AFS 101 - Introduction to Africana Studies

1 course unit

This course is the introduction to an academic field of study. The lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments are shaped by questions of perspective, knowledge production, and race. By exploring the history of the African Diaspora, White constructions of the subhuman/superhuman black Other, and Black cognitive and cultural resistance to this Othering, the course continually revisits the relationship amongst past and present-day systems of knowledge and the uneven power relations that structure those systems. We will deliberate the following: What is Africana Studies and what is its project? How is it achieved? What is it that we know about Black people, Black culture, Black history, and blackness? How have we come to know that which we think we “know”? How does this knowledge inform lived reality? Considering the fact that Black people have long been “objects” of study within the White Western academy, how does Africana Studies differ? Introduction to Africana Studies contextualizes and explores the dynamic evolution of this intellectual tradition by presenting a comprehensive survey of the historical milieu, a sampling of illustrative case studies, and a collection of foundational documents and artifacts. In doing so, the course familiarizes the students with the essential terms, theories, methods, and practitioners of the field.
Meets general academic requirement DE.