Africa Courses
ART H 205 Arts of Africa
Instructor: Jennifer A. Baez
TTh | 10:00 AM-11:50 AM
5 credits (A&H,W) | 10509
Course Description:
Thematic exploration of art and artists from Africa and its diaspora.
DANCE 218 Afro-Peruvian Dance
Instructor: Monica M. Rojas
TTh | 10:30 AM- 12:20 PM
2,3 Credits (A&H) | 13340
Course Description:
Covers one or more of the following Afro-Peruvian dance genres: festejo, zapateo, lando, zamacueca, and/or marinera. Studio-based course that focuses on movement practice developed by African-descent populations in the Peruvian coast. Includes an introduction to the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical context in which the dances emerged and evolved.
DANCE 280 African Dance Techniques
Instructor: Codjo Etienne Cakpo-Gbokou
MWF | 4:30PM – 6:20 PM
2,3 Credits (A&H) | 13348
Course Description:
Studio instruction in traditional and contemporary dance techniques of Africa and the African diaspora.
HSTAFM 152 Introduction To African History, C. 1880-Present
Instructor: Christopher Tounsel
TTh | 8:30 AM- 10:20 AM
5 Credits ( DIV, SSc) | 15481
Course Description:
Examines Africa’s pasts from approximately 1880 to the present. Through the theme of the politics of wealth, explores the history of European colonization, African social and cultural life under colonial rule, anti-colonial movements and decolonization, and the changes and challenges of the post-colonial present.
HSTAFM 288 Introduction to the Horn of Africa
Instructor: Joel Walker
MW | 10:30 AM – 12:20 PM
5 credits (Div, SSC) | 21996
Course Description:
Explores history, culture, and peoples of the Horn of the Africa. By placing Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia at the center of inquiry, invites reconsideration of standard narratives of world history that all too often ignore or marginalize the region. Includes a broad range of assignments examining art, literature, and societies of the Horn, including vibrant Diaspora communities in America.
JSIS 495 D Task Force
Instructor: Tabitha G Mallory
MW | 2:30 PM – 4:20 PM
5 Credits ( SSc, W) | 16016
Course Description:
Small-group seminars address current problems in international affairs, each focusing on one specific policy question and producing a joint task force report. Restricted to senior majors in International Studies.
MELC 415 Holy People and Holy Places of the Horn Africa
Instructor: Mehari Zemelak Worku
TTh | 1:30 PM- 2:50 PM
3 Credits (A&H, SSc) | 17458
Course Description:
Offers a comprehensive introduction to the holy men and women of the Horn of Africa, whose lives and legacies have shaped the region’s religious, political, and cultural milieu. Explores major sacred spaces and their constitutions in the region. Covers Ethiopian Christian saints to Somali Sufi mystics and Jewish Ethiopian heroes. Explores the hero formation processes in the different religious traditions of the region.
MELC 338 / RELIG 338 Islam in Africa
Instructor: TBA
MW | 12:30 – 2:20 PM
5 credits | 22036
Course Description
Covers the history and diversity of Islam in Africa. Examines how Islamic belief and practice interact with local cultures, politics, and colonial legacies. Topics include legal traditions, Sufi movements, state power, and Africa’s connections to the wider Islamic world and Europe.
African Diaspora courses
AFRAM 337 Popular Music, Race, Identity, And Social Change
Instructor: Sonnet H. Retman
TTh | 3:30 PM – 5:20 PM
5 Credits (DIV, SSc, A&H) | 10177
Course Description:
Focuses on popular music, shifting formations of race and identity and social change in various cultural, historical, and political contexts. Explores popular music as a tool for social change, a vehicle for community-building and a form of political and aesthetic expression.
AFRAM 340 The Harlem Renaissance: A Literary Study
Instructor: Sonnet H. Retman
TTh | 12:30 PM- 2:20 PM
5 Credits ( A&H, DIV) | 10178
Course Description:
Highlights Harlem Renaissance – 1912 through mid-1930s – as establishing a role for twentieth-century African American writer, encompassing literature, politics, and decolonization of the image of Africa, and solidifying integrationist and nationalist schools of thought. Examines images, themes, and characterizations in creating a literary aesthetic simultaneously American and African American.
AES 489 / COM 489 / GWSS 489 Black Cultural Studies
Instructor: Timeka Nicol Tounsel
Asynchronous Online To be arranged
5 Credits (DIV, SSc) | 10165
Course Description:
Examines how images of blackness have been (re)constructed through identity formation and entrenched inequality. Topics include black women’s bodies, black men’s bodies, blackface minstrelsy, black queer studies, black power, and black hybridities.
HSTCMP 259 Race and Slavery Across The Americas
Instructor: Bianca Elan Dang
MW | 12:30 PM – 2:20 PM
5 Credits (DIV, SSc) | 21881
Course Description:
Surveys development of racial slavery across North and South America and the Caribbean from 1500-1880s. Comparative examination of slavery exploring how slavery supported colonization making European settlement across Americas viable; how ideas about racial difference developed, operated differently; how enslaved peoples’ resistance to bondage helped abolish slavery in Americas by late 1880s.
