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AM 342: Black Feminist Thoughts
TAMMY OWENS

Examines the development and materialization of Black American feminist thoughts within historical, social, political, and cultural contexts. Interdisciplinary in foucs, it surveys feminist politics and theories through films, popular culture, manifestos, literary texts, and theoretical and historical essays. In addition, the course will address how the concepts of black feminism and black womanhood overlap and diverge in accordance with the modes of representation used to articulate them.

Note(s): 300-level courses in American Studies are not ordinarily open to first-year students except by permission of the instructor. (Designated a Cultural Diversity course; fulfills humanistic inquiry.)

AM 351D: Black Girlhood Studies                                                                                                                                   TAMMY OWENS

Black Girlhood Studies explores representations and narratives of black girlhood in American culture from the nineteenth century to the contemporary moment. Students will analyze black girlhood and the stories of black girls through a diverse collection of sources including young adult literature, personal narratives, social media, dance, music, archives, and recent scholarship in Black Girlhood Studies. Students will examine topics such as the racialization of girlhood in America, the criminalization of black girls, sexual literacy, youth activism, and Afrofuturism.

BST 101: Introduction to Black Studies                                                                                                                      WINSTON GRADY-WILLIS

Introduction to the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of Black Studies, providing students with an intellectual framework for contemplating global Black experiences historically and contemporarily.  The course begins by placing Black Studies in context, noting its significance as part of the Black Power phase of a larger struggle for African American human rights.  From there, the course examines the continent of Africa as the birthplace of humanity and site of diverse and complex cultures.  Subsequent weeks will address self-determination and resistance in the African, Caribbean, and U.S. contexts as well as the importance of institutional racism.  The course also interrogates intraracial issues such as socioeconomic class, gender, sexuality and skin color. Fulfills cultural diversity requirement. 

EN 225W: Introduction to Shakespeare                                                                                                               ANDREW BOZIO                                                                                                                               

This course provides an introduction to Shakespeare through the lens of premodern critical race studies (PCRS). PCRS is a scholarly movement that investigates how race was constructed in the premodern era, how it intersects withgender, sexuality,class, and disability, and how those intersections continue to inform the way that we think about race in the twenty-first century.In this course, we鈥檒l use PCRS as a framework for studying Shakespeare鈥檚 plays and their larger cultural effects鈥攚ithin the early modern period and beyond. Our readings will include Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream, As You Like It, Henry V, Hamlet, Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as essays by leading practitioners of PCRS to help us think more critically and capaciously about Shakespeare鈥檚 representation of race.

ES 223: Environmental Justice                                                                                                                  LOWERY PARKER

An exploration of local, national, and international case studies that highlight the origin of environmental racism. Environmental justice examines the disproportionate impact that marginalized populations bear from environmental hazards, vulnerability, and inequalities in enforcement of regulations. Students will dissect the research and policy challenges to incorporate environmental justice into environmental law, collaborative problem solving, and advocacy/mobilization tactics used to alleviate health, ecological, economic, and equity issues facing communities. Prerequisites: ES 100 and SSP 100.  (Fulfills the Bridge Experience requirement.)

GW 202: Lived Feminism: Engagement and Praxis                                                                                           BERNABE MENDOZA

Students will explore what it means to do "feminist praxis"--to carry the lessons and skills they have learned in Gender Studies to make change in the larger community of 黑料吃瓜网 and beyond. Students will formulate and complete a feminist praxis and/or community engagement project over the course of the semester. Students will decide on project with guidance of instructor. Examples of possible projects include: collaboration with a campus, local or national organization; community-based research and assessment; a public awareness campaign; a public event; a piece of political theater; a video; a website; a zine series. Prerequisites: GW 101 and SSP 100. (Fulfills Bridge Experience requirement.)

