21 courses with the subject AFRS BC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
AFRS BC2004INTRODUCTN TO AFRICAN STUDIES3.00
Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the study of Africa, moving from pre-colonial through colonial and post-colonial periods to contemporary Africa. Focus will be on its history, societal relations, politics and the arts. The objective is to provide a critical survey of the history as well as the continuing debates in African Studies
This course offers a chronological study of the Anglophone, Hispanophone, and Francophone insular Caribbean through the eyes of some of the region’s most important writers and thinkers. We will focus on issues that key Caribbean intellectuals--including two Nobel prize-winning authors--consider particularly enduring and relevant in Caribbean cultures and societies. Among these are, for example, colonization, slavery, national and postcolonial identity, race, class, popular culture, gender, sexuality, tourism and migration. This course will also serve as an introduction to some of the exciting work on the Caribbean by professors at Barnard College and Columbia University (faculty spotlights)
Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the African diaspora in the Americas: its motivations, dimensions, consequences, and the importance and stakes of its study. Beginning with the contacts between Africans and the Portuguese in the 15th century, this class will open up diverse paths of inquiry as students attempt to answer questions, clear up misconceptions, and challenge assumptions about the presence of Africans in the New World
This seminar analyzes the different critical approaches to studying same-sex desire in the Caribbean region. The region’s long history of indigenous genocide, colonialism, imperialism, and neo-liberalism, have made questions about “indigenous” and properly “local” forms of sexuality more complicated than in many other regions. In response, critics have worked to recover and account for local forms of same-sex sexuality and articulated their differences in critical and theoretical terms outside the language of “coming out” and LGBT identity politics. On the other hand, critics have emphasized how outside forces of colonialism, imperialism, and the globalization of LGBT politics have impacted and reshaped Caribbean same-sex desires and subjectivities. This course studies these various critical tendencies in the different contexts of the Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanophone, and Dutch Caribbean
BC: Fulfillment of General Education Requirement: Ethics and Values. This course considers representation of four cities in which diasporic communities have settled and negotiated the psychic and material terrain that stretches from a past homeland to a settled homeland. We look at New York, London, Kinshasha, and Cape Town where communities of different African diasporas- historical and contemporary- as well as South Asian diasporas have settled. Locally, we enter a space like the contemporary Malcolm Shabazz market to attend to the transnational, mercantilist as well as cultural public spheres that it creates. We also look at earlier transmigrations by African Diasporic groups moving from Jamaica to Harlem to Marseilles. We consider London in the 1980s and the early 2000s. Thematically, we consider different kinds of displacement and their impact upon women. We foreground race, ethnicity, nationalist discourses, global economies, and the publishing, distribution and marketing networks of the Arts produced in these cities. We read across genres and consider graffiti in neighborhoods that have diasporic communities.
During the journey of this course, we will individually and collectively utilize myriad materials to examine the intricacies, nuances, and trajectories of freedom, primarily in literary texts grounded in the United States. However, a couple of required books are centered beyond the geographical and imaginary boundaries of the United States. Even though one of the texts for this course is a “traditional” slave narrative of a previously enslaved woman of African descent in the Caribbean (The History of Mary Prince), we will examine different narratives of Black women from the colonial period to the contemporary era that engage and reckon with the processes of freedom- imagining, freedom-creating, and freedom-making. We will approach the subject matter utilizing a variety of genres (e.g., slave narratives, oral histories, speeches, essays, poems, as well as novels (epistolary and science fiction). For this course, students will submit 2 short essays and a final paper/project. Small groups of 2-3 students will also co-lead some sections of class discussions on selected reading assignments
The Africana Studies Department offers special topics courses every year as colloquia. These colloquia provide opportunities for students to explore areas of particular interest within African Diasporic Studies in a seminar environment. Students earn 4 credits for these courses. There are multiple colloquia offered by the department every year. Some of the topics for these colloquia have included Critical Race Theory, Indian Ocean Diaspora, The New Black, Caribbean Women, and Black Shakespeare. As the topics change, students should check with the Chair of the Africana Studies Department if they have any questions about the topics for a particular academic year
Prerequisites: Students must attend first day of class and admission will be decided then. Priority will be given to CCIS students (Africana Studies, American Studies and Women's Studies majors; minors in Race and Ethnic Studies). Enrollment limited to 20 students.
