Courses

Courses may not be offered during every semester. To confirm course offerings for each semester, please use the Course Search.

Africana Studies has been designed to provide you with an overview and understanding of both historical and contemporary perspectives on the lived experiences of the peoples and cultures of Africa.

The curriculum provides you with a wide breadth of knowledge pertaining to the approaches used in the study of Africa in terms of its history, development, politics, culture, religion, health, environment, resources, growth, and economies.

Introductory Courses

  • AFRO-A 169 Introduction to African American Literature (3 cr.) Representative Afro-American writings including poetry, short story, sermons, novel, drama.
  • AFRO-A 140 Introduction to African American and African Diaspora Studies (3 cr.) Introduction to the theory, method and content of African American and African Diaspora Studies. Examines the social, political, cultural, and economic experiences of people comprising the African Diaspora. Utilizes an interdisciplinary approach and conceptual, theoretical, and analytical frameworks to illustrate the interconnectedness of black people’s experiences and the importance of studying AAADS as a field of scholarly inquiry.
  • AFRO-A 150 Survey of the Culture of Black Americans (3 cr.) The culture of blacks in America viewed from a broad interdisciplinary approach, employing resources from history, literature, folklore, religion, sociology, and political science.
  • AFRO-A 152 Introduction to African Studies (3 cr.) This course provides students with an interdisciplinary, introductory perspective on African continuities and changes. The course will focus on contemporary African societies while considering the lessons learned through the vestiges of slavery, colonization, aparteid and liberation struggles on the continent.
  • AFRO-A 200 Research in African American and African Diaspora Studies (3 cr.) Introduce students to basic tools, techniques and processes of scholarly research in African American and African Diaspora Studies. Students learn and apply technology as it pertains to research, address ethical issues, gain an understanding of basic statistical techniques in research and gain proficiency in reading, writing, understanding, and critiquing research articles, abstracts, and proposals.

Advanced Courses

  • AFRO-A 303 Topics in African American and African Diaspora Studies (1-3 cr.) Interdisciplinary study of various figures and/or issues in Afro-American studies.
  • AFRO-A 306 Globalization, Struggle, and Empowerment in the African Diaspora (3 cr.) Examines the shared cultural, political, social, and intellectual responses to the transoceanic experiences of African diasporic populations. Utilizes interdisciplinary tools and perspectives to understand the impact of colonialism, imperialism, and globalization on African populations of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and selected Western European nations during the modern era.
  • AFRO-A 310 African American Religions (3 cr.) History of African American religions from the colonial era to the present. Topics may include the African influences on African American religion, the presence of conjure, black Methodism, black Baptist women’s leadership, Islam, and new religious movements.
  • AFRO-A 311 Religion and Racism (3 cr.) Explores the interaction of religion and racism.  Selected case studies may include the bible and racism, racial reconciliation among evangelical Christians, the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, and Islamophobia.
  • AFRO-A 316 Women of the Diaspora: Race, Culture, and Education (3 cr.) Introduce students to film, music, poetry, literature, and writing dealing with the experiences of women throughout the African Diaspora, with emphasis on Sub Saharan Africa, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. Students will be required to read four books in addition to short stories, poetry, and scholarly articles on the topic.
  • AFRO-A 326 Race, Beauty, and Popular Culture (3 cr.) This course explores and contextualizes the popular cultural meanings and implications of Western beauty standards as they relate to women and/or men of color. Considerations for the course can include discourses involving ideologies of femininity, masculinity, and beauty or attractiveness as they impact issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. This course addresses questions such as: how are women and/or men of color represented in multimedia, popular culture, and literature? What have been the consequences of applying Western standards of beauty or attractiveness to women and men of color? And how do these standards affect men’s and women’s attitudes and understandings of how they should look, act, feel, and behave–both past and present?
  • AFRO-A 369 The African American Experience (3 cr.) This integrator course introduces students to the methodological and analytical tools needed to understand the historical background, contemporary challenges, and current policy debates about issues confronting the African American community, such as credit market discrimination, affirmative action, and reparations. A chief goal of the course is to expose students to broad themes in African American history, while also providing them with the necessary interdisciplinary tool (both qualitative and quantitative) to analyze contemporary economic problems and prospects.
  • AFRO-A 369 The African American Experience (3 cr.) One of the main goals of this course is to expose students to broad themes in African-American history, while providing the tools to analyze contemporary economic problems and prospects facing the African-American population in the United States.
  • AFRO-A 495 Individual Readings in African American and African Diaspora Studies (1-3 cr.) By arrangement with instructor. Investigation of topics of special interest to students that are not covered in the regular program curriculum or that students wish to pursue in greater detail. May be repeated once for credit.
  • AFRO-A 169 Introduction to African American Literature (3 cr.) Representative Afro-American writings including poetry, short story, sermons, novel, drama.

 

More Info

Please contact Dr. Patricia Turley, jordanp@iupui.edu.