AMST 112-01 10318 |
Introduction to African American Literature |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
|
Room: MAIN 009
|
Instructor: Daylanne English
|
|
*Cross-listed with ENGL 112-01*
Details
In this introductory course, we will study African American literature from its origins to the present. We will study major genres and movements, including the Harlem Renaissance and Afrofuturism. We will learn to use the tools of literary analysis in order to read closely, critically, appreciatively—and collectively. Themes of solidarity, love, and joy will focus our study. Authors will include: Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ross Gay, and Janelle Monáe, among others. Requirements include: brief written responses to the readings, a presentation, an essay and a revision, and a final project. This course fulfills either the foundation course in literature requirement or the literature by U.S. writers of color requirement for the English major.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 112-01 10318 |
Introduction to African American Literature |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
|
Room: MAIN 009
|
Instructor: Daylanne English
|
|
*Cross-listed with ENGL 112-01*
Details
In this introductory course, we will study African American literature from its origins to the present. We will study major genres and movements, including the Harlem Renaissance and Afrofuturism. We will learn to use the tools of literary analysis in order to read closely, critically, appreciatively—and collectively. Themes of solidarity, love, and joy will focus our study. Authors will include: Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Ross Gay, and Janelle Monáe, among others. Requirements include: brief written responses to the readings, a presentation, an essay and a revision, and a final project. This course fulfills either the foundation course in literature requirement or the literature by U.S. writers of color requirement for the English major.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 194-01 10073 |
Introduction to Asian American Studies |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
|
Room: HUM 217
|
Instructor: Jake Nagasawa
|
|
*Cross-listed with ASIA 194-01*
Details
Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 194-F1 10072 |
What's After White Empire - And Is It Already Here? |
Days: T R
|
Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
|
Room: HUM 214
|
Instructor: Karin Aguilar-San Juan
|
|
*First-Year course only; first day attendance required*
Details
From the Philippine-American War (1898-1910) to the global uprisings of May 2020, white supremacy and US imperialism have marched hand-in-hand, buttressed by cultures of violence and literal guns and tanks. Yet cracks in the walls of racism and empire have also always existed, with gestures of solidarity and whole solidarity movements pushing forward with new possibilities and imagined futures. In this discussion-based course, we will look for the common threads that link David Fagen (Black U.S. army soldier who defected and joined the Philippine nationalists in 1899) to the Vietnam antiwar movement (1955-1975) and to Grace Lee Boggs (Chinese American philosopher activist based in Detroit, 1905-2015) along with many other individuals and events. Among the significant questions we will consider are: What makes an insurrectionist different from an ally or a rabble rouser or a survivalist? What lessons can be drawn from the global COVID pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine? How can we replace a culture of violence with a culture of peace? Books and films include: The White Racial Frame (Joe Feagin), How to be an Anti-Racist (Ibram X. Kendi), "Amigo" (John Sayles), "American Revolutionary" (Grace Lee).
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 203-01 10646 |
Politics and Inequality: The American Welfare State |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 09:40 am-10:40 am
|
Room: ARTCOM 202
|
Instructor: Lesley Lavery
|
|
*Cross-listed with POLI 203-01*
Details
The readings and assignments in this course are designed to help students understand how social policies and programs contribute to Americans' lived experiences. We will examine various theoretical justifications for the policies that constitute the American welfare state, then confront and dissect major strands of the American social safety net to better understand how political institutions and policy mechanisms contribute to both diversity and inequality in individuals' social, economic and political outcomes (based in race, class, gender, dis/ability, region, political jurisdiction, etc.).
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
|
AMST 205-01 10842 |
Trans Theories and Politics |
Days: T R
|
Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
|
Room: MAIN 009
|
Instructor: Myrl Beam
|
|
*Cross-listed with WGSS 205-01*
Details
From Caitlyn Jenner to Laverne Cox, CeCe MacDonald to Chelsea Manning, Transparent to Pose, trans people are experiencing unprecedented media coverage. In fact, some years ago now Time Magazine declared that we are at the "transgender tipping point." And yet, alongside this positive media coverage, we see a massive wave of legislation across the country seeking to limit trans people's access to public space, to healthcare, and to self-determination. Alongside this, The National Coalition of Antiviolence Projects reports that 2020 saw a record number of murders of transgender individuals, in particular trans women of color. In all of these instances, it's useful to consider how and why the specter of transness is raised. What social and political work does that figure do? This course will examine transness as a practice of gender transgression, rather than solely an identity category, one which is historically and geographically contingent. In this class, we will ask: What has gender non-conformity meant in various historical moments? How do race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability structure trans lives and communities? How have key institutions within the US constructed ideas about gender normativity and policed gender transgression? How has that policing impacted and shaped trans life? What is the relationship between feminism and trans people and trans liberation? How have trans people envisioned and fought for social justice? What space can trans embodiment and politics open up for new ways of living, relating, and imagining otherwise?
