Course Listing - Undergraduate
Official Yale College course information can be found at the Yale Online Course Information website.
Undergraduate Courses - Fall 2009
(* indicates seminar course, G indicates that an undergraduate course is available to graduate students as well)
*AFAM 040a/*FILM 040a, SPIKE LEE.
Terri Francis.
Mon. & Wed. 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. Screenings Mon. 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
AFAM 110a/AMST 161a, FREEDOM AND IDENTITY IN BLACK CULTURES.
Elizabeth Alexander
Mon. & Wed. 10:30 – 11:20 a.m. w/ 1 HTBA
Introduction to major themes and topics in African American experiences; basic methods of interdisciplinary analysis and interpretation in African American studies. Topics include black economic, political, and social institutions; self-identity and social status; literature, art, film, and music; and political and social issues and their relationship to changing social structures.
AFAM 112a/HSAR 379a, NEW YORK MAMBO: MICROCOSM OF BLACK CREATIVITY.
Robert F. Thompson
Tue. & Thu. 11:35 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.
The rise, development, and philosophic achievement of the world of New York mambo and salsa. Emphasis on Palmieri, Cortijo, Roena, Harlow, and Colón. Examination of parallel traditions, e.g., New York Haitian art, Dominican merengue, reggae and rastas of Jamaican Brooklyn, and the New York school of Brazilian capoeira.
*AFAM 191a/*AFST 330a/*FREN 230a/*LITR 266a, FRANCOPHONE AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN LITERATURE.
Christopher Miller
Tuesdays 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
A comprehensive survey of literature written in French from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. The context of French colonialism and its institutions; local and global culture; independence and the postcolonial era. Authors include Senghor, Césaire, Sembène (including film), Kourouma, Bâ, Belaya, Condé, and Lopes.
AFAM 231a/ANTH 211a/WGSS 436a, SEX AND GENDER IN THE BLACK DIASPORA.
Jafari Allen
Tue. & Thu. 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
A critical survey of images, rhetorics, experiences, and practices of gender and sexuality formation of black subjects in Africa, the Caribbean, western Europe, and the United States. Construction of class, nationality, race, color, sexuality, and gender.
*AFAM 233a/*AMST 219a/*THST 219a, PERFORMING AMERICAN IDENTITIES.
Paige McGinley
Tue. & Thu. 11:35 a.m. to 12:50 p.m.
Expressions of national identity and national feeling in American performance history. The role of live performance in generating meanings of America, including race, ethnicity, and citizenship. Performance inherent in political demonstrations, sporting events, dance, and music.
*AFAM 243a/*PLSC 216a, AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICS.
Khalilah Brown-Dean
Tuesdays, 9:25 - 11:15 a.m.
Historical and contemporary political experiences of African Americans in the United States. Traditional and nontraditional strategies for gaining political inclusion.
Prerequisite: PLSC 113b or equivalent.
*AFAM 256a/*HIST 120J, THE SLAVE SOUTH IN BLACK AND WHITE, 1650-1865.
K. Stephen Prince.
Thursdays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
*AFAM 271a/*AFST 350a/*ANTH 350a, TRANSNATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
Kamari Clarke
Wednesdays, 2:30 - 4:20 p.m.
Study of transnational institutions and practices, with a focus on globalized religious movements in the late twentieth century. The rise and expansion of transnational institutions and faith-based practices involved in the development of new transnational religious alliances. Ways that new religious movements are facilitated by the expansion of global formations; how these forces of change are leading to new sociopolitical, economic, and cultural landscapes.
Recommended preparation: ANTH 110b or equivalent.
*AFAM 279a/*AMST 273a/*WGSS 342a, BLACK WOMEN’S LITERATURE.
Naomi Pabst
Mondays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
Examination of black women’s literary texts from the post-civil rights era. Exploration of the ways these writers construct and contest the cultural, ideological, and political parameters of black womanhood. Topics include narrative strategy, modes of representation, and textual depictions of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, color, ethnicity, nationality, class, and generation. Texts placed within the context of black women’s literary legacies.
*AFAM 347a, CARIBBEAN LIVES: PSYCHO-SOCIAL ASPECTS.
