Academic Catalog

Africana Studies (AFRA)

AFRA 1100.  Afrocentric Perspectives in the Arts.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as FINA 1100.) Lectures and discussions about assigned readings focus on historical and aesthetic perspectives of African American Arts and their African sources, with emphasis on how social and aesthetic context impacts on creative expression by African American artists. Presentations by guest lecturers and University of Connecticut faculty plus small group discussions. CA 1. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 2211.  Introduction to Africana Studies.  (3 Credits)  
Interdisciplinary overview of Africana studies, giving consideration to the artistic, intellectual, political and cultural experiences of black people in the United States, Caribbean, Europe, and Africa. Significant movements, ideas, people and events that have shaped and continue to shape Africa and the Diaspora.
May not be taken out of sequence after passing AFRA 4994.  
  
AFRA 2214.  African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 2214.) Critical and historical examination of the literature of African American writers from Phyllis Wheatley to the present. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.  
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 2214W.  African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 2214W.) Critical and historical examination of the literature of African American writers from Phyllis Wheatley to the present. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.  
  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 2222.  Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Power of Looking.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as AAAS 2222.) A beginning investigation into the issues of what constitutes visual culture and how race, gender, and sexuality are seen and not seen. The goals of the course include engaging with the history and scholarly dialogues around visual studies, becoming more active and critical visual consumers and critics, and understanding personal stakes and diverse positions in dialogues about visualizing gender and race. CA 1. CA 4.
Not open for credit to students who have passed ARTH 2198 when offered as "Race, Gender, and the Power of Looking."  
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 2250.  Racial Disparities in Health.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as SOCI 2250.) Social determinants of health. Racial differences in health outcomes. Social, economic, and political structures and their impacts on health organization and inequalities in care delivery. Patient-provider interactions; meanings of illness. CA 2.
  
Content Areas: CA2: Social Science  
AFRA 2345.  Language and Racism.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as COGS 2345.) Examines the relationships between language use, both historically and across the lifespan, and the social construction of race, racism, and racial identity, with particular emphasis on racial politics in the United States.
Open to sophomores or higher. Recommended preparation: One course in AFRA or COGS.  
  
AFRA 2461.  Race, Gender, and U.S. Health Care.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as SOCI 2461.) Factors of race and gender at work in U.S health care. Focus on African Americans and Black immigrants as care recipients and care providers in health care institutions. CA 2. CA 4.
Recommended preparation: AFRA/SOCI 1001.  
  
Content Areas: CA2: Social Science, CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 2510.  Ethnicity and Race.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as SOCI 2510.) Ethnic groups, their interrelations, assimilation, and pluralism. Culture, and identity that arise from differences in race, religion, nationality, region, and language. Formerly offered as AFRA/SOCI 3501.
  
AFRA 2520.  White Racism.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as SOCI 2520.) The origin, nature, and consequences of white racism as a central and enduring social principle around which the United States and other modern societies are structured and evolve. Formerly offered as AFRA/HRTS/SOCI 3505. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 2530.  African Americans and Social Protest.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as SOCI 2530.) Social and economic-justice movements, from the beginning of the Civil Rights movement to the present. Formerly offered as AFRA/HRTS/SOCI 3825.
  
AFRA 2621.  Cuba in Local and Global Perspective.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 2621.) Major themes in Cuban politics and culture. Local and global perspective. Key topics include race, gender, class, cultural movements and practices, slavery, political economy and movements, nationalism. CA 1. CA 4-INT.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 2622.  History of Gender and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 2622.) Topics may include: empire and colonialism/anti-colonialism; slavery, science, and the state; cultural practices and institutions; feminisms and masculinities; law and public policies; immigration; forms of labor and political mobilization; sex and reproduction; and human rights from historical perspective. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST/LLAS/WGSS 3622.
  
AFRA 2752.  Africa in Global History.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 2752.) Broad historical survey of civilizations in Africa, including origins of human life in Africa, economic livelihoods, socio-economic and political structures, state formation, trade, commerce, urbanization, and indigenous systems of belief and world religions. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST 3752. CA 1. CA 4-INT.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 2753.  History of Modern Africa.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 2753.) The history of African perceptions of and responses to the abolition of the slave trade, Western imperialism and colonialism, and the development of nationalism and struggle for independence. CA 1. CA 4-INT. Formerly offered as AFRA/HIST 3753.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 3025.  Contemporary Africa.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ANTH 3025.) Africa since its partition in 1884. Urbanization, social stratification, racial and ethnic conflict.
  
AFRA 3033.  Race and Policy.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as PP 3033.) Examination of contemporary public policy through the lens of race.
  
AFRA 3042.  Baseball and Society: Politics, Economics, Race and Gender.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HDFS 3042.) Baseball in historical, political, sociological, and economic contexts. Topics may include: impact on individuals and families; racial discrimination and integration; labor relations; urbanization; roles of women; treatment of gay athletes; and implications of performance-enhancing drugs.
Open to juniors or higher.  
  