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
|
AMST 209-01 10474 |
Civil Rights in the United States |
Days: W
|
Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
|
Room: MAIN 001
|
Instructor: Walter Greason
|
|
*Cross-listed with HIST 209-01*
Details
The course examines the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement led by African Americans in the United States. In the class, students will analyze key people, issues, events, and debates within movement history, including, but not limited to, gender and leadership; struggles for civil rights in the south, west, and urban north; the impact of the Cold War on race relations; student activism; movement strategies; and the emergence of Black Power. Throughout the semester, students will read a wide variety of primary and secondary texts to illuminate the activities and life stories of individual participants as well as the broad historical forces that characterized this long era of insurgency.
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 225-01 10476 |
Native History to 1871 |
Days: T R
|
Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
|
Room: MAIN 010
|
Instructor: Katrina Phillips
|
|
*Cross-listed with HIST 225-01*
Details
The history of American Indians is wonderfully complex, but this history is simultaneously fraught with misconceptions and misinterpretations. European (and, later, Euro-Americans) alternated among fascination, fear, and frustration toward American Indians, while American Indians sought to maintain tribal sovereignty and control over their lands, cultures, religions, politics, and lifestyles amidst continuing encroachment and settlement. This course examines American Indian history to 1871 - the year that Congress stopped making treaties with Native nations - by considering the complicated and multifaceted history of the nation's indigenous people. By looking at American Indian interactions with Spanish, French, British, and American explorers, settlers, missionaries, militaries, and government officials, this courses argues that the history of American Indians is essential to understanding past as well as present issues. Furthermore, this course looks to move beyond the notion that American Indian history is one of inevitable decline by creating a more nuanced understanding of the American Indian experience from pre-contact toward the twentieth century.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 237-01 10075 |
Environmental Justice |
Days: T R
|
Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
|
Room: THEATR 001
|
Instructor: Kirisitina Sailiata
|
|
*Cross-listed with ENVI 237-01*
Details
Updated course description: Since the early twentieth century, the environment and sustainability have been core platforms across most contemporary social movements. This introductory survey course begins its focus on the history of environmental activism locally in the Twin Cities to flashpoints across the Mississippi River watershed and beyond. Through a study of key figures and cases, we will explore the history and mobilization of environmental, climate and sustainability activism; the relationship between colonial and capitalist systems to contemporary environmental racism and inequality; and divergent approaches to research and scientific philosophies and practices.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
|
AMST 240-01 10312 |
Race, Culture, and Ethnicity in Education |
Days: T R
|
Time: 01:20 pm-02:50 pm
|
Room: MUSIC 228
|
Instructor: Brian Lozenski
|
|
*First day attendance required; cross-listed with EDUC 240-01*
Details
This survey course will explore history, policy, and pedagogy as they relate to race, ethnicity, and culture as education. K-12 public education will be the primary focus with topics including desegregation, standardized testing, multi-cultural and ethnocentric pedagogy, the teacher's role and experience, and significant historical events in education. The course will culminate by analyzing current trends and future expectations in education.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Social science
Course Materials
|
AMST 270-01 10077 |
Black Public Intellectuals |
Days: W
|
Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
|
Room: HUM 213
|
Instructor: Duchess Harris
|
|
Details
This course will address the tradition of public intellectuals in numerous Black communities. We will expand the definition of "politics" to include theater, literature, and film. We will interrogate the concept of who chooses the scholarly leaders for Black communities. We will examine numerous topics such as Communism, The American Dream, Incarceration, Feminism, and Ebony Voices in the Ivory Tower.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 271-01 10481 |
Uses and Abuses: Drugs, Addiction and Recovery |
Days: M
|
Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
|
Room: THEATR 204
|
Instructor: Amy Sullivan
|
|
*Cross-listed with HIST 271-01*
Details
After a brief but essential global history of drugs, this course will focus primarily on the 20th century to the present. We will examine histories of substance use and abuse, temperance and prohibition, the "War on Drugs," the shifting concept of addiction as a moral failing to addiction as a treatable disease, as well as study the history of the recovery movement and harm reduction. This course is not intended to be an exhaustive, comprehensive history of the subject-but it will provide you with a solid base from which to explore other aspects of this fascinating and contentious aspect of human history.