Ezra Griffith
Wednesdays, 2:30 - 4:20 p.m.
A study of the development over time of individuals living in the English-speaking Caribbean. Attention both to the portraiture of the lives and to the psycho-social context in which the individuals lived. Discussion of the unique elements in Caribbean life that facilitated or inhibited the developmental process.
*AFAM 352a/*AMST 438a/*ER&M 291a/*LITR 295a/*WGSS 343a, CARIBBEAN DIASPORIC LITERATURE.
Hazel Carby
Mondays, 9:25 - 11:15 a.m.
An examination of contemporary literature written by Caribbean writers who have migrated to, or who journey between, different countries around the Atlantic rim. Focus on literature written in English in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, both fiction and nonfiction. Writers include Caryl Phillips, Nalo Hopkinson, and Jamaica Kincaid.
*AFAM 368a/*AMST 321a, INTERRACIALITY AND HYBRIDITY.
Naomi Pabst
Wednesdays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
Examination of mixed-race matters in both literary and critical writings, primarily within the black/white schema. Historical and current questions of black and interracial identity; the contemporary ?mixed race movement? and the emerging rubric of ?critical mixed race studies?; historical genealogy of interraciality and hybridity. Analysis of long-standing debates on race mixing in the realms of legal classification, transracial adoption, census taking, grassroots movements, the discursive, the ideological, and the popular.
*AFAM 408aG/*AMST 460aG/*ENGL 306aG, AFRICAN AMERICAN POETS OF THE MODERN ERA.
Robert Stepto
Wednesdays 1:30 – 3:20 p.m.
The African American practice of poetry between 1900 and 1960, especially of sonnets, ballads, sermonic, and blues poems. Poets studied include Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, and Robert Hayden. Includes sessions at the Beinecke Library for inspection and discussion of original editions, manuscripts, letters, and other archival material.
*AFAM 421aG/*ER&M 234a/*PLSC 263aG, RACE AND ETHNICITY.
Khalilah Brown-Dean
Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
Race and ethnicity in American politics. The social construction of race; intersections between race and gender; black, Latino, and Asian American public opinion and political participation; minority representation; the relationship among race, racism, and public policy; immigration and citizenship; state politics; the psychology of racial politics; and the role of race in campaigns.
*AFAM 428a/*AMST 335a/*THST 406a, DANCE AND POPULAR BLACK CULTURE.
Thomas DeFrantz
Tuesdays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
Approaches to theorizing performance, in particular dance performance of a black diaspora. Uncovering methodologies pertinent to the discovery and analysis of dance performance, intersections of black popular culture, and concepts of the corporeal.
*AFAM 437aG/*AMST 420aG/*ENGL 445aG, RALPH ELLISON IN CONTEXT.
Robert Stepto.
Mondays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
The complete works of Ralph Ellison and related works (in various art forms) of his contemporaries, including Wright, Baldwin, Bearden, and Louis Armstrong.
*AFAM 471a, INDEPENDENT STUDY: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES. By appointment with faculty.
Independent research under the direction of a member of the department on a special topic in African American Studies not covered in other courses. Permission of the director of undergraduate studies and of the instructor directing the research is required. A proposal signed by the instructor must be submitted to the director of undergraduate studies by the end of the second week of classes. The instructor meets with the student regularly, typically for an hour a week, and the student writes a final paper or a series of short essays.
*AFAM 480a, SENIOR COLLOQUIUM: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES.
Deborah Thomas
Thursdays 1:30 - 3:20 p.m. 81 Wall Street Room 406.
A seminar on issues and approaches in African American studies. The colloquium offers students practical help in refining their senior essay topics and developing research strategies. Students discuss assigned readings and share their research experiences and findings. During the term, students are expected to make substantial progress on their senior essays; they are required to submit a prospectus, an annotated bibliography, and a draft of one-quarter of the essay.
*AFAM 491a, THE SENIOR ESSAY.
Khalilah Brown-Dean
1 HTBA
Independent research on the senior essay. The senior essay form must be submitted to the director of undergraduate studies by the end of the second week of classes. The senior essay should be completed according to the following schedule: (1) end of the sixth week of classes: a rough draft of the entire essay; (2) end of the last week of classes (fall term) or three weeks before the end of classes (spring term): two copies of the final version of the essay.
