African American Studies (AFAM)
Courses
AFAM 40A. African American Studies I. 4 Units.
Discusses main contours of African American experience from the forced importation of Africans into the Americas in the late fifteenth century to the development of social movements in post-emancipation societies of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
((III or IV) and VII ).
AFAM 40B. African American Studies II. 4 Units.
Introduction to the history of modern racial thinking in Western society and its relationship to the material contexts of racial oppression, with emphasis on its development in British colonies and U.S.
((III or IV) and VII ).
AFAM 40C. African American Studies III. 4 Units.
Introduction to theories of racial blackness in the modern world, with emphasis on developments in British colonies and U.S. Traces emergence of blackness as term of collective identity, social organization, and political mobilization.
((III or IV) and VII ).
AFAM 50. Introductory Topics in African American Studies. 4 Units.
Introduction to a broad range of topics in African American studies, exploring history, literature, art, culture, politics, and contemporary social issues. Topical organization of courses addresses issues that have been of importance historically and are reshaping the African diaspora today.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 111A. Modern African American Art. 4 Units.
Investigates the history of modern African American art; emphasis on the politics of representation. Examines art in a variety of media from material culture and textiles to painting and photography. Issues of migration, nationalism, gender, sexuality, and hybridity are discussed.
Same as ART HIS 164A.
AFAM 111B. Contemporary African American Art. 4 Units.
Investigates the history of contemporary African American art; emphasis on the politics of representation. Explores art in a variety of media: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and new media. Cultural politics, appropriation, identity, gender, sexuality, hybridity and civil rights issues discussed.
Same as ART HIS 164B.
AFAM 112A. Early African American Literature. 4 Units.
Examines the earliest forms of black literary practices, including the jeremiad, the slave narrative, the pamphlet, poetry, the short story, and how these literary forms are related to the historical experiences of enslavement and emancipation.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 112B. African American Literature 1900-Present. 4 Units.
Examines individual literary forms and/or authors, as well as movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement. Explores how black literary practices represent the conditions of modern subjectivities and environments.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 113. African American Cinema and Media. 4 Units.
Explores the diversity of Black creative production and the historical, social, and economic forces that shaped their emergence. May include Black film, hip-hop culture, fine art, photography, and others.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 114. International Cultures. 4 Units.
Explores the various cultures of the African diaspora and their impacts on a global scale. Examines a diverse range of media, including music (reggae, hip-hop), literature, film, and others and the links between culture and social movements throughout the diaspora.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 115. Race and Visual Representation. 4 Units.
Examines film, documentary, fine art, photography, and other visual media to explore the multiple ways in which ideas about race are projected and woven through the visual landscape and the impacts this has on perpetuating social inequalities.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 118. Topics in African American Humanities. 4 Units.
Provides students with an opportunity to pursue advanced work in African American studies from one or more humanities approaches (literature, film and media studies, art history, and others).
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 125. African American Women in Art. 4 Units.
Examines depictions of and by African American women in art and popular culture through a variety of media including textiles, painting, sculpture, photography, and installation. Focuses on African American women's experiences, perspectives, and strategies for contemporary representation.
Same as ART HIS 164D.
AFAM 128. Topics in Gender/Sexuality. 4 Units.
Expressions of genders and sexualities across the spectrum of African American experience and creativity.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 134A. Caribbean History: Colonization to Emancipation. 4 Units.
Exploration of the history of the archipelago from pre-Columbian times to the end of slavery; examining the impact of European colonization, decimation of the indigenous populations, African slavery, resistance, and emancipation; the unity and diversity of experience in region.
Same as HISTORY 164A.
AFAM 134B. Caribbean History: Emancipation to Independence. 4 Units.
Post-emancipation and anti-colonial struggles ending with political independence for most of the region. Examines social, political, economic, cultural dimensions of post-emancipation period, including large-scale migration to Central America, the U.S., and Britain; the region's global cultural and political contribution.
Same as HISTORY 164B.
AFAM 137. History of the African Diaspora. 4 Units.
Examines the causes and consequences of the multiple diasporas of African peoples since the sixteenth century in the Atlantic world, especially the Americas and Europe.
