AFRICANA STUDIES
(AS) {AFRC}
Undergraduate Courses
001. (HIST007, RELS007, SOCI027)
Introduction to Africana Studies. (D) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 &
beyond. Zuberi, Beavers, Charles, Savage, Shaw.
The aim of this course is to provide an interdisciplinary
examination of the complex array of African American
and other African Diaspora social practices and experiences. This
class will focus on both classic texts and modern works
that provide an introduction to the dynamics of African
American and African Diaspora thought and practice. Topics
include: What is Afro-American Studies?; The History
Before 1492; Creating the African Diaspora After 1500;
The Challenge of Freedom; Race, Gender and Class in
the 20th Century; From Black Studies to Africana Studies:
The Future of Afro-American Studies.
L/R 002. (SOCI001) Introduction to
Sociology. (C) Society
Sector. All classes. Edin, Gelles, Zuberi.
Sociology provides a unique way to look at human behavior
and the world. Sociology is the systematic study of
the groups and societies in which people live. In
this introductory course, we examine and analyze how
social structures and cultures are created, maintained,
and most importantly, how they affect behavior. The
course deconstructs our taken for granted world of
social interactions and behaviors and examines what
theory and research can tell about human social behavior.
L/R 006. (ASAM006, SOCI006, URBS160)
Race and Ethnic Relations. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Society.
Class of 2009 & prior only. Zuberi, Anderson,
Kao, Charles,Torres. Also offered through the College
of General Studies - See CGS Course Guide.
The course will examine how social networks, neighborhood
context, culture, and notions of race affect inequality
and ethnic relations.
The course reviews the studies of ethnic entrepreneurship,
urban segregation, labor force participation, and assimilation
processes. The course emphasizes how inequality
afects ethnic relations as well as the economic and social
integration of different groups in society.
SM 011. (SOCI011, URBS112) Urban Sociology.
(M) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Anderson.
A comprehensive introductin to the sociological study of cities. Topics
will include theories of urbanism, methods of research,
migration, history of cities, gentrification, poverty,
urban politics, suburbanization and globalization. Philadelphia
will be used as a recurring example, through the course
will devote attention to cities around the U.S. and
the world.
SM 018. (AFST018, ANTH018) Popular
Culture in Africa. (C) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Barnes. Freshman Seminar.
This course concentrates on popular culture in sub-Saharan
Africa. It examines the way people reflect on
and represent various aspects and issues in their daily
lives, in public media, and through a diverse range
of performative and creative outlets. It explores
the way cultural traditions are created, promulgated,
and perpetuated. It looks at the way popular
culture deals with pleasure and pain; identitity, difference,
and diversity; wealth and power; modernity and history;
gender relations; suppression, resistance, and violence;
and local versus global processes. In short,
popular culture will serve as a window through which
to observe contemporary life.
SM 041. (SOCI041, URBS010) Topics
in Sociology: Homelessness & Urban Crisis. (C) Culhane. This course is cross-listed
with SOCI 041 (Topics in Sociology) when the subject
matter is related to African American or other African
Diaspora issues.
Freshman Seminars. Topics vary from semester to semester.
Past offerings include Society and History, the 1960's:
Preludes and Postludes; Mistakes, Errors, Accidents & Disasters;
Urban Analysis with Computers; Race and Public Policy;
Perspectives on Inequality, Homlessness and the Urban
Crisis.
063. (ENGL063) 20th-Century American
Literature. (M) Beavers, H.
This course surveys American literature across the twentieth-century,
considering its formal innovations in the wake of modernism,
the two World Wars, the Cold War, and postmodernity. Authors
treated might inlcuded: James, Wharton, Eliot Pound,
Faulkner, Hemingway, Rhys, Galdwin, Ginsberg, Plath,
Pynchon, Walcott, and Morrison.
See the Africana
Studies website at www.sas.upenn.edu/africana for a
description of the current course offerings.
071. (AFST071, ENGL071) Literatures
of Africa and the African Diaspora. (M) Staff.
This course will serve as an introduction to a particularly
rich arena of literature in English. It will
also help students to begin to understand many of the
racial subtexts underlying the culture wars in America,
where too often in the full glare of cameras, an anguished
voice informs the audience that
"as an African, I cannot expect justice in this America." One of
the things at work here is the assumption of a common Africa diasporic identity
-- understood as an excluded, marginalized subtext of identity in the new world.
But why is Africa being involed here? What does "Africa" mean
in this new world context? What is the larger global context of these
assumptions about "Africa" and what is its history? Does the
term "Africa" itself have a history? What is "African
literature?" This course, therefore, will also help students not only
to ask fundamental questions about identity but also to understand identity
as a moving and dynamic construct.
How, for example, does "Africa" travel to South
America, to the Caribbean Archipelago, and to Europe?
L/R 075. (AFST075, HIST075) Africa
Before 1800. (B) History
& Tradition Sector. All classes. Cassanelli.
Survey of major themes and issues in African history before
1800. Topics include: early civilizations, African
kingdoms and empires, population movements, the spread
of Islam, the slave trade era. Also, emphasis
on how historians use archaeology, linguistics, and
oral traditions to reconstruct Africa's early history.
