BLACK STUDIES
IN THIS PAGE:
The Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies offers a multidisciplinary
curriculum that examines the experiences of African, African American, and
Caribbean people from the liberal arts perspective. The Black Studies curriculum
helps to unify an important area of intellectual investigation, and enhances
appreciation of particular disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
Courses accommodate the needs of majors and non-majors, providing significant
preparation for careers in education, social work, public policy, law, medicine,
business, international relations, and advanced research.
A major in Black Studies is available through Pitzer, Pomona, and Scripps
Colleges. This interdisciplinary major introduces students to the broad range
of research and scholarship of African, African American, and Caribbean people.
The Faculty
At Claremont McKenna College - Professor: Shelton
At Pitzer College - Professor:
Fairchild; Associate Professors: Basu, and Harris
At Pomona College - Professor:
Lytle; Associate Professors: Conrad, Jackson, and Lemelle; Assistant Professors:
Holmes, and Thomas
At Scripps College - Associate Professors: Roberts (Chair),
and Walker
At Claremont Graduate University - Professor: McHenry
Courses
Art and Art History
53bk. Art Histories of Africa and the African Diaspora.
A
critical introduction to the methods and approaches used to understand the
arts and cinema emanating from societies across the continent of Africa and
from the African Diaspora in the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, and
Canada. Examines the underlying assumption of aesthetic, philosophic, theoretic,
and historic interpretation and evaluation of Africana arts. (Not offered in
2003-2004.)
140bk. The Arts of Africa.
Survey of African art and architecture,
exploring ethnic and cultural diversity. Emphasis on the social, political,
and religious dynamics that foster art production at specific historical moments
in West, Central, and North Africa. Critical study of Western art historical
approaches and methods used to study African arts. Second semester. Jackson
141abk. Seminar: (Re)presenting Africa: Art, History, and Film.
The
seminar centers on post- colonial African films to examine (re)presentations
of the people, arts, cultures, and socio-political histories of Africa and
its Diaspora. The course critically examines the cinematic themes, aesthetics,
styles, and schools of African and African Diasporic filmmakers. Second semester.
Jackson
141bbk. Seminar: Africana Cinema: Through the Documentary Lens.
The
course examines documentary films and videos created by filmmakers from Africa
and African Diaspora in the United States, Britain, and the Caribbean. Topics
include: history and aesthetics of documentary filmmaking, documentary as an
art, the narrative documentary, docu-drama, cinema verite, biography, autobiography,
and historical documentary. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
178bk. Black Aesthetics and the Politics of (Re)presentation.
Survey
of the visual arts produced by people of African descent in the United States
from the colonial era to the present. Emphasis on Black artists and changing
relationship to African arts and cultures. Examines the emergence of an oppositional
aesthetic tradition that interrogates visual constructions of "blackness" and "whiteness," gender
and sexuality as a means of re-visioning representational practices. First
semester. Jackson
186jbk. Seminar: Issues in African Diasporic Visual Arts.
This
seminar examines the art produced by 20th-century artists of African descent
in the United States. The course will center on artistic movements, aesthetic
trends, or a specific medium, such as the Harlem Renaissance, the 1960's Black
Arts Movement, Afrocentrism, feminism, or photography and Information Age technologies.
Second semester. Jackson.
186wbk. Whiteness: Race, Sex, and Representation.
An interdisciplinary
interrogation of linguistic, conceptual, and practical solipsisms that contributed
to the construction and normalization of whiteness in aesthetics, art, visual
culture, film, and mass media. Course questions the dialectics of "blackness" and "whiteness" that
dominate in Western intellectual thought and popular culture, thereby informing
historical and contemporary notions and representations of race, gender, sexuality,
and class. Second semester. Jackson
History
40bk. History of Africa to 1800.
History of Africa from
the earliest times to the beginning of the 19th century. Attention given to
the methodology and theoretical framework used by the Africanists, the development
of early African civilizations, and current debates and trends in historiography
of Africa. First semester. Lemelle
41bk. History of Africa since 1800.
History of Africa from
the 19th century to recent times. Attention given to political and economic
aspects of Africa's development process. Methodological and theoretical frameworks
utilized by Africanists, as well as current debates and trends in African historiography.
Second semester. Lemelle
100ubk. Pan-Africanism and Black Radical Traditions.
Examination
of the historical evolution of the Pan-African concept and its political, social,
and economic implications for the world generally and for Black people in particular.
