African American Studies

The African American Studies Department is a multidisciplinary program of study that seeks, through the humanities and social sciences, to explore key aspects of the Black experience in a systematic and structurally integrated fashion. Its broad educational purposes are to engender among all students an intellectual appreciation of Black life in Africa and the Americas (especially in the United States); to enrich the Oberlin College curriculum; and to increase the relevance of an Oberlin education to a culturally diverse world. Thus, the department strives to provide the student body, in general, with substantive knowledge of the Black experience and values that maximizes possibilities for racial harmony. The department is aided in its efforts by the Afrikan Heritage House, which serves as the College's Black communal and cultural center.

Curriculum. The African American Studies curriculum offers extensive study of the Black experience in a diasporic setting, including but not limited to, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. These offerings are arranged in three categories: introductory, intermediate, and advanced. All introductory courses are open without prerequisite, except as indicated in the course description. African American Studies 101 and other beginning courses may serve as prerequisites to all intermediate and advanced courses.

Major. The requirements for the major in African American Studies are consistent with our view of the field as a multidisciplinary and area studies program. Major prerequisites are designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the Black experience as well as a firm grounding in a single field of study. Both breadth and depth in the field are to be obtained by -majors.
The major consists of a minimum of 30 hours. In consultation with their major advisor, students are expected to develop a balanced program of study and to supplement their work with courses in fields related to their special needs and interests:

1. As the introduction to the discipline, African American Studies 101 is required of all majors and must be taken in the freshman or sophomore year.

2. All majors are required to take at least one course in each of the three following subject areas: African, African American, and Caribbean Studies.

3. All majors are required to take courses within the department that total not less than nine hours in the humanities and nine hours in the social science divisions of the major, as multidisciplinary training. Students must also ensure that these courses are drawn from at least four of the five core fields (i.e., education, history, literature, politics, and fine arts), with a minimum of three credit hours in each chosen field.

4. An additional nine hours, including the Senior Seminar, are to be taken in a single field of specialization in one of the following areas: education, history, literature, politics, and the fine arts (i.e. art, music, theater and dance). Students are required to show a balance between introductory and advanced courses in their specialization.

5. All majors are required to take the Senior Seminar in their junior or senior year.

6. Up to six hours of credit may be gained from cross-listed or cross-referenced courses (such as MHST 290, 291, POLT 224, RELG 284, and SOCI 277), or from approved cognate courses.

Minor. A minor in the field consists of a minimum of 15 hours in African American Studies. In addition to the introductory survey course, student minors are expected to take at least one course from four of the five fields of: education, politics, history, literature or fine arts. All minors are required to take at least one three-hour credit course in each of the three following subject areas: African, African American, and Caribbean Studies.

Honors. The Honors Program offers an opportunity for majors of proven ability and independence to extend their competence in the field of African American Studies. Participation in the Honors Program shall be by invitation only.

Students have the option of writing a research paper, completing a special arts project, or demonstrating advanced pedagogical skills. All Honors work is supervised by a faculty advisor who assists the student in defining the nature of his/her Honors Project.

Africa Program. Study opportunities are offered in the English-speaking countries of Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania where students are placed at universities or accommodated in international programs like those offered by the School for International Training (SIT). Similar opportunities exist for students proficient in French at the Universities of Dakar, and Sheikh Anta Diop, in Senegal. Students on financial aid should consult the Director of Financial Aid before planning to participate in the program.

Off-Campus Programs for Credit. Field work in programs approved by Oberlin College in Africa and the Caribbean is encouraged. In the United States there is a long-standing Fisk program in Tennessee which allows for the exchange of students between our two institutions. By approval of the department students may count a maximum of six hours of such work toward the major. Prior permission from the department must be obtained to receive credit.

Transfer of Credit. Students transferring credits in African American Studies from courses taken at other institutions may apply a maximum of nine credit hours toward the major with the approval of the department. Individual cases for students who transfer into the College after their sophomore year will be reviewed by the department.

Winter Term. The African American Studies faculty will sponsor individual projects, on- or off-campus, in African and African American art, dance, education, history, literature, politics, and theater.

Private Reading. Students may schedule a private reading course during their junior or senior years. No more than one reading course may be taken in any one semester, nor more than two during the undergraduate program. Normally the private readings may not duplicate a regularly scheduled course.

African American Studies Department Online (afamstud). For more information on courses, instructors, or Afrikan Heritage House (the cultural center), please visit our home page at: www.oberlin.edu/afamstud.