L/R 076. (AFST076, HIST076) Africa
Since 1800. (A) History
& Tradition Sector. All classes. Staff.
Survey of major themes, events, and personalities in African
history from the early nineteenth century through the
1960s. Topics include abolition of the slave
trade, European imperialism, impact of colonial rule,
African resistance, religious and cultural movements,
rise of naturalism and pan-Africanism, issues of ethnicity,
and "tribalisms" in modern Africa.
077. (FOLK075, MUSC075) Jazz: Style
and History. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Parberry, Ramsey.
Exploration of the family of musical idioms called jazz.
Attention will be given to issues of style, to selected
musicians, and to the social, cultural, and scholarly
issues raised by its study.
SM 078. (HIST214, URBS178) Urban University-Community
Relations: Faculty-Student Collaborative Action Seminar.
(D) Harkavy,
Benson. Prerequisite(s): Benjamin Franklin Seminar.
This course is cross-listed with HIST 214 when the
title is "Urban University-Commuity Relations".
One of the seminar's aims is to help students develop their
capacity to solve strategic, real world problems actively,
not simply
"cholastically. "Among the possible ways to do that are 1) create
new academically-based community service courses based on action-oriented,
real-world, strategic problem solving. 2) synthesize existing, uncoordinated,
academically-based community service courses into "learning communites." 3)
contribute to knowledge through "academic"
research on strtegic real-world problems.
As now envisioned,
one outcome of the new Penn undergraduate education
that this seminar will help develop to produce, not
simply "consume," societally-useful citizens. Morewover,
those courses would be grouped into "learning
communities': that is, interralated, cross-disciplinary,
complementary sets of courses focused on related problems. By
societally-useful knowledge, we mean knowledge that
can be actively used to solve such universal strategic
problewms as Democracy and Society, etc., as those
universal problems manifest themselves locally at Penn
and in West Philadelphia/Philadelphia.
079. (ENGL080) Literatures of Jazz.
(M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Beavers.
That modernism is steeped as much in the rituals of race as
of innovation is most evident in the emergence of the
music we have come to know as jazz, which results from
collaborations and confrontations taking place both
across and within the color line. In this course
we will look at jazz and the literary representations
it engendered in order to understand modern American
culture. We will explore a dizzying variety of forms,
including autobiography and album liner notes, biography,
poetry, fiction, and cinema.
We'll examine how race, gender, and class influenced
the development of jazz music, and then will use jazz
music to develop critical approaches to literary form. Students
are not required to have a critical understanding of
music.
Class will involve visits from musicians and critics,
as well as field trips to some of Philadelphia's most
vibrant jazz venues.
081. (ENGL081) African-American
Literature. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Beavers, Davis, Tillet.
An introduction to African-American literature, typically
ranging across a wide spectrum of moments, genres,
and ideological postures, from Reconstruction and the
Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement.
Most versions of this course will begin in the 19th century;
some versions of the course will concentrate only on
the modern period. Topics vary. Consult the
Center for Africana Studies for detailed course descriptions.
083. (ENGL083, JWST083) 20th-Century
Literatures in Dialogue. (M) Marlino.
What dialogues have defined and constituted American and other
literatures? This course examines critical intersections
between different literatures, addressing questions
of race, ethnicity, and culture.
Previous versions of this course have included such titles
as
"African-American and Jewish American Literature." Our readings will
consider a range of literary interactions, and will take a self-consciously
comparative and intertextual approach.
See the Africana
Studies' Deparment website at www.sas.upen.edu/africana
for a description of the current offerings.
084. (ENGL084) Theories of Race
and Ethnicity. (M) Staff.
The idea of "race" -- broadly defined as the signification
of biological and socio-cultural differences as an
index of human superiority or inferiority -- has played
a crucial role in the literary imagination and is fundamental
to studying most literatures in English. This
course will examine representations of race in literary
practices, and in particular the centrality of such
representations to the historical unfolding of communities
and nations. How do ideas of race inform and
engage with literary forms and genres in a given historical
moment, and how does literature in turn address the
histories and legacies of racist practices? We
will also analyze the connenctions between questions
of race and questions of
"ethnicity": what, for instance, is the history of this concept,
and what does it mean to designate a body of imaginative writing as an "ethnic
literature?"
090. (COML090, ENGL090, GSOC090)
Women and Literature. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Staff.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 090 (Women and Literature)
when the course content includes significant African
American or other African Diaspora literatures. A
frequent topic of the course is
"Black Women in Literature".
L/R 101. (CINE115, ENGL101, GSOC101)
Study of an Author. (C) Davis.
This is an introduction to literary study through the works
of a single author--often Shakespeare, but some versions
of this course will feature other writers. (For offerings
in a given semester, please see the on-line course
descriptions on the Africana Studies Department Website.)