AFRS BC3145Black Women’s Histories in the United States4.00
In this course you will be examining paper tracings and other sources related to the lived experiences of Black women. You will be required to review and interrogate materials on triggering subjects; some of these items include violent descriptions, images, and acts. In order to join in our collective engagement with the history of Black women, within the context of the U.S., you will critically analyze items that have not been sanitized for popular consumption. Thus, we will not be “erasing history” in this course by avoiding the deployment of white supremacy and its vast, related violence(s) against Black women’s bodies and lives, as well as the various manifestations of resistance of Black women throughout the history of the United States
AFRS BC3160Fanon’s Psychology of the Oppressed4.00
Frantz Fanon’s ideas have been influential for decades among theorists, practitioners, and activists alike. This seminar is focused on understanding Fanon’s particular perspective on the psychology of the oppressed and its relevance for examining the experience of past and present racialized inequality and its effects in society. The course is divided into four sections, which build cumulatively. I). An introductory section introduces Fanon’s central ideas (e.g., dialecticism, existentialism, post-colonialism) in their intellectual and socio-historical context (e.g., the Algerian revolution, African decolonization, South African Apartheid, the US civil rights and women’s rights movements). II). A second section locates Fanon in psychological theory and therapeutic theory and practice. The cultural and political (Eurocentric?) roots of psychological theory and practice are examined as are notions of oppression causing psychological and physical violence as well as psychopathology / psychological disorder. III). A third section examines Fanon and others psychological approaches to identity with particular attention to the presumed “inferiority complex” of oppressed peoples, nationalist and other reconstructions of identity in opposition to oppression, sociological psychological conceptualizations of stigma, and Dubois’s influential ideas regarding double consciousness. IV). A fourth and final section focuses on resistance and rebellion. The focus here is on the psycho-moral implications of (violent, peaceful, non-disruptive) action against oppression with reference to the distinct perspectives of Fanon in comparison to influential figures like Gandhi and M.L.K Jr. These issues are linked to a post-Fanon approach to the psychology of the oppressed called Liberation Psychology
AFRS BC3516Environmental Humanities in the Global South4.00
"This interdisciplinary course studies how individuals and communities in the Global South attempt to make sense of the ‘sense of an ending’ that underlines all warnings about environmental crisis and climate change. Our interdisciplinary course has a doubled foundation out of which our readings and discussions will grow: communal understanding and knowledge about local environments, on one hand, and the relation between such knowledge and the data and information gathered by scientists." "We therefore begin with a simple question: what is the relation between the Humanities and the work of scientists? Scientists undertake painstaking, necessary research to provide communities and their governments with vital, necessary information. Individuals and communities interpret and translate this information, often affectively. An organization of scientists studying carbon levels across Africa can list the progressive increase in temperatures across Africa over a period of years and calculate anticipated increases. An image based on this data may visualize the projected rise:" "A glance reveals something dire based on the way we associate red with danger. Our course is oriented towards who lives beneath the surfaces of data and images that ‘draw a picture’ for us. We read for how communities and individuals explain and communicate their relation to the historical and changing environments. In other words, we attend to narration, in different forms—fiction, poetry, song, travelogue—to grasp how experiences are rendered comprehensible. There is a broad ‘where’ as well, and a fluid ‘when.’ ‘Where’ takes us into the portmanteau category of ‘The Global South.’ We bracket the scope of this category to focus upon specific places in the Indian Ocean, sub-Saharan Africa and diasporic African communities. ‘When’ permits us to think of time, the time of the world, the times of change and the times of aftermaths. Go into an archive, open a history book, a sacred text and you will encounter ‘endings.’ We enter British colonial archives to see how signs of ‘When’ also allows us to face an underlying dread that might be called a ‘sense of an ending’ and to see just how many such ‘endings’ have come to pass. This is how we enter the diasporic histories of environmental change related to colonialism and the enslavement and transportation of whose descendants live in the broader ‘Global South’ Africans
AFRS BC3519Race Before Race: Premodern Constructions of Social Difference4
This course expands the reach of traditional analyses of race and ethnicity by demonstrating the key role of premodernity (Classical, Medieval and Early Modern eras) in developing modes of race thinking that shape the modern world. We will use intersectional approaches and critical race theory to examine both theorizing about race and primary materials that (re)produce race across time and in the present moment. What does it mean to look at premodernity through the eyes of the African Diaspora? Our examination of the different types of premodern race thinking will culminate in a collaborative class project in which students will be asked to apply critical race theory inflected approaches to editing an early modern text.
