B.A. degree program in Africana studies
HEGIS code 2211; SED program code 02112
Department requirements (45 credits)

Two courses chosen from Africana Studies 0.12 through 0.9.
Four courses chosen from one of the groups a), b), or c):
a) History and political science: 10 through 19.
b) Literature, culture, and the arts: 20 through 29.
c) Society and the economy: 30 through 59.
Two courses from groups other than the one chosen above.
One seminar or independent study course chosen from Africana Studies 70.1 through 88.

Eighteen credits of advanced courses offered by any other single department or program plus any prerequisite of the courses.

Department recommendation

Students should consult a department counselor for help in planning a course of study. Majors are advised to include a methods course among the eighteen credits of advanced electives in another department or program offered for the completion of the major. Majors may satisfy their writing across the curriculum requirement with Africana Studies 79W or a writing-intensive course in another department.

B.A. degree program in adolescence education:
social studies teacher
HEGIS code 2201.01; SED program code 26754
See the “Social Studies” and “Education” sections in this Bulletin.

Requirements for a minor in African American studies

A program of 15 credits, nine of which must be advanced electives in Africana studies. Each course must be completed with a grade of C or higher. Students must complete 1 and 2 below.

1. Africana Studies 12.5 or 12.6.
2. Twelve additional credits selected from Africana Studies 12.5, 12.6, 23, 23.1; Africana Studies 24.1 or English 64.2; Africana Studies 24.2 or English 64.3; Africana Studies 24.3 or Music 10.1; Africana Studies 24.4; Africana Studies 24.5 or Theater 41.4; Africana Studies 25.2 or American Studies 20.2; Africana Studies 41, 43, 44, 44.6, 54; Economics 40.5; History 41.3; Music 20.4; Political Science 38; Sociology 26,
26.1, 26.4, 61.4.

Requirements for a minor in African studies

A program of 15 credits of advanced electives. Each course must be completed with a grade of C or higher. Students must complete 1 and 2 below.

1. Africana Studies 11.2 or History 55.2.

2. Twelve credits chosen from the following: Africana Studies 11.1 or History 55.1; Africana Studies 11.3, 11.5, 12.1; Africana Studies 12.4 or Political Science 49.2; Africana Studies 23.1, 24.7, 24.8, 28; Anthropology 53; Art 16.02.

Requirements for a minor in literatures of the African diaspora

A program of 15 credits of advanced electives. Each course must be completed with a grade of C or higher. Students must complete 1, 2, and 3 below.

1. Africana Studies 24.2 or English 64.3.

2. One of the following: Africana Studies 23, 23.1, 24.7.

3. Nine credits chosen from the following: Africana Studies 23, 23.1; Africana Studies 24.1 or English 64.2; Africana Studies 24.3 or Music 10.1; Africana Studies 24.5 or Theater 41.4; Africana Studies 24.7; Africana Studies 24.8 Africana Studies 85 or Comparative Literature 32.2; Africana Studies 25.2 or American Studies 20.2; Africana Studies 27 or English 64.4; Africana Studies 28.5 or English 50.13 or Comparative Literature 50.13; Africana Studies 29 or Comparative Literature 38.3 or Puerto Rican and Latino Studies 38; French 48.1; Spanish 49.

Division of Graduate Studies

The Africana Studies Department offers graduate courses for students in other fields. For information, students should consult the department chairperson. A Graduate Bulletin may be obtained in the Office of Admissions.

Courses

*Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are not counted toward the requirement of no fewer than 18 credits in advanced courses for majors in this department. §Independent work means not less than three additional
hours each week of conference, research, independent reading, and writing as assigned by the instructor. The student’s grade is determined in part by the successful completion of this independent work. The Schedule of Classes published each term lists courses offered. Not all courses are offered each term.

Introductory courses

0.12 Introduction to Contemporary Africa
3 hours; 3 credits
Historical, cultural, religious, social, educational, and economic background of the African continent. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 0.1.)

0.2 Introduction to African American Studies
3 hours; 3 credits
Growth and development of social, political, economic, cultural, and religious institutions of the African American community.

0.25 Introduction to Contemporary African American Culture
3 hours; 3 credits
Race and representation in contemporary culture. An interdisciplinary examination of African American culture from the “Black Arts Movement” to the present. Novels, poetry, films, and music as cultural texts; and political discourses as cultural texts. Topics may include: the Black Aesthetic Movement, Malcolm X, Afrocentricity, multiculturalism, body politics, and the intersection of race and gender. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 23.2.)

