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Courses in Afroamerican and African Studies (Division 311)

This page was created at 3:49 PM on Wed, Dec 13, 2000.

Fall Term, 2000 (September 6 – December 22)

Open courses in Afroamerican and African Studies

Wolverine Access Subject listing for CAAS

Take me to the Fall Term '00 Time Schedule for Afroamerican and African Studies.

To see what has been added to or changed in Afroamerican and African Studies this week go to What's New This Week.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – Community Economic Development.

Instructor(s): Warren Whatley (wwhatley@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (SS). (Cross-Area Courses). May not be included in a concentration plan.

First-Year Seminar

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: http://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2000/fall/lsa/caas/103/001.nsf

The course will be experience-based research, meaning that students will read about issues that fall under the topic "community economic development" as they participate in actual community development initiatives. A goal is to gain an appreciation of the impact of direct experience on critical thinking about any subject matter. Learning tools include readings, discussions, outreach, biographies, diaries, and essays.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – Black Multiculturalism. Meets with English 140.002

Instructor(s): Ifeoma Nwankwo (icn@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). (Cross-Area Courses). May not be included in a concentration plan.

First-Year Seminar

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

By examining key moments in African-American and Caribbean (including West Indian, Latino, and Haitian) literature, music, and film, we will gain insight into both the battles fought and the bridges built between these groups in the creation of what we know as "Black" culture and "Black" identity in the U.S. Our focus will be on the ways they have related to each other. To aid our understanding of the global context, we will also periodically review texts produced by members of the Black communities of Canada and England.

African Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Dana Rush (danarush@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). (African Studies). May not be included in a concentration plan.

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: http://www.umich.edu/~hartspc/histart/F2000/108-001.html

See History of Art 108.001.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Ifeoma Nwankwo (icn@umich.edu), Kevin Gaines (gaineskk@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). (R&E). May not be included in a concentration plan.

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This team-taught course introduces basic questions, concepts, and methods involved in the study of Africa in relation to its Diaspora in the Americas and the West Indies, as well as Europe. The course takes a multimedia, interdisciplinary approach to a range of historical, literary, artistic, economic, and political questions crucial to the understanding of the experiences of people of African descent. Using maps, cultural artifacts, films, art, music, archival documents, literary texts, and key scholarly readings from various fields, the course treats topics such as:

• early African civilizations;
• the slave trade and the middle passage;
• American Jim Crow and South African apartheid;
• movements in Black Feminism; and
• environmental racism and Black health.

Prerequisite to the CAAS concentration and minor and suitable for interested non-concentrators.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): J Francis

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 111. (3). (Excl). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: http://www.umich.edu/~hartspc/histart/F2000/214-001.html

See History of Art 214.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Julius Scott (jsscott@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 111. (3). (SS). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This lecture/discussion course surveys major themes, events, and personages in the history of Africans and people of African descent in the Americas, and in particular North America, through the end of the American Civil War. The survey begins on the African continent, follows captive Africans across the Atlantic, and then traces the contours of the struggle against slavery. Themes to be covered include: slavery and slave resistance; African-American culture; free Blacks, North and South; Black participation in the abolitionist movement; and the role of African Americans in the Civil War. Students will read a variety of texts, including examples of Black testimony as well as the work of contemporary cultural and social historians. Assignments include in-class examinations and a comprehensive final, short essays, and class presentations.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Xiomara Santamarina (xas@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 111. (3). (HU). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See English 274.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001 – Race and Social Identity.

Instructor(s): Elizabeth Cole

Prerequisites & Distribution: One course in psychology or Afroamerican and African Studies. AAS 201 recommended. (3). (SS). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: http://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2000/fall/lsa/caas/327/001.nsf

This course takes an interdisciplinary look at the social and psychological factors shaping contemporary ethnic and racial identity. The following topics will be addressed: history of the concept of "race" in America; childhood racial socialization; conceptualization and measurement of racial/ethnic identity; aspects of identity in several different racial/ethnic groups, with a special focus on African Americans; strategies for improving inter-group relations. This course has four objectives:

1. You will learn about the ways that psychologists conceptualize and assess identity.
2. You will have the opportunity to apply these theories in experiential assignments outside of the classroom.
3. You will learn to connect your personal experience with more systematic methods of inquiry.
4. You will increase your understanding of the diversity of experience within ethnic groups while learning to recognize commonalties shared by members of the same group.

