Fall 2023 courses will become open for registration on April 10, 2023.
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.
Africana Studies
Instructor: N. Fadeke Castor
CRN: 11306
Days, Time: TF 1:35 pm – 3:15 pm
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.
Instructor: Nicole Aljoe
CRN: 16710
Days, Time: TF 9:50 am – 11:30 am
Description:
This course will focus on 18th and 19th century writing by members of the African Diaspora. Recent archival research and canon reconsideration has revealed the wealth and variety of texts written by black writers at this time. Drawing on this work, we will investigate the ways in which these early Black writers engaged with a range of issues such as the nature of the individual subject; human rights; gender and class; the rapid expansion of print culture; the development of the novel and other genres; notions of Africa; and of course, notions of freedom and enslavement. Through reading a variety of texts such as: poetry, speeches, essays, letters, fiction, slave narratives, biographies, and autobiographies—we will not only get a sense of the complexity of 18thand 19thcentury trans-Atlantic literary cultures but also appreciate how these writers created the foundations for various literary traditions across the African Diaspora. Cross-listed with ENG 2296.
Instructor: Kabria Baumgartner
CRN: 20387
Days, Time: WF 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
Description:
Traces the presence of African-descended people in North America. Emphasizes the historical and cultural links between Africa and North America that have shaped the Black experience in the United States. Explores and analyzes the institution of slavery, the role of free Black communities, the Civil War and emancipation, and Black leadership and protest during the Reconstruction era. Introduces students to the historian’s craft, theoretical debates concerning race and gender, and the persistence of the past in the present. Cross-listed with HIST 2337.
Instructor: Matthew Lee
CRN: 11643
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 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. Cross-listed with SOCL and HUSV 2355.
Instructor: Anjanette Chan Tack
CRN: 20467
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
Description:
Examines the comparative racialization of Blacks and Asians in the Americas and relations between these communities. Introduces sociological theories of race/ethnicity, a chronology of Afro-Asian relations in the United States, and the impact of 1970s deindustrialization and post–1965 Asian immigration. Covers the internationalism of Black and Asian leaders (e.g., W.E.B. du Bois and Mao Tse-Tung) in the developing nations and the overlapping Civil Rights, Black Power, and Asian American movements. Cross-listed with SOCL 4526.
Instructor: Layla Brown
CRN: 20472
Days, Time: WF 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
Description:
Introduces the history of Afro-Latin America and of Black identities particular to this region. Frameworks such as transnational migration and diaspora provide an entry to the specific histories of African-descended people in the countries in the region known as Latin America and contemporary interpretations and revisions of that history. Covers topics including the history of slavery in the Americas; the Haitian Revolution; debates about “racial democracy”; and the relationship between gender, race, and empire. Explores the relationship between scholarship and struggle, social analysis, and social transformation.
Instructor: Richard Wamai; John Olawepo
CRN: 15313; 17954
Days, Time: TF 1:35 pm – 3:15 pm; T 11:45 am – 1:25 pm, R 2:50 pm – 4:30 pm
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.
Instructor: AK Wright
CRN: 16713
Days, Time: MW 2:50 pm – 4:30 pm
Description:
In this course you will explore a variety of different cultural, intellectual and creative creations that shape the field of Black Feminist Studies. Black Feminist Studies is an interdisciplinary field that includes theory (who you are, what you know and learn, a system of ideas) and praxis (what you do, practice and engagement). You will learn about the history, origins, development, and practice of Black feminisms. Through literary, visual and auditory texts and discussions, you will explore the dimensions and the contours of Black Feminist Thought. In this course, you will understand Black Feminist Studies as an independent field with its own history, theorists, and canon, linked in some ways but significantly separate from traditional feminist studies and not simply as an intervention or remedy to the fields of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Black/Africana/African American Studies. Black feminists investigate how race, class, sexuality, gender, ability, and other markers of difference shape systems of power. Though Black feminism is for and includes everyone, this class centers and highlights the works of Black women, femmes and non-cismen. In the words of the Boston founded Black feminist collective, The Combahee River Collective, “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” Cross-listed with WMNS 2325.
