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.

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.

This course provides an Afrocentric examination of African civilizations from antiquity through the 19th Century. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from the discipline of Africana Studies, this course explores 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 exploring the complex societies and personalities that shape African civilizations, students will develop a deeper understanding of the African experience, including expressions of resistance and agency, from a contemporary context.

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.

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.

This course offers a comparative exploration of Africana Womanism and Black Feminism. Drawing on literature from scholars who have contributed to the development of Africana Womanism and Black Feminist Thought, this course examines the rich histories, activism, social struggles, and the convergence between the two frameworks. It also examines how each framework conceptualizes race, gender, class, and identity, and how these concepts shape and impact the lives of Black women and marginalized communities. This course aims to foster a deeper understanding of the importance of these frameworks in addressing past and present social, political, and cultural inequalities.

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.

This course provides an Afrocentric examination of the African American rhetorical tradition and literature that has shaped and been shaped by Black protests and social movements. Centering Black modes of discourse and frameworks such as the Black Radical Tradition, this course analyzes how key speeches and written works by Black intellectual scholars, thinkers, and activists serve as powerful instruments of resistance and change.

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 offers a critical and comparative analysis of the role of race and racism in their oppression and marginalization. Through intersectional and discipline-specific lenses grounded in Africana, Asian American, Chicano/Latino, and Native American Studies, this course examines how these ethnic groups have confronted and navigated racism, demonstrating resistance and agency. This course also highlights the important contributions of each of the four core ethnic groups to the United States and the world.

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.

This is the first half of a two-part survey of African Civilizations. This course covers the period from Africa’s earliest civilizations to the tenth century CE. As such, the primary focus is an examination of the emergence and decline of the Nile Valley civilizations and East African kingdoms from an Afrocentric perspective. There is an in-depth focus on aspects of these societies, such as art, cosmology, foreign relations, kinship structures, language systems, cultural philosophy, and socio-political institutions.

This is the second half of a two-part survey of African Civilizations. This second course covers the period from the tenth century through the nineteenth century. As such, the primary focus is an examination of the empires and kingdoms in West, Central, and Southern Africa from an Afrocentric perspective. There is an in-depth focus on various aspects of these societies, such as art, cosmology, foreign relations, kinship structures, language systems, primordial philosophy, and socio-political institutions.

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.

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.

This course provides an Afrocentric examination into the lives, experiences, and realities reflected in Black Biracial and Multiracial human identities and cultures. Drawing on theoretical frameworks and methodologies from the discipline of Africana Studies, this course also explores the cultural, ethnic, racial, national, gendered, theoretical, and ideological positions and identities of individuals who consciously or unconsciously can be identified as Black Biracial and Multiracial. Through exploration of the intersectional identities and cultures of Black Biracial and Multiracial persons, this course seeks to illustrate the unique and distinct histories and experiences of dual and multi-heritage people, including how they confront racism and demonstrate agency in the face of systemic racial injustice, which ultimately can improve the understanding and human relations surrounding those of Black Biracial and Multiracial descent.

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.

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.