0.4 Introduction to Research Studies of African Americans
3 hours; 3 credits
Research methods and procedures for study of phenomena characteristic of the Black community. Development of the young Black child. Interviewing techniques, participant observation, historiography, quantitative methods and computer applications.

0.5 Introduction to the Caribbean
3 hours; 3 credits
Study and analysis of peoples, forces, institutions, and cultures of the Caribbean. African, European, United States, and Western Hemisphere influences on Caribbean development. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 17.)

History and political science

11.1 Africa to 1800
3 hours; 3 credits
Themes in the history of Africa south of the Sahara from earliest times to 1800. Salient themes include Nile Valley civilizations, trans-Saharan trade, early social and economic systems,West African states, especially the Empire of Mali, Islamic influences, state formation, Swahili coastal city states, and Indian Ocean trade. Origins, development, and consequences of the Atlantic slave trade; abolition. This course is the same as History 55.1. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 18.1.)
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.12, Core Studies 4 or 9, Core Curriculum 2.2, History 1, 2, 3, 4, 41.8, or 41.9, or permission of the chairperson.

11.2 Africa from 1800
3 hours; 3 credits
Themes drawn from all regions of the continent of Africa south of the Sahara from 1800 to the present.The Islamic revolutions, the Zulu Empire and political evolution in South Africa, the rise of legitimate trade, the impact of European missionaries and explorers, imperialism, the colonial state, nationalist independence movements, and post independence challenges. This course is the same as History 55.2. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 18.2.)
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.12, Core Studies 4 or 9, Core Curriculum 2.2, History 1, 2, 3, 4, 41.8, or 41.9, or permission of the chairperson.

11.3 Africa in Antiquity
3 hours; 3 credits
Introduction to history, art, philosophy and religion of the Nile Valley civilizations of Kemmet (Egypt), Ethiopia, Nubia, Kush. Ancient Ethiopian Kingdom of Axum, African links to Greece and Rome.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.12, 0.2; Core Studies 1 or 9 or Core Curriculum 1.1 or 2.2.

11.5 Southern Africa
3 hours; 3 credits
History of people and politics in southern Africa. Major political, economic, and social developments in the 19th and 20th centuries. Focus on South Africa as central to regional 86 Africana Studies economic and political evolution. (Not open to students who have completed Africana Studies 11.6.)
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.12, or 0.2; Core Studies 3 or 9 or Core Curriculum 2.2.

12.1 The African Diaspora
3 hours; 3 credits
Creation and history of the African diaspora. Economic,
political, and sociocultural interrelationships of Africa and the
African diaspora.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.3,
Core Studies 4 or 9.

12.4 Political Systems of Africa
3 hours; 3 credits
Political developments in the African states. Patterns before
and after independence. Development of nationalism. Political
integration, institution building, one-party systems, role of the
military, and protest movements. Problems of regional and
African unity. This course is the same as Political Science 49.2.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Political Science 1, 1.5, 5,
Core Studies 3, Africana Studies 0.1, 0.11, or 0.12.

12.5 African American History to 1860
3 hours; 3 credits
African Americans from the era of the Atlantic slave trade
to the beginning of the Civil War. Topics include the African
origins of African Americans, defining African Americans,
the slave trade, free Blacks in antebellum America, origins
of the Black church, slavery, and abolitionism.
Prerequisite: Core Studies 4 or 9, or permission of
the chairperson.

12.6 African American History from 1860
3 hours; 3 credits
African Americans since the beginning of the Civil War. Topics
include Blacks and Reconstruction, Blacks and Redemption,
“The Nadir,” emigration and colonization, Black cowboys, the
Great Migration, Blacks in World Wars I and II, Marcus Garvey,
Blacks and the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights and
Black Power movements. (Not open to students who have
completed Africana Studies 12.7.)
Prerequisite: Core Studies 4 or 9, or permission of the
chairperson.

12.9 The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements
3 hours; 3 credits
Examination of the major themes and debates in the Civil
Rights and Black Power movements in the United States from
1950 to 1975. Highlight the discourses among and about
African Americans as they relate to the creation of political
and social movements in the quest for racial and economic
justice. This course is the same as Political Science 32.1.
Prerequisite: Core Studies 3 or 4 or Core Curriculum 2.2 or 2.3.