Discussion of the 20th-century writers of Pan-Africanism, and especially of
Padmore, DuBois, Garvey, Nkrumah, Malcolm X, and Toure (Carmichael) in terms
of the contemporary problems of African Americans. Prerequisites: lower division
Black Studies course and permission of instructor. Second semester. Lemelle
111abk. African Diaspora in the United States to 1877.
Grounded
in a transnational comparative approach, this course connects the diverse and
complex experiences, belief systems, and institutions of Blacks in the United
States with those of others in the Diaspora. Beginning with pre-European contact
in West and central Africa, we will examine the multifaceted nature of distinct
cultures, forms of nationalism, significance of protest, and gender and class
relations across time and space. First semester. Roberts
111bbk. African Diaspora in the United States since 1877.
This
is the second half of the African Diaspora in the United States survey. This
course connects Black emancipation and post-emancipation political struggles
throughout the Diaspora. Other topics include nationalism, civil rights, and
contemporary feminist theory. History 111a is not a prerequisite for History
111b. Second semester. Roberts
143bk. Slavery and Freedom in the New World.
Survey course
covering the history of Africans and their descendants in the Americas from
the epoch of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade until the end of the 19th century.
Divided into two general sections: the slave epoch, and the emancipation (and
aftermath). First semester. Lemelle
149bk. Industrialization and Social Change in Southern Africa.
Survey
course in southern African history from the 17th century to the present. Emphasis
on the last two centuries – the period of rapid industrialization
and social change. Examination of the political, economic, and sociocultural
ramifications of changes on southern African societies. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
171bk. African American Women in the United States.
Exploration
of the distinctive and diverse experiences of women on West African ancestry
in the United States from the 17th century to the present. Topics, including
labor, activism, feminism, family, and community, are examined within the theoretical
framework. Narratives, autobiographies, letters, journals, speeches, essays,
and other primary documents constitute most of the required reading. (Not offered
in 2003-2004.)
176bk. The Modern Civil Rights Movement in America.
Mainly
through primary readings, films, and guest lectures, this course explores the
origins, development, and impact of the modern African American struggle for
civil rights in the United States. Particular emphasis is placed on grass-roots
organizing in the Deep South. History 111b recommended. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
Interdisciplinary
10bk. Introduction to Black Studies.
Interdisciplinary exploration
of key aspects of Black history, culture, and life in Africa and the Americas.
Provides a fundamental, intellectual understanding of the global Black experience
as it has been described and interpreted in the arts, humanities, and social
sciences. Second semester. Fairchild
50bk. Caribbean Society and Culture.
Examines the complexity
and diversity of the Caribbean in terms of its socioeconomic reality, the lives
of its people, and its artistic and intellectual products. (Not offered in
2003-2004.)
152bk. Black Women Feminism(s) and Social Change.
Introduction
to the theoretical and practical contributions of African American feminists
who maintain that issues of race, gender, sexuality, and social class are central,
rather than peripheral, to any history, analysis, assessment, or strategy for
bringing about change in the United States. First semester. Jackson
Literature
12bk. Introduction to African American Literature.
This
course is a survey of major periods, authors, and genres of the American literary
tradition. This is the second half of a two-semester course offered through
Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies faculty. This course covers the
major literature produced from the turn of the 20th century to the contemporary
period. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
42ebk. Girl-Worlds: Female "Coming of Age" Literature.
Through
fiction, autobiography, film, popular culture, and feminist theory, this course
examines representations of young women of diverse color/class/sexual identities
in "coming of age" narratives of post-World War II U.S.A.
context. In exploring the intersections of ethnicity/race, class, sexuality,
gender, and intellectual/creative agency in the narratives, we examine how
the author/female protagonists revise and resist prescriptive notions of female "coming
of age." (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
117bk. Novel and Cinema in Africa and the West Indies.
Examination
of works by writers and filmmakers from French-speaking countries of Africa
(Senegal, Cameroon, van Burkina Faso) and the Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe,
and Haiti). Special emphasis will be placed on questions of identity, the impact
of colonialism, social and cultural values, as well as the nature of aesthetic
creation. Prerequisite: French 44 or equivalent. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
121bk. Studies in Poetry: Love and Revolution: Black Women's Poetry/Song
in the 20th Century.