Language Courses
AMHAR 102 / 512 Elementary Amharic II
Instructor: Mehari Worku
TTh | 10:30 AM – 12:20 PM | SLN 10264
5 Credits (A&H)
Course Description:
Enables students to acquire the Amharic language including its unique writing script. Familiarizes students with major historical and cultural aspects of Ethiopia. Includes multiple practice sessions targeted at developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
ARAB 102 / 512 Elementary Arabic
Instructor: Khalid A Ahmed
Section A: MWF | 9:30 AM – 11:20 AM | SLN 10343
Section B : TThF | 9:30 AM – 11:20 AM | SLN 10344
5 Credits (A&H)
Course Description:
Develops the four communicative language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Stresses communication skills and emphasizes the links between language and culture, using mainly Modern Standard Arabic, with exposure to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Second in a sequence of three.
ARAB 202 / 522 Intermediate Arabic
Instructor: Amina Moujtahid
MWF | 9:30 AM -10:50 AM
5 Credits (A&H) | 10345
Course Description:
Explores aspects of Arab culture and emphasizes all skills of language acquisition: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students also learn more about Arab society in general and about features of Arab culture that influence the use of the language in daily life. Focuses on developing communication skills. Second in a sequence of three.
ARAB 302 / ARAB 532 Third Year Arabic
Instructor: Khalid A Ahmed
MWF | 11:30 AM- 12:50 PM
5 Credits (A&H) | 10346
Course Description:
Helps students acquire an advanced proficiency in Arabic by focusing on developing all four skills of language acquisition: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Explores topics related to Arabic culture, Arabic society, Arabic music and arts, and Arabic literature.
FRENCH 101 Elementary French
Instructor: Helene V. Collins
MTWThF | 8:30 AM -9:20 AM
5 Credits (A&H) | 14932
Course Description:
Development of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to a basic level of proficiency. Teaches students to communicate in French and understand the cultural context of the language. Methods and objectives are primarily oral-aural. Oral practice in the language laboratory is required. First in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 102 Elementary French
Section A Instructor: Helene V. Collins
MTWThF | 9:30AM- 10:20 AM | SLN 14933
Section B Instructor: Irina Markina
MTWThF | 10:30 AM- 11:20 AM | SLN 14934
5 Credits ( A&H)
Course Description:
Development of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to a basic level of proficiency. Teaches students to communicate in French and understand the cultural context of the language. Methods and objectives are primarily oral-aural. Oral practice in the language laboratory is required. Second in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 103 Elementary French
Instructor: Irina Markina
MTWThF | 9:30 AM- 10:20 AM
5 Credits (A&H) | 14937
Course Description:
Development of speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to a basic level of proficiency. Teaches students to communicate in French and understand the cultural context of the language. Methods and objectives are primarily oral-aural. Oral practice in the language laboratory is required. Third in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 201 Intermediate French
Instructor: Claire Wagenseil
MTWThF | 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM
5 Credits (A&H) | 14944
Course Description:
Designed to bring students to an intermediate level of proficiency. Emphasis on experiencing the language in context through a multi-media approach. First in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 202 Intermediate French
Section A Instructor: Sarah Kate Moore
MTWThF | 9:30 AM – 10:20 AM | SLN 14946
Section B Instructor: Hedwige Meyer
MTWThF | 12:30 PM-1:20 PM | SLN 14947
5 Credits (A&H)
Course Description:
Designed to bring students to an intermediate level of proficiency. Emphasis on experiencing the language in context through a multi-media approach. Second in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 203 Intermediate French
Instructor: Sarah Kate Moore
MTWThF | 10:30 AM -11:20 AM
5 Credits (A&H) | 14948
Course Description:
Designed to bring students to an intermediate level of proficiency. Emphasis on experiencing the language in context through a multi-media approach. Third in a sequence of three.
FRENCH 302 Cultures Of the Francophone World
Instructor: Matthew Skrzypczyk
MW | 10:30 AM – 12:20 PM
5 Credits (A&H) | 14950
Course Description:
Introduces the cultural history of the francophone world via a broad survey of literary, cinematic, and other cultural texts in French that inform debates on national culture in France as well as the legacies of the French Empire in the form of discourses on race, immigration, and more in France and its postcolonies. Develops advanced language skills and cultural competency through oral and written production in the target language.
PORT 103 Elementary Portuguese
Instructor: Eduardo Viana Da Silva
MTWThF | 11:30 AM- 12:20 PM
5 Credits (A&H) | 19485
Course Description:
Methods and objectives are primarily oral-aural. Covers all major elements of Portuguese grammar. Third in a sequence of three.
PORT 203 Intermediate Portuguese
Instructor: Eduardo Viana Da Silva
MTWThF | 12:30 PM- 1:20 PM
5 Credits (A&H) | 19487
Course Description:
Modern texts, compositions, conversation, and a systematic review of grammar. Third in a sequence of three.
SWA 102 Basic Swahili
Instructor: Jacqueline Waita
Section A MTWThF | 11:30 AM- 12:20 PM | SLN 20694
Section B MTWThF | 12:30 PM – 1:20 PM | SLN 20695
5 Credits (A&H)
Course Description:
Introduces the Swahili language and the diverse cultures and customs of the people of East Africa. Provides a basic foundation in speaking, reading, and writing. Second in a sequence of three.
SWA 202 Intermediate Swahili
Instructor: Jacqueline Waita
MTWThF | 9:30 AM -10:20 AM
5 Credits (A&H) | 20696
Course Description:
Builds proficiency in the language by speaking, reading, and writing. Includes children’s stories, newspaper articles, poetry, and folklore. Second in a sequence of three.