46 courses with the subject AFST, 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.
Fall This course gives first-year students the opportunity to work in a seminar format with a member of the faculty in an area of the faculty member’s research interests.
Spring This course gives first-year students the opportunity to work in a seminar format with a member of the faculty in an area of the faculty member’s research interests.
Fall This course gives first-year students the opportunity to work in a seminar format with a member of the faculty in an area of the faculty member’s research interests.
Spring This course gives first-year students the opportunity to work in a seminar format with a member of the faculty in an area of the faculty member’s research interests.
Periodically Examination of the historical transformation of the roles of Asian and African women in relation to the different modes of socioeconomic organization of their respective societies. Critical assessment of the impact of social, religious, economic and political systems in defining the status of women in these societies.
Periodically This course will excavate and illuminate the evolution of the rich cultural expression of Black Americans in Musical Theater, Dramatic Productions, and Concert Dance as a response to the socio-political conditions of Black life in the United States from the Harlem Renaissance through the Black Arts Movement (1920-1975). The course will forward a new concept that the Black creative response, resulting in parallel trajectories of these forms of expression, impacted and were impacted by the history of the United States and flourished, voicing a reaction to social and political upheaval, sometimes through satirical humor, other times with great passion and anger.
Fall This is a studio course introducing students to American dance aesthetics and practices with a focus on how its evolution has been influenced by African American choreographers and dancers. An ongoing study of movement practices from traditional African dances, dances of the African Diaspora, American Jazz dance, modern dance, and American Ballet will be complemented by readings, video viewings, guest speakers and creation of dance studies.
Fall, Spring Examination of literary voices from Francophone countries including Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia. Topics include decolonization and the African identity, the search for self, the contradictions of life in the colonies and racism. Readings include works by Memmi, Ben Jelloun, Snow-Fall, Senghor. All works are read and discussed in English.
A survey of the representation of Africa in Greek and Roman literature from the time of Homer until the Arab conquests of the seventh century CE, and in the works of African writers and poets over this long period. This course will examine how the intellectual tradition has sought to minimize Africa’s role in shaping ideas about classical Greece and Rome. The colonial narrative is one of marginalization, occlusion, and erasure, but this course will foreground intellectual endeavors that rehabilitate the African presence in the (re)creation of the classical past.
Spring This course will explore the critical connection between activism, social protest movements and social change from post-World War II to now. Through various readings, films, and Socratic debate and dialogue, students will establish a historical context and gain a contemporary appreciation for the pedagogy of the oppressed.
Periodically Each student, in consultation with the instructor, selects a key topic or a prominent figure in the world with African experience and explores the ideas generated by and around the topic or personality.
Periodically Each student, in consultation with the instructor, selects a key topic or a prominent figure in the world with African experience and explores the ideas generated by and around the topic or personality.
Periodically The continent of Africa is the birthplace of humanity and an area of enormous cultural diversity. This course will examine representative contemporary African societies against a backdrop of social, political and economic change.
This interdisciplinary course explores the geography, environments, histories, cultures, and politics of South Africa. Issues include pre-colonial civilizations, European colonialism, institutionalized racism, industrialization and its implications for labor and class, political movements, and post-colonial dynamics in an emerging economy. Special attention will be paid to the intersection of recent anthropogenic climate change and South Africa’s economy and society, and the recent entrepreneurial efforts to mitigate environmental impacts through a range of sustainability efforts. This course requires a study abroad component in South Africa. Specific travel dates will be provided by the department.
Periodically Consideration and analysis of the culture of black Americans and black communities; emphasis is on enculturation processes and social forms resulting from antecedents of African culture and pressures from the dominant American culture. Emphasis is on the legacy of slavery.
Periodically Investigation of the political culture of Africa, which combines indigenous heritage and culture with European colonial influences; and a comparative analysis of political development in African states, including struggles for democratization, nation-building, and socioeconomic development.
Periodically Development theories, practices and results evident in the region’s primary industries such as agriculture, pastoral farming, mining and manufacturing from the colonial period to the present. Precolonial socioeconomic formations in each country within the region are examined as background to transformations fostered by colonialism.
Every Other Year An analysis in depth of the manner in which racial considerations have shaped the American political culture and the extent to which these considerations have affected the formation of public policy on all levels of government. The main emphasis, however, shall be on the national level.