Cross-Referenced Courses. The following cross-referenced courses count toward the African American Studies major and minor.
MHST 290, 291 Introduction to African American Music, Mr. Logan
POLT 224 Topics in Contemporary African Affairs, Ms. Sandberg
RELG 284 The History of the African American Religious Experience, Mr. Miller
SOCI 277 Race and Ethnic Relations, Mr. White

Introductory Courses

070. Talking Book
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Next offered 2006-2007.

072. Blues Aesthetic: Continuity and Transformation
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Second Semester.
The emphasis of this course is upon the thesis that the Black or 'Blues Aesthetic' is a cultural perspective that emerges from within the experiences of Black people, facing the socio-political and economic conditions of modern and contemporary America. Our focus will be upon the traditions of African American music, literature, theater/film, and specifically the visual arts. Identical to ARTS 072. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 12.
Mr. Coleman

074. Something From Something
3 hours, 3HU, CD
First Semester.
This course is a 'hands on' exploration of vernacular visual traditions existing within African American Culture. We will examine design choices/material processes used to define and describe the specificity of lived experience within African American culture. Our focus is upon elders within black communities and the stories that they tell through their work. These 'folk artists' function as influences upon contemporary African American artists ranging from Alison Saar, to Renee' Stout. These vernacular traditions will serve as resources that extend our own working processes as we tell our own stories. Identical to ARTS 056. Note: Counts as Visual Concepts and Processes for Art majors. Consent of instructor is required. Enrollment Limit: 12.
Mr. Coleman

101. Introduction to the Black Experience
3 hours, 3SS, CD
Second Semester.
An interdisciplinary exploration of key aspects of Black history, culture, and life in Africa and the Americas. The course attempts to provide students with a fundamental intellectual understanding of the universal Black experience as it has been described and interpreted by humanists and social scientists. Included in the course will be such topics as: the African American Studies movement, the African heritage of Afro-Americans, Pan-African relations, racism and sexism, the family, the role of religion in Black life, class structure and class relations, the political economy of African American life, and Black political power. Declared majors are given priority for this course. Enrollment Limit: 45.
Ms. Brooks

FYSP 110. Black Women and Liberation
4 hours, 4SS, CD, WRi
First Semester.
For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14.

FYSP 115. Literature of Atlantic Slavery
4 hours, 4SS, CD, WRi
Second Semester.
For description, please see "First-Year Seminar Program" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 14.

118. Ritual and Performance I: The World According to the Yoruba and their Descendants in the New World
3 hours, 3SS, CD, WR
First Semester.
For description, please see "Colloquia for First- and Second-Year Students" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit:15.
Ms. Sharpley

120. The Caribbean and the Wider World
3 hours, 3SS, CD, WR
Next offered 2006-2007.

FYSP 129. Coming of Age in African Literature
3 hours, 1.5SS, 1.5HU, CD, WRi
Next offered 2006-2007.

131. Traditional African Cosmology
3 hours, 3SS, CD, WR
First Semester.
An introductory survey of African philosophical and metaphysical traditions, including an examination of traditional African religion, spirituality, applied metaphysics, and cultural patterns. Enrollment Limit: 35.
Mr. Saaka

141. The Heritage of Black American Literature
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Second Semester.
A survey of black American literature from its inception in the 18th century to the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Phillis Wheatley, Jupiter Hammon, David Walker, Maria Stewart, and others up to DuBois and Anna Julia Cooper, including related slave songs, sermons, spirituals, blues, slave narratives and other folk expressions. Note: Preference for declared majors and department credit students. Consent of instructor required. Enrollment Limit: 35.
Ms. Gadsby

171, 172. Introduction to African American Music
3 hours, 3HU, CD
First and Second Semester.
Identical to JAZZ 290, 291 and MHST 290, 291. For description, please see "Jazz Studies" in this catalog. Enrollment Limit: 50.
Mr. Logan

181. Education in the Black Community
3 hours, 3SS, CD, WR
First Semester.
The philosophy of a Ghetto Scholar is the sole focus of this course. This highly creative and very original philosophy centers on a Ghetto Scholar's use of education to pursue the concept of GGG (the greatest good, for the greatest number, for the greatest period). Students are required to think imaginatively, analytically, and independently as they examine critical issues facing Black and other oppressed peoples. Education is essential to the attainment of a world that is liberated, peaceful, and humane. Enrollment Limit: 20.
Mr. Peek

190. West African Dance Forms in the Diaspora I
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Second Semester.
This course will survey dance movement forms and technique from West Africa, to the New World through dance performance. A survey of dance performance using academic discourse as well as a movement vocabulary will be used. The influence of West African movements on the New World will include forms from Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti. This class will be taught from a traditional West African perspective and Pan-African world view. Identical to DANC 190. Enrollment Limit: 25.
Ms. Sharpley

191. West African Dance Forms in the Diaspora II
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Next offered 2006-2007.

192. West African Dance Forms in the Diaspora III
3 hours, 3HU
Next offered 2006-2007.

196. African American Dance History
3 hours, 3HU, CD
Next offered 2006-2007.