AFRA 3050.  African-American Art.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ARTH 3050.) The artistic and social legacy of African American art from the eighteenth century to the present day. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3050W.  African-American Art.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ARTH 3050W.) The artistic and social legacy of African American art from the eighteenth century to the present day. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3106.  Black Psychology.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as PSYC 3106.) Empirical and theoretical literature on psychological experiences of African Americans. Impact of race, culture, and ethnicity on psychological development. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 3131.  African-American Theatre.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as DRAM 3131.) The significant developments in African American theatre and its antecedents and an examination of selected play scripts that exemplify those developments. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI1: Creativity: Des,Expr,Inn, TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp  
AFRA 3132.  African-American Women Playwrights, 1900 to the present.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as DRAM 3132.) African American women's playwriting in relationship to social, historical, and political contexts. CA 1. CA 4.
Recommended preparation: AFRA/DRAM 3131.  
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI1: Creativity: Des,Expr,Inn, TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp  
AFRA 3152.  Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ANTH 3152.) Popular and scholarly theories of human group identity and diversity, in cross-cultural and historical perspective. Topics include: an overview of 'race' and 'ethnicity' in Western thought, ethnic group formation and transformation, political mobilizations of group identity, and systems of inequality. CA 2. CA 4.
  
Content Areas: CA2: Social Science, CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 3155.  Anthropology of the African Diaspora.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ANTH 3155.) An exploration of the racial, political, and social similarities and differences within and between the communities constituting the African Diaspora from an anthropological perspective.
  
AFRA 3206.  Black Experience in the Americas.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3206.) Major themes in recent scholarship of African-descended communities in the Americas and their interconnection beyond geopolitical boundaries; race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, cultural movements and practices, slavery, political economy, political movements, and African consciousness, from historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 3208.  Making the Black Atlantic.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3208.) Recent scholarship on the central role played by African-descended communities in shaping the early history of the Americas and their interconnection beyond geopolitical boundaries; race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, cultural movements and practices; slavery, political economy, and political movements.
Recommended preparation: AFRA/HIST/HRTS 3563 or AFRA/HIST 3564 or 3620; or HIST/LLAS 3609.  
  
AFRA 3213.  Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3213.) Broad historical survey of African American literature from its origins through the turn of the twentieth century. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3213W.  Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3213W.) Broad historical survey of African American literature from its origins through the turn of the twentieth century. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3215.  Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3215.) Broad historical survey of African American literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 3215W.  Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century African American Literature.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3215W.) Broad historical survey of African American literature from the twentieth and twenty-first century. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
AFRA 3217.  Studies in African American Literature and Culture.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3217.) Focused study of a theme, form, author, or movement in African American literature or culture. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
May be repeated for credit  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3217W.  Studies in African American Literature and Culture.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ENGL 3217W.) Focused study of a theme, form, author, or movement in African American literature or culture. CA 4.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; open to juniors or higher.  
May be repeated for credit  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3224.  History of Pan Africanism.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3770.) The development of ideas of Pan-Africanism, beginning with the proto-Pan-Africanists in the nineteenth century; examination of the linkages between those ideas in Africa and the evolution of Pan-Africanism as a movement in the African Diaspora.
Open to juniors or higher. Recommended preparation: At least one of HIST 3752, 3753, 3563 or 3564.  
  
AFRA 3252.  Politics In Africa.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as POLS 3252.) The political systems in contemporary Africa; the background of the slave trade, imperialism, colonialism, and the present concerns of nationalism, independence, economic development and military rule. Emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa.
Open to juniors or higher.  
  
AFRA 3293.  Foreign Study.  (1-15 Credits)  
Consent of Director required, normally to be granted prior to student's departure.
Consent of director required, normally to be granted prior to student's departure. Recommended preparation: Introductory courses in African history.  
May be repeated for credit  
AFRA 3295.  Special Topics.  (1-6 Credits)  
Prerequisites and recommended preparation vary.
May be repeated for credit  
AFRA 3299.  Independent Study.  (1-6 Credits)  
Supervised reading and writing on a subject of special interest to the student.
Instructor consent.  
May be repeated for credit  
AFRA 3320.  Race, Culture, and Reproductive Health.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ANTH 3320.) An examination of the reproductive health experiences of women in the United States, including those focused on sexuality, birth, and motherhood. An exploration of the complex relationship between women’s reproductive experiences and their contemporary racial and socioeconomic locations in American society.
  
AFRA 3512.  African Archaeology.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as ANTH 3512.) An archaeological perspective on more than three million years of human social and behavioral change in Africa, from Stone Age societies that are the earliest in the world to sweeping changes brought about by the development and spread of cattle and crops, sophisticated metallurgy, and the later rise of kingdoms and complex polities situated at a global crossroads of trade and interaction.
  
AFRA 3563.  African American History to 1865.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3563.) History of African-American people to 1865, from their West African roots, to their presence in colonial America, through enslavement and emancipation. Adaptation and resistance to their conditions in North America. Contributions by black people to the development of the United States.
  