We will read several works and approach them--both
in discussion and in writing--from a range of critical
perspectives. The author's relation to his or
her time, to literary history generally, and to the
problems of performance, are likely to be emphasized. Some
versions of this course will also serve as an introduction
to other members of the English faculty, who will visit
the class as guest lecturers. This course is
designed for the General Requirement and is ideal for
the student wishing to take an English course not necessarily
intending to major.
See the Africana
Studies' Department website www.sas.upenn.edu/africana
for a description of the current offerings.
104. (ENGL103, GSOC103) The American
Short Story. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Arts & Letters.
Class of 2009 & prior only. Beavers.
An introduction to literary study through a genre, either
the short story or poetry. This course is cross-listed
with ENGL 103 (Literary Genres) when the course content
includes significant African American or other African
Diaspora literatures. A frequent topic is "Literary
Genres: Gender, Class and Power in African American
Short Fiction"
106. (COML104, ENGL104) Study of
a Literary Period. (C) Davis.
This is an introduction to the literary study through a survey
of works from a specific historical period. (For
offerings in a given semester, please see the on-line
course descriptions on the Africana Studies Deparment
website.) Some verions will begin with traditional
stories or poems, including a sampling of works in
translation. Others will focus exclusively on
modern and contemporary American short fiction or poetry. This
course is designed for the General Requirement, and
is ideal for students wishing to take an English course
but not necessarily intending to major.
111. (RELS111, URBS211) Religion
and Secular Values. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Callahan.
This course is cross-listed with RELS 111 (Religion and Secular
Values) when the subject matter is related to African
American or other African Dispora issues. A recent
topic of the course is "The American Jesus."
For Christians,
he proclaimed the Son of God. But within American
culture Jesus has undergone transformations to fit
the cultural moment and the current debate. "Who
is Jesus?" and "What would Jesus do?" are
questions that have been answered throughout American
History in myriad ways by religious elites, writers,
movie makers, and regular people. Christian and
non-Christian alike. This course explores the images
of Jesus in the popular culture throughout American
history, with the goal of understanding the people
who imagined Jesus as an American ideal.
112. (GSOC114, SOCI112, URBS114)
Discrimination: Sexual and Racial Conflict. (B) Society Sector. All classes. Madden.
This course explores the sources of current differences in
economic status by race, ethnicity and gender. First,
we explore reasons for race, gender and economic differences
that are not due to current discrimination. We
examine the history of participation in the U.S. economy
for various racial and ethnic groups and evaluate whether
that history creates differences in current productivity
by race and ethnicity. We examine the effects
of family decisions about work within the household
on gender differences in labor market productivity. Second,
we review the economic theories of current discrimination
in the labor market. Third, we use data to test
how well the various discrimination and non-discrimination
theories explain current labor market patterns. Finally,
we review the major national policies on labor market
discrimination and evaluate their effectiveness in
light of the theoretical and empirical evidence amassed
throughout the course.
SM 113. (RELS113) Western Religious
Thinkers. (M) Distribution
Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Staff.
This course is cross-listed with RELS 113 (Western Religious
Thinkers) when the course content is related to African
American or other African Diaspora issues. Recent
topics of this course include "Tupac Shakur" and "Marvin
Gaye."
SM 114. (ENGL113) Poetry Writing Workshop.
(A) Beavers.
This course is not open to freshmen. Students
wishing to take this course must submit a writing
sample as part of the selection process.
This workshop is intended to help students with prior experience
writing poetry develop techniques to generate poems
along with the critical tools necessary to revise and
complete them. Through in-class exercises, weekly
writing assignments, readings of established poets,
and class critique, students will acquire an assortment
of resources that will help them develop a more concrete
sense of voice, rhythm, metaphor, and the image as
well as a deeper understanding of how these things
come together to make a successful poem. In addiiton
to weekly writings, students will be asked to keep
a journal, and to produce a final portfolio of poems.
117. (RELS117) African American
Religion. (C) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Callahan.
This course is intended as an introuction to movements and
figures of African American religion from slavery to
the present. Lectures, readings, and discussions
will focus on themes related to content and methodology
in the study of African American religious history. Guiding
themes include the relationship between race and gender;
the tension between piety and activity; the ambivalence
between mainstream respectability and racial pride;
and the interaction between Christianity, lived religions,
and alternative traditions
118. (RELS118) Black Sects and
Cults. (C) Staff.
Examination of selected non-traditional Black American religious
and secular movements, their founders and leaders with
close consideration of the contrasts between these
groups and more traditional movements. Examples
include such cult leaders as "Daddy Grace,"
Father Divine," and "the Reverend Ike" as
compared with other religious and social leaders such
as Martin Luther King and Jesse Jackson.
L/R 120. (SOCI120) Social Statistics.
(C) May
be counted as a General Requirement Course in Formal
Reasoning & Analysis. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Charles.
This course offers a basic introduction to the applicaiton/interpretation
of statistical analysis in sociology. Upon completion,
you should be familiar with a variety of basic statistical
techniques that allow examination of interesting social
questions. We begin by learning to describe the
characteristics of groups, followed by a discussion
of how to examine and generalize about relationships
between the characteristics of groups. Emphasis is
placed on the understanding/interpretation of statistics
used to describe and make generalizations about group
characteristics. In addition to hand calculations,
you will also become familiar with using PCs to run
statistical tests.