Prerequisites: This course is limited to 20 students Romare Bearden: Home is Harlem, is an exploration into one of the greatest American artists finding home in Harlem. The noted painter, collagist, intellectual and advocate for the arts, spent his childhood and young adult life in Harlem. Known for chronicling the African-American experience, he found rich sources for artistic expression in the Manhattan neighborhoods above 110th Street
This course explores representations of queer Harlem in African American literature, sonic culture, and performance. We will consider the history and making of Harlem, key figures of the Harlem Renaissance, and the aesthetic innovations of writers and artists who defied the racial, sexual, and gendered conventions of their time. We will be guided by an intersectional approach to the study of race, gender, and sexuality and the methods of Black queer studies, African American and African diaspora literary studies, as well as sound and performance scholarship. We will ask when, where, and what was/is gay Harlem; how we might excavate its histories; map its borders; and speculate on its material and imagined futures
Black Women, the Apollo, and the Politics of Style Spring 2026: AFRS BC3552 Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment AFRS 3552 001/00607 F 10:10am - 12:00pm 407 Barnard Hall Shirley Taylor 4.00 5/15
The seminar offers an interdisciplinary study of sexualities in the Caribbean from the conquest to the contemporary moment. The principal focus will be on how sexualities intersect with questions of gender, race, nation, and diaspora in the Anglophone, Francophone and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. We will approach the study of Caribbean sexualities from various disciplines and areas of study, including history, anthropology, sociology, ethnomusicology, performance studies, literary studies, gender studies, cultural studies, and postcolonial theory. The first part of the seminar addresses Caribbean sexuality in the context of conquest, colonization and slavery, and then national independence. The remainder of the course addresses areas that have drawn particularly intense scholarly debates, including Caribbean family formation, masculinity, and same-sex desire, as well as sex tourism, and the gender and sexual politics of Caribbean popular music and dance.
Harlem is a community with a long and storied legacy of arts and entertainment that dates back to the late 1800s. Its legacy extends through the many cultural movements that have helped to define the community such as the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1900s, the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s, and Hip Hop in the 1970s and 1980s, to the current renaissance of venues that anchor Harlem as a neighborhood vibrant with varied opportunities for cultural engagement. Harlem is home to several historic and iconic venues devoted to the arts and entertainment such as the Apollo Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the National Black Theatre. These and many other venues along with many others throughout the neighborhood have helped to anchor Harlem as a beacon for Black creative expression that has been instrumental in shaping American culture. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, stands as a repository for much of this history and as an emblem of Harlem’s extensive cultural history. In recent years, Harlem has also seen a burgeoning of new galleries, performance spaces, and cultural events that have reignited and brought new audiences to the community. In this course, we will explore Harlem’s early history and how it evolved from a place known primarily for its entertainment venues to one with a mix of standard and more cutting edge artistic and cultural ventures. Community, politics, and economics will also be considered as we look at various cultural and artistic movements. As part of our exploration, we will examine whether shifts in demographics and the ideas, notions, and sometimes, myths about the neighborhood have influenced arts and entertainment in the community. We will seek to define what distinguishes arts and entertainment in Harlem from other New York City neighborhoods and how Harlem has contributed over the years to Black arts and entertainment in NYC and beyond. This course will include visits to venues and visits from guest speakers, all relative to in-class discussions and deeper exploration of the space arts and entertainment have continued to hold for the community and for the people of Harlem. Along with guided walking tours, visits to selected venues will help to delineate Harlem’s cultural past and its continuing evolution through the work of artists, curators, administrators, scholars, culture bearers, and others. Students are encouraged to attend events at some of the institutions and venues covered in the course. Dates, times, and links for events, activities, and guest speakers will be provided in advance
AFRS BC3570Africana Issues: Diasporas of the Indian Ocean4
The Indian Ocean has been called the cradle of globalization, a claim bolstered by seasonal monsoon winds and the trade that these enabled. We will consider the aesthetic histories of such trade by engaging literary and other cultural exchanges (including film, visual arts, music, and dance). What did the Zulu prophet Isaiah Shembe learn from Gujarati poets? Other than a major slaving center and source of spices, what role did Zanzibar play in the development of music and literary forms that look to Oman as well as the East Coast of Africa? We focus on four sites: Durban (South Africa), Bombay (India), Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Port Louis (Mauritius). This course will be taught simultaneously between Barnard in New York and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Students from both campuses will be encouraged to interact electronically and to establish a blog and website. The course will also have live-streamed guest speakers from chosen sites around the Indian Ocean.
AFRS BC3585POOR IN AMERICA: THE EXPERIENCE AND IMPACT OF FINANCIAL DEPRIVATION4.00
This course focuses on the life experiences and impact of poverty in the contemporary United States. We will be exploring the consequences of financial and material deprivation on work, housing, health, parenting, children, as well as the limits and opportunities for inter-generational mobility and how each of these intersect with gender, racial and ethnic identities. We will be learning about the experiences of individual persons as well as how these particular experiences reflect the overarching patterns of social, political and economic trends in the United States. The course will incorporate a diverse set of disciplinary perspectives to shed light on the challenges faced by persons living in poverty. In addition, there will be an emphasis on learning about and critically assessing methodological approaches applied in the literature. No prior knowledge of methods is required and any technical references will be explained in class
A program of interdisciplinary research leading to the writing of the senior essay. All Africana majors must complete the one-semester Africana Studies Senior Seminar in the fall and submit a senior essay as one of the requirements for this course. A student who has successfully completed the Africana Studies Senior Seminar, has demonstrated the ability to complete a senior thesis, and has obtained approval from the faculty member teaching the Senior Seminar may take an Independent Study with a Barnard or Columbia faculty member or a second thesis seminar in another department in order to complete a senior thesis in Africana Studies in the spring semester