Same as HISTORY 134E.
AFAM 138. Topics in African American History. 4 Units.
Studies in selected areas of African American history. Topics addressed vary each quarter.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
Same as HISTORY 150.
AFAM 143. Topics in African American Music. 4 Units.
Examines African American musical forms and traditions, such as blues, jazz, and reggae, in performance and/or critical and theoretical contexts.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 144. Topics in Expressive Forms. 4 Units.
Examines various forms of aesthetic expression in the African diaspora, including dance, music, and the plastic arts, as well as artistic visions of black cyberspace, digital activism, film, video, and aesthetic conceptions of the future.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 145. African Americans and Photography. 4 Units.
Explores depictions of and by African Americans through photography. Examines the history of photography in relationship to African American culture through a variety of media from early daguerreotype processes to digital imagery.
Same as ART HIS 164E.
AFAM 151. Comparative Minority Politics. 4 Units.
Examines the political experiences of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the United States from roughly 1950 to the present. Focuses on how each group has pursued political empowerment via both conventional political channels and social movements.
Same as ASIANAM 132, CHC/LAT 147, POL SCI 124C.
AFAM 152. African American Politics. 4 Units.
Examines politics of African Americans in order to gain a broader perspective of the American political process. Major developments in African American politics (including the civil rights movement, Black presidential bids), continuing problem of racism, responsiveness of key governing institutions.
Same as POL SCI 124E.
AFAM 153. African American Psychology. 4 Units.
Historical overview of the development of black psychology and the African American frame of reference. Topics include personality development, psychological assessment, issues in education, black mental health, and the role of the African American psychologist in the community.
Same as PSYCH 174E.
AFAM 154. African American Social Formations. 4 Units.
Topics which promote critical investigation into the historical, political, and social formations associated with the Black Diaspora.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 155. Intercultural Studies. 4 Units.
Studies relationships between various cultural formations within the Black Diaspora and the exchange, amalgamations, and tensions between Black Diasporic formations and non-Black formations. Examines expressions of racialization as representation, adaption, and resistance.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 156. African Societies and Politics. 4 Units.
Examines the violent incorporation of Africa within European modernity. Places the discourse of Pan-Africanism, African Nationalisms, Negritude, African Marxism, and/or African Socialism in juxtaposition to the forces of capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism that restructure African history.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 157. Critical Race Theory. 4 Units.
Introduction to Critical Race Theory and key American cases on racial inequality. Using this literature, examines the possibilities and pitfalls of legal claims of race, gender, and sexuality discrimination in the age of colorblindness.
Same as CRM/LAW C178.
Restriction: Upper-division students only. African-American Studies Majors have first consideration for enrollment. Criminology, Law and Society Majors have first consideration for enrollment. Social Ecology Majors have first consideration for enrollment.
AFAM 159. Prisons and Public Education. 4 Units.
Looks at the connections between schools and prisons in the United States. Students learn about ideas that push beyond common trope of the “school to prison pipeline.”.
Same as ANTHRO 138.
AFAM 162W. The Black Protest Tradition. 4 Units.
History and discourses of the black protest tradition. Traces emergence of black protest against racial slavery and white supremacy from the early colonial period to present and the complex elaboration of identity politics within black communities in the twentieth century.
Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement.
Restriction: Upper-division students only.
(Ib)
AFAM 163. Seminar in African American Studies. 4 Units.
Explores theoretical and methodological issues in Black Studies via concentrated work on a specific ensemble of questions. Emphasis is on generating student responses to the material covered through oral and written reports.
Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.
AFAM 198. Directed Group Study. 1-4 Units.
Special topics through directed reading. Paper required.
Repeatability: May be taken for credit for 24 units.
AFAM 199. Independent Study. 1-4 Units.
Investigation of special topics through directed reading. Paper required.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
AFAM 399. University Teaching. 4 Units.
Limited to teaching assistants.
Grading Option: Satisfactory/unsatisfactory only.
Repeatability: May be repeated for credit unlimited times.
Restriction: Graduate students only.