AAS 100. Introduction to African American and African Studies. (3 h)

Introduces the history and evolution of the discipline, key scholars, ideas, and themes, and central disciplinary questions in African American and African Studies.

AAS 103. Introduction to Jazz. (3 h)

Survey of jazz music from its origins to the present in cultural and historical contexts. Also listed as MSC 103. (CD, D)

AAS 105. Africa in World History. (3 h)

Examines the continent of Africa from prehistory to the present in global perspective, as experienced and understood by Africans themselves. Also listed as HST 105. (CD, D)

AAS 106. Atlantic World since 1500. (3 h)

Examines the major developments that have linked the civilizations bordering the Atlantic Ocean from 1500 to the present. Themes include exploration; commerce; European colonization and indigenous responses; disease; religious conversion and revivalism; mestizo and creole culture; imperial warfare; enlightenment; revolution; slavery and abolition; extractive economies; nationalism; 'scientific racism;' invented traditions; the black diaspora and negritude; decolonization; the Cold War; segregation and apartheid; dictatorship; neoliberalism; and globalization. Also listed as HST 110. (CD, D)

AAS 110. Introduction to Africana Philosophy. (3 h)

Introduces the history and development of Africana philosophy and explores significant issues, themes, and texts in the field.

AAS 115. Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement. (3 h)

Introduces the rise of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, discussing its key leaders, examining questions of power, freedom, and democracy, and engaging the movement’s enduring lessons for Black politics and the ongoing pursuit of justice.

AAS 120. Introduction to Black Women's Studies. (3 h)

Introduces the history and development of Black Women's Studies and explores significant themes and topics in the field.

AAS 130. Black Queer Studies. (3 h)

Examines critical topics, themes, and issues in Black Queer and Trans life, thought and culture.

AAS 140. Introduction to Black Religion. (3 h)

Introduces the diverse histories, thoughts, practices and movements within African American religious experience by engaging the theology, philosophy, literature, and cultural expression of how religion shapes Black life, freedom struggles, and community.

AAS 170. African Diaspora Studies. (3 h)

Survey of the key themes, topics, and linkages of the histories, cultures, politics, and ideas of continental and diasporic African communities across space and time.

AAS 190. Mixed Race Studies. (3 h)

Surveys the histories, experiences, and cultures of mixed heritage, mixed race, and transnational adoptee individuals, families, and communities.

AAS 200. Theories and Methods in African American and African Studies. (3 h)

Examines the major analytical, conceptual, methodological, and theoretical frameworks in African American and African Studies and interdisciplinary approaches that inform the discipline.

AAS 202. Policing, Politics, and Prison. (3 h)

Surveys the history, practices, politics, and discourses of prisons, policing, and the development of the carceral state.

AAS 205. Black Cultural Studies. (3 h)

Interdisciplinary exploration of the conceptual, material, and theoretical dimensions of Black Cultural Studies and the key debates informing the politics and cultures of representation in African American and African diasporic cultural productions.

AAS 206. Introduction to Hip Hop. (3 h)

Introduces hip hop as a cultural, artistic, intellectual and political movement in shaping American and African American cultural expression and society by examining its historical roots, musical innovations, and global influence while engaging critical perspectives on race, class, gender, and politics.

AAS 207. Black Popular Culture. (3 h)

Explores the various forms of Black popular culture and the cultural and intellectual politics the inform its reception and representation by scholars and the general public. Also listed as COM 246.

AAS 210. African American Intellectual Traditions. (3 h)

Explores significant figures and schools of thought in African American intellectual history.

AAS 220. African American Cultural Criticism. (3 h)

Examines the cultural criticism of significant African American cultural critics and development and evolution of distinctive forms of African American cultural criticism.

AAS 230. Black Expressive Cultures in the Americas. (3 h)

Explores the histories and cultures of Black musical, media, and visual practices and aesthetics across African diasporic communities in the Americas.