135. (AFST135, SOCI135) Law and
Society. (C) Fetni.
After introducing students to the major theoretical concepts
concerning law and society, significant controversial
societal issues that deal with law and the legal systems
both domestically and internationally will be examined.
Class discussions will focus on issues involving civil
liberties, the organization of courts, legislatures,
the legal profession and administrative agencies. Although
the focus will be on law in the United States, law
and society in other countries of Africa, Asia, Europe
and Latin America will be covered in a comparative
context. Readings include research, reports,
statutes and cases.
SM 146. (ANTH146, GSOC146) Writing
Multiculturalism. (M) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Sanday.
Diversity is a fact of life, characteristic not only of the
US national culture, but of the global culture as well. This
course introduces anthropological theories of culture
and multiculturalism and the method of ethnography. Students
will read and report on selected classic readings.
After learning the basic concepts, students will be
introduced to the method of ethnography. The
core of the course will revolve around "doing
ethnography" by writing ethnographic field notes
on participant-observation of multiculturalism. Students
can use their life experience, home communities, or
Penn as their field of observation. The goal
of the course is to introduce beginning students to
public interest anthropology. No background in
anthropology is required.
147. (ANTH156, FOLK106, MUSC146)
Studies in African American Music. (M) Ramsey.
Formerly Music 106. This course explores aspects of
the origins, style development, aesthetic philosophies,
historiography, and contemporary conventions of African-American
musical tradition. Topics covered include: the
music of West and Centeral Africa, the music of colonial
America, 19th century church and dance music, minstrelsy,
music of the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, blues, gospel,
hip-hop, and film music. Specific attention is
given to the ways in which black music generates "meaning" and
to how the social energy circulating within black music
articulates myriad issues about American identity at
specific historical moments.
160. (LING160) Introduction to
Afro-American and Latino English. (A) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009
& prior only. Labov.
An introduction to the use and structure of dialects of English
used by the African American and Latino communities
in the United States. It is an academically based
service learning course. The field work component
involves the study of the language and culture of everyday
life and the application of this knowledge to programs
for raising the reading levels of elementary school
children.
SM 161. (LING161) The Sociolinguistics
of Reading: A Service Learning Seminar. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class
of 2009 & prior only. Labov. Prerequisite(s):
AFRC/LING 160 or permission of instructor.
This course will be concerned with the application of current
knowledge of dialect differences to reduce the minority
differential in reading achievement. Members
will conduct projects and design computer programs
to reduce cultural distance between teachers and students
in local schools and to develop knowledge of word and
sound structure.
168. (HIST168) History of American
Law to 1877. (D) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Berry.
This course surveys the development of law in the U.S. to
1877, including such subjects as: the evolution of
the legal profession, the transformation of English
law during the American Revolution, the making and
implementation of the Constitution, and issues concerning
business and economic development, the law of slavery,
the status of women, and civil rights.
169. (HIST169) History of American
Law Since 1877. (D) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Berry.
This course covers the development of legal rules and principles
concerning individual and group conduct in the United
States since 1877. Such subjects as regulation
and deregulation, legal education and the legal profession,
and the legal status of women and minorities will be
discussed.
L/R 172. (HIST170) The American South.
(D) History
& Tradition Sector. All classes. Staff.
Southern culture and history from 1607-1860, from Jamestown
to seccession. Traces the rise of slavery and planation
society, the growth of Southern sectionalism and its
explosion into Civil War. Midterm, short paper
(5-7 pages) and final.
176. (HIST176) Afro-American History
1550-1876. (D) History & Tradition
Sector. All classes. Engs. Also offered through the
College of General Studies - See the CGS Course Guide.
This course will study the history of African-Americans from
their first encounter with Europeans in the 16th century
to their emancipation during the Civil War in the U.S. The
course focuses on the variety of black responses to
enslavement and forced acculturation in the New World. The
differences in the slave experiences of various New
World countries, and the methods of black resistance
and rebellion to the slave system will be investigated. The
nature and role of free black communities in antebellum
America will be studied.
177. (HIST177) Afro-American History
1876-Present. (D) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Savage.
A study of the major events, issues, and personalities in
Afro-American history from Reconstruction to the present. The
course will also examine the different slave experiences
and the methods of black resistance and rebellion in
the various slave systems.
190. (AFST190, ANTH190, HIST190)
Introduction to Africa. (A) Society Sector. All classes. Barnes.
During the semester we will focus on the people and communities
of sub-Saharan Africa and on the ways people represent,
reflect on, and react to various aspects and issues
in their lives and the institutions which dominate
their communities. We will focus particularly
on the history, contemporary expression, and inter-relationships
among politics, religion and aesthetic practice. Members
of Penn's African Studies community will share their
expertise with the class and introduce the University's
Africa resources. Texts consist of weekly readings,
films, and recordings; and class members will be expected
to attend several lectures outside of class.