14.3 The Struggle for Liberation
3 hours; 3 credits
Analysis of Black protest and liberation movements from the
slave revolts to recent urban rebellions. Immediate underlying
causes of specific events. Such major trends as the civil rights
movement, Black nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and the Third
World movement.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Core Studies 3, 4, 9,
Sociology 5, Political Science 1 or 1.5, or Social Science 1
or 2, or Africana Studies 0.12 or 0.2.

17.3 Caribbean Societies in Perspective
3 hours; 3 credits
Emergence of Caribbean societies during the era of indentured
servants in the islands. Imported institutions and their changing
character in the new environment.

17.4 Caribbean Political Systems
3 hours; 3 credits
Comparative approach to the government and politics of the contemporary Caribbean.
Major states in the Caribbean:
Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, the Commonwealth
Caribbean; and selected members of other territories. The
political economy of these societies and the growth of mass
movements. Foreign policies of various Caribbean states.
This course is the same as Political Science 49.8.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Core Studies 3, 9, Africana
Studies 17, 17.3, Political Science 1.5.

17.5 Haitian Heritage
3 hours; 3 credits
Creation and development of the Haitian experience as
shaped by the African connections. Analysis of the societal
forces impinging on Haiti as the first Black independent
republic in the New World.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.5, 17, 17.3,
17.4, or permission of the chairperson.

19 Special Topics in History and Politics
3 hours; 3 credits
Study of selected topics in the history and politics of the
Africana world. Students may take this course for credit
twice, but may not repeat topics.
Prerequisite: English 2 or sophomore status or permission of
the chairperson.

Literature, culture, and the arts

23 African American Folklore
3 hours; 3 credits
African American oral tradition and African American culture. Survival of the African culture. Oral history, spirituals, folktales, blues, toasts, dozens, etc. Uses of the oral tradition in literature.This course is the same as English 24.5.

Prerequisite: English 1 or 1.7. Africana Studies 87

23.1 African Religion and Culture in the New World
3 hours; 3 credits
African religious and philosophical beliefs as they have shaped
cultural practices, language, social organization, material
culture, music, visual arts, and religion of African people in the
diaspora. Considers reinterpreted African cultural practices
in African American, Caribbean, and Latin American societies.
Historical and contemporary patterns of creolization. (Not
open to students who have completed Africana Studies 14.)

24.1 African American Literature to 1930
3 hours; 3 credits
Literature from the colonial period through the Harlem
Renaissance. Slave narratives, rhetoric of abolition, formal
and vernacular aesthetics. Such writers as Phillis Wheatley,
David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Booker T.
Washington, Paul L. Dunbar, Charles W. Chesnutt, James
Weldon Johnson,W.E.B. Du Bois, Countee Cullen, Jean
Toomer, Claude McKay, Sterling Brown, Zora Neale Hurston,
Langston Hughes. This course is the same as English 64.2.
Prerequisite: English 1 or 1.7.

24.2 Modern African American Literature
3 hours; 3 credits
Literature from 1930 to the present. Naturalism and protest, the Black Aesthetic, women’s literature. Such writers as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker,Toni Morrison. This course is the same as English 64.3.

Prerequisite: English 1 or 1.7.

24.3 African American Music
3 hours; 3 credits
African American music from its African roots to the
present. Synthesis of tradition and distinct African elements
in American musical culture. This course is the same as
Music 10.1.

24.35 History of Jazz
3 hours; 3 credits
Origin, early development, and history of jazz to the present.
Required reading and listening. This course is the same as
Music 10.4 and 20.4.
Prerequisite: Core Studies 2.2 or Core Curriculum 1.3 or
permission of the chairperson.

24.4 African American Art
3 hours; 3 credits
Historical survey of the contributions of Black art to American
culture. Study of the Black experience through works of art.
This course is part of the joint program in elementary
education with a specialization in African American studies
and is open to all students.

24.5 Black Theater
3 hours; 3 credits
Lectures, studies, and workshops in Black theater. Liaison with professional and community theater. This course is the same as Theater 41.4.

24.8 African Literature
3 hours; 3 credits
srvey of twentieth-century fiction, drama, poetry of sub-Saharan Africa.Works by such authors as Achebe, Ekwensi, Emecheta, Ngugi, Oyono, Laye, Dadie, Clark, Sembene, Senghor, Soyinka. This course is the same as Comparative Literature 32.2.
Prerequisite: English 1.

25.2 Reading Race
3 hours; 3 credits
Race and American political and literary culture from the American Revolution to urban modernism. The South as a paradigm of American culture, constructions of “race,” tensions between democratic ideals and elaborate race and class distinctions. Readings from Thomas Jefferson, slave narratives, Herman Melville, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Mark Twain, Uncle Remus, Charles Chesnutt, and others. Cultural legacies and entanglements of minstrelsy, the blues, and jazz. This course is the same as American Studies 20.2.

