Africana Studies (AFRS)
AFRS Course Descriptions
AFRS 1003.0 UNITS
Introduction to Black/Africana Studies
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course is a survey of the major subject areas, themes, concepts, schools of thought, theorists, philosophical underpinnings, and historical evolution in the discipline of Africana Studies. It includes an examination of key historical movements in the struggle for equality, liberation, and freedom for Black people in the United States and world. This course also explores the intersection and impact of race, class, gender and other systems of power and oppression on African American people.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 1013.0 UNITS
Theories and Methods in Black/Africana Studies
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course introduces the foundational theories and methodologies of Africana Studies and analyzes its application in practice. It examines Africana Studies' contribution to the larger discourse on theories and methodologies, interrogating the historic and oppressive nature of academic institutionalism.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 1033.0 UNITS
The History of the Black World I: From Ancient Africa to 1888
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course surveys African civilizations up until the 19th Century. These complex societies and personalities are examined from an Afrocentric perspective. This course will explore the diverse narratives that comprise African historiography and reflect the experiences of the African world community, including the merits and limitations of different theoretical limitations. By looking into African civilizations, students will become better equipped to understand the African experience from a contemporary context.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 1043.0 UNITS
The History of the Black World II: From 1888 to the Present
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the history of African world people from 1888 to the present. The dynamics of apartheid, colonialism, nationalism, civil rights and liberation movements are central themes.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 1063.0 UNITS
Africana Political Thought
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the political opinions and ideas of Africana thinkers and leaders. It interrogates their understanding and interpretation of the socio-political and economic dynamics of the African world.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 1073.0 UNITS
Black Womanist & Feminist Thought
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course explores the rich and complex history, theories, social struggles, and activism of Black womanist and feminist thought. For this particular course, Black womanism and feminism are the critical lens through which we examine the intersections of race, gender, and class and its impact and imposition on the lives of Black women and marginalized communities. This course delves into foundational literature, key figures, and contemporary issues within Black womanist and feminist thought, fostering a deep understanding of its importance in addressing past and present social, political, and cultural inequalities.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 1083.0 UNITS
Black Politics: Social and Racial Justice Movements
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines historical and emerging Black social and racial justice movements, with an emphasis on the political dimensions and historical context. Moreover, it investigates key scholarship on the nature and tradition of Black activism, resistance, agency, and political engagement in the collective struggle for liberation and social and racial justice.
Transfer Credit: CSU;UC
AFRS 1113.0 UNITS
The Rhetoric of Black Resistance
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course explores the African American rhetorical tradition and literature that influenced Black social and racial justice movements. Calling attention to Black modes of discourse, this course surveys literature written as a form of resistance and intended to respond to oppression.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 1133.0 UNITS
Introduction to Ethnic Studies
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the historical and ongoing racialized experiences of the following four core ethnic groups: African American, Asian American, Chicano/Latino American, and Native American. Drawing attention to the history, culture, and evolution of these four core ethnic groups in the United States, this course takes a multidisciplinary approach to the exploration and comparison of their oppression, resistance, agency, and struggle for liberation. This course also highlights the important contributions of each of the four core ethnic groups to the United States and world.
Transfer Credit: CSU; UC
AFRS 2153.0 UNITS
Hip-Hop as Cultural Expression
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the history of Hip-Hop and its ability to function as an expression of culture, its contribution to the larger discourse on Black sociality, and the musical genesis that impels the art form forward. It will interrogate Hip-Hop's interventions in the realm of race, class, and gender.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 2203.0 UNITS
African Gender Systems
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the indigenous gender systems in African communities and their continuities in the African diaspora, i.e., Afro-Caribbean and African American, from an Afrocentric perspective. The central principle of these systems is gender complementary which means that male and female are understood as complements to each other in all aspects of social relations, such as economics, gender construction, courtship, family & kinship, marital relationships, social activism, and socio-political organization. This course explores the various manifestations of gender complementarity in African communities across space and time.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 2223.0 UNITS
African Spirituality
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course will provide an Afrocentric examination into the ancient and contemporary spiritual systems of African descendant people, including their relationship to cosmology, epistemology, metaphysics, myth, ontology, science and other salient dimensions that contribute to the theoretical and practical dimensions of African spirituality.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 2253.0 UNITS
African American Ebonics
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course examines the significant theories and arguments concerning the genesis, maintenance, and social function of African American Ebonics from an Afrocentric perspective. As such, this course places great emphasis on the African cultural and linguistic context of African American Ebonics and, also, its relationship to Afro-Caribbean languages.
Transfer Credit: CSU
AFRS 2303.0 UNITS
Black Characters in Japanese Anime and Manga
Class Hours: 3.0 Lecture
Total Contact Hours: 54 Lecture
This course will provide an Afrocentric examination into the presence of Black characters in Japanese anime and manga. Through the exploration of the evolution of the global Black ethnic-cultural image, consciousness, narrative, personality, and agency, this course will explore and center the experiences of African descendent characters in popular Japanese literary and visual mediums. The intersections between African people featured in comic books, graphic novels, video games, cartoons and other popular media and literary mediums will also be explored in relation to Japanese anime and manga.
Transfer Credit: CSU