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Upcoming Courses

Fall 2023

 

Introduction to African American and Diaspora Studies  
Course Number: AADS-1010  
Instructor: Bridget Hall or Claudine Taafffe  
Description:
Foundations of African American culture from ancient African history and through contemporary issues in the African American experience and the larger diaspora. The characteristics, developments, and dynamics of diaspora culture in the Americas, with a particular focus on the United States.   
Attributes: AXLE: Perspectives, Eligible for American Studies Major, Eligible for Latino/Latina Studies Major  

 

Comparative Black Male Writers  
Course Number: AADS-1404  
Instructor: David Ikard  
Description:
Diasporic black male fiction and poetry writers. Themes of sexuality and sexual identity, exile, home, violence, color, and class.   
Attributes: AXLE: Humanities and the Creative Arts

 

Capoeria: Afro-Brazilian Race, Culture, and Expression  
Course Number: AADS-1706
Instructor: Gilman Whiting  
Description:
Origins of an Afro-Brazilian martial art form. Influence on Brazilian and world culture in the areas of religion, dance, and music. Development as a social protest movement. Intersections of race, gender, class, power, and national identity.
Attributes: AXLE: International Cultures

 

Curating Black Lives: Imagination, Art, and Global Social Change

Course Number: AADS-1906
Instructor: Claudine Taaffe  
Description:
Visual arts, social change, and black social movements. Aesthetics, value, and social impact of art and social change efforts. Role of the arts in shaping collective black identity and historical memory of national and global social movements.
Attributes: AXLE: International Cultures

 

Memoirs and Biographies

Course Number: AADS-2654
Instructor: Alice Randall  
Description:
Biographies and autobiographies as lenses for the study of historical trends and events; development of gender, sexual, and racial identities in subjects.
Attributes: AXLE: History and Culture of the United States, Eligible for American Studies Major

 

Atlantic African Slave Trade

Course Number: AADS-3248
Instructor: Tiffany Patterson  
Description:
Cultural, economic, and social aspects of the African slave trade into the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries. Transformation of the slave trade as a result of abolition and suppression.

Attributes: AXLE: Social and Behavioral Sciences

 

Literatures of Protest

Course Number: AADS-3336
Instructor: Alice Randall  
Description:
Study of Black protest through various literary and performative genres, novels, opinion-editorials, poetry, sermons, songs, from 18th century onwards. Exploration of the Black Jeremiad tradition in sermons and texts.

Attributes: AXLE: Humanities and the Creative Arts

 

Independent Study

Course Number: AADS-3850
Instructor: Claudine Taaffe or David Ikard  
Description:
May be repeated for a total of 6 credits, but students may earn only up to 3 credits per semester of enrollment. [1-3; maximum of 6 credits total for all semesters of AADS 3850]

Attributes:   None

 

Medical Apartheid: Race, Gender and Health

Course Number: AADS-4108
Instructor: Tracy Sharpley-Whiting and Bridget Hall

Description: Slavery and the evolution of the fields of gynecology and obstetrics; enslaved black women's agency. Disparities in maternal health and maternal mortality rates, social determinants of health, structural racism, and risk factors. Scientific racism, consent, and implicit bias.

Attributes: AXLE: Social and Behavioral Sciences

 

Black Diaspora Women Writers

Course Number: AADS-4264
Instructor: David Ikard

Description: Comparative fiction by women from Francophone and Anglophone Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Novels of awakening (bildungsroman), themes of exile, home and alienation, identity as well as sexuality, class and color, slavery and colonialism.

Attributes: AXLE: Humanities and the Creative Arts. Eligible for Gender and Sexuality Studies

 

Special Topics in Humanities – Hip Hop

Course Number: AADS-4851
Instructor: Michael E. Dyson and Gilman Whiting

Description: Topics Vary. Literary, philosophical, and cultural texts. May be repeated for credit if there is no duplication in topic.

Attributes: AXLE: Humanities and the Creative Arts

 

 

Senior Thesis in African American and Diaspora Studies

Course Number: AADS-4979
Instructor: Claudine Taaffe

Description: Senior Thesis in African American and Diaspora Studies. Supervised readings and independent research to produce an interdisciplinary research paper; topic to be selected in conjunction with a faculty member of African American and Diaspora Studies. Open only to seniors.

Attributes:   None

 

Senior Honor Thesis

Course Number: AADS-4999
Instructor: Claudine Taaffe

Description: Supervised readings and independent research for honors thesis under supervision of the adviser and another faculty member. Open only to seniors in the Honors Program.

Attributes: None