Courses

This course explores the development of African diaspora archaeology in the North American context. Students will learn how material-based perspectives of history offer unique insights on the experiences of marginalized communities. The principal focus will be on the southern United States and will include additional perspectives from the American West, the Caribbean, and South America.

Examination of African influence throughout the Americas (e.g., Candomblé in Brazil, Vodou in the Caribbean, African-American religions in North America), focusing on the interplay between religion, culture and politics. Humanities

This course explores the art forms informed by the history, people, and culture of the African Diaspora, with a heavy emphasis on dance in the body. The process by which dance is examined includes influences of music, literature, visual art, and theater with context rooted in traditions, rituals, spiritual systems, and social economics.

Black American music, as a reflection of the African diaspora, has always soundtracked, reflected, and reshaped the history of the United States. This course will examine that relationship, centering on music’s central role in the experiences of Black Americans from the era of enslavement through modern struggles for freedom, citizenship, and justice. Students will think about key artists, styles, movements, and innovations, from West African sounds to hip-hop and beyond.

This course interrogates oral, written and performance discourse pertaining to the life-worlds of people of African descent on the continent and the diaspora. The purpose of this course is to analyze the customs and traditions of African descended people around the globe. It investigates aspects of African cultures that have endured despite its dispersal throughout the New World.

This course is a study of selected topics and resources in Economic Development which provides an in-depth examination of the economic challenges, opportunities, and strategies related to the development of African countries. The course explores the complex factors that have shaped the economic landscape of the African continent, including historical, political, social, and environmental dimensions.

Conceptual themes in ecology emphasizing savannas; also consideration of fynbos, highveld, podocarp forests, coastal and intertidal zones. Topics include climate and geology of South Africa, roles of fire, drought, human presence, invasive species, and herbivores in shaping ecosystems.

This is a survey of African history from the Iron Age to 20th Century. It includes such themes as the ancient kingdoms of Africa, the medieval and Islamic kingdoms of Africa, the exploration of Africa, the age of colonialism and the history of southern Africa. Topics will include colonial politics and the political and economic developments from the last two decades of the nineteenth century to the independence movement in the 1960s. 226 | P age

This course is a survey of the history of the African continent from the earliest times to present. The course will examine traditional African political cultural systems, as well as the rise of modern African nations in the twentieth century. Fall.

This course includes a study of ancient Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, etc., the expansion of Islam, the slave trade in African history to 1800. the conclusion of that trade, Islamic renewal, European partition and the colonial period, and the growth of nationalism and of independence in Africa.