Africana Studies Department
(undergraduate)

FACULTY

Boyce-Davies, Carole, Associate Professor, PhD, University of Ibadan

Laremont, Ricardo Rene, Assistant Professor, PhD, Yale University

Mazrui, Ali, Albert Schweitzer Chair, D. Phil, Oxford University

Muhammad, Akbar, Associate Professor, PhD, Edinburgh University

Nzegwu, Nkiru, Associate Professor, PhD, University of Ottawa

Okpewho, Isidore, Professor, PhD, University of Denver

Patterson, Tiffany, Assistant Professor, PhD, University of Minnesota

Thomas, Darryl C., Associate Professor and Chair, PhD, University of Michigan

Young, Cynthia, Lecturer, Yale University

Associated Faculty
Sharon Bryant, Assistant Professor
Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, Adjunct Professor
Juanita Diaz, Assistant Professor
James A. Geschwender, Professor
Florence Lansana, Assistant Professor
Martin J. Murray, Associate Professor
Sharon Owens, Visiting Assistant Professor
Kelvin Santiago-Valles, Associate Professor
Dale Tomich, Associate Professor
Robert White, Assistant Professor
Lisa Yun, Visiting Lecturer
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PROGRAM COMPONENTS

The Africana Studies Department is multidisciplinary, with some of its faculty holding joint appointments in other departments. The department's offerings thus range across the traditional fields of anthropology, history, literature, political science, sociology, theater, etc. These disciplines are integrated by certain themes that underscore the uniqueness of the department. First, subject matter focuses on African peoples and cultures and those peoples of the New World who are descendants of Africans. Second, the department's courses offer a non-Eurocentric and non-racial approach to the investigations, interpretations, and understanding of the experiences of African peoples and of the wider world social, political, and economic systems. Third, departmental courses broaden the scope and range of traditional disciplines and offer a corrective to those disciplines in which the knowledge of the presence, roles, cultural contributions, and experiences of African peoples and their descendents have been omitted or neglected.
    The department attracts students of all ethnic backgrounds. Both minority and nonminority students benefit from exposure to academic materials and perspectives not otherwise available to them.
    All the department's courses satisfy Harpur College requirements. A cross-disciplinary major (BA program) and minor in Africana studies and a concentration are available.

Requirements for Africana Studies Major

For the major, eight courses taken within the department are required. These should include:
  1. One introductory-level course in African-American studies (100-200 level).
  2. One introductory course in African studies (100-200 level).
  3. One upper-level writing course in the humanities (300-400 level).
  4. One upper-level writing course in the social sciences (300-400 level).
  5. Four remaining courses chosen from departmental offerings or courses cross-listed with other departments.
Many of the students choose to pursue double majors with one of the related departments represented in Africana studies.
    Non-majors are encouraged to enroll in any of the courses indicated above, but they should also consider AFST 112, 232, and 240 as complementary study areas in the social sciences. For the humanities, recommended courses include AFST 272, 282, and 394.

Honors Program

Exceptional students majoring in Africana studies will be considered for admission to the honors program upon the successful completion of five semesters or 80 credit hours (including at least 16 in Africana studies). The honors program consists of two courses taken in the senior year: AFST 497, Special Topic (possibly as independent study), Honors Independent Research and AFST 499, Honors Thesis. Honors in Africana studies are awarded to students who receive at least a B+ grade in the Special Topic and at least an A- in the Honors Thesis.
    Students who wish to enroll in the honors program must have a 3.5 grade-point average. The undergraduate studies director will solicit a sample of the student's written work in Africana studies courses and two letters of recommendation from appropriate faculty.

Africana Studies Minor

The minor in Africana studies is designed to give students with majors in other fields a chance to have a supplementary discipline and focus which can combine their political, social, and academic interests as well as future professional concerns. Students develop their programs with the advice of departmental faculty. Students may, for example, take a history, sociology, literature, or economic concentration with the supervision of the Africana studies faculty.
     A minimum of six courses (24 credits) is required:
  1. Any course at the introductory (100 or 200) level.
  2. At least two senior-level courses, one of which may be the senior seminar designed for majors.
  3. All courses in fulfillment of the minor must be taken in the department.
  4. Only one independent study course may be counted in fulfillment of requirements for the minor.
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Course Offerings

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all undergraduate courses carry 4 credits and are offered every year.

AFST 101. INTRODUCTION TO AFRICANA STUDIES
Multidisciplinary survey of peoples of African descent in Africa and the diaspora (North and South America, Europe, Caribbean, and Asia). Introduction to theoretical materials and to non-Eurocentric perspectives. Social, economic, and political conditions of black communities; the preservation of African cultural elements in the New World; Africa's contribution to development of New World and to European and Asian cultures.

