This interdisciplinary minor exposes students to the history, literature, and culture of African Americans throughout communities created by the dispersion of peoples from the African continent. Students apply contemporary theory in critical analysis by placing African American experiences, conditions, social institutions, and artistic contributions within the context of African Diaspora. 18 credits: 3 required courses and 3 electives from specific lists in history, literature, and art/music/film.

Curriculum

+Minor Requirements

CST183	Representations of Race and Gender This course introduces students to the methodology of cultural studies. In this survey students learn those skills essential to analyzing social constructions of identity. Specific attention is paid to diverse texts, including film, in order to locate how representations of race, gender, ethnicity, and "otherness" are culturally produced and disseminated.	3
HIS360	History of Pan-Africanism History of Panafricanism examines the birth and development of the ideology that promoted a universal approach to the rehabilitation of the philosophical traditions, need for self-respect, political consciousness, and aspirations for transatlantic unity among Black people between the 1770s to the end of the 20TH century.	3
ENG287	African-American Writers This course provides an introduction to the African-American expressive tradition, including poetry, fiction, autobiography, song and folktales from the 18th century to the present. Examining writers such as Douglass, Chesnutt, Brooks, Baldwin, Ellison, and Walker, this course works to delineate the critical and historical contours of the African-American literary tradition. Pre-requisites Complete any 1 of the following courses: ENG100 Introduction to Literary Studies ENG105 First-Year Writing	3
One (1) course in History:
HIS307	Oral History, Neighborhoods, and Race Through this course, students will learn about oral history and the racial dynamics of American cities, especially Pittsburgh, since World War II. Students will learn about the history of racial inequality in cities and the efforts of people to both combat and maintain that inequality. They will then conduct oral history interviews to further explore the role the lives of people in two neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.	3
HIS220	U.S. Women's History This course explores women’s historical experiences in the United States, from Native American women in the pre-colonial era to the present. It investigates the interaction of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexuality and the ways that these relationships have shaped women’s lives socially, economically, and politically.	3
HIS205W	Africa, Past and Present This course is an interdisciplinary examination of the problems and promises of African development. It investigates the historical development of pre-independence society, culture, political institutions, and economic structures, and their interaction with post-independent economic problems and development strategies.	3
HIS328	Recent African History and NGO Networks Western media typically paints a catastrophic view of Africa with stories of conflicts, environmental degradation, horrendous sanitary conditions, and their corollaries. Are the positive trends regarding economic growth, democratization, and endogenous creativity being overlooked? The course tackles this question while offering opportunities to gain substantial, practical knowledge about contemporary Africa.	3
HIS285	African-American History This course examines the history of African Americans within a global context from the 1500s through present. The course explores the role of West Africa in the Atlantic economy and slave trade; the nature of slavery in the US as compared to Latin America; emancipation in the US and Latin America; industrialization and migration; and the civil rights movement in its international context.	3
One (1) course in Literature
ENG282	20th-Century African-American Literature This course is a critical study of major African-American writers from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s to the present. Although the course concentrates on primary texts, specific attention is paid to contextualizing these works within historical and cultural frameworks. (See also Cultural Studies.)	3
ENG286	Contemporary African-American Women Writers This course will examine the literature of African-American women from 1950 to the present. Specifically, students focus on issues of marginalization, silencing, and female community and how they affect the construction of these narratives. Possible authors include Shange, Naylor, Williams, and Jones. (See also Cultural Studies.)	3
ENG283	The Harlem Renaissance The course explores the literature, politics, and arts of the Harlem Renaissance. This artistic, philosophical, and intellectual movement in New York City’s Harlem took place roughly from the early 1920s to the onset of the Depression. Topics to be considered include Modernism, The Jazz Age, and Urban Migration. Specific focus will be placed on the relationship between identity and geography as we consider the effects of migration and urbanization.	3
ENG385	Toni Morrison Seminar This seminar is a study of Toni Morrison’s literature within the context of African-American critical theory. Through Morrison’s work, students will engage in current issues regarding the politics of language, narrative authority, historical revision, the production of meaning, and African-American subjectivity. Pre-requisites Complete the following course: ENG105 First-Year Writing	3
ENG480	August Wilson Seminar This course explores the dramatic work of August Wilson, paying particular attention to Wilson's ten-play cycle, which chronicles twentieth century African American life. Wilson's "Pittsburgh cycle" serves as a lens for reading the history of the city decade by decade.	3
ENG427	Ethnicity and Place This course focuses on the connection between place and cultural identity in the shaping of a writer's distinctive voice. Influences include ethnic, regional, and linguistic markers, as well as dislocation from the place of origination. Regional focus within the global community may vary by academic term. Pre-requisites Complete the following course: ENG105 First-Year Writing	3
ENG313	Special Topics Special Topics	3
One (1) course in Art, Music, and/or Film
ART372	Curating African Art and Artifacts This course explores the rich diversity of art across sub-Sahara Africa from the Paleolithic era to today. It focuses on cultures from West Africa, Central Africa, and East Africa to complement the holdings of the College's outstanding Olkes Collection of African Art, which includes more than 600 objects. Class lecture, discussion, and student projects utilize works from the collection, including masks, wood sculpture, beadwork, and metalwork.	3
MUS174	Jazz Survey Students explore the origin and development of jazz from its African origins to Dixieland and contemporary styles. They become familiar with jazz musicians and a wide variety of jazz styles through recorded music and, when possible, live performances.	3
MUS150	History of Rock, Pop and Soul This course explores the evolution of American and British popular music from about 1950 to the present day. Musical styles are studied and contextualized with an examination of related cultural, social and political trends. Attention is given to issues and constructions of race and gender as they relate to course material, particularly the changing role and status of women in American and British popular music. This course also introduces fundamental music terminology that is germane to the study of popular music.	3
FDT225	Female Narration: Race and Gender in Women's Films This course looks predominantly at films directed by women who have worked out strategies for feminist film practice. The course will focus on the relationship between representations of women and the socio-political structures in which women live. It will also focus on the need for women, if they wish to affect perception of self and other, us and them, to take up the means of production. Exposing the sexual stratagems in various contemporary societies' permits women filmmakers to recreate the world in their own image. Study of traditional portrayals of women will support understanding of the differences between subject and object position. Negotiating these often-conflicting spaces allows students to comprehend the multiple mediations that structure a critical consciousness. Such awareness allows questions of responsibility in a world of diverse values and perspectives. The course is organized as a reading, viewing, and lecture, experience.	3
FDT186 Introduction to Black Filmmaking
ART313	Special Topics Special Topics	3
FDT313	Special Topics Special Topics	3