This course offers an exploration of language,
imagery, and themes concerned with the sexual and racial politics of love and
revolution as conceived in 20th-century black women's poetry/song. In addition
to reading, writing, and oral presentations about poets/singers such as Johnson,
Grimke, Smith, Brooks, Holiday, Sanchez, Jordan, Lorde, and Jones, students
write poetry/song reflective of what/why/how/where/when notions of love and
revolution are articulated in this body of work as val-ues/weapons/desires
for social justice and change. Juniors and seniors only. Prerequisite: One
black studies course, or permission of instructor. First semester. Harris
125cbk. Introduction to African American Literature: In the African-Atlantic
Tradition.
Survey of 18th- and 19th-century Black writers including
slave narratives, early novels and poetry with attention to cultural and political
contexts. First semester. Thomas
130bk. Topics in 20th-Century African American Literature: Black
Women Writing Resistance and Activism.
This course closely examines
Black women's constructions of self, family, community, and political consciousness
in literature. We will also explore the diverse methodologies and theoretical
architecture of Black female voices across genres including poetry, fiction,
memoir, essays, autobiography, music, sermons, speeches, drama, and film.
Our discussions will consider historical and social contexts of Black women's
literary production, including attention to the politics of space and geography,
traditions of resisting the intersecting oppressions of race, sex, class,
and gender, and interrogating the politics of language. First semester. Thomas
132bk. Black Queer Narrative, Autobiography and Documentary.
This
course examines African American writers and film and video makers whose focus
on race and sexuality shape the content and form of a queer black narrative.
The class will explore relationships between queer black artists, and black,
feminist, and queer canons. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
134bk. Harlem Renaissance.
This course is a survey of African
American literature and culture produced during or linked to the 1920s Harlem
Renaissance. Central to the course is an ongoing survey and analysis of popular
cultural forms such as the blues, social dance, film, and musical theater.
First semester. Harris
160bk. African and Caribbean Literature.
Reading and analysis
of works of fiction, poetry, and drama representing the most important trends
in African and Caribbean literatures. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
165bk. Writing Between Borders: Caribbean Writers in the U.S.A. and
Canada.
Examination of works by women writers from the Caribbean
who live in the U.S. and Canada. Seeks to uncover the complex nature of cross-cultural
encounters. Explores the strategies used by these writers to define themselves
both inside and outside the body politic of two societies. Attention given
to questions of identity, exile, history, memory, and language. Authors include
Jean Rhys, Paule Marshall, Maryse Conde, Jamaica Kincaid and Michelle Cliff.
Prerequisite: upper-division literature course or permission of instructor.
First semester. Shelton
196bk. Major Figures in 20th-Century American Literature: James Baldwin.
This
course explores the work of one of America's greatest writers whose importance
resides in part in his calling into question national practices and injustices
in regards to race, sexuality, religion, civil rights struggles and other political
matters. Baldwin was a frequent expatriate with an enormous literary talent
for capturing the pathos of being American across a range of social identities
and issues. This course examines the themes and nuances of Baldwin's essays,
novels, and plays. (Not offered in 20032004.)
Psychology
12bk. Introduction to African American Psychology.
Includes
perspectives, education, community, life-span development, gender, and related
issues. Emphasizes the critical examination of current research and theory.
Students are expected to contribute orally and in writing. Prerequisite: Introductory
psychology courses or permission of instructor. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
75bk. African American Mental Health.
Introduces students
to selected topics involving the mental health of African Americans. Examines
issues in the definition and assessment of mental health, and addresses special
topics such as spirituality, stress and hypertension, delivery of mental health
services, and controversies in the psychoanalytic literature. Examines empirical,
theoretical, and therapeutic approaches to African American mental health.
First semester. Holmes
180pbk. Seminar: Psychological Aspects of Black Women's Sexuality.
This
course will explore the theoretical, qualitative, and quantitative psychological
literature pertaining to Black women's sexual experiences in the United States.
Topics include sexual stereotypes of Black women, body image and sexuality,
risk factors leading to early sexual initiation, HIV risk and protective factors
in black communities, the abortion issue as it affects Black communities, and
the social context of adolescent childbearing. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
182bk. Special Topics in African American Psychology.
This
course explores a variety of contemporary issues in African American psychology.
Specific subject area varies from year to year. (Not offered in 2003-2004.)
188bk. Seminar in African American Psychology.
Critically
examines contemporary literature in African American psychology. Emphasizes
the ideas of leading theorists (e.g. Na'im Akbar, Wade Nobels, Linda Myers)
and the research literature on contemporary problems (e.g. teen pregnancy,
gangs). Prerequisites: introductory Black studies psychology course or permission
of instructor. First semester. Holmes
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