203. (AFST213, FOLK203) Afro-American
Folklore. (C) May be counted as a General Requirement Course in History &
Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff.
An overview of the major forms of expressive culture developed
by Afro-Americans. The course focuses on the
continuous development of black cultural expression
from slavery to the present, emphasizing the socio-historical
context in which they are to be understood and interpreted.
SM 204. (ANTH303, URBS213) Methods
in Urban Ethnography. (M) Staff.
This course will teach qualitative research techniques such
as field notes, participant-observation, interviews,
and data interpretation and contextualize them within
a discussion of anthropological theory. To put
what they are learning into practice, students will
engage in participant-observation at field sites in
Philadelphia, complete short exercises, and submit
ethnographic accounts of their work. Emphasis
will be placed on community service and participatory-action
research.
SM 205. (HIST204, LALS204) Major Seminar
in History: America After 1800. (M) Staff. Department Permission - Permit Required.
This course is cross-listed with HIST 204 when the subject
matter is related to Afro-American issues.
SM 206. (HIST206) Major Seminar of
the World after 1800: African Intellectual History.
(C) Babou.
Introduction to some of the important ideas and intellectual
currents that have emerged in Africa over the past
two hundred years. While giving some attention
to aspects of "traditional African thought,"
the main emphasis will be on the writings of African
intellectuals in English, French, Portuguese, or Arabic
languages. Topics include political thought, culture
and identity, pan-Africanism, revolution, ethics, and
religion.
209. (AFST209, ARTH209) African
Art. (M) Staff.
This selective survey will examine a variety of the circumstances
of sub-Saharan African art, ranging from imperial to
nomadic cultures and from ancient times to comtemporary
participation in the international market. Iconography,
themes and style will be concered, as will questions
of modernity, religious impact, tradition and colonialism.
210. (AFST210, HIST250, RELS210)
African Religions. (M) Ofosu-Donkoh.
Religion permeates all aspects of African life and thought.
There is no dichotomy between religion and society in
Africa. Religion is therefore an essential
tool for understanding and appreciating the behavior
and lifestyle of African peoples. In this course,
we will survey some of the indigenous religions of
Africa and examine their nature and their philosophical
foundations. We will examine African systems
of beliefs, myths, symbols, and rituals, as developed
by African societies to express their distinctive
worldviews. We will also raise a few general
questions about the interrelationship of religion
and culture as well as religion and social change
in Africa, and the challenges of modern technologies
to African beliefs. We will examine the future
of African religions and analyze the extent to which
African peoples can hold on to their beliefs in this
age of rapid technological and scientific development. Emphasis
will be on themes rather than on individual national
or ethnic religions. Case studies will be limited
to West Africa among the Akan of Ghana, the Yoruba
of Nigeria and the Mende of Sierra Leone.
Questions are provided (a) to guide and direct reading
(b) to form the basis for discussions (c) as exercises
and (d) for examinations.
SM 214. (AFST214, ANTH214) Societies
and Cultures of Africa. (M) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Kopytoff.
Also offered through the College of General Studies
- See CGS Guide.
An introduction to the peoples and cultures of sub-Saharan
Africa, including culture, history, languages, traditional
social and political structures, and traditional religions.
218. (LGST218) Race, Racism, and
American Law. (C) Shropshire.
The goal of this course is to study the role the law has played,
and continues to play, in addressing the problems of
racial discrimination in the United States. Contemporary
issues such as: affirmative action; diversity; and
the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson verdicts will
all be covered in their social and legal context. The
basis for discussion will be a case book by Professor
Derrick Bell, other assigned texts and handouts. Course
requirements will include examinations, class discussions
and debates, a journal, and papers.
225. (AFST225) African Languages
and Culture. (C) Staff.
Prerequisite(s): AFRC 126 or permission of the instructor.
Offered through the Penn Language Center.
The aim of the course is to provide an overall perspective
on African languages and culture. It will introduce
students to major features of African languages and
to sociological and historical implications. As
an introduction to the study of language and culture
in Africa, the following topics will be explored: Typological
and genetic classification of languages, linguistic
geography, historical aspects--both linguistics and
socio-cultural--multilinguism and diglossia. Language
policies in education, language use (including politeness
and indirectness), and verbal art forms such as stories,
story telling, riddles and proverbs will be discussed.
Native speakers of languages from different language
groups will be invited guests.
SM 230. (AFRC533, AFST230, SOCI230)
Special Topics in Sociology. (C) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Zuberi.
This course is cross-listed with SOCI 230 (Special Topics
in Sociology) when the subject matter is related to
African American or other African Diaspora issues. Topics
vary. Recent courses offered include
"African Urbanization," "Race Relations in American Cities," and "Sociology
of the Black Community." Consult the Center for Africana Studies for detailed
course descriptions
SM 231. (AFST231, FREN231) Cinema
Francophone. (M) Moudileno.
This course will introduce students to recent films by major
directors from Francophone Africa. While attention
will be given to aesthetic aspects and individual creativity,
the viewing and discussions will be mostly organized
around a variety of (overlapping) themes: History;
Tradition/Modernity; Urban Life; Gender and Sexuality;
Politics. Class conducted in French.
