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African Studies

AFRS 1270 – Introduction to Global Health

Professor: Richard Wamai

CRN: 14151

Days, Time: TF, 1:35 PM – 3:15 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: 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 the 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. Applies case studies describing interventions to improve healthcare in resource-poor settings in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere to help illuminate the actors, diseases, populations, and principles and frameworks for the design of effective global health interventions. Cross-listed with PHTH 1270.

AFRS 2464 – Natural Resources and Sustainable Development

Professor: Kwamina Panford

CRN: 17788

Days, Time: MWR, 10:30 AM – 11:35 AM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines the social dimensions of resource extraction. Focusing mainly on developing nations,
studies global issues, including developments in industrial nations, to assess their impact on resource extraction and living and working conditions in resource-rich regions. Uses case studies of key countries producing oil/gas, minerals, and forest/agricultural commodities to illustrate the past/current causes of resource mismanagement; their social consequences; and how public policies,
legislation, and financial and human resource management with industrialization can be used to avert or reduce the adverse effects of resource extraction, especially in poor countries. Major theories examined include the resource curse and alternative approaches to problems faced by resource-bearing developing nations. AFRS 2464 and INTL 2464 are cross-listed.

AFRS 3424 – Epidemiology of Pandemic Diseases & Health Disparities in the African Diaspora 

Professor: Richard Wamai

CRN: 14623

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines the epidemiology and determinants of diseases and the public health practice among continental African peoples and African-derived populations in the Americas and elsewhere in the African Diaspora. Emphasizes such epidemic diseases as malaria, yellow fever, tuberculosis, smallpox, the current AIDS pandemic, obesity, and cancer. The course also aims to critically address the breadth of factors behind these pandemics, such as socioeconomic, political, health system, behavioral, and genetic. A cross-cutting theme throughout the course is the entrenched health disparities in society.

African-American Studies

AFAM 1101 – Introduction to African-American Studies

Professor: Nicole Castor

CRN: 11906

Days, Time: TF, 1:35 PM – 3:15 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Explores several of the possible historical, sociological, cultural, and political avenues of study in the broad interdisciplinary spectrum of African-American studies. Provides an introductory overview of the field and offers an opportunity to identify areas for more specific focus.

AFAM 1104 – The African-American Experience through Music

Professor: Eric Jackson

CRN: 11165

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: Not open to students who have taken MUSC 1104

Description: Explores the various musical traditions of African Americans, with a specific focus on the United States. Examines the impact of African, European, and Native American traditions on African-American music as well as the role of music as an expression of African-American aesthetics, traditions, and life. Considers historical and contemporary forms of African-American music, with selected video presentations.

Professor: Alanna Prince

CRN: 17832

Days, Time: MWR, 1:30 PM – 2:40 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Surveys Black popular culture from the mid-1950s to the present through music, movies, music videos, and other forms of multimedia, paying close attention to social commentary, political critique, economic inference, cultural formation, explications of religious and spiritual beliefs, and the like. Issues of representation, identity, values, and aesthetics are pondered and discussed. Seeks to cause students to rethink and reexamine the intent and impact of Black popular culture as a method and means of expression and communication.

AFAM 2296 – Early African-American Literature

Professor: Nicole Aljoe

CRN: 18099

Days, Time: WF, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Surveys the development and range of black American writers, emphasizing poetry and prose from early colonial times to the Civil War. ENGL 2296 and AFM 2296 are cross-listed.

AFAM 2355 – Race, Identity, Social Change, and Empowerment

Professor: Matthew R. Lee

CRN: 17787

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

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.

AFAM 5001 – Historical Justice and Reparations

Professor: Margaret A. Burnham

CRN: 16505

Days, Time: TF, 9:50 AM – 11:30 AM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Explores the various questions, relationships, and connections between the law and racial issues and concepts. Each offering focuses on a special topic such as reparations, civil rights, gender, or the environment and energy policies. May be repeated up to three times for a maximum of 16 credits.

Culture Studies

CLTR 1120 – Introduction to Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Professor: Alan West-Durán

CRN: 1120

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 am – 1:25 pm

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines the rich interconnections between literature and language and the culture that supports them. Discusses the relationship of language to literature and investigates how language and literatures are embedded in culture. Addresses several very broad and important questions, such as the relationship between language and culture; the relationship between language and thought; the definition of cultural relativism; and how ethical dilemmas are expressed in different cultures. Explores the relationship of esthetic and rhetorical traditions in given languages to the culture from which they sprang. In this context, examines the extremely interesting case of American Sign Language and how a gestural language sheds light on these issues.

CLTR 1150 – Muslim Writers and the Qur’an (in English Translations)

Professor: Shakir Mustafa

CRN: 16128

Days, Time: M, 11:45 AM – 1:25 AM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Covers selected writers who fairly represent a wide range of Muslim attitudes to the Qur’an. Muslim writers use the Qur’an for political and social criticism, question Qur’anic texts related to the status of women, or question the authenticity of the Qur’an itself. After 9/11, however, Muslim writers in the West have presented characters who find in the Qur’an a source of positive powers. Readings are drawn from works such as the following: Leila Aboulela, Minaret; Monica Ali, Brick Lane; Gamal Al-Ghitani, Zayni Barakat; Tehmina Durrani, Blasphemy; Nuruddin Farah, Maps; Taha Hussein, An Egyptian Childhood; Yusuf Idris, “A House of Flesh”; C. H. Kane, Ambiguous Adventure; Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album and “My Son the Fanatic”; Naguib Mahfouz, The Children of the Alley.