AFST 112 (also PLSC 112). CULTURAL FORCES IN WORLD POLITICS
The impact of values and world-views upon the behavior of groups and states; religion, language, class, ethnicity, race, gender, and ideology in their international implications. Analysis of both East-West relations and North-South tensions will be analyzed from the perspective of political culture including an exploration into the cultural causes of war. A previous course about a non-Western culture is desirable.

AFST 153 (also ANTH 153). INTRODUCTION TO AFRICA
Human populations in Africa from origins to modern times. Geography, ecology, types of economies in relation to environment; traditional cultures, similarities and differences in social-political organization, kinship systems, village, town, community life; traditional state formation; trade, warfare, slavery, religious beliefs, values, aesthetics, cosmologies.

AFST 176 (also HIST 176). 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 221 (also ARTH 221). ICONS AND IMAGES OF THE AFRICAN WORLD
Explores concepts of the rites, performance, and life force in understanding the production of art in different African and African diasporic communities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

AFST 226 (also SOC 226). SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Structural conditions that stimulate rise of social movements; social psychological factors that motivate individuals to support, ignore, or resist social movements; conditions that affect "career" and probability of success or failure of any particular movement. Social movements of present (women's movement, black revolt), recent past (civil rights movement, students' movement), or distant past (Utopian movements).

AFST 232 (also HIST 232). AFRICA, EUROPE, AND THE AMERICAS: 1400-1888
The African experience in the Atlantic world. Course begins with the study of African society in the 15th century, the encounter with Europe, the emergence of the TransAtlantic slave trade and its impact on Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and the formation of "new world" African cultures. Course ends with examination of transition(s) to freedom and rise of an imperial world order predicated on race.

AFST 233 (also HIST 233). AFRICA, EUROPE, AND THE AMERICAS: 1830-1968
The African experience from the end of slavery to the mid-20th century. Focus on development of colonialism in Africa, struggle for freedom and democracy in Europe and the Americas, and creation of "black" cultures and identities in the Atlantic world. Course ends with examination of independence movements and struggle for civil society from end of World War II to late 1960s.

AFST 240 (also SOC 240). WOMEN OF COLOR IN THE U.S.
Examination of the diverse struggles (political, economic, social, legal, etc.) of Asian, Native American, African American, and Latin/Chicana women in the U.S. and the ways in which public institutions and agencies (federal, state, local) deal with women of color.

AFST 257 (also SOC 257). THE BLACK FAMILY
Examination of evolution of black family in the U.S. from its African roots to its contemporary composition in urban America. Emphasis placed on close relationship the black family has with different economic patterns and conditions. The African roots of the black family, male-female roles, socialization and the black child, single parent households, public policy, and the black family. Recent developments in the literature on the black family.

AFST 272 (also ENG 272). AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1700 TO 1920
Explores development of African-American literature from 1700s to 1920s. Deals with such literary forms as slave narratives, essays, poetry, song, short story, drama, the novel.

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 282 (also ENG 282). AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1920 TO PRESENT
Introduces African-American literature from 1920s to present. Examines poetry, the novel, short story, and drama in the context of social, political, and literary developments. Topics include Harlem Renaissance, Richard Wright and the Naturalists, the Black Arts Movement, and black women writers.

AFST 280-289. SPECIAL TOPICS

AFST 311 (also SOC 311). AFRICA IN WORLD
SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE
Understanding the process of change in African sub -Saharan societies, mentalities, economies, and culture. Examined are: natural environment and other historical turning points; sociological heritage of so-called "traditional" societies; impact of Islam as a long-distance relationship with worlds of Mediterranean and Indian Oceans; organization of a western world economy based on Atlan tic trade in slaves, then in raw materials; colonial imperialism; 20th century unrest, reactions, and problems.

AFST 313 (also SOC 313). SLAVERY, RACE, AND CULTURE
Sociological analysis of slavery as process of social and cultural change and of redefinition of social groups within the world economy. Draws on materials from United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Different experiences of slavery, impact on populations of African origin, response of these populations to slavery. Methodological and theoretical problems entailed in analyzing slavery.

AFST 331 (also SOC 331). RACIAL STRATIFICATION IN THE U.S.
Primary emphasis on black Americans. Theories of racial stratification (viz: assimilation, white racism or prejudice, internal colony, social class); comparison of these theories with historical experiences of black Americans. Attempts at black political organization and movements.

AFST 340 (also SOC 340). WOMEN AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Focuses on the interrelationships among gender, race/ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation/preference, and on how these influence the causes for which juvenile and adult females are arrested and incarcerated in local jails, state and federal institutions, immigration facilities, concentration camps, and juvenile detention centers. Also examines the types of offenses for which juvenile and adult females are arrested, the punishment they receive, and the treatment they face once institutionalized. Attention given to how women respond to the conditions of incarceration.