235. (SOCI235) Law and Social Change.
(C) Fetni.
Beginning with discussion of various perspectives on social
change and law, this course then examines in detail
the interdependent relationship between changes in
legal and societal institutions. Emphasis will
be placed on (1) howand when law can be an instrument
for social change, and (2) how and when social change
can cause legal change. In the assessment of
this relationship, the laws of the United States and
other countries as well as international law, will
be studied. Throughout the course, discussions
will include real controversies relevant to social
change such as civil liberties, gender and the law,
and issues of nation-building. A comparative
framework will be used in the analysis of this interdependent
relationship between law and social change.
253. (AFST253, ANTH253, FOLK253,
MUSC253, GSOC253) Music and Performance of Africa.
(M) Muller.
This class provides an overview of the most popular music
styles and discussion of the cultural and political
contexts in which they emerged in contemporary Africa. Learning
to perform a limited range of African music/dance will
be a part of this course. No prior performance
experience required, though completion of Music 50
is recommended.
SM 255. (HIST255, URBS255) Urban Neighborhoods:
Cities & Social Movements in the Global Economy.
(B) Distribution Course in Society. Class
of 2009 & prior only. Staff.
The last several decades have witnessed a dramatic acceleration
in the interconnections of cities around the world. The
globalization of the economy,the spread of communications
technology, major migrations between urbanlocations
and the wider dissemination of products of the culture
industry have all contributed to this process. This
course will examine these transformation by focusing
on the changing relationships between urban neighborhoods
in the United States and elsewhere in the world. In
particular, class readings and discussions will explore
the wide range of ways (political, social, cultural;
organized and informal) that individuals and institutions
in urban neighborhoods have reacted to global transformations
and what effect and consequences those reactions have
precipitated.
257. (AFST257, PSCI210) Contemporary
African Politics. (C) Callaghy, Markovits.
The course will consist of an analytic survey of contemporary
politics in the states of sub-Saharan Africa. It
will focus on the complex relationships between state,
society, economy, and external groups in Africa and
will offer a conceptual framework which takes into
account an African politics that is highly fluid and
personalized and frequently very authoritarian in character.
The course will endeavor to provide a synthesis of
political, social, and economic analyses, which relate
the prevailing tendency toward authoritarianism to
the fragmented and rooted yet changing characteristics
of African society and economy and to high levels of
economic and political dependence on external actors. Particular
attention will be paid to Africa's interrelated debt,
economic, and development crises.
258. (ANTH227, FOLK259, LALS258,
MUSC258) Caribbean Music and Diaspora. (M) Rommen.
This survey course considers Caribbean musics within a broad
historical framework. Caribbean musical pracices
are explored by illustrating the many ways that aesthetics,
ritual, communication, religion, and social structure
are embodied in and contested through performance. These
initial inquiries open onto an investigation of a range
of theoretical concepts that become particularly pertinent
in Caribbean contexts--concepts such as post-colonialism,
migrations, ethnicity, hybridity, sycretism, and gloalization. Each
of these concepts, moreover, we will be explored with
a view toward understanding its connections to the
central analytical paradigm of the course--diaspora. Throughout
the course, will listen to many different styles and
repertories of music, ranging from calypse to junkanoo,
from rumba to merengue, and from dancehall to zouk. We
will then work to understand them not only in relatin
to the readings that frame our discussions, but also
in relation to our own North-American contexts of music
consumptions and production.
SM 262. (AFST260, ENGL260, GSOC260,
LALS260) Advanced Topics in Narrative. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of
2009 & prior only. Clarke.
This course is cross-listed with English 260 (Advanced Topics
in Narrative) when the course content includes significant
African American or other African Diaspora literatures. Spaces
will be reserved for English majors.
This course explores
an aspect of the novel intensively, asking how novels
work and what they do to us and for us. Topics
vary. A recent topic of this course was "Gather
at the Marketplace: Twentieth Century Caribbean Women
Writers".
SM 263. (ENGL253, GSOC284) Topics
in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. (M) Staff.
This is an English topics course in 19th Century American
Literature. The course is cross-listed with ENGL
253 when the course content includes significant African
American or other African Diaspora literatures.
Content varies with the instructor. A recent topic
of this course was
"Race, Law & Literature".
SM 266. (ENGL264) Topics in Modern
American Literature. (M) Staff.
This course explores an aspect of Modern American literature
intensively; specific course topics will vary, and
have included "American Expatriotism," "The
1930s," and "Intimacy and Distance: William
Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and Richard
Wright."
See the Africana
Department's website at www.sas.upenn.edu/africana
for a description of the current offerings.
SM 272. (URBS270) Ethnicity. (M) Society Sector. All classes. Vitiello.
We live in a global economy and society, but what does this
mean at the local lvel? Globalization is an old
phenomenon - from the era of European colonization,
cities in North America have been nodes in global networks
of migrations and trade. Ethnic and racial identities
hav eevolved in response to the movement and interaction
and racial identities have evolved in response to the
movement and interaction of people in America's diverse
society. Yet in recent years the pace of economic,
social, ecological, and cultural change and exchange
has accelerated.
