Spring 2022 Courses
Spring 2022 registration begins on November 15, 2021.
For the most up-to-date and comprehensive course schedule, including meeting times, course additions, cancellations, and room assignments, refer to the Banner Class Schedule on the Registrar’s website. For curriculum information, see the Undergraduate Full-Time Day Programs catalog.
African American Studies Courses
Instructor: Eric Jackson
CRN: 34256
Days, Time: MR 11:45 – 1:25 PM
Description:
Studies the development and history of jazz in the United States through the life of John Coltrane, who was frequently considered one of the greatest musicians of all time. Considers his impact on the genre and mode of jazz music, including his advanced and innovative conceptions (melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic) and other stylistic contributions to African-American creative improvisation that also changed music across the globe. Emphasizes his impact on jazz and other improvisational music and expressive art forms. Also covers his spiritual legacy, which focused on using music for the improvement of humanity.
Instructor: Jack Gronau
CRN: 38025
Days, Time: MWR 1:35 – 2:40 PM
Description:
Examines the basic tenets of “scientific objectivity” “scientific objectivity” and foundational scientific ideas about race, sex, and gender and what these have meant for marginalized groups in society, particularly when they seek medical care. Introduces feminist science theories ranging from linguistic metaphors of the immune system, to the medicalization of race, to critiques of the sexual binary. Emphasizes contemporary as well as historical moments to trace the evolution of “scientific truth” “scientific truth” and its impact on the U.S. cultural landscape. Offers students an opportunity to develop the skills to critically question what they “know” “know” about science and the scientific process and revisit their disciplinary training as a site for critical analysis. Cross-listed with HIST 1225 and WMNS 1225.
Instructor: Matthew Lee
CRN: 36847
Days, Time: MR 11:45 – 1:25 PM
Description:
Examines racism, racial identity, and theories of social change and racial empowerment primarily
within the U.S. context. Highlights different ways in which racism and racial privilege have been experienced by different racial communities, more specifically at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels. Offers students an opportunity to learn ways to promote racial empowerment and equity. Using theory from primarily psychology and sociology, the course investigates the impact of social systems and institutions on individual-level and group experiences of racism. Investigates students’ own racial identities, a deeper understanding of institutional inequalities and intersectionality, and practical skills in leadership and community building that can promote positive social change and racial equality.
Instructor: Sheila Jackson
CRN: 38026
Days, Time: M 4:35 – 7:50 PM
Description:
Explores how relationships between historical and contemporary representations of African Americans, other persons of the African Diaspora, and the continent of Africa have been presented in film in relation to religious themes. An interdisciplinary study in how race and religion are represented in ways that reflect and actively contribute to “real world” faith beliefs, experiences, and actions. Critically examines how representations of “the Other” compared to “the chosen” relate to the intersectionality of race, religion, class, national origin, gender, sex, and sexuality. Provides a framework for ethical analysis of how societal institutionalized systems of power influence beliefs about racialized identities and religion.
Instructor: Michael McCluskey
CRN: 38719
Days, Time: WF 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM
Description:
Explores the various ways in which the city of Boston and its environs are represented in literature and other media. Each semester, the course focuses on a different aspect of Boston in literature, such as representations of Boston’s different communities, different historical eras, particular genres or concepts associated with the city, and so forth. Offers students an opportunity to build upon their readings about the city by experiencing independent site visits, class field trips, guest speakers, and other activities. In addition to a culminating group or individual research project about Boston, students may also have the opportunity to participate in a community-based reading project. AFAM 2690 and ENGL 2690 are cross-listed.
Africana Studies Courses
Instructor: Kwamina Panford
CRN: 34257
Days, Time: MW 2:50 – 4:30 PM
Description:
Uses a multidisciplinary approach to offer an introduction and overview of the geographical, demographic, socioeconomic, and political conditions of the African continent, emphasizing sub-Saharan Africa. Africa, “the cradle of humankind,” is a vast, complex continent of diverse peoples that has fascinated observers and evoked multiple images. Topical areas of interest range from ethnic relations, politics, colonial experience, and international relations to religion, environment, health, economic development, gender, culture, and literature. Course materials aim to provide contemporary African perspectives and analyses that offer students an opportunity to acquire and interpret broad knowledge about the continent.
Instructor: Richard Wamai
CRN: 32788
Days, Time: TF 1:35pm-3:15pm
Description:
This course introduces global health in the context of an interdependent and globalized world focusing on four main areas of analysis: infrastructure of global health; diseases; populations; and terms, concepts and theories. While our focus is on lower-income countries, the course examines issues in a broader global context underscoring the interconnections between global health disparities and global health policy response. Case studies describing interventions to improve healthcare in resource-poor settings in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere are applied to help illuminate the actors, diseases, populations and principles and frameworks for the design of effective global health interventions.
Instructor: Kwamina Panford
CRN:32921
Days, Time: MWR 10:30 – 11:35 AM
Description:
Offers a basic survey of the latest innovations and cultural and socioeconomic trends of 21st-century Africa. Examines the political transformations of some of the 49 Sub-Saharan African nations. Focuses on a culturally and ethnically diverse continent of five regions with linguistic and religious diversity and tribal societies reflecting an ancient triple heritage—Indigenous, Arab, and European. Presents complex and critical perspectives on topics including governance and civil strife, gender empowerment, the impact of globalization, trade and investment developments, public health challenges, the visual and performing arts, identity formation among a rising youth demographic to pervasive mobile technology, food security, and the new “African” passport.
Instructor: N. Fadeke Castor
CRN: 38028
Days, Time: TF 9:50 – 11:30 AM
Description:
Examines religious thought and rituals and the Diaspora in a comparative context. Topics include traditional religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in Africa, and the Diaspora. Emphasizes the transformation of religions practiced in Africa when African captives were forced into the three slave trades affecting the continent of Africa: trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, and transatlantic.
Courses by Requirement
- AFRS 1101 – Introduction to African Studies
- AFAM 1135 – John Coltrane and the History of Jazz in the United States
- AFAM 2318 – New England Stories: Storytelling and the African American Experience
- AFAM 2619 – Race and Religion in Film
- AFAM 2690 – Boston in Literature
- AFRS 2410: Possession, Sacrifice, and Divination in African Diasporic Religions
- AFAM 1225 – Gender, Race, and Medicine
- AFAM 2355 – Race Identity Social Change Empowerment
- AFRS 1270 – Introduction to Global Health
- AFRS 2307 – Africa Today