AAS 235. Black Cinema. (3 h)

Explores history, aesthetics, and politics by examining how Black filmmakers create new visual languages, aesthetic techniques, and engage questions of identity, representation, and power, situating Black film within broader cultural, social, and historical contexts.

AAS 240. Black Theology and Black Power. (3 h)

Introduces key texts, thinkers, and movements in the dynamic interplay between Black theology and Black Power in exploring Black religious responses to political injustice, visions of liberation, and the shaping of Black religious thought in the modern Black freedom struggle.

AAS 266. The History of the Slave South. (3 h)

Examines slavery and southern distinctiveness, from the first interactions of Europeans, Native Americans and Africans through the Civil War and Emancipation. Also listed as HST 266. (CD)

AAS 271. African American History to 1870. (3 h)

Examines the experiences of African-descended people from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, with each experience - the slave trade, enslavement, and emancipation - marking a fundamental transformation in black lives. Also listed as HST 271. (CD)

AAS 272. African American History since 1870. (3 h)

Examines the experiences of African-descended people from the destruction of slavery to Reconstruction, from rural to urban, and from Jim Crow to Civil Rights, with each experience - emancipation, migration, and enfranchisement - marking a fundamental transformation in black lives. Also listed as HST 272. (CD)

AAS 273. Race and the City. (3 h)

Explores how the United States became an urban nation and how urban life has shaped its history and culture with special attention given to the role of race in the development of cities and the formation of urban cultures across the nation.

AAS 274. Black Business and Economics. (3 h)

Introduces the history of Black participation in business and the economy alongside the economic theories and methods advanced by African American Studies scholars, highlighting how Black intellectual traditions reimagine markets, labor, and wealth in shaping struggles for freedom, justice, and collective flourishing.

AAS 280. Race, Environment, and Justice. (3 h)

Examines the confluence of issues at the intersection of race, environment, and justice in the United States and the African diaspora.

AAS 285. Women and Work in the U.S. (3 h)

Introduces the histories and experiences of women working in and outside of the formal labor market in the United States.

AAS 290. Black Autobiography and Memoir. (3 h)

Examines representative text tracing the histories, themes, and trends in Black self-writing.

AAS 294. Black Art in the US and Great Britain since 1945. (3 h)

Charts the development of Black Art in the United States and Great Britain from 1945 to the present through Paul Gilroy's notion of the "Black Atlantic" -- the ways that a distinct aesthetic emerged from a fusion of West African, American, and British traditions. Also listed as ART 294. (D, POR)

AAS 300. Black Feminist Theory. (3 h)

Examines the history and evolution of Black Feminist theory with a focus on key questions, issues and thinkers that inform Black Feminist thought.

AAS 305. Mothering While Black. (3 h)

Examines the histories of Black mothers and Black motherhood in the United States from to the present.

AAS 310. Organic Leadership: Lessons from the Black Freedom Struggle. (3 h)

Examines the ideas, models, and philosophies of leadership of select artists, activists, and intellectuals from the modern black freedom movement.

AAS 315. African American Social and Political Thought. (3 h)

Examines significant figures, themes, and traditions in African American social and political thought.

AAS 320. Philosophy and Race. (3 h)

Examines how and in what ways race is interrogated by African American philosophers and philosophers of African descent with critical attention to issues of identity, ethics, and politics.

AAS 322. Critical Theories of Race. (3 h)

Explores conceptions of race informed by Critical Race Theory and other forms of critical thought.

AAS 324. Race and the Modern World. (3 h)

Interdisciplinary examination of the intersections of ideas, institutions, ideologies, and practices that have defined race and processes of racialization in the modern era. (POR)

AAS 325. Roots of Racism: Race and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.. (3 h)

Examines biological myths of race and race as a social construction; historical, economic, and political roots of inequalities; institutions and ideologies that buttress and challenge power relations; and implications of anthropological teaching and research for understanding social class and race discrimination in the U.S. Credit not allowed for both ANT 325 and AES 251/WGS 251, Cross-listed as ANT 325. (CD, POR)

AAS 326. Race, Class, and Gender in a Color-blind Society. (3 h)

An examination of issues surrounding race, class, and gender in the United States. Topics include income and wealth, theories of discrimination, public education, gender bias, and patterns of occupational and industrial segregation. Also listed as AES 310 and EDU 310.