AFST 342 (also PLSC 342). URBAN POLITICS
Politics in urban and metropolitan communities in United States; interaction of social and political forces; problems of public policy, political influence, participation at local level. Prerequisite: PLSC 111.

AFST 350 (also ANTH 351). THE CONCEPT OF RACE IN WESTERN THOUGHT
Western attitudes toward human variation expressed in concept of "race." Probable origins, history, changing conceptualization of race and racial ideologies in context of rise and expansion of European industrial nations. How race has been reflected in science, literature, and popular thought; how notion of race has ordered and continues to order western culture and consciousness from arena of everyday life to contemporary science, the arts, religion, and law.

AFST 352 (also ARTH 352). INTERMEDIATE WORLD OF AFRICAN ART
Exploration of cultural and artistic issues in the works of 20th-century African and African disaporic artists as shaped by major historical events in Africa, Canada, Caribbean, South America, and the United States. Prerequisites: ARTH 111 or 221.

AFST 368 (also SOC 386). POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY
Impact of social structure and social psychological factors on political attitudes and behavior of significant groups and strata. Structure of such groups; social characteristics of leaders and members, analyzed in light of sociological theory. Elites, intellectuals, students, women, ethnic, and religious groups.

AFST 371 (also SOC 371). THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
How social theorists analyze large-scale social change; conceptions of origins, structure, development of modern social systems, classes and social groups; the state and bureaucracy; problems of rationalization and technology; problems of theory and method. Special topics may include the "Rise of the West" and origin and transformations of colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, and women's oppression.

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 postcolonialism, social and political crisis, 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 institution at least sophomore standing. Recommended prerequisite: completion of basic course in history, sociology, or anthropology.

AFST 380-389. SPECIAL TOPICS

AFST 390 (also ENG 390). TOPICS IN BLACK LITERATURE
Specialized and advanced topics in the literature of black peoples: Harlem Renaissance, African women writers, black novelists, etc. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AFST 391 (also ENG 391). MODERN AFRICAN LITERATURE
Study of prose and poetry of contemporary Africa. Introduction to African oral literature; writers who combine both oral and written forms in their works; contemporary authors; current experiments in film. Emphasis on representative authors of major regions; West Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa.

AFST 394 (also ENG 394). BLACK WOMEN WRITERS
Examines the specifics of black women's writing cross-culturally (Afro-American, Caribbean, African, Brazilian, black British, etc.). Attention to the multiple meanings of black womanhood as represented in literature and in theoretical works. Feminist theory by women of color forms an important counterpoint and ideological backdrop to literary explorations. Examines the social construction of gender and social hierarchies as confronted by black women writers.

AFST 397. INDEPENDENT STUDY variable credit
Meets special needs and interests of advanced students on tutorial or seminar basis. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

AFST 403 (also PLSC 403). ISLAM IN WORLD POLITICS
Factors behind the politicization of Islam, from theocratic tradition in Islam to partition of India, from Jihad tradition to Islam's confrontation with Zionism over Palestine. The tensions among Islam, capitalism, and nationalism. Prerequisite: at least one course from among PLSC 319, 327, 375, and 440.

AFST 410A (also ANTH 410). WOMEN OF AFRICA variable credit
Ethnographic explorations of the lives of women in Africa. How women perceive and react to forces of modernization and change: strategies they use to deal with increasingly complex and unpredictable social, economic, and political circumstances. Course orientation is comparative, analytical. Prerequisite: one sociocultural anthropology course.

AFST 422 (also PLSC 422). BLACK POLITICS IN AMERICA
Critical evaluation of fundamental concepts and propositions related to black politics with U.S. political system. African American experience compared to that of Latino, Irish and other ethnic and minority groups. Prerequisite: one intermediate course in American politics.

AFST 435 (also PLSC 435). POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT
Political and social change and modernization in Third World; use of western and communist models of modernization; analysis of selected transitional systems. Prerequisite: one intermediate course in comparative or international politics.

AFST 445 (also PLSC 445). COMPARATIVE BLACK POLITICAL THOUGHT
Historical and contemporary theories of liberation expounded by theoreticians from an Afrocentric perspective; pan-pigmentationism theories and political movements concerned with questions of slavery, colonialism, and racial oppression; pan-proletarianism theories and political movements concerned with questions of economic justice within countries and worldwide. Prerequisite: one course in comparative or international politics.

AFST 480-489. SPECIAL TOPICS

AFST 490. SENIOR SEMINAR
Advanced general survey and analysis of critical problems in Africana studies. Prerequisite: senior standing.

AFST 491. TEACHING PRACTICUM
Independent study through teaching in particular Africana 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 all-college requirements. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. P/F only.

AFST 497. ADVANCED INDEPENDENT STUDY

AFST 499. HONORS THESIS
Honors essay for seniors, under supervision of faculty member. Prerequisite: approval must be given by director of undergraduate studies and the faculty member concerned.
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