Undergraduate Courses - Spring 2010
(* indicates seminar course, G indicates that an undergraduate course is available to graduate students as well)
*AFAM 095b/*AMST 001b/*HIST 001b, AFRICAN AMERICAN FREEDOM MOVEMENTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
Glenda Gilmore
Tue. & Thu. 1:00 - 2:15 p.m.
Introduction to the study and writing of history, focusing on how African Americans fought for civil rights throughout the twentieth century. The civil rights movement placed in its historical context; African American freedom struggles placed in the larger narrative of U.S. history.
Enrollment limited to first-year students only. Preregistration required.
AFAM 162b/AMST 162b/ HIST 187b, AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: FROM EMANCIPATION TO THE PRESENT.
Jonathan Holloway
Mon. & Wed. 10:30 to 11:20 a.m., w/1 HTBA.
An examination of the African American experience since 1861. Emphasis on African Americans in the Civil War and Reconstruction; the thought and leadership of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Du Bois, Garvey, King, and Malcolm X; the urban experience of African Americans; the civil rights movement and its aftermath.
AFAM 172b/HIST 119b, THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION ERA, 1845-1877.
David Blight
Tue. & Thu. 10:30 - 11:20 a.m., w/1 HTBA.
The causes, course, and consequences of the American Civil War. A search for the multiple meanings of a transformative event, including national, sectional, racial, constitutional, social, gender, intellectual, and individual dimensions.
AFAM 178bG/AFST 188bG, FROM WEST AFRICA TO THE BLACK AMERICAS: THE BLACK ATLANTIC VISUAL TRADITION.
Robert F. Thompson
Tue. & Thu. 11:35 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.
Art, music, and dance in the history of key classical civilizations south of the Sahara - Mali, Asante, Dahomey, Yoruba, Ejgham, Kongo - and their impact on New World art and music, especially rock, blues, North American black painting of the past ten years, and black artists of Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil.
*AFAM 181b/*SOCY 166b, METHOD AND PRACTICE OF FIELD WORK.
Elijah Anderson
Mondays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
A practical introduction to theoretical and methodological issues in qualitative sociology.
Recommended preparation: SOCY 160b.
*AFAM 242b/*FILM 370b, MEDIA, THE MOVIES, AND BLACK FOLK.
Terri Francis.
Tuesdays, 9:25 - 11:15 a.m. Screenings, Mon. 7:00 p.m.
A survey of African American cinema from Oscar Micheaux's Within Our Gates (1919) to Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) and beyond. Topics include the concept of a black aesthetic, the relationship between commercial and independent filmmaking practices, and the question of genre.
AFAM 250b, BLACKS AND THE LAW.
Judge Flemming Norcott
Mon. & Wed. 4:30 - 5:45 p.m.
An exploration of the ways in which legislative and judicial policy has affected the legal and socioeconomic status of African Americans from slavery to the present. Constitutional concepts of equality and integration examined.
*AFAM 295b/*AMST 295b/ENGL 295b, AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE II: 1900 - 1970.
Robert Stepto
Tue. & Thu. 1:00 - 2:15 p.m.
An examination of modern African American literature, concentrating on the short story and novel. Topics include the shape of the narrative; major literary themes such as migration and urbanization, racial oppression, representation of women, and identity; the literary 'renaissances' of the twentieth century; and canon formation and genre practices. Authors include Gwendolyn Brooks, Charles Chesnutt, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Jean Toomer, and August Wilson.
*AFAM 304b/*AMST 309b/*WGSS 309b, TONI MORRISON.
Naomi Pabst
Wednesdays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
Analysis of Toni Morrison's speeches, interviews, essays, and eight novels. Examination of race, gender, class, sexuality, identity, and memory in Morrison's work.
AFAM 332b/PLSC 223b, ETHNIC POLITICS IN THE U.S.
Khalila Brown-Dean
Tue. and Thu. 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. 1/HTBA.
This course examines the impact of ethnic and racial group identity on political behavior in the United States. We will examine the political experiences of major ethnic and racial groups in the United States such as Irish, Italian, Asian, Jewish, Native and African Americans as well as Latinos and Muslims. A number of key policy issues as immigration, education, and housing will also be explored.