Requirements include: two exams, two papers in response to experiential assignments (5-7 pages), and 5 1-page reaction papers.

Cross-Area Courses

Sections 001 through 005 meet the Upper-Level Writing requirement.

Instructor(s): Dorceta Taylor (dorceta@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (SS). (R&E). (Cross-Area Courses).

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course explores the relationship between environment and social inequality. It focuses on American urban environments. The course examines how educational experiences impact occupational and social class outcomes. It also examines how the economic transformations of the city (globalization, shift from manufacturing to service sector jobs, urban renewal and gentrification, zoning, and location of jobs to suburbs) affect urban residents and exacerbate inequalities. The course also examines the relationship between race, class, gender, and the processes by which environmental inequalities arise. Designed for undergraduates interested in exploring the link between environment and inequality. Three take home exams; one term paper.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Marlon Ross (mbross@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 201 recommended. (3). (HU). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course examines ways in which the civil rights and Black Power movements shaped and were shaped by African-American writing from 1954 to 1974. We'll read a wide range of texts that voice conflicting views on the problem of race in America, and that demonstrate the changing attitudes toward strategies and solutions over the two decades. In addition to exploring major controversies like desegregation, interracial relations, nonviolence, patriotism and exile, nationalism, relations between Black men and women, we'll also consider the role of the mass media in creating or disturbing a sense of racial community. Some of the writers to be studied include: Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Paule Marshall, Alice Walker, Eldridge Cleaver, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ishmael Reed, and Chester Himes. Several short writing assignments and a comprehensive final exam.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Donald Winford

Prerequisites & Distribution: Ling. 210 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Linguistics 339.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Glenda Dickerson (glendad@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 201 recommended. (3). (HU). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Theatre and Drama 222.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Glenda Dickerson (glendad@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Permission of instructor (brief interview). AAS 201 recommended. (3). (HU). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Theatre and Drama 233.001.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – The Epidemic of HIV, AIDS in the African American and Hispanic Communities. Meets with Women's Studies 342.001.

Instructor(s): Nesha Haniff (nzh@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Women's Studies 342.001.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 002 – Displaying African Art in the West. Meets with History of Art 394.002. Prerequisite: CAAS 108 or 380.

Instructor(s): Dana Rush (danarush@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See History of Art 394.002.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 003 – Traditions and Modernity in Africa Drama.

Instructor(s): Mbala Nkanga (mbalank@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course will explore the general situation of African Theatre and Drama as cultural manifestation and representation. Through reading plays and relevant articles, and discussion of them, the students and the instructor will analyze the writing and performance patterns of African drama in the light of the contradiction between Ancestral values and practices, and Western cultural imports. Special attention will be paid to plays dealing with issues such as: Individual and social identity, Social processes, Visions of the past and the future, Women and children issues, Theatre as a tool for development. Dramatists to be considered include, but not limited to: Efua Sutherland, Femi Osofisan, Sony Labou Tansi, Diur N'tumb, Guillaume Oyono, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Wole Soyinka.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 004 – The Management of Work in African Organizations. Meets with Psychology 401.004.

Instructor(s): Denis Ugwuegbu (dcugwueg@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The Management of Work in African Organizations is an upper level organizational psychology course that is open to 200 and 300 level undergraduate students in Afro-American and African Studies, Management, Psychology, and other related Social Science courses. The objective of the course is to explore with students the nature of African organizations and the African system of work through lectures, group discussions, and discovery approaches. The lectures will begin with a consideration of colonial legacy in the management of work in African organizations and then proceed to discussion of some of the psychological problems in the management of African organizations. Other topics to be discussed in the course include problems of motivation, decision making, leadership, human resource development and utilization in Africa, and the nature of performance evaluation in African organizations. Assessment of student performance in the course should include class participation, examinations and a project.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 005 – Prehistory of Africa. Meets with Cultural Anthropology 383.001.

Instructor(s): Augustin Holl

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Cultural Anthropology 383.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Jon Onye Lockard

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 201 recommended. (3). (HU). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course:

• introduces students to West African cultures and their relationships to Afro-American culture;
  
• develops on a broad level an Afrocentric aesthetic point of view;
  
• encourages greater insight and exploration into the arts of African and Afro-American people and the spirits and realities that motivate the "arts," and
  
• creates a living vehicle for understanding and resolving problematic cultural patterns which disturb, confuse, and cancerize our historic and contemporary lives.

African Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Teshome Wagaw (twagaw@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 200 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course is designed for:

1. those who plan a career in international education as teachers or as other specialists;
2. practicing and prospective teachers who desire to broaden their understanding of the process and dynamics of educational development in other cultures, e.g., Africa; and
3. nonspecialists who wish to understand the problems and ramifications of educational development upon the development of national resources.

For convenience of treatment, the course will be organized under three broad divisions of time, i.e., indigenous (traditional), colonial, and national education.

African Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Yaw Twumasi (yawt@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 200 recommended. (4). (Excl). (African Studies).

Credits: (4; 3 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

The purpose of this course in comparative politics is to understand the problems and the potential for economic growth in Africa. It is necessary, therefore, to acquire some knowledge of how African economies developed and the kind of social factors which contributed and still shape the processes of economic growth. Accordingly, this course will trace the evolution of African economies in the context of wealth accumulation and the conflicts and struggles it generates.

Throughout the academic term considerable emphasis will be placed on critical analysis of well-known scholarly studies of African political economies with a view to drawing out their methodological assumptions and ideological biases.

We will, first, provide an overview of pre-capitalist social organizations and modes of production. We will, secondly, focus on various dimensions of the problems and possibilities for economic growth. In the final part of the course, we will examine contemporary African economies, exploring in particular the social, political, and global forces that influence the adoption of economic policies in selected African states. This is a seminar, and students will, therefore, be expected to prepare materials and lead discussions on topics chosen after consultation with the instructor. The instructor will first give lectures on the major themes of the course in the first half of the academic term. Final grades will be based on a critical book report, two short papers and a midterm and a final examination.

Cross-Area Courses

Instructor(s):

Prerequisites & Distribution: Permission of instructor. (1-6). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit with permission of the concentration advisor.

Credits: (1-6).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

For students who can show appropriate preparation in courses previously taken, the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies offers course credit for independent study. A full-time faculty member must agree to supervise the undertaking and to meet with the student during the term. The proposed course of study may not duplicate the material of any course regularly offered by the Center. The reading and writing requirement should be comparable to that required in a regular course for the same number of credits; and all the work must be completed by the final day of class in the term. After consultation with and approval from a CAAS faculty member, applications for independent study along with statements describing the schedule of readings and of writing assignments must be filled out. Such applications must be signed by the faculty member involved and turned in before the end of the second week of the term. It is therefore advisable to submit applications (available in 200 West Hall) in advance of the beginning of the independent study term and, upon approval, an electronic override will be issued.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – Urban Redevelopment & Social Justice: Can We Have Both? A Seminar for Future Professionals.

Instructor(s): James Chaffers (chaffers@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (SS). (Cross-Area Courses).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Taught from the perspective of a registered architect, this course is organized around topical issues of design, professionalism, and equity in urban resources development. Intended primarily for students with non-architectural backgrounds, the course seeks to provide a spirited exploration of the explicit (and subtle) connections between people, land, and power in our cities and the specific effects of these linkages upon contemporary urban rebuilding. In the main, our explorations are aimed at providing a broadened philosophical understanding of the "Who?" and "Why?" of contemporary urban redevelopment policies – particularly as such policies impact on the emerging "central city." A seminar format will be followed, combining formal and informal lectures, slide presentations, selected case studies, selected readings, and a series of student-generated workshops. Continued active class participation and the preparation of a thirty-minute audio cassette tape for presentation near the end of the term are basic course requirements. Ongoing class dialogue will be augmented periodically with urban field trips and invited guests.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Al Young (ayoun@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 201 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course offers a critical examination of a series of ethnographic studies of African-American urban life in the twentieth century. The ethnographies will be assessed within the context of the development of American social scientific research, and the historical developments that affected the social and cultural spheres of African American urban life throughout the twentieth century. The format for the course will be a combination of lectures and class discussions. Some of the analytical questions that will shape our interrogation of the ethnographies are:

1. What kinds of social organizational patterns exist in the urban communities within which Black Americans reside?,
2. Does a distinctive Black American culture also exist in these communities?,
3. In what ways may Black American social organizational and cultural patterns be perceived as healthy or deleterious, and by what standards?,
4. In what ways, and to what extent, are developments in Black American social organization and culture autonomous from, or dependent upon, developments in American social organization and culture?,
5. What implications for social policy are elucidated in each of the studies?, and
6. What kind of specific methodology or approach to ethnography is articulated by each of the authors?

