African American Studies
Courses
AFAM 200 - Freedom Papers: Narratives of Race and Nation (3 Credits)
A study of the United States founding documents that emphasizes how the experiences of African American citizens throughout history and culture shape the country’s values, norms, and ideals.
Carolina Core: VSR
Founding Documents: FND Founding Documents
AFAM 201 - Introduction to African American Studies: Social and Historical Foundations (3 Credits)
Introduction to the key debates, figures, and concepts that are fundamental to the interdisciplinary study of the historical, political, and social development of black life in America.
Carolina Core: GSS
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 202 - Introduction to African-American Studies (3 Credits)
Introduction to the analysis and discussion of creative works and traditions by and about African Americans through folklore, music, art, dance, and literature.
Carolina Core: AIU
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 207 - Introduction to African American Religions (3 Credits)
The variety of religious traditions of African Americans, with emphasis on the contexts in which they developed.
Cross-listed course: RELG 207
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 218 - Convergence and Divergence in African American and Jewish Relations: Historical and Contemporary (3 Credits)
AFAM 303 - African-American Cultures (3 Credits)
An examination of African-American cultures in the New World.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 303
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 308 - African-American Feminist Theory (3 Credits)
An interdisciplinary survey of the contributions of African-American women to feminist theory.
Cross-listed course: WGST 308
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 330 - Psychology and the African-American Experience (3 Credits)
Psychological theory and research as it applies to African Americans. Explores Africentric and other perspectives and roles of culture, racism, and historical phenomena.
Cross-listed course: PSYC 330
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 331 - Black Experience in the United States to 1865 (3 Credits)
The social, cultural, economic, and political life of black people in the United States to 1865.
Cross-listed course: HIST 331
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 332 - Black Experience in the United States since 1865 (3 Credits)
The social, cultural, economic, and political life of black people in the United States since 1865.
Cross-listed course: HIST 332
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 335 - The American Civil Rights Movement (3 Credits)
Examination of the origins of Jim Crow and the multi-faceted struggle against it, and other forms of racial inequality, in the American South and the rest of the US since the early 20th century.
Cross-listed course: HIST 455
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 343 - Religions of the African Diaspora (3 Credits)
Explore development/theologies of African/African Diaspora religions; examine misunderstandings; arrive at a more sophisticated and nuanced vision of these religions and the people who hold them.
Cross-listed course: RELG 343
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 348 - Environmental Racism and Justice (3 Credits)
History of the environmental justice movement and the unequal distribution of environmental harms on low income, minority, and historically marginalized groups.
Cross-listed course: ENVR 348
AFAM 350 - Antiracist Education (3 Credits)
Basic concepts, issues, and practices of antiracist education. Topics include individual and institutional racism, overt and covert racism, curriculum, textbooks, power relationships, teacher-student relationships, and privacy.
Cross-listed course: EDFI 350
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 353 - Introduction to U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics (3 Credits)
Survey of theories of the impact of race, ethnicity, and racism on American politics, and analysis of major policies and racial group experience regarding American citizenship.
Cross-listed course: POLI 353
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 355 - Race and Ethnic Relations (3 Credits)
Theoretical and empirical approaches related to race/ethnicity and the current state of race relations in American, with some attention to global issues.
Cross-listed course: SOCY 355
Carolina Core: GSS
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 364 - African-American Politics (3 Credits)
African-American politics from the colonial period to the present. Emphasis on voting rights and strategies to advance black representation.
Cross-listed course: POLI 364
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 365 - Medical Experimentation and the Black Body (3 Credits)
A cross-disciplinary study of how the bodies of Africans and African Americans were used in medical experimentation, starting in the late 18th century and continuing to the present.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 263
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 366 - Medicine, Disease, and Slavery (3 Credits)
An interdisciplinary study of the health of enslaved African Americans during the nineteenth century by focusing on the conceptions, experiences, and dynamics of the relationship between slaves, medicine, healing, and their masters in the Antebellum American South.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 366
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 378 - Music of the African World (3 Credits)
An introduction to traditional and popular music styles from several cultures and regions in Africa as well as the African diaspora.