This course will explore the experiences of Black Americans in the United States through the lens of Black women, whose gendered, racial, and class perspectives offer distinct understandings of traditional watershed moments in U.S. history. Through the lens of Maggie Lena Walker (money), Shirley Chisholm (power), and Fannie Lou Hamer (respect), students will engage with topics including economic inequities, the politics of citizenship, disenfranchisement, and Reproductive Justice Movements from Post-Emancipation to the twenty-first century. By the end of the semester, students will have sophisticated knowledge of how Black individuals, in many instances led by Black women, developed survival strategies, including self-help, entrepreneurship, and political activism, that centered health and social safety nets as mechanisms for gaining full, equitable access to American systems and structures.
This course will provide in-depth engagement with the experiences of Black people in the United States, exploring themes of health, trauma, resistance, and healing. Students will engage with various topics, including disenfranchisement, the Jim Crow Era, the Great Migrations, New Deal politics, and the Reproductive Justice Movements from the Progressive Era to the twenty-first century. By the end of the course, students will have a sophisticated understanding of how Black individuals challenged white supremacist ideas and systemic racism by (re)defining liberty and freedom through centering Black resistance and upliftment strategies.
Periodically History of Africa from the traditional period to the beginning of the modern era. Emphasis on Bantu migration, pre-colonial society, and the slave trade.
Periodically The colonial period, African nationalism, independence, and the apartheid system.
Periodically An examination of the relations between African-American and Jewish-Americans in the United States from the period of the “Grand Alliance” (ca., 1910-1967) to the current moment of “crisis.” Through the investigation of literature, sociological analysis, historical case studies, opinion pieces, and works of art, this course illuminates the complex and shifting relations between African-Americans and Jewish-Americans and their significance for questions of identity in the modern United States.
Periodically Work, working people and working class movements in modern Africa are the focus of this introductory course. Through contemporary and historical cross-country studies of workers in a wide variety of economic, political and institutional settings, we will evaluate rival perspectives on a host of interesting and controversial topics. These include changing occupational and industrial formations, gender and racial/ethnic gaps in jobs and income, poverty and inequality, immigration, urban informal employment, worker training and health care, labor unions, government’s regulatory and job creation roles. This is a distribution course in both the Behavioral Social Sciences and the Cross-Cultural categories.
Periodically An introduction to African cultures from the colonial era to post-colonialism through an analysis of literature and film.
Periodically This course focuses on the myriad factors contributing to disease in Africa and the various ways in which African cultures respond behaviorally to disease and illness. We explore the etiology and clinical manifestations of disease and illness and the practices directed toward the alleviation of disease and the promotion of health against a backdrop of the political economy of African nations.
Periodically This course introduces students to the impact of race, class and gender on the health status of African Americans in the United States. It focuses on concepts of race, ethnicity and the perception of human differences; the biological basis of human variation; and the impact of state policies on patterns of disease, reproduction, and death among African Americans with an emphasis on the ethical questions these policies pose.
Periodically An introduction to Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian cultures from the colonial era to post-colonialism through an analysis of literature and film.
Fall This course introduces students to the history of sports as a way to understand racism and the experiences of racialized communities in the Americas. We will use sports history as a lens to understand social movements, the communities of players and fans, and the business of popular culture. Long before Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the U.S. national anthem, sports stars used their platforms to express their commitment to civil rights. That hasn’t only occurred in the U.S. context. The course may examine, for example, sport in the Brazilian transition to democracy, during apartheid in South Africa, and among Afro-Cubans to understand race in the global sporting landscape as well as the history of race in the U.S., for example, as reflected through the prism of baseball from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries.
Understanding gender and sexuality today requires a comprehensive and engaging look into various institutions – particularly 20 th and 21 st century governance, kinship, media, and economics. This course will apply a sociological lens to the African continent, attempting not to understand each context of 54 countries, but to deconstruct shared processes of becoming gendered , sexed or sexual subjects. We will emphasize legal and social movements and pinpoint various impositions of Western ideology and political control, particularly during colonialism, the AIDS crisis, and early moments of transnational feminism.
Fall, Spring Examination of major patterns of racial and ethnic relations in the United States. Historical, contemporary and cross-cultural data are combined with prevalent theoretical perspectives to provide a basic understanding of race and ethnic relations as enduring and embedded aspects of United States society. Topics covered include the political and economic dynamics of race relations, institutional racism, prejudice and discrimination. Particular attention is paid to the African-American experience from slavery to the present.
