From slave narratives to today's memoirs, people of color and other marginalized people have written themselves into history through these important genres. We will look at their various forms: personal essay, spoken word, and even film with an eye as to how they were written and how they function as a true narrative in contrast to the conventions of a fictional narrative. We'll look at current controversies concerning falsified biography and autobiography, and we'll examine the current mistrust of conventional fiction in the area of "reality" television and other "reality" based entertainments. We'll attempt to define what genuine "biography" and "autobiography" is today, and we'll consider the merit and personal aesthetic of student research and writing projects in a lecture/workshop environment designed to engender frank and constructive discussion.
Instructor: Tervalon, J
Bunche 3156
T 6:00- 8:50P
ID# 104-846-203

Afro-am C291 Sem 4. The Language of Hip Hop Culture (4)
Hip Hop Culture is sometimes defined as having four major elements: MC'ing (rappin), DJ'ing (spinnin records), breakdancing (also known as "streetdancing," an array of acrobatic dances associated with the Hip Hop cultural domain) and graffiti art (also known as "writing" or "tagging" by its practitioners). To these, pioneering Hip Hop artist KRS-One adds knowledge as a fifth element, and Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the Hip Hop Cultural Movement, adds overstanding (more than a cursory understanding of something, an ability to read between the lines to arrive at a deeper, sometimes hidden, meaning; used frequently by Rastafarians). It is useful to distinguish between the terms "Hip Hop" and "Rap." Rappin, one aspect of Hip Hop Culture, consists of the aesthetic placement of verbal rhymes over musical beats. Hip Hop Culture refers not only to the various elements listed above, but also to the entire range of cultural activity and modes of being that encompass the Hip Hop Culture-World. This is why Bloods be sayin, "Hip Hop ain't just music, it's a whole way of life!" Hip Hop music is a vast field that covers multiple genres from "party rap" to "politically conscious rap," as well as multiple styles from "commercial" to "underground" and regions from the "West Coast" to the "East Coast" and "Dirty South."
Instructor: Alim, H.S
Royce 362
R 10:00-1:50
ID # 104-685-200

**AFRO-AM C291. Sem 7 - CANCELLED**