Using Philadelphia
as a case study, this course examines the effects of
globalization and migration in urban and suburban neighborhoods
in the 20th and 21st century U.S. Class readings,
discussions, and regular visits to a variety of Philadelphia's
immigrant neighborhoods and organizations will explore
themes including race and ethnic relations, global
markets, community formation, labor and political relations,
social and cultural institutions, urban planning and
policy, and the built environment.
SM 281. (COML325, ENGL281, GSOC281)
Topics in African American Literature. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of
2009 & prior only. Staff.
In this advanced seminar, students will be introduced to a
variety of approaches to African American literatures,
and to a wide spectrum of methodologies and ideological
postures (for example, The Black Arts Movement). When
offered, the topic for this course changes. Recent
topics this course has addressed include "Black
Literature and Music,"
"Dialogue and Revision in Afro-American Narrative," "Black Literature:
The Spirit in the Text," "Modern Afro-American Women's Narratives," "Filming
Black Words: Hollywood Adaptations of Afro-American Narratives," "Belonging
and Desire in African American Narrative" and "Slavery and Narration." Consult
the Center for Africana Studies for current detailed course descriptions.
SM 283. (AFST283, ENGL271) Anglophone
African Literature. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009
& prior only. Staff.
In this course we will survey Anglophone African Literature
from its oral beginnings to the present time. The
development of modern African literature is tied to
the history of the continent which it mirrors, beginning
with the slave trade, colonialism, independence, and
the neo-colonial era. In their quest to convey
their reactions to the African experience, African
writers have evolved unique literary styles which form
their contribution to the literature of the world. What
is the essential character of Anglophone African Literature? This
course will answer this question through an examination
of the writings of major figures in the field such
as Peter Abrahams, Chinua Achebe, Ama ata Aidoo, Wole
Soyinka, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Femi Osofisan, Ayi Ke ei
Armah, Kofi Awoonar, Okot p' Bitek, Jared Angira, Niyi
Osundare, Isidore Okepewho, Odun Balogun, and John
Pepper Clark. We will also examine the critical
responses to their works.
SM 286. (ENGL284) Topics in Race and
Ethnicity - Intimacy and Distance: Faulkner, Hurston,
Welty,and Wright. (M) Beavers.
This course presents four 20th Century writers whose literary
careers were shaped by their unique experiences as
Southerners. While each of these writers has
gained a considerable reputation as an American writer
whose writing transcents regional distinctions, the
South resonates in their voices and mediates their
vision. What each writer finally confronts is
Southern history as burden and souce, convention and
curse. This course will begin by exploring the
myths and cultural codes shaping life in the South
(particularly after the Civil War). We will then
proceed towards an examination of how the writers in
the course frame Southern experience, given their differences
in race, class, and gender, as they portray lives lived
within and across a variety of socially recognized
boundaries. Works to be read include Absalom,
Absalom. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Uncle
Tom's Children, Black Boy, The Wide Net and Other Stories,
and Losing Battles. There will also be screenings
of the films The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the
Wind.
Coursework will consist of two critical essays and final
group project.
SM 288. (COML288, ENGL288) Topics
in Modern American Poetry. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Beavers.
This course is cross-listed with ENGL 288 (Topics in Modern
American Poetry) when the course content includes significant
African American or other African Diaspora literatures. A
frequent topic is "Nation and Imagination: 20th
Century African American Poetry"
Sometimes limiting
itself to the works of one or more authors, sometimes
focusing on a particular theme such as "American
Poetry and Democratic culture," this course devotes
itself to the study of twentieth-century American poetry.
SM 290. (ENGL290, GSOC290) Topics
in Women and Literature. (C) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Staff.
This is an English topics course: Topics in Women and Literature. The
course is cross-listed with ENGL 290 (Black Women and
Literature) when the title is "Black Women and
Literature"
Black Women and
Literature: This course offers a comparative study
of black women writers in Africa and the Americas. We
will examine select works of African American and Caribbean
fiction in the context of literary history and modern
culture. We will explore thematic, structural,
and stylistic similarities among these works through
lectures, class discussions, and papers. We will
consider what characterizes the perspective of contemporary
black women writers and explore areas of connection
and difference in theme and technique with select works
of fiction by African women.
294. (ARTH294) African American
Art. (M) Shaw.
This course examines over two hundred years of artistic production
by and about people of African descent living int he
United States from the colonial period through WWII. While
focusing primarily on the fine arts, a variety of media
and artistic movements will be examined from eighteenth-century
colonial portraits and the material culture of slavery
to the transatlantic modernism of the early Harlem
Renaissance.
SM 301. (AFST301) Africa and the African
Diaspora. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Staff.
