Social Justice: African American Studies

An introduction to Ethnic Studies: an interdisciplinary and comparative study of race and ethnicity with a special focus on four historically defined racialized core groups: Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latina/o/x/e Americans. The course will review core concepts and frameworks from Ethnic Studies disciplines, such as racism, white supremacy, settler colonialism, imperialism, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, intersectionality, abolition, anti-racism, and more. Students will apply theories and knowledge produced by communities of color and typically studied in: African American/Black Studies, American Indian/Native American Studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies, and Chicana/o/x/e and Latina/o/x/e Studies. The course will also examine examples of struggle, solidarity and resistance while engaging in current justice and equity movements focused on dismantling white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, and other forms of oppression targeting communities of color.

MTH 47 or PSY 5 recommended.

Choose one course from List A below

Choose one courses from List A below

Choose one course from List A below

Introduction to American black writers in fiction, poetry, drama and the essay, beginning with the African experience as it relates to storytelling, to "Slave Narratives" and continuing to the present. Emphasis on the 20th and 21st century writers' growth and development in relation to their historical and cultural context.

Examination of the diversity of contemporary United States ethnic minority families with an emphasis on comparison and contrast. Family dynamics and processes will be the primary focus within the context of ethnicity. Adaptation and responses to dominant group social constructs and social structures will also be examined. Groups to include: African American; Asian American; Mexican, Central and Latin American; Native American; Middle Eastern American. ES 2 is no longer being offered

An examination of the diversity of Muslim communities in the United States with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting their histories, cultures and experiences. Topics include: patterns of migration; religious beliefs and practice; acculturation and assimilation; political involvement; education and employment; 9/11 and its aftermath; relations with the broader Muslim world. ES 2 is no longer being offered

A pan-Latina/o, comparative, and interdisciplinary approach to major themes and issues related to the Latinx community in the U.S., including: race and racism, indigenous culture, colonialism, war, genocide, migration, transnationalism, citizenship, identity, language, gender, family, labor, neoliberalism, education, expression, and resistance. A critical examination of modern Latin American history and indigenous and African cultures connected to the Latinx diaspora, including Chicana/o, Mexican, Central American, South American, and Caribbean-American communities in the U.S.

A critical examination of representations of people of color in popular culture, from historically significant to contemporary examples. Using an intersectional lens of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality, students will analyze representations from mainstream films, independent cultural productions, music, visual art, and social media, and how characters and communities of color are portrayed and interpret these images as consumers of media. Topics include Hollywood stereotyping, media influencing political and social events, cultural citizenship, and the role of new media, such as video games and social media platforms like YouTube. Students will learn how to critically examine and thoughtfully compare works, while using the lenses of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class to break down decode messages.

This course is an interdisciplinary and comparative study of race and ethnicity with a special focus on the cultures, histories, traditions, experiences, struggles and resistance of the people of the Pacific Islands and Oceania (Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian communities) under the broader categorization of one of the four historically defined racialized core groups in Ethnic Studies: Asian American and Pacific Islanders. It consists of an examination of Oceania's history through the pre-colonial period to present events and issues. Key themes include: racism, racialization, self-determination, imperialism, colonialism, settler colonialism, decolonization, immigration, intersecting identities, resistance, justice, liberation, solidarity, and the creative expression of the people of Oceania throughout the diaspora. Groups include: Native Hawai’ian, Samoan, Samoan American, Tongan, Maori, Tahitian. Fijian, Solomon Islanders, Chamorro, Papua New Guinea, Palauan, Marshallese, and Native American.

This introductory course examines how the convergence of Indigenous, European, and African, peoples in "Latin America" created many complex and dynamic cultures and societies, in the regions we call the American Southwest (in the north), all the way to Chile and Argentina (in the south), and everything in between. This course will assess over three hundred years of history from the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Interrogating a robust selection of primary and secondary sources will allow for an in-depth coverage of the men and women who reflected the peoples, places, events, beliefs, practices, institutions, cultures, and conflicts of their own times and will allow us to foreground the lived experience of a diverse array of “Latin Americans.” This course will also demonstrate that one cannot understand "modern" Latin America without studying its colonial past. No previous study of Latin American history is required for this course.

This introductory course provides an overview to twentieth-century Latin American history with a focus on the social circumstances and experience of people across social classes. We will consider how larger processes of change such as urbanization, revolution, civil war and U.S. intervention have all critically shaped everyday life in this region. Yet we will also focus on how Latin Americans have adapted and responded to these forces using an assortment of strategies. This course will seek to develop a critical perspective of modern Latin America by interpreting diverse forms of representation such as feature films, documentaries, literature, memoirs, and testimonios.