Instructor: Natalie Shibley
CRN: 19789
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
Description:
This course will consider how the concepts of race, gender and sexuality have been treated in scientific fields, focusing primarily on the 19th and 20th centuries. We will examine the history of ideas about gender, race, and sexuality as reflected in scientific and medical fields such as biology, psychology, endocrinology, and neuroscience. We will also discuss contraceptive and reproductive technologies, pharmaceutical trials, the gendering of scientific professions, and recent studies that use algorithmic predictions of sex or sexual orientation. This is an advanced seminar and will be based on close reading and discussion. You will also write a research paper on a related topic of your choice. Cross-listed with WMNS and HIST 3305.
Instructor: Richard Wamai
CRN: 15316
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
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.
Instructor: Régine Jean-Charles
CRN: 19517
Days, Time: MW 2:50 pm – 4:30 pm
Description:
This course uses literature to explore Black feminism as a global phenomenon that is a site for social justice and advocacy. We will examine narratives from a variety of perspectives and geographic locations within the Caribbean (Haiti and Grenada), Sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroun), and North America (United States and Canada). Focusing on topics such as identity, empowerment, and justice, we will consider how different models of gender-based and feminist analysis apply to global Black literatures. Some of the themes we will study include the construction of gender, the representation of the body, family relationships, migration and immigration. All of this content will be considered through an intersectional lens that attends to how race, class, gender, and sexuality overlap and relate. Our class invites students to reflect on the relationships between identity and belonging, between oppression and resistance, between literature and place, and between people across generations and geographies. This is a writing and reading intensive class.
Culture Studies
Instructor: Alan West-Durán
CRN: 11720
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
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.
Instructor: Austin Hancock
CRN: 11306
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
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.
Instructor: Luigia Maiellaro
CRN: 10530
Days, Time: MR 11:45 am – 1:25 pm
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.
Instructor: TBD
CRN: 10414
Days, Time: MWR 10:30 am – 11:35 am
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.
Instructor: Jennifer Cullen
CRN: 14960
Days, Time: TF 9:50 am – 11:30 am
Description:
This course will investigate Japanese popular culture from WW2 to the present day. You will study mass media such as film, manga, anime, and music, placing such texts in historical, social, political, and cultural context. To this end, you will read secondary sources on the war, gender ideals, religious thought, and national identity. Comparative references to other cultures will be made throughout. Conducted in English.
Instructor: TBD
CRN: 20470
Days, Time: MWR 9:15 am – 10:20 am
Description:
Introduces students to Korean popular culture with texts ranging from comics, films, K-drama, pop music, and popular novellas in translation. Explores how “Hallyu” (the Korean wave) reverberated through different Asian regions and the rest of the globe in the 1990s and 2000s and continues into the present through global fandoms and streaming platforms. Critically examines the rising popularity of Korean popular cultural genres and influences in various global contexts in relation to race, class, gender, ethnicity, social media, and youth culture.
Instructor: Daniel Noemi Voionmaa
CRN: 11306
Days, Time: MW 2:50 pm – 4:30 pm
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.
Instructor: Alan West-Durán
CRN: 19519
Days, Time: MWR 10:30 am – 11:35 am
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.
Cultural Film Studies
Instructor: Daniel Cuenca; José Buscaglia (2 sections)
CRN: 14564; 20030, 20031
Days, Time: All sections asynchronous
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.
Instructor: Ericka Knudson
CRN: 20149
Days, Time: Asynchronous
Description:
In this course, students will examine key films of French cinema in their socio-historical contexts and through formal analysis. Exploring films created at crucial moments in history and at points of aesthetic innovation, we will trace broader changes in French society as well as transformations in cinema as an artform. Starting with the beginnings of cinema, contrasting the aesthetics of the Lumière Brothers and Méliès, we will study films from different periods, such as the 1930s with Poetic Realism; the Occupation and post-war era with the New Wave in reaction to the cinéma de papa; May ’68 with films inciting social and stylistic changes, leading to today’s films that open French cinema to new, diverse voices.
Through close readings of visual and textual narratives, including an introduction to terminology required for examining mise en scène, students will deepen analytical skills as they relate to the study of film. Students will also gain insight into French society and culture through different perspectives on class, gender, love, and immigration, for example, in context as they evolve. Each film will be accompanied by critical and theoretical readings that help situate the works in their socio-historical and aesthetic context, allowing students to cultivate critical-thinking skills, and discuss films as artistic and cultural texts. No knowledge of French is expected.
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