AFRA 3564.  African American History Since 1865.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3564.) History of African-American people since the Civil war. Contributions by black people to American development. African-American activity in international arenas.
  
AFRA 3565.  African American Women’s History: From A’r’nt I a Woman to Black Girl Magic.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3565.) African American women's history in the United States, including black women's activism and leadership; roles within the larger African Diaspora; engagement in local, national, and international freedom struggles; and redefinitions of identities as wives, mothers, leaders, citizens, and workers. Special attention given to the diversity of black women’s experiences, and to the dominant images of black women in America from Mumbet (the first enslaved woman to sue for her freedom and win) to contemporary issues of race, sex, and class.
  
AFRA 3568.  Hip Hop, Politics and Youth Culture in America.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3568.) History of hip-hop, its musical antecedents and its role in popular culture. Race, class, and gender are examined as well as hip-hop's role in popular political discourse.
  
AFRA 3569.  Slavery in Film.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3569.) Depictions of chattel slavery in cinema and popular media over time. Topics include histories of slavery, race and identity, media studies, and cultural studies.
Recommended preparation: AFRA/HIST 3206 or 3563 or 3564; or CLCS 1110.  
  
AFRA 3575.  Black Documentary Film Archival Practices.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as JOUR 3575.) Critical and historical examination of Black American archival usage through documentary films and media.
Students must have taken a film or media course where they learned how to edit.  
  
AFRA 3618.  Comparative Slavery in the Americas.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3618.) The rise and fall of trans-Atlantic slavery. Topics include resistance, migration, antislavery mobilization, abolitionism, empire, revolution, cultural production, political economy, labor, gender, race and identity formation.
  
AFRA 3619.  History of the Caribbean.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3619.) Encounter experience; slavery, antislavery mobilization, and abolitionism; colonialism; citizenship and nation building; race and gender; political cultures and movements; migration/immigration; cultural production; and political economy; topics will be examined from a historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.
  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 3619W.  History of the Caribbean.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3619W.) Encounter experience; slavery, antislavery mobilization, and abolitionism; colonialism; citizenship and nation building; race and gender; political cultures and movements; migration/immigration; cultural production; and political economy; topics will be examined from a historical perspective. CA 1. CA 4-INT.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011.  
  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
Content Areas: CA1: Arts & Humanities, CA4INT: Div & Multi Intl  
AFRA 3620.  Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Spanish Caribbean.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as HIST 3620.) Discovery and settlement, slavery and plantation economy, recent political and economic developments, and United States relations with the Spanish Caribbean.
  
AFRA 3642.  African-American Politics.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as POLS 3642.) Political behavior, theory, and ideology of African-Americans, with emphasis on contemporary U.S. politics. CA 4.
Open to juniors or higher.  
  
Content Areas: CA4: Diversity & Multicultural  
Topics of Inquiry: TOI2: Cultural Dimen Human Exp, TOI3: Div, Equity, Soc Just  
AFRA 3647.  Black Leadership and Civil Rights.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as POLS 3647.) Black leadership, emphasizing the principles, goals, and strategies used by African-American men and women to secure basic citizenship rights during the civil rights era.
Open to juniors or higher.  
  
AFRA 3652.  Black Feminist Politics.  (3 Credits)  
(Also offered as POLS 3652.) An introduction to major philosophical and theoretical debates at the core of black feminist thought, emphasizing the ways in which interlocking systems of oppression uphold and sustain each other.
Open to juniors or higher.  
  
AFRA 3898.  Variable Topics.  (3 Credits)  
Prerequisites and recommended preparation vary.  
May be repeated for credit  
AFRA 4100.  Experiential/Service Learning Seminar.  (4 Credits)  
(Also offered as AAAS 4100.) Interdisciplinary examination of the history of social justice organizing in the U.S.; theories, strategies, and practice of community organizing movements such as those for immigration, environmental, reproductive, and racial justice. Includes practice in community organizing and political advocacy.
  
AFRA 4994W.  Senior Seminar.  (3 Credits)  
Critical training and comprehensive examination of African American studies, using primary and secondary sources.
AFRA 2211; ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; course is required for majors and is generally taken in the senior year.  
May be repeated for credit  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency  
AFRA 4996.  Honors Thesis Preparation.  (3 Credits)  
Preliminary reading in primary and secondary sources or key texts in research field in consultation with thesis advisor.
AFRA 2211; open to honors students, juniors or higher; instructor consent required. Recommended preparation: Students complete several courses in the disciplinary field of their research interest.  
  
Grading Basis: Honors Credit  
AFRA 4997W.  Senior Thesis in Africana Studies.  (3 Credits)  
Honors Research and writing in the major with close supervision of multiple drafts.
ENGL 1007 or 1010 or 1011 or 2011; AFRA 2211 and 4996; open to students in the Honors Program; instructor consent required; may be open to non-honors students with consent of instructor.  
  
Grading Basis: Honors Credit  
Skill Codes: COMP: Writing Competency