*AFAM 365b/*FREN 373b/*LITR 211b, CREOLE CULTURES OF THE CARIBBEAN.
Christopher L. Miller
Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
Exploration of Creole identity, with a focus on the French and English Caribbean and on Louisiana. The term ?Creole? as inseparable from issues of race and slavery. Readings of historical and literary texts, both well-known and obscure, from the eighteenth through the twentieth century.
Reading knowledge of French required.
*AFAM 374b/*AMST 374b/*ER&M 333b, BLACK TRAVEL AND TRANSNATIONALITY.
Naomi Pabst
Mondays, 3:30 - 5:20 p.m.
Examination of literary and critical writings on African American and black diasporic travel and transnational movement. Emphasis on representation and narrative strategy. The history of black transnational border crossing and its influence on the cultural, political, and ideological parameters of black identity. Forms, varieties, conflicts, and dilemmas of black transnational movement, travel, and tourism.
*AFAM 406bG/*AMST 405bG/*ENGL 405bG, AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN AMERICA.
Robert Stepto
Mondays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
A study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century autobiographical writings including those by Jefferson, Whitman, Douglass, Henry Adams, Chesnutt, William Carlos Williams, Hong Kingston, and Hellman. Topics include autobiographical forms (diaries, letters, narratives) and the bond between region and autobiographical practice.
*AFAM 410b/*WGSS 410b, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES.
Deborah Thomas
Thursdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m. 81 Wall Street, Room 406.
An interdisciplinary, theoretical approach to the study of race, nation, and ethnicity in the African diaspora. Topics include class, gender, color, and sexuality; the dynamics of Pan-Africanism, neocolonialism, and contemporary black nationalism.
*AFAM 411b/*AMST 426b/*ER&M 413b/*WGSS 411b, THE FICTION OF IMAGINARY OR IMMINENT FUTURES. Hazel Carby
Mondays, 9:25 - 11:15 a.m.
Consideration of the nature of utopian and dystopian ideas and the relation between early science fiction and the political project of colonization. Readings of speculative fiction and critical essays from the middle of the twentieth century to the present, including a survey of writing by African American authors.
*AFAM 414b/*WGSS 438b, WOMEN, LAW, AND THE BLACK FREEDOM MOVEMENT.
Kathleen Cleaver
Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
Writings and scholarship of women are used to examine struggles against slavery, racial segregation, economic exploitation, and gender discrimination in the United States. Focus on women who were abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and freedom fighters
*AFAM 419bG/*FILM 425bG/*WGSS 341bG, THEORIES OF BLACK WOMEN AND FILM.
Terri Francis
Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
*AFAM 436bG/*ENGL 436bG, CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN-AMERICAN POETRY.
Elizabeth Alexander
Wednesdays, 1:30 - 3:20 p.m.
African American poetry from 1960 to the present, including theoretical approaches to poetry and poetics. Authors include Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rita Dove, and Michael Harper.
*AFAM 465b/*MUSI 487b, TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.
Michael Veal
Mon. & Wed. 2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Advanced study of the traditional and contemporary music of sub-Saharan Africa. Focus on selected musics and music cultures of Guinea, Mali, the Gambia, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
*AFAM 472b, INDEPENDENT STUDY: AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES. By Appointment with Faculty.
Independent research under the direction of a member of the department on a special topic in African American Studies not covered in other courses. Permission of the director of undergraduate studies and of the instructor directing the research is required. A proposal signed by the instructor must be submitted to the director of undergraduate studies by the end of the second week of classes. The instructor meets with the student regularly, typically for an hour a week, and the student writes a final paper or a series of short essays. May be elected for one or two terms.
*AFAM 491b, THE SENIOR ESSAY.
Khalilah Brown-Dean
Independent research on the senior essay. The senior essay form must be submitted to the director of undergraduate studies by the end of the second week of classes. The senior essay should be completed according to the following schedule: (1) end of the sixth week of classes: a rough draft of the entire essay; (2) end of the last week of classes (fall term) or three weeks before the end of classes (spring term): two copies of the final version of the essay.
