Africana Studies

Chair:
    Richard B. Pierce, Ph.D.
    Program Tel.: (574) 631-5628

The Program of Studies. At Notre Dame, the Department of Africana Studies stands at the center of scholarship focused on Africa and the African diaspora—the global dispersion of peoples of African descent. Building on the legacy of the African and African American Studies Program, the department provides a disciplined and rigorous intellectual environment in which to study the histories, literatures, political systems, arts, economies, and religions that the African continent has given rise to, both within and beyond its borders. These inquiries are conducted within an interdisciplinary framework that incorporates the expertise of faculty members from a wide variety of fields. The department serves as an important resource for graduate students and faculty members across the University whose research involves Africa or the diaspora.

Course Descriptions. The following course descriptions give the number and title of each course. Lecture hours per week, laboratory and/or tutorial hours per week, and semester credit hours are in parentheses. The University reserves the right to withdraw any course without sufficient registration.

CRNs for independent study courses may be obtained from the department office, from the Summer Session office, or from insideND.

AFST 10401. Introduction to Jazz
(Cross-listed with MUS 10131)
3 credits, Dwyer (5-0-3)
8:55–10:15 MTWR 6/17–7/31
CRN 3791; ID # AFAM 10401 01
Last “add” date: 6/22
“Drop” dates: refund, 6/26; last, 7/10
A recommended University elective music appreciation course requiring no musical background and no prerequisites. General coverage of the various elements, styles, and structures of music. This course will be held in the Band Building.
 
AFST 20274. Slavery in the Atlantic World   CANCELLED 06/04/08
(cross-listed with GSC 30570)
3 credits, Challenger (5-0-3)
1:15-3:45 MW  6/17-7/31
CRN 3789; ID # AFST 20274 01
Last "add" date: 6/22
"Drop" dates: refund, 6/26; last,7/10
This survey course explores the nature and meaning of the Atlantic world. Covering the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century, it interrogates the role of coerced African labour in the birth of the Atlantic world.  Created as a consequence of the Columbian encounter, a main focus will be on the ways in which the common historical threat of trans-Atlantic slavery connected the economies, cultures and societies that bordered the Atlantic Ocean.  Thematically this course explores, in a variety of geographical sites, the varied and nuanced claims to humanity  that Afro descended peoples displayed against the systematic attempts to dehumanize and exploit their bodies. Africans throughout various communities in West Africa, North America, Brazil and the British Caribbean are the primary focal points of this course.
 
AFST 43701. Psychology of Race
(cross-listed with ILS 40601, PSY 43348)
3 credits, Pope-Davis, Brooks (5-0-3)
1:15–3:45 T,R 6/17–7/31
CRN 3380; ID # AFAM 43701 01
Last “add” date: 6/22
“Drop” dates: refund, 6/26; last, 7/10
The purpose of this course is to examine the psychological aspects of racial and ethnic identity development in the United States. This course will look at the general ideas of identity development from a psychological basis as well as the personal identities of American groups. The main course objectives are: To increase students’ cultural awareness of their own and others’ racial and ethnic identities; to develop relevant knowledge of about identity constructs in understanding different populations; and to develop critical thinking skills in studying and evaluating research on the role of racial and ethnic identity development in psychological processes and human behavior.