25.7 (Re)presenting Black Men
3 hours; 3 credits
African American men, manhood, and masculinities in American and African American culture. Examination of literary, folk, popular, and political texts by men and women, whites and blacks.
Prerequisite: English 1 or 1.7.

27 Black Women’s Fiction
3 hours; 3 credits
Black women novelists, short story writers, and essayists.
Cross-cultural comparisons with African and Caribbean
women novelists. Readings of selected essays in feminist
criticism. This course is the same as English 64.4 and
Women’s Studies 46.
Prerequisite: one of the following: English 1, or 1.7.

28 Special Topics in Literature, Culture, and the Arts
3 hours; 3 credits
Study of selected topics in the literature, culture, and the arts
of the Africana world. Students may take this course for
credit twice, but may not repeat topics.
Prerequisite: English 2 or sophomore status or permission of
the chairperson.
88 Africana Studies

28.5 Introduction to Postcolonial Literature
and Theory
3 hours; 3 credits
Literary works and theoretical paradigms relating to the
culture of European imperialism and its aftermath. Diversity
of works from many parts of the formerly colonized world
to introduce the global significance of postcolonialism.
Topics include: race and representation, Orientalism and the
production of knowledge, Empire and exoticism, gender and
nationalism, and multiculturalism and diasporic identities.
This course is the same as English 50.13 and Comparative
Literature 50.13.
Prerequisite: English 2 or 2.7.

29 Caribbean Literature
3 hours; 3 credits
Black culture and writings in the Caribbean. Reflections on
alienation and independence. Literary liberation movements,
Negrism, Indigenism, and Negritude as the first step towards
emancipation from a European cultural vision. Writers from
the English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking countries will be
examined. All readings will be in English. This course is the
same as Puerto Rican and Latino Studies 38 and Comparative
Literature 38.3. (Not open to students who have completed
Puerto Rican and Latino Studies 54.)
Prerequisite: English 1.

Society and the economy

33 Black Entrepreneurship in America
3 hours; 3 credits
History and development of African American business enterprise and entrepreneurs from Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business League to the present. Topics include political philosophy of “black capitalism”; small and large businesses and the Black community; the impact of governmental programs on business development; case studies of successful African American businesses. (Not open to
students who have completed Africana Studies 34.)

Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.11, 0.2,
0.4, or Core Studies 3.

41 The Black Urban Experience
3 hours; 3 credits
An interdisciplinary study of African Americans and urban life. Drawing on the methodological approaches of history, literature, and folklore primarily, although not exclusively, this course will examine the African American experience in United States cities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Where appropriate, comparisons will be made with non-United States cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, or London. Topics chosen from: urban slavery, free blacks in Northern cities, race riots, “great migration,” Caribbean migration, urban
economics, urban politics, the urban novel, the black family in the city, the blues, contemporary urban folklore.

Prerequisite: two of the following: Core Studies 3, 4, and 9, or their equivalents.

43 Blacks and the Law

3 hours; 3 credits
Examination of the relationships between the American judicial system and the socioeconomic status of Blacks. The role of law in the systematic subordination of Black rights. The use of law to ease the burden of racism.

Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.2, Political Science 1.5, Core Studies 3, 4, or 9, or an equivalent course.

43.2 Blacks in the American Criminal
Justice System
3 hours; 3 credits
Exploration of the relationship between African Americans
and the criminal justice system. Sociological theory and
methods of collecting and understanding information.
Assessment of the political, social, and economic institutions
of American society as they frame race, crime, and punishment.
Ways that the American criminal justice system has operated
both to maintain and ameliorate a racially oppressive society.
This course is the same as Sociology 51.41.

44 The Black Family
3 hours; 3 credits
The Black family as a social unit in the experience of Black
Americans from slavery to the present. Comparison with
African family patterns past and present.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.11, 0.12,
or 0.2, Core Studies 3.

44.3 Community Studies
3 hours; 3 credits
Goals, structures, and administration of community development programs and poverty programs past and present. Fieldtrips to day care centers, youth programs, and adult learning centers. Practice in program design. (Not open to students who have completed Afro-American Studies 30.)

