Africana/Black Studies at Geneseo

ANTH 216 The African Diaspora
This course examines the development of creole cultures in the New World; the legacy of the colonial experience; as well as the political, economic, religion and cultural changes that shaped the post-colonial societies in the Americas. It will highlight the diversity of New World cultures as well as the traits that bind them. It explores the process of creolization which occurred in colonialized areas and gave rise to creole languages and religions, in response to the experience of slavery. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered every fall. Link to Syllabus.

ENGL 242 The Literature of the African Diaspora

The term African diaspora has been used to refer to the grouping of diverse peoples and cultures that have, although dispersed throughout the world, retained a consciousness of shared origins and are identified as part of a cultural and social continuum with other communities of African origin, including those that remained on the African continent. This course will take up a diverse group of works from the African diaspora, inviting students to make connections and distinctions about themes, formal devices, political outlooks, etc., among African diasporan writers.Credits: 3(3-0) Link to Syllabus.

ENGL 318 M/Black British Literature and Culture
A study of representative literature created and published in Britain by black writers, largely for a British audience. Those who were born in Britain are descendants of the wave of immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean and offer a singularly black British account of their experience. Prerequisites: ENGL 170. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered spring, even years.

ENGL 337 African-American Literature
A study of works by representative African- American writers from the mid-19th century to the present in their cultural and social contexts. The course will cover a variety of genres. Prerequisites: ENGL 170. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered every spring.
GEOG 388 Geography of SubSaharan Africa
Credits: 3 (3-0) This course counts towards the Black Studies Major and Africana Studies Minor ONLY when authorized by the Program Coordinator, Emilye Crosby. Link to Syllabus

HIST 166 S/U/African-American History
This course will introduce African-American history from the slave trade to the present, with special emphasis on protest, culture, gender, and the new historical approaches to the field. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered when demand is sufficient.

HIST 266 S/U/Civil Rights Movement in America
Through the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans and their white allies initiated and maintained a massive social movement which assaulted centuries of discrimination, segregation, and racism in the United States. We will examine, not only familiar images from the movement, but also the larger forces that made the movement possible. We will identify the social, political, and economic changes that contributed to the making of the Movement, paying particular attention to the African-American tradition of struggle and protest. Within the movement, we will consider such topics as the role of public leaders and grass roots activists;
the role of the media; the extent and nature of nonviolence and self-defense; and
the relationship between national events, leaders, laws, and organizations and local movements and local realities; and the Black Power movement of the late 1960s. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered when demand is sufficient.

HIST 263 S/U/Civil War and Reconstruction: The United States 1848-1877
A study of the causes and course of the American Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction with an emphasis on the political and cultural aspects and implications. Topics include slavery and abolition, sectionalism, the breakdown of the party system, the war itself as experienced by both soldiers and civilians, political and military leadership, the course of Reconstruction, the con-
flicts generated by Reconstruction, and the History Courses 207 ambiguous legacy of the entire period for American culture. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered at least once every four semesters.
HIST 366 African-Americans in the Age of Jim Crow
This course will explore African-American history from the period following Reconstruction (when racially-based segregation became both the law and practice throughout the United States) until 1954 (when the Brown decision ended the legal and Constitutional basis for racial segregation). The course will examine work, culture, gender, class, activism, and leadership as African Americans struggled against the strictures of Jim Crow. The course will also examine
major events and movements, including the Great Migration, the Great Depression, Garveyism, the Harlem Renaissance, and World War II. Prerequisites: HIST 220 and HIST 221, or permission of the instructor. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered when demand is sufficient.
MUSC 100 F/Understanding Music: Jazz
The general subtitles offered under the heading “Understanding Music” will share
a common aim of developing perceptive listening and basic analytical skills through exposure to a specific body of music literature, delineated either by style (e.g. , jazz or rock) or topic (e.g. , The Romanitc Spirit, Film Music or a survey of Musical Styles). Each course will begin with an introduction to the musical elements, branching out to consider how these elements function with
the specific musical repertory. It will be equally important to consider the role the
music, in turn, plays within the ideological, cultural, and political contexts of its time. Attendance at musical performances will be required. Credits: 3(3-0).
PLSC 224 Government and Politics in Africa
The course analyzes the major determinants of social and political change and conflict in the states of Sub-Saharan Africa (i.e. the countries of the region south of the North African Arab-Islamic Region, including South Africa). Focus is directed to the nature and effects of the pre-colonial and post-colonial economic, social, and political institutions on contemporary politics. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered when demand is sufficient.

SOCL 201 Black Women in American Society
An examination of the status of black women, focusing on the themes of gender,
race, and class. The experiences of black women will be explored from an historical and cross-cultural perspective, from slavery through the present. Prerequisites: Any 100-level Sociology course or permission of instructor. Credits: 3(3-0). Offered when demand is sufficient.

Courses that are sometimes offered with a topic consistent with Africana/Black Studies (must be chosen under advisement; credit given only when authorized by the Program Coordinator, Emilye Crosby):

Africana Studies/Black Studies

at SUNY Geneseo

Course Descriptions