Periodically Introduces selected African novelists of the 20th century, such as Chinua Achebe, Sembene Ousmane, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Bessie Head, Buchi Emecheta, and Solomon Mutswairo. Analysis of African literary themes, such as traditional and modern conflicts, resistance to colonialism, effects of independence, neocolonial dilemmas, and images of the African woman.
Fall, Spring The origins of an African American literary tradition from the Colonial period to the early 20th century. Themes include the African Diaspora, slavery, folk culture, race, and social equality. Such authors as Equiano, Wheatley, Douglass, Brown, Jacobs, Harper, Washington, and Du Bois.
Periodically The growth of African American literature from the Harlem Renaissance to the present. Such topics as migration, African heritage, protest, vernacular, and gender. Writers include Hughes, Hurston, Wright, Brooks, Ellison, Baldwin, Baraka, Walker, Morrison, and Wilson.
Periodically This course examines archaeological and historical studies of people of African descent in the Americas, beginning with the transatlantic slave trade to the early twentieth century. The major objective of this course is to understand the diverse material worlds of African Diasporic communities within the greater historiographies of the Atlantic world. The course reviews archaeological methods, material patterns of African and African-American cultural practices, and the public meanings of minority archaeologies.
Periodically Problems of the developing economies of the world, theories of development, requirements for and obstacles to economic development, policies to promote economic redevelopment.
Movements for social justice take many forms. Students will explore how people cross-culturally draw on diverse cultural and religious traditions as they conceive and work toward building a just society. Domestic and international conditions in our contemporary world demand that we take a nuanced look at how people motivate themselves and others to make social and cultural change. We will discuss a variety of topics, including the Catholic worker’s movement, the civil rights movement, peace and anti-violence campaigns, Buddhist activism, and interfaith movements, as well as responses to class, ethnic, racial, and gender inequities. This course will concentrate on anthropological approaches to understanding how religious texts, cultural worldviews, and social conditions shape movements for social justice. As a class, we will also seek opportunities to dialogue with local advocacy groups, including religious groups, and students will conduct ethnographic research projects with these organizations.
Periodically An exploration of the physical and human landscapes of the Caribbean is conceptualized as a geopolitical region. Special attention is paid to the transnational character of Caribbean history and cultures and the importance of the region in constructing the modern world. The concepts of race and diaspora are central to this course since the region has been defined by diasporic flows of racialized peoples to, from, and within the Caribbean.
Fall, Spring African philosophical and religious systems, attitudes and the ways in which those attitudes are reflected in intellectual ideas and national cultures.
Periodically Pan-African protest, revolt and rebellion from the Haitian Revolution to the present.
Periodically The plantation economy and the evolution of social classes in selected countries.
Periodically Theory and practice. Ideologies, politics, and programs of movements in Namibia and South Africa.
Periodically An exploration of the literature of the English-speaking Caribbean (Antigua, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and Trinidad). Emphasis is placed on the ways in which this literature deals with the experience of slavery, colonization, and independence and the ways in which it treats such issues and themes as regional identity, color, race, class, gender, and family relations. Attention is also given to the ways in which the literature and culture of the Caribbean make use of such cultural elements as Carnival and vernacular Africanized English known as patois and creole.
What is African-American Drama? What are the aesthetic, social, and performative traditions that shaped plays and performance works created by African-American theater artists? This course surveys the development of African American drama from the mid-19 th century to the present day. It considers the dramatic arts alongside historical, social movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the black power movement, and black feminism, as well as discourses on gender, sexuality, and the creation of racially conscious and inclusive theater. The class will look at the ways in which African American artists used theater to engage with their audiences and their historical moment and will examine ways in which the arts have been central to activism. Students will read and discuss a wide sampling of black authors’ works enhanced by viewings of selected films and documentaries.
Periodically Special Topics courses deal with innovative or advanced topics and may include field projects. Students may prepare individual projects on a research theme. Current Special Topics
Periodically This course explores works by ‘writers of color’ and investigates the notion of assigning racial, ethnic, and cultural identity labels to works of literature. Does literature have a color? Can it? How is this relevant to literary study? In a cross-cultural context, we will examine how works of literature reflect the history and discussion of race, ethnicity, and culture in a given society. These works also participate in and give form to issues and debates that extend beyond the work back into society at large.
Source: Hofstra University's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