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 275-01 10331 |
African American Literature to 1900 |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 12:00 pm-01:00 pm
|
Room: MAIN 111
|
Instructor: Daylanne English
|
|
*Cross-listed with ENGL 275-01*
Details
In this course, we will study African American literature from the end of the 18th century to the turn of the 20th century, from Phillis Wheatley to Frederick Douglass to Ida B. Wells. Themes of the course include: Black solidarity, U.S. citizenship, and literature as a means of self-creation and resistance. In the words of Toni Morrison, “this is precisely the time when artists go to work—not when everything is fine, but in times of dread.” Thus, we will also foreground early African American literature as art, as an at once aestheticand political project, reading it closely and appreciatively. Requirements include: briefwritten responses to the readings, a presentation, a medium-length essay and a revision ofit, and a final reflection. This course fulfills the English major requirement either of acourse focused on literature by U.S. writers of color or a course on 19th -century Americanliterature.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 284-01 10078 |
Radical Reelism: Indigeneity, Politics, and Visual Culture |
Days: M W
|
Time: 07:00 pm-08:30 pm
|
Room: HUM 215
|
Instructor: Kirisitina Sailiata
|
|
*Cross-listed with MCST 284-01*
Details
Updated course description: Radical Reelism is an introduction to the field of Indigenous studies. In this course, we will trace the roots and routes of contemporary Indigenous filmmaking and new media in the U.S. and globally. What is the history of visual representation of Indigenous people? How do we reconcile the relationship between the reel and real? What are the specific legal and political dimensions of visual sovereignty? And what can Indigenous filmmakers and film theory teach us about power and social justice in the world we live in or the lands we currently occupy? We will seek answers to these questions through a centering of the radical visions, stories and aesthetics of contemporary Indigenous filmmakers and new media artists around the world.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 291-01 10917 |
Envi Justice in Practice |
Days: T R
|
Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
|
Room: MARKIM 201
|
Instructor: Sailiata, Wegner
|
|
*1 credit only; pass/fail grading only; cross-listed with ENVI 291-01*
Details
In this new course offering in Environmental Justice, students will learn from local community organizers and activists working across race, class and culture towards a more radical, emancipatory and climate just future here in the Twin Cities and in Greater Minnesota. Students will meet approximately twice a month to learn directly from various communities and community leaders about their distinct and collaborative approaches to land, water, and air stewardship. You will also have the opportunity to learn about various organizing strategies and campaigns for environmental justice through in class work and traveling to sites off-campus, including a wild ricing fieldtrip in early Fall.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
|
AMST 294-01 10080 |
Critical Race Studies 101 |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 03:30 pm-04:30 pm
|
Room: HUM 217
|
Instructor: Jake Nagasawa
|
|
Details
Who hasn’t heard of Critical Race Theory in this day and age? More often than not, "CRT" has served as a paper tiger for white supremacist, right wing attacks. However Critical Race Theory is primarily a legal studies approach, and is just one of many ways of thinking about race. In this course, we will offer a broad, interdisciplinary foundation for understanding, analyzing, and coming to terms with race, racism, and racial inequality in the United States. We will engage a variety of materials including, texts, films, guest speakers, and field site visits. Students will have the freedom to explore their own interests through in-class discussions and a research paper. Topics will include racial formation in the Unites States; Asian settler colonialism; racial capitalism; and yes, Critical Race Theory. No prerequisites.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 294-02 10719 |
Representing Malcolm X |
Days: T R
|
Time: 03:00 pm-04:30 pm
|
Room: MAIN 011
|
Instructor: William Hart
|
|
*Cross-listed with RELI 294-01*
Details
This course explores Malcolm X: the man, the myth, and the movement. X was a man of many pieces, sometime contradictory, that we explore through various representations: autobiographical, screenplay and film, hip hop music and culture, black international opinion, FBI surveillance documents, a young adult novel (co-written by his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz), and though comparison with his contemporary, Frantz Fanon, a revolutionary activist and theorist of decolonialism and a critic of antiblackness. To some extent, we will engage in a genre study. How does genre—autobiography, biography/history, fiction, hip hop and outlaw cultures—influence representation? How do we think about the continuities and discontinuities among historical, autobiographical, and fictional representations of Malcolm X? Questions we will explore include: Who is representing Malcolm, how and why? How are the various representations inflected by their respective media and genre? Why do we engage in myth-making? Can we distinguish Malcolm the man from Malcolm the myth? How does the religious studies category of “hagiography help us to understand some representations of Malcolm X? What are the perils of hagiography? Was Malcolm’s religion merely a prop for his politics? Assuming it was not, how do we do justice to the religious dimensions of his life? How does Malcolm X’s religious itinerary help us understand who he was?