AAS 330. Politics of Black Religion. (3 h)

Examines the complex intersection of politics and Black religion with particular consideration to how political ideas, theories, and movements are influenced by the knowledges, rituals, traditions, and practices of Black religion.

AAS 340. Ethics of Black Power. (3 h)

Examines the ethical dimension of Black Power and the cultural, ideological, and political movements influenced by theories and politics of Black Power.

AAS 341. Africans in the Atlantic World, 1750-1815. (3 h)

Explores Africans' experience in the Atlantic world (Africa, Europe and the Americas) during the era of the slave trade by examining their encounters with Indians and Europeans and their adjustment to slave traders in West Africa. Also listed as HST 341, AES 341. (CD)

AAS 350. Politics of Black Liberation. (3 h)

Explores the histories, concepts, and ideas of Black political movements that make explicit claim to enacting liberatory politics.

AAS 355. Africana Political Philosophy. (3 h)

Critical examination of the political philosophy of significant Africana thinkers and traditions.

AAS 370. Special Topics in Arts, Aesthetics, and Expressive Cultures in African American and African Studies. (1-3 h)

African American and African Studies topics of special interest. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AAS 375. Black Lives. (3 h)

Explores both the lived experience and the historical reality of African Americans. Black lives are profoundly shaped by their group experience, influenced in no small part by the role of racism. The biographical approach individuates historical figures struggling to fashion identity. Topics include character development, intimacy, gender roles, public and private personas, self-deceptions or defenses, and personal perceptions of biases. The craft of writing biography is taught throughout the semester. Also listed as HST 375. (CD)

AAS 376. Civil Rights and Black Consciousness Movements. (3 h)

A social and religious history of the African-American struggle for citizenship rights and freedom from World War II to the present. Also listed as HST 376. (CD)

AAS 378. Race, Memory, and Identity. (3 h)

Explores the collective memory and identity of American-Indian and African-American communities and their response to historical trauma in their cultural imagination, spirituality, and political and social activism. Also listed as HST 378, REL 348. (CD)

AAS 380. Special Topics in Ethics, Politics, and Society in African American and African Studies. (1-3 h)

African American and African Studies topics of special interest. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AAS 387. Black Radical Tradition. (3 h)

Examines the key concepts, texts, theories, and thinkers in the Black Radical Tradition.

AAS 390. Special Topics in History, Culture, and Theory in African American and African Studies. (1-3 h)

African American and African Studies topics of special interest. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AAS 391. Themes in Africana Philosophy. (3 h)

Select topics and themes in Africana philosophy. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AAS 392. Seminar in African American Studies. (3 h)

Offered by members of the African American Studies faculty on a topic of their choice. May be repeated for credit if topic varies.

AAS 393. Black Family Matters. (3 h)

Examines how race, sexuality, class, and gender shape definitions of family by examining discourses of Black family life and engaging family photographs, oral histories, and historical documents to critically and creatively narrate histories of kinship, belonging, and identity.

AAS 396. Independent Study in African American and African Studies. (1-3 h)

Independent research projects in African American and African Studies which extend study in a particular course or explores new areas of interest. A maximum of 3 hours may apply to the African American Studies major or minor. By prearrangement. May be repeated for credit.

AAS 397. Directed Reading in African American and African Studies. (1-3 h)

Reading in an area of African American and African Studies not otherwise available. A maximum of 3 hours may apply to the African American and African Studies major or minor. By prearrangement. May be repeated for credit.

AAS 399. African American and African Studies Atelier. (3 h)

Capstone seminar for African American Studies majors to develop original research projects engaging key theoretical, methodological, and conceptual issues in the discipline.