Afro-Caribbean Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Maxwell Owusu (omk@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Junior standing. AAS 202 recommended. (3). (Excl). (Afro-Caribbean Studies).

Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Cultural Anthropology 414.001.

African Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): David Cohen (dwcohen@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 200 recommended. (3). (SS). (African Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2000/fall/lsa/history/446/001.nsf

See History 446.001.

African Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Jennifer Widner (jwidner@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 200 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Political Science 459.001.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Ronald Woods (rcwoods@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: AAS 201 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Law defines the status and prospects of Blacks, occupies a key role in Black ideological debates and organizational activity, and reflects the dominant crises in United States and world history. This course covers the period from the initial interaction between Blacks and the processes of law in colonial North America to the beginnings of the modern Civil Rights era. It reviews the law of slavery and the slave trade, the Constitution and the status of Blacks in the ante-bellum period, Constitutional and legislative developments during Reconstruction, and the legal circumstance of Blacks in the era of Jim Crow segregation.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – The Life & Times of Muhammad Ali. Meets with Women's Studies 483.001.

Instructor(s): Nesha Haniff (nzh@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Muhammad Ali has been named by many as the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. His life reflects the transformation of race and gender which occurred in 20th Century United States. To be male and Black and successful was to be a performer or an athlete. Muhammad Ali performed as an athlete in the most grueling sport and in so doing transformed the sport, himself, and America. He spoke when he should have been silent, he was beautiful when he should have been ugly, he was a Black Muslim when he should have been a Christian, he was sent to jail for refusing to be inducted in the United States Army, and he never knew his place. He was greatly reviled and now greatly adored by many of the same people who rejected him. For all athletes, his life is a necessary study for it teaches that sports can be an arena for transforming society. For those interested in the study of gender, the Life and Times of Muhammad Ali is quite an exploration, since it involves us in understanding the constructions of maleness and sports, maleness and religion, and the perception of women in each of these domains. And finally race and its inextricable connection to poverty, sport, and politics must be examined. David Remnick's book King of the World will be one of the texts as well as video and film material. There is an enormous body of work on this athlete, and this course will use much of it.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 002 – Contemporary State Relations in Africa.

Instructor(s): Yaw Twumasi (yawt@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Over the last decade and a half, the ways in which scholars think about Africa's political problems have changed and have come to be profoundly influenced by the theoretical debates concerning weak and strong states in the international community. This is a course in comparative politics designed to explore two closely related dimensions of contemporary state relations in Africa. First, we will explore the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse interpretations of "stateness" in the context of how African states establish effective governments and manage to exercise control over the permanent populations under their jurisdictions. We will note any tensions between the theoretical concerns of the analysts and the political realities of Africa. Second, we will examine relations among African states, paying particular attention to Africa's catalog of contemporary conflicts: boundary disputes; conflict resolution successes and failures; refugees; wars and the prospects for peace on the continent.

The course is recommended for juniors and seniors. A previous background in African studies is not a prerequisite. It will be taught as a seminar, but the instructor will give a few lectures, interspersed with a lot of class discussions and student presentations. Students will be required to give class presentations on topics to be defined in close cooperation with the instructor. Students will also be expected to build on their presentations and develop them into substantial research papers.

CAAS 458. Issues in Black World Studies.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 003 – Topic

Instructor(s): Nkanga Dieudonne

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

No Description Provided

Check Times, Location, and Availability

Cross-Area Courses

Section 004 – Women of Color and Third World Women. Meets with Women's Studies 430.001

Instructor(s): Nesha Haniff (nzh@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Women's Studies 430.001.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 005 – Language, Culture, & Society in Africa. Meets with Anthropology 458.001.

Instructor(s): Judith Irvine (jti@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Cultural Anthropology 458.001.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 006 – Social Psychology of the African Family. Meets with Psychology 401.005.

