Africana Studies

Forefronts the consequences of assumptions based on hegemonic ideas and representations of blackness and Black life. We examine how visual and narrative representations impact our perceptions and sense of collective and individual selves, and the lived experiences of Black subjects. We explore dominant cultural representations of blackness and how they are in dialogue, negotiation, and contestation, along with the tension and interaction between ideas inherited from the outside, and the created inner ones.

This course explores the historical movements for social justice and contributions of a new generation of black leadership including students, women and community organizers during the civil rights and Black power movements. We will consider the contributions of well-known figures like Huey Newton and Malcolm X and lesser-known figures like Septima Clark, the director of the freedom schools, and their significance in the present times.

The course is designed to examine race and diversity issues in the world of sports from the early 20th century to the present. Topics will examine and provide critical inquiry on the impact of race and racism in major world sports and the Olympic movement, including football (soccer), tennis, boxing, cricket, baseball, American football, and athletics. The course is inter-sectional in scope and interrogates issues of masculinity, gender, the structures of power, as well as new forms of global capitalism in sports, and individuals that have personified their areas of sporting achievement.

Our present age demands we explore the theory and practice of anti-racist work through an examination of the foundational construction of race and racism in America and the resistance of abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Frances Seward, and others; the role of white supremacy, and anti-blackness. This course also seeks to answer questions like: What is anti-racism? Taking a dialectical approach to such questions we will explore work by anti-racism scholars and activists such as Ibram X. Kendi; the Black Panthers; James Baldwin; and recent critical writing on white supremacy.

A survey of African history from the 19^th century to the present. Engages with new research in environmental history to rethink conventional narratives. Features environmental histories of capitalism, colonialism, resistance, resource extraction, the contemporary state system, infrastructure projects, the climate crisis, and ongoing movements for social justice. Students explore a variety of approaches for centering people, places, and actors often marginalized in dominant histories, focusing on how this work contributes to contemporary political and environmental debates.