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 294-03 10846 |
Endarkened Feminist Epistemologies: A Black Feminist Ethic |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
|
Room: MAIN 009
|
Instructor: Ebony Aya
|
|
*Cross-listed with WGSS 294-01*
Details
Endarkened Feminist Epistemology (EFE) is an approach to research that honors the wisdom, memory, spirituality, and critical interventions of transnational Black womxn’s ways of knowing (Dillard, 2016). A framework created by scholar Dr. Cynthia Dillard, it articulates how reality is known from the vantage point of transnational Black womxn - transnational recognizing the connections between African descended womxn throughout the diaspora as well as the continent. Through reading key texts, class discussion, and writing, this class will explore EFE’s claims and methodologies, as well as center other transnational Black womxn whose work helps us make connections between history, spirituality, and our collective positionality within academia.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WC
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
|
AMST 308-01 10788 |
Introduction to U.S. Latinx Studies |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 01:10 pm-02:10 pm
|
Room: HUM 212
|
Instructor: Alicia Munoz
|
|
*First day attendance required; cross-listed with LATI 308-01 and SPAN 308-01*
Details
This course provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the Latinx experience in the United States with a focus on Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban- Americans. Using fiction, poetry, films and critical essays, we will examine issues of race and ethnicity, language, identity, gender and sexuality, politics, and immigration. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 380-01 10338 |
Topics in African American Literature: Black Feminist Thought |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 02:20 pm-03:20 pm
|
Room: MAIN 111
|
Instructor: Daylanne English
|
|
*Cross-listed with ENGL 380-01*
Details
In this course, we will study the longstanding tradition of African American women’s thought—that is, theory that analyzes and challenges systemic U.S. oppressions, both past and present, while centering and appreciating a wide range of Black women’s perspectives and experiences. We will begin with 19th century contestations of “ideal” womanhood and will extend our study into the 20th and 21st centuries, including intersectionality theory, queer-of-color and Black transgender theory, and digital Black feminisms. Authors will include: Harriet Jacobs, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Audre Lorde,and Patricia Hill Collins, among others. We will also consider art and music as Black FeministThought, studying figures such as Wangechi Mutu and Janelle Monáe. Course requirements include discussion questions on our readings, a presentation, a short essay, and a final project. This course fulfills the U.S. writers of color requirement for the English major.
General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 387-01 10795 |
Latinx in the Midwest |
Days: M W F
|
Time: 10:50 am-11:50 am
|
Room: HUM 217
|
Instructor: Alicia Munoz
|
|
*First day attendance required; cross-listed with LATI 387-01 and SPAN 387-01*
Details
This course uses literature, film, and scholarly works to explore the Latinx experience in the Midwest. We will examine how this population creates and sustains community, constructs their own sense of Latinidad, and how that identity and its cultural practices are informed by and impact the region. Events involving the Twin Cities' Latinx communities will enrich our learning and discussions. this course satisfies the Area 2 requirement of the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 308
General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Distribution Requirements:
Humanities
Course Materials
|
AMST 394-01 10081 |
Building Ethical Partnerships: Junior Seminar in Community Engagement |
Days: M
|
Time: 07:00 pm-10:00 pm
|
Room: HUM 217
|
Instructor: Karin Aguilar-San Juan
|
|
*Permission of instructor required; first day attendance required; fulfills the junior seminar in civic engagement requirement in the American Studies major *
Details
Designed as a “practicum” (cohort study + internship), the Fall 2023 Junior Seminar in Community Engagement will focus on three themes: public health, environmental justice, and prison abolition. Two core concepts from American Studies– interdisciplinarity and ethical community partnerships–will connect and ground those themes. Through reading, reflection, discussion, and writing, we will explore the interactions across academic knowledge; self & community knowledge; work styles and communication; and what it means to “care” about an issue. In-class, side-by-side encounters with alumni and mentors from the internship sites will spur conversation on social change, career discernment, navigating resources, and stewarding relationships.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
|
AMST 400-01 10082 |
Senior Seminar |
Days: T R
|
Time: 09:40 am-11:10 am
|
Room: HUM 217
|
Instructor: Duchess Harris
|
|
*First day attendance required*
Details
The Senior Capstone is required of all majors. Majors who meet college criteria are encouraged to conduct an honors project in conjunction with their Senior Capstone.
General Education Requirements:
Distribution Requirements:
Course Materials
|