Class Schedules

The main objectives of this introductory course are: to explore the historical construction of racial categories in the United States; to understand the systemic impact of racism on contemporary social processes; to consider popular views about race in the light of emerging scholarship in the field; and to develop an ability to connect personal experiences to larger, collective realities. We will engage several questions as a group: What are the historical and sociological foundations of racial categories? When does focusing on race make someone racist? What is white privilege, and why does it matter? All students will be asked to think and write about their own racial identity. This course, or its equivalent, is required for majors and minors.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course introduces students to the key questions that scholars within the field of American Studies apply to explorations of people and cultures affected by competing discourses about “American” citizenship. This is a discussion-based course that will cultivate comprehension of core American Studies concepts and analytical frameworks, while also gauging the role of interdisciplinary research in deepening contemporary understandings of cultures that have circulated within and across the boundaries of the United States. Students will read and critically evaluate “classic” American Studies texts that exemplify the shifting contours of the field over time, as well as works that model the discipline’s long history of research that engages with real world political, social, and economic injustice.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course will introduce students to interdisciplinary research approaches to the study of race, ethnicity, and other categories of difference. Students will learn to conceptualize and design research projects, and will obtain hands-on experience in executing different methods. The course will also consider the critiques of systems of knowledge production and research approaches that have been informed by scholars from fields such as African American history, gender studies, and critical race studies, as well as from the disciplines. The goal is to develop an understanding of the assumptions embedded in many fields of inquiry, and to learn to apply critical approaches to important research questions. Prerequisite(s): AMST 101, AMST 103, or AMST 110.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

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:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

In Motion is an introduction to modern African American History from slavery to contemporary times. In Motion emphasizes the idea that both African Americans and the stories of their lives in the United States are fluid, varied and continually being reinterpreted. Rather than a strict chronological survey, this course is organized thematically. Some of the important themes include movement/mobility/migration; work/labor; resistance to systems of oppression; gender/sexuality/culture/performance; politics/citizenship; and sites of (re)memory. While the course is geographically situated in the United States, we will also consider African American life, culture, thought and resistance in global perspectives. In this course, students will read important historical texts, both primary and secondary, engage in discussion, and write essays that ask them to critically engage the history of African Americans in the US. Cross-listed with History 219. 4 credits.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course examines traditions of 20th century African American women's activism and the ways in which they have changed over time.  Too often, the narrative of the "strong black woman" infuses stories of African American women's resistance which, coupled with a culture of dissemblance, makes the inner workings of their lives difficult to imagine. This course, at its heart, seeks to uncover the motivations, both personal and political, behind African American women's activism. It also aims to address the ways in which African American women have responded to the pressing social, economic, and political needs of their diverse communities. The course also asks students to consider narrative, voice and audience in historical writing, paying particular attention to the ways in which black women's history has been written over the course of the twentieth century.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course is an overview of the development of theatre by and about Black Americans. It examines the historical, social, political, and cultural context of African-American Theatre. After investigating the roots of African-American Theatre in African culture, performance modes, and social values, it focuses on a study of plays written by Black Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this survey course, we will trace the development of an African American literary tradition from the end of the 18th century to the turn of the 20th century, from Phillis Wheatley to Charles Chesnutt. We will explore the longstanding project of writing an African American self as both a literary and a political subject. We will read closely, critically, and appreciatively from multiple genres, including poetry, slave narratives, short stories, novels, and a graphic novel. We will supplement our exploration of those texts with critical and theoretical readings. Among the themes that will organize the course are: writing as a political act; representations of gendered and classed experiences of blackness in the United States, aesthetic innovation in relation to political and social change, genre and its subversion, and the limits of literary representation itself. Requirements include: two papers of about 10 pages each, brief response papers to each new reading, an in-class presentation, class participation, and a final exam. This course fulfills either the literature by U.S. writers of color or the pre-1900 American literature requirement for the English major.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

America is incomprehensible without reference to black Americans. In this course we explore the complicated lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X: how their lives converged and diverged. We analyze the intersections of racial identity, religious affiliation, and political orientation and their relations to the prevailing notions of manhood and American identity. How did Martin Luther King and Malcolm X enter the black freedom movement? How did their religious affiliations facilitate or hinder entry? How did their participation in the movement transform their understanding of religion? In what ways do MLK and X make theological critiques of antiblackness and white supremacy? How do they understand the relations among race, religion, and politics? Is religion central to their respective self-understanding? How do Martin and Malcolm enact—before the fact—the ideas expressed by the Twitter hashtags “#BlackLivesMatter” (created by the activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi) and “#SayHerName” (by the poet Aja Monet)?

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course explores the ways in which perceptions of the human body have shaped culture, thought, and discussions of rights in the United States. The first half of the course examines historical shifts related to racial categories, sexual identities, desirability, and health. The second half focuses on how discussions of racialized, gendered, and sexualized bodies influence current political, economic, and social debates. Throughout the course, we will engage in interdisciplinary interrogations of the body as both a site of social and political surveillance, as well as a medium of cultural critique and political protest.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This Junior Seminar in civic engagement offers upper-level students an opportunity to study - through internships and reflection - and to actively engage with the problem of racialized mass-incarceration on a local, regional, and national scale. During any given semester, the seminar may focus on a specific aspect of the problem, such as: ex-felon disenfranchisement, families and juvenile justice, restorative justice, political prisoners, or prison art and literature. This course requires prior exposure to American Studies (preferably including a critical methods course). Note: The seminar will run concurrently with optional internships specifically created for this course, and a required reflection "lab" period. Placement in these internships is highly recommended. Students must obtain permission to enroll in these internships. Prerequisite(s): AMST 200

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the Latino 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

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An overview of contemporary approaches to media as culture, a determining as well as determined sphere in which people make sense of the world, particularly in terms of ethnicity, gender, identity, and social inequality. Students develop tools for analyzing media texts and accounts of audience responses derived from the international field of cultural studies and from the social theory on which it draws. Analysis emphasizes specificity of media texts, including advertisements, films, news reports, and television shows. Experience in cooperative discussion, research, and publication. Prerequisite(s): MCST 110

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

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