CLTR 1501 – Introduction to French Culture

CRN: 10535

Professor: Stacey Bourns

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 am – 1:25 pm

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Offers a very broad introduction to French “culture,” by which is meant its principal “high” and “low” versions. An attempt is made to reproduce the knowledge base of a typical well-educated French man or woman. Highlights sports, politics, history, intellectual history, and the arts. Also addresses questions of cultural relativism. Students write a major paper on a subject chosen in conjunction with the professor.

CLTR 1503 – Introduction to Italian Culture

Professor: Luigia G. Maiellaro

CRN: 10671

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 am – 1:25 pm

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines chronologically the main aspects of Italian culture, concentrating on the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the modern, post-unification period. Topics include art, philosophy, literature, architecture, film, and historical background. Other topics address significant personages in Italian culture, such as Dante, Boccaccio, Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, Alberti, Pico della Mirandola, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli; the differences between northern and southern Italy; and the nature of Italy’s cultural heritage and its influence and status today. Conducted in English.

CLTR 1504 – Cultural History of Spain

Professor: Barbara Corbett

CRN: 10527

Days, Time: MWR, 10:30 AM– 11:35 AM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines chronologically the forces that have forged Spanish culture and have made Spain the nation it is today. Traces the development of Spain from the prehistoric caves of Altamira to the present. Observes past and present concerns such as divorce and abortion in a Catholic country, education, the role of women, linguistic diversity, separatism and terrorism, and the incorporation of Spain into the European Community. Incorporates history, sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, and politics. Conducted in English.

CLTR 1506 – Introduction to Chinese Pop Culture

Professor: Benjamin Shaffer

CRN: 18876

Days, Time: ONLINE

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Provides a comprehensive examination of modern Chinese popular culture in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. From film to literature, from music to theater, this course probes popular culture as it has manifested itself and traces its sociopolitical, aesthetic, and effective impact on modern China, with special attention to negotiations between the elite and the popular discourses.

CLTR 1700 – Introduction to Japanese Pop Culture

Professor: Jennifer Cullen

CRN: 10667

Days, Time: TF, 9:50 AM – 11:30 AM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Provides an introduction to Japanese popular culture through critical analysis of mass media such as film, television, comics, and animation. Investigates various social and cultural issues, such as gender, family, and education. Films and videos supplement readings. Conducted in English.

CLTR 3418 – Nationalism

Professor: Amílcar Barreto

CRN: 17790

Days, Time: MR, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level POLS 1155 Minimum Grade of D- or Undergraduate level POLS 1160 Minimum Grade of D-

Description: Explores contending theories of identity and nationalism—a powerful force in international and domestic politics. Examines topics such as the process of identity creation, the choice of national symbols, how group boundaries are established, the role of identity in conflict and state building, and the debate over nationalism’s constructed or primordial nature. POLS 3418 and CLTR 3418 are cross-listed.

CLTR 3715 – New Narratives: Latin America

Professor: Daniel Noemi Voionmaa

CRN: 15619

Days, Time: MW, 2:50 PM – 4:30 PM

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level SPNS 2102 Minimum Grade of D-

Description: Focuses on film, literature, and new media. This course offers a panoramic view of the Latin American cultural production after 1989, attempting to characterize the variety of styles and trends. Relates the texts and movies to the socio, political, and economic issues of the moment, i.e., implementation of neoliberal democracies, globalization, neocolonialism, resistance, new social movements, etc. Also studies links between Latin America and the United States and between Latin America and Spain. Focuses on texts written by relatively young authors. Taught in Spanish.

CLTR 3805 – Culture, Politics, Media in Spain

Professor: Jose Buscaglia

CRN: 17781

Days, Time: WF, 11:45 AM – 1:25 PM

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level SPNS 2102 Minimum Grade of D-

Description: Offers an in-depth critical inquiry into the current debates in the public sphere in Spain focusing on the politics of culture and identity as they both inform and challenge the very foundations of a modern nation-state. Arguably the first political entity in modern times to have been constructed as a state unified under one religion, one people, and one monarch, Spain is today an early example of a growing tendency toward national fragmentation and disintegration. Considers the ways in which current events in Spain may be the presage to an ever more unstable world order. Examines the possibility of a higher state of global governance beyond empire and the nation-state. The course is taught entirely in Spanish (and Catalan, in translation, when appropriate).

CLTR 4655 – Latin American Literature

Professor: Alan West-Duran

CRN: 17782

Days, Time: MW, 2:50 PM – 4:30 PM

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level SPNS 2102 Minimum Grade of D-

Description: Offers an overview of the major trends in Latin American narrative, poetry, drama, and essays, from Bernal Diaz through Borges and Bolaño. Studies broad cultural and political contexts, especially the Cold War period and the impact of neoliberalism. Conducted in Spanish.

Film Studies

CLTR 1240 – Latin American Film

Professor: Jose Buscaglia

CRN: 13613

Days, Time: ONLINE

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Examines prizewinning Latin American films based on actual events, such as those that occurred during the Argentine military dictatorship of the 1970s, or works of fiction by well-known authors, such as Nobel Prize winner Garcia Marquez. These films ably depict the history and culture of these countries. Conducted in English and the films are in Spanish with English subtitles.

CLTR 1260 – Japanese Film

Professor: TBD

CRN: 17789

Days, Time: TF, 1;35 PM – 3:15 PM

Pre-requisites: N/A

Description: Provides an introduction to Japanese film through works by such great masters as Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu, as well as works by new directors from the 1980s and 1990s such as Tami, Morita, and Suo. Studies both form and content; relates major works to Japanese culture. Conducted in English.