This course will take the form of an introductory seminar
designed to provide undergraduate students an overview
of significant themes and issues focusing on the historical,
political, and cultural relationships between Africans
and their descendants abroad. It will encompass:
a review of different historical periods and geographical
locations, from Ancient Egypt to modern American, Caribbean
and African states; a critical evaluation of social
movements and theories that have developed in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries among scholars of different
origins in their attempt to reconstruct Africa as a
center and the Diaspora as a specific cultural space;
and, an exploration of representation of Africa and
the Diaspora in canonical literary works and other
forms of fiction like the visual arts.
SM 308. (FOLK310, RELS310, URBS310)
Religious Diversity in America: Religious and Social
Change in West Philadelphia, 1950-2000. (M) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Matter.
This course is cross-listed with RELS 310 (Religious Diversity
in America) when the title is "Religious and Social
Change in West Philadelphia"
In the 1950's America
seemed to be a land of Prostestant, Catholic, and Jew.
Now it is clearly also a land of Muslims and Hindus,
Buddhists and Taoists, Rastafarians and Neo-pagans
and many more religious groups. This course will
focus upon a variety of topics: religious diversity
in West Philadelphia, Philadelphi and beyond; the politics
of religious diversity; religion in American schools
and cities; and conflicts and cooperation among diverse
religious groups.
SM 310. Without Struggle: Contemporary
Issues of Extended Identity and Community Focused
Research. (C) Stevenson.
Knowledge of self is the key to understanding, and ultimately
wisdom. But what is self? An African-centered
perspective defines self as the collective, for "I
Am Because We Are." However, America has historically
promoted the individualistic "survival of the
fittest" mentality, thus we are left with the
question of what Africans in America are supposed to
believe, and how does this quandry influence our individual
and collective identities. Part 1 of the course
will focus on identity issues, from how we view ourselves
to how our identities change in relationships (family,
social).
A heavy emphasis will be placed on an African-centered
paradigm. The principle objectives of this portion
of the course are to have students go through a process
of self-analysis and exploration in hopes that they can
better understand their powers and weaknesses, their
belief systems, and the various roles that they play,
while at the same time learning about their peers. The
initial phase of the course is key to the second phase
which will look at various community issues and research
topics. The overall objective of the course will
be to have students engage in critical thought on several
levels (self, inter-personal, House, community, worldview)
and merge this thought into a relevant research topic.
SM 324. (URBS324) Seminar on Strategies
to Reduce Intergroup Tension in Multi-Cultural Settings:
West Philadelphia and Penn as a Test Case. (B) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Romer and Pouncy.
This action-research seminar explores several social science
approaches to reducing intergroup tension, especially
in multi-ethnic urban settings. Tools for analyzing
tension are reviewed so that students can conduct their
own studies of the ethinic and cultural tensions that
exist in various local sites (e.g., public schools,
nearby neighborhoods, and Penn itself). Students
are encouraged not only to increase their understanding
of the tensions in their chosen sites but also to suggest
policies and interventions that can increase intergroup
cooperation.
SM 355. (AFST355, GSOC355) Women and
Ritual in Africa. (M) Distribution
Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only.
Blakely.
This course will focus on ritual events of Bahemba of eastern
Zaire using written, audio, and film texts from the
instructor's archive (developed over several years
of field research in the region) and ritual events
documented by other researchers in west, central, southern,
and east Africa. Topics to be considered include
how gender roles are constituted and experienced through
African ritual, the significance of spirit possession
and spirit mediumship to folk practitioners, the aesthetics
of African ritual, dimensions of women's ritual power
in Africa, and women's ritual leadership through different
life cycle stages.
SM 356. (PSCI355) Topics in Race and
International Relations: W.E.B.Du Bois's Global Vision.
(M) Vitalis.
This seminar is a sustained, collective engagement with the
life and works of W.E.B. Du Bois. In the
early years of the twenieth century, Du Bois began
to develop an analysis of America's tradition of a
scriptive hierachy--the Jim Crow system--in a global
context. His repeated evocations of the idea
of the color line--in his 1900 speech to the first
Pan-African Congress, inthe essay "On The Dawn
of Freedom" in Souls of Black Folk (1903), and
in his "The Color Line Belts the World" (Collier's,
Oct. 20, 1906)--mark the grounds of a challenge
of historic importance to dominant American constructions
of race, to international relations theory and to develop
practice. He continued to deepen this analysis,
at significant personal costs, in the ensuing decades.
His criticism of racism was relentless, and in the
years after World War II he was branded by postwar
US administrations as a threat to national security.
This towering figure in a vital current black internationalism
was subject to harassment. Du Bois died in exile
in Ghana. We hope to build the semester's work
in significant part around the question of what it
means to analyze Du Bolis using the same global view
that he brought to the analysis if race in America
and that informed his politics of transnational solidarity
in defense of peoples' rights.
L/R 363. (HIST363) The Civil War and
Reconstruction. (B) Distribution
Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Engs. Also offered through the College of General
Studies - See CGS Course Guide.
This course investigates the major ingredients - political,
social, and economic - leading to the sectional crisis
and war, analyzes war and leadership on both sides,
and explores the major issues of Reconstruction.
365. (HIST365) The South in the
National Experience, 1876-1976. (A) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009
& prior only. Hackney.