44.5 Caribbean Communities in North America
3 hours; 3 credits
Analysis of the factors responsible for the movement of
Caribbean peoples to mainland North America; achievements,
frustrations, and contributions of Caribbean communities to
the host country; linkages between Caribbean-Americans and
the Caribbean.
Prerequisite: Africana Studies 0.5 or 17.

44.6 The Black Woman in America
3 hours; 3 credits
Interpretation and critical evaluation of the history, role, and image of the Black woman in America; emphasis on the burdens of racism, sexism, the economy, the Black “matriarch,” health care, feminism and womanism, and contemporary issues. This course is the same as Women’s Studies 44.
Prerequisite: one of the following: Africana Studies 0.2 or 27, Core Studies 3 or 9,Women’s Studies 10.7.
Africana Studies 89

44.7 Black Men in the United States
3 hours; 3 credits
Black men in the United States, their relationship to the family, black women, and each other. Social, economic, cultural contexts. Critical examination of the impact of racism, public policy, and cultural norms. Explorations of models for social success and failure.
Prerequisite: Core Studies 3 or 4 or Core Curriculum 2.2 or 2.3.

44.9 African Women and Feminism
3 hours; 3 credits
Women’s power, activism, and inequality on the basis of gender in the African continent. Explorations of gender-based inequality and the way African women exercise formal power. African women scholars’ and activists’ theoretical and practical analyses of feminism and the consequences of such analyses
on gender relations in the continent. Theoretical readings and case studies. Course may have a national, regional, or continental focus. This course is the same as Political Science 78.35 and Women’s Studies 49.
Prerequisite: Core Studies 3 or 9, or Political Science 1.51 or 1.7, or Africana Studies 0.12, or Women’s Studies 10.7 or 12, or permission of instructor.

54 The Black Child and the Urban
Education System
3 hours; 3 credits
Study and evaluation of school curricula from preschool
through high school in terms of their historical background
and contribution to the development of Black children. Finding
and writing bibliographical materials relevant to the curricula.

55 Internship in Africana Studies
9 hours field work plus conferences and independent work;
3 credits
Field experience in professional and community organizations
in preparation for careers in such areas as law, government,
the arts, business, teaching, and community service. Individual
and group conferences with faculty mentor. Directed readings
in a variety of fields in the related disciplines of Africana
Studies such as sociology, history, or political science that relate
to the field experience. Preparation and presentation of a
critical report of the experience.
Prerequisite: A minimum of 9 credits in courses in Africana
Studies and permission of the chairperson.

59 Special Topics in Society and the Economy
3 hours; 3 credits
Study of selected topics in the society and economy of the
Africana world. Students may take this course for credit
twice, but may not repeat topics.
Prerequisite: English 2 or sophomore status or permission of
the chairperson.

Special topics

Seminars

70.1 Seminar in Humanities
3 hours; 3 credits
Study of a topic in Africana studies related to the humanities.
Students may take this course for credit twice, but may not
repeat topics.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced
courses and permission of the chairperson.

71 Seminar in Social Sciences
3 hours; 3 credits
Study of a topic in Africana Studies related to the social
sciences. Students may take this course twice, but may not
repeat topics.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced
courses and permission of the chairperson.

73 Summer Seminar
6 hours; 6 credits
Lectures, research, and study in selected historical, political,
economic, and social aspects of life in a selected country or
in a region of the United States. Lectures by Brooklyn
College and host-country scholars, in cooperation with a
university in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, or the
United States may be supplemented by field work and library
and empirical research. Course may not be taken more than
once. Consult department for locale of a specific offering.
Prerequisite: Africana Studies 0.11, or permission of
the chairperson.

79W Independent Research and Writing
Minimum of nine hours conference and independent work;
3 credits
Independent research project and reading of advanced material
on an approved topic supervised by a faculty member.
Project culminates in a full-length research paper based on
primary and/or secondary sources. Writing-intensive course.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced
Africana Studies Department courses and permission of the
instructor and the chairperson; English 2.
90 American Studies

Honors course
Students with superior records and the recommendation of
a department faculty member may apply to the chairperson
for permission to register for the course described below.
Students may not register for more than six credits in honors
courses in the department in one term.

88 Independent Study
Minimum of 9 hours conference and independent work§;
3 credits
Reading of advanced material supervised by a faculty
member. Written report or final examination.
Prerequisite: completion of an approved program of advanced
Africana Studies Department courses and permission of the
instructor and the chairperson.

The following courses are inactive and will be offered only if
there is sufficient demand:

24.7 African Oral Literatures

37.2 Caribbean Economics

45 Foundations of Africana Research Method