GW 321: Feminist Science Studies/Gender, Race, and Science                                                          GWEN D鈥橝RCANGELIS

How have scientific disciplines such as biology or engineering defined and shaped gender and race? In what ways can science reinforce, or alternatively, challenge sexism and racism? Drawing primarily on feminist science studies scholarship and feminist science fiction, this course will critically examine practices of science and technology and the way they shape and are shaped by larger political, cultural and social contexts. We will begin with the assumption that science and technology are not neutral or natural phenomenon, but rather cultural and social constructs. That is, science and technology are shaped by human interests, and embedded in metaphors and narratives which represent deep cultural values and assumptions that need to be examined. In this course we explore key socio-political questions about the role of science and technology in society such as: Why do scientists continue to look for sex differences in the brain? What does DNA ancestry testing really tell us about our racial identity? Why don鈥檛 we have a male birth control pill? How can feminist science fiction help us to imagine and create new approaches to science and technology that will better serve the lives of marginalized peoples?

HI 324R: Civil War and Reconstruct History                                                                                                            JENNIFER DELTON                                                                                                                      

The Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1876) has shaped and defined every generation of U.S. politics since 1865. The conflicts that led to disunion鈥攃onflicts over slavery, the role of the federal government, and the rights of African Americans鈥攃ontinue to divide and define U.S. politics. In other words, to understand the American Civil War is to understand at some fundamental level the contradictions at the heart of American democracy. This is a research seminar. You will be assigned a topic to research over the course of the semester.

ID 251C: History of Slavery Colonialism                                                                                                            GABRIELLA FRIEDMAN

From Marvel鈥檚 Black Panther to Janelle Monae's music videos, a wide range of contemporary cultural production uses elements such as time travel, superheroes, or fantastic technologies to refract histories of the transatlantic slave trade and dispossession of Indigenous people through settler colonialism. We consider literature, television, music, and multimedia that use non-realist tropes to create unique modes of historical thought, generating new possibilities for abolition and decolonization. How are Black and Indigenous creators transforming conventions that have traditionally been used to disseminate imperial ideologies? How does speculative fiction highlight possibilities for Black-Indigenous solidarity across distinctive histories and differing political goals? (Fulfills Humanistic Inquiry requirement.)

ID 251C: Long Civil Rights Movement                                                                                              MALIK RAYMOND

Coined by scholar Jacquelyn Dowd Hall in the mid-2000s, the Long Civil Rights Movement directs us to extend the period of traditional Civil Rights movement narratives beyond Brown v. Board and the public career of Martin Luther King to instead consider the New Deal Era into the 1970s. Moreover, this course will look at the implications the Civil Rights Movement had in reaction to the (pre-) Cold War anti-communist sentiments held by political figures and institutions, as well as parallels of past civil rights movements contemporarily.

SO 204W: Introduction to Race, Class, and Gender                                                                             KATHERINE BULLOCK

An introduction to sociological analysis of race, class, and gender in contemporary social life. This course explores how race, class, and gender are constructed, reinforced, and maintained in U.S. society. Using readings (historical, theoretical, sociological, and autobiographical), films, class discussion, current issues/events, and exercises, we will critically examine questions such as: What is sociological imagination? How can it help us understand the intersections of race, class, and gender in social life? How do systems of power and inequality affect cultural norms, social interactions, and institutional structures? How can we move from social inequality to social change? By grappling with these questions, students will develop an appreciation for the multidimensional and complex nature of the issues underlying constructions of race, class, and gender in the United States. (Fulfills Social Sciences requirement.)

SO 219C: Race and Power                                                                                                               JENNY MUELLER

An analysis of U.S. race relations. How do people learn what it means to be 鈥渂lack鈥� or 鈥渨hite鈥� within U.S. society? How will the changing demographics of the U.S. affect the traditional black-white approach to race relations? How is race complicated by ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and other social identities? Students explore these questions by examining how race is constructed and reproduced within hierarchical structures of power and privilege, including educational inequalities, immigration policies, interracial relationships, and depictions of race in popular culture.

IG/SO 361 - Racial Identities: Theory and Praxis                                                                                           JENNY MUELLER AND LISA GRADY-WILLIS

An integration of sociological theory and praxis in a seminar that prepares students to facilitate dialogues on race. What factors hinder meaningful discourse about race?  What skills promote interracial communication? How can we learn to engage more effectively in dialogue about race, power, and privilege in the United States? Through readings in racial identity theory, reflective and analytic writing, and experiential practice of dialogic communication skills, students learn to facilitate dialogues on controversial race-related topics, such as affirmative action, immigration reform, and interracial relationships.