Instructor(s): Denis Ugwuegbu (dcugwueg@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Social Psychology of the African family is a course aimed at 400 level students in Psychology, the Center for Afro-American and African Studies, and other related social science disciplines. The principle objective of the course is to lead the students through lectures, group discussions, individual, and group presentations to help students explore the traditional and contemporary psycho-dynamics of the African family. The family is a flexible unit that adapts deliberately to influences acting upon it both from within and without. In its interaction with these forces it must adapt to prevalent customs and mores. Internally, the family also must come to terms with the basic biological bonds of man and woman, and of mother and child. The second objective of the course is to assess how the African family is meeting these needs and expectations. The course begins with the examination of psychology and the study of the family. This will be followed by in-depth and detailed analysis of types of traditional African family, the psychology of the African marriage systems, the centrality of children in African family and culture, and family roles. Special emphasis will be given to the analysis of the European intrusion into the African family life such as the slave trade, colonialism, and industrial labor. Finally, the course will consider the new threats to the survival of the African family system, such as wars, hunger and diseases, and assess the coping strategies by which the African family is surviving the stresses of social change and the demand for change.

African-American Studies

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Melvin Williams (mddoublu@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: One introductory course in the social sciences. AAS 201 recommended. (3). (Excl). (African-American Studies).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See Cultural Anthropology 451.001.

African Studies

Section 001 – From Pan-Africanism to the Black Atlantic: What's in a Name? Meets with History 393.001 and History 593.001

Instructor(s): Penny von Eschen (pmve@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

In recent years, the term "Black Atlantic" has replaced "pan-Africans" as the preferred scholarly rubric for analyzing transnational Black projects and Black experiences in an international context. In this course, we will begin by asking: why the shift? In other words: what's in a name? What kinds of projects and modes of analysis do each of the terms encourage and enable? What have scholars gained from a shift to the "Black Atlantic" rubric? What, if anything, have they lost? This question will be our jumping off point for a broad consideration of debates concerning race, gender, feminism, anticolonialism and nation-building, and Black cultural production.

Class structure and requirements: The class format will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Lectures are intended to provide necessary background and framing for meaningful engagement with the texts, and students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned texts for the day. In addition to participating in discussions, students will write two take-home midterm exams and write one fifteen page paper, due at the end of the academic term, on a topic chosen by the student and approved by Von Eschen.

The course syllabus is available in the CAAS and History offices.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – Life is a Performance: Yoruba Art and Thought. (2 credits). Meets with Art and Design 454.005. Meets October 6 – December 8. (Drop/Add deadline=October 19).

Instructor(s): Olabayo Olaniyi (olabayo@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Junior standing. (1-2). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Mini/Short course

Credits: (1-2).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

For over nine centuries, the Yoruba of West Africa have impressed the world with their elaborate economic, political and social structures, and with their religious thoughts and arts forms. The class "Life is a Performance" is designed to give students a first hand taste of Yoruba culture through an exploration of object making, music, dance and Yoruba philosophical thought. Along with ongoing hands-on art making, there will be a series of lectures, discussions and performances that further enhance students' understanding. "Life is a Performance" is taught through four media. Each medium is symbolically charged and chosen to help students their journey through the Yoruba experience.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 002 – Traditions and Modernity in African Drama. (1 credit). Meets October 26th – November 30th. (Drop/Add deadline=November 1).

Instructor(s): Mbala Nkanga (mbalank@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Junior standing. (1-2). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). May be repeated for a total of six credits.

Mini/Short course

Credits: (1-2).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

This course will explore the general situation of African Theatre and Drama as cultural manifestation and representation. Through reading plays and relevant articles, and discussion of them, the students and the instructor will analyze the writing and performance patterns of African drama in the light of the contradiction between Ancestral values and practices, and Western cultural imports. Special attention will be paid to plays dealing with issues such as: Individual and social identity, Social processes, Visions of the past and the future, Women and children issues, Theatre as a tool for development. Dramatists to be considered include, but not limited to: Efua Sutherland, Femi Osofisan, Sony Labou Tansi, Diur N'tumb, Guillaume Oyono, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Wole Soyinka.

Cross-Area Courses

Section 001 – Texts of U.S. Slavery, Race, and Labor. Meets with English 417.007.

Instructor(s): Xiomara Santamarina (xas@umich.edu)

Prerequisites & Distribution: Upperclass standing or permission of instructor. (4). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). (Capstone Course).

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

See English 417.007.

Cross-Area Courses

Instructor(s):

Prerequisites & Distribution: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. (1-6). (Excl). (Cross-Area Courses). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit with permission of the concentration advisor.

Credits: (1-6).

Course Homepage: No Homepage Submitted.

Arrangements may be made for adequately prepared students to undertake individual study under the direction of a departmental staff member. Students are provided with the proper section number by the staff member with whom the work has been arranged.

This page was created at 3:49 PM on Wed, Dec 13, 2000.

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