Cross-listed course: GLST 378
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Global Learning
AFAM 380 - Cultural History of Hip Hop Music (3 Credits)
Roots of rap/hip hop music from African bardic tradition to African American vernacular traditions and development as a musical genre; rap’s musical and verbal traits and political ideologies; hip hop’s influence on mainstream American society and global youth.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 382 - Lemonade and Beyond: Black Women's Agency and Community Building Through Musical Performance (3 Credits)
A survey of the musical and artistic contributions of Black women from several musical traditions and eras, partially inspired by the visual album Lemonade released by Beyoncé Knowles Carter in 2016.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy
AFAM 393 - Race and Science Fiction (3 Credits)
Draws on science fiction to understand the contemporary history of American racial and ethnic politics and to speculate about the significance of race in America’s political future.
Cross-listed course: POLI 393
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 397 - Special Topics in African American Society and History (3 Credits)
Reading and research on selected social and historical topics in African American studies. May be repeated as content varies by title.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 398 - Special Topics in African-American Arts and Cultures (3 Credits)
Reading and research on selected arts and cultural topics in African-American studies. May be repeated as content varies by title.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences, GLD: Research
AFAM 399 - Independent Study (3-6 Credits)
Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department chair is required for undergraduate students.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences, GLD: Research
AFAM 402 - African American Political Thought (3 Credits)
Survey of many of the major schools of historic and contemporary African American political thought.
Cross-listed course: POLI 402
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 420 - Slavery, Literature & Culture (3 Credits)
Interdisciplinary analysis of how the experiences of enslaved people are represented through fiction, autobiography, film, art, and new media.
AFAM 428A - African-American Literature I: to 1903 (3 Credits)
AFAM 428B - African-American Literature II: 1903 – Present (3 Credits)
Representative works of African-American writers from 1903 to the present.
Cross-listed course: ENGL 428B
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 438D - African Literature (3 Credits)
AFAM 438E - Caribbean Literature (3 Credits)
AFAM 442 - African-American English (3 Credits)
Linguistic examination of the structure, history, and use of African-American English, as well as literary presentations, language attitudes, and issues relating to education and the acquisition of Standard English.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 463 - Jim Crow: Histories & Revivals (3 Credits)
This course critically examines the continuities and discontinuities between Jim Crow and our current historical and political moment.
Cross-listed course: HIST 463
AFAM 476 - Black Activism (3 Credits)
Critical review of theories of community organizing, grassroots activism, and social movements, and examination of contemporary forms of black activism.
Cross-listed course: POLI 476
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 486 - African-American Rhetoric (3 Credits)
African-American rhetoric as manifested in speeches, essays, and other rhetorical artifacts.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 487 - Black Women Writers (3 Credits)
An examination of literature by and about black women, including fiction, poetry, drama, and autobiography. This study will focus on issues that emerge from the creative representations of black women and the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class that interrogate what is both particular and universal experiences.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 498 - Seminar in African-American Studies (3 Credits)
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 499 - Seminar in African-American Studies (3 Credits)
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 515 - Race, Gender, and Graphic Novels (3 Credits)
Representations of race and gender in comics with a special emphasis on the experiences of African Americans.
Cross-listed course: WGST 515
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 517 - An Anthropological View of Blacks in Film (3 Credits)
Cultural representations, constructions, production, and consumption of African-American identity in the popular culture medium of feature films.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 517
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 565 - African American Theatre (3 Credits)
The major movements, figures, plays, and critical strategies that have marked the development of African American theatre in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences
AFAM 580 - Culture and Identity in the African Diaspora (3 Credits)
Students will explore the African Diaspora as a social, cultural, and historical formation with Africa at its center, focusing on US, Latin American, and Caribbean African-descended communities.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 580
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Diversity and Social Advocacy, GLD: Global Learning, GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Leadership Experiences