Af Am sylabus

1
Introduction
to
African
American
Studies
(AFAM
201)
Iowa
State
University
Professor
Eric
Lewis
Williams
Spring
201
4
Office:
Ross
Hall
657
Phone:

Office
Hours:
T
BA
I.
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
An
interdisciplinary introduction to the study of African
American
culture which includes history, the social sciences, literature, religion, and the arts, as well as conceptual frameworks for investigation and analysis of the
African
American experience. Beginning with the
African
past, students will engage the interdisciplinary trajectory of African
American
Studies as a distinctive field of intellectual inquiry, mining the key contributions of both theorists and historical actors from a wide variety of social and disciplinary perspectives.
II.
STUDENT
LEARNING
OUTCOMES
&
OBJECTIVES
As
a result of having taken this course students should be able to: (a) identify key themes and moments within both the
African
past and the
African
American hist ory which form and inform the bases for the construction of distinctive African
American
cultural traditions; (b) critically interrogate the social conditions of oppression, suspicion and tragedy against which
African
American culture has managed to develo p and thrive;
(c)
analyze the key theoretical issues and methodological approaches within
African
and
African
American
Studies;
(d) identify the various disciplinary modalities and intellectual currents inherent within the wider discourse; and
(e)
cultivat e understanding of and respect for cultural diversity internationally, cross culturally, and historically. III.
TEACHING
STRATEGIES
FOR
STUDENT
LEARNING
IV.
COURSE
EXPECTATIONS
A.
Required
Textbooks
•
Mario
Azevedo,
Africana
Studies:
A
Survey of Africa and the
African
Diaspora.
Carolina