AFA-2010 Introduction to the African and Black Diaspora

Credits 3
This course engages the comparative analysis of African and Black Communities around the globe, with an emphasis on the United States South, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Attention is given to the awakening sense of political inter-relatedness that is the foundation for contemporary Pan-African movements, collaborative struggles against oppression, and the renewal of traditional African cultures and values in the Diaspora.
(Offered fall only)

Course Outcomes

Explain the history of the concept of “African Diaspora.”
Analyze scholarly perspectives on key issues within the field of “African Diaspora” studies.
Identify various waves of emigration from Africa to other parts of the world, with special reference to the trans-Atlantic slave trade of the 15th through the 19th centuries.
Explain how biological and social constructs of “race” have shifted over time.
Evaluate aspects of culture that appear to link African and Black communities around the globe, using information and content across multiple disciplines within the social sciences.
Analyze the ways in which various African Diasporic communities have retained and adapted cultural remnants from Africa to forge creative, African-linked cultural traditions throughout the Diaspora.