African American Studies Courses
African American Studies (AFRAM)
AFRAM-100 Topics in African American Studies
.5-4 Units: 9-72 hours of lecture and/or 27-216 hours of laboratory, per term, SC, DG
This course covers topics in African and African American history and culture. Topics will be chosen to supplement and serve as additions to current offerings in the area, and will be announced each term in the current schedule of classes.
AFRAM-110 Introduction to African American Studies
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU, UC
This course will provide students with a historical awareness and a multidisciplinary overview of African American studies as an academic discipline. It will focus on the sociopolitical and cultural experience of African Americans in the United States. Topics to be covered include philosophy, history, religion, sociology, political economy, psychology and creative arts.
AFRAM-112 African American Theatre
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU
This course will be devoted to historical study of the growth and development of African American theatre in the United States, largely based on the contributions of individual African-American playwrights, their subject matter and group responses to the challenge of developing and maintaining a theatre for the African American community. This course is identical to DRAMA-110.
AFRAM-113 African American Humanities
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, LR, DG, CSU
This course presents an integrated and historical study of African American culture and African Americans’ influence upon American life. Emphasis will be upon philosophy, fine and applied arts and ways by which they reflect the social, political and economic realities of a culture.
AFRAM-120 Black Experience Through Film
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU, UC
This course offers an examination of African American life and culture as depicted on film and video, with emphasis on independent black filmmakers, issues and themes in contemporary films and impact of films on African American society. In this course, we will examine how films, both feature length and documentary style, can help tell the history of a people. How do they help us understand, through the medium of art, the experience of Black people in the United States and around the world?
AFRAM-122 History of African Americans in the U.S. (Pre-Colonial – 1865)
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU
This course is a survey of Africans’ role in American history which covers pre-colonial to 1865. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the geographic migrations of African people to the United States. Students will analyze the development of African American economic, social and political institutions, as well as the U.S. Constitution. The historical development and contributions of Africans and other ethnic groups including Native Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Europeans will also be examined.
AFRAM-123 History of African Americans in the U.S. (1865 to the Present)
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, LR, DG, CSU
This course covers United States history from 1865 to the present. It is a cross cultural study of the African experience in America. The course will examine the geographical migrations of African Americans and their interactions with Native Americans, Latinos, Europeans and Asians. Students will analyze the development of
American economic, social and political institutions, as well as the U.S. Constitution.
AFRAM-140 Psychology of African Americans
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, LR, DG, CSU
This course will provide a theoretical and practical framework through which study and analysis of key factors in the psychological development of African Americans/Blacks living in a Western European-centered society can be considered. The course will look at authentic Black identity beginning with Africa, through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and current day phenomena of Black experiences including health, education, family dynamics, the Hip Hop and Rap Movement, and the impact of the media on the psycho-social well-being of Black people, and will gauge
its accuracy and relevance through a culturally specific Africancentered lens. This investigation uses a psycho-historical approach to critically examine and query Western mainstream psychological notions and accepted concepts that frame the discourse and study of Black people, their behavior, culture, and communities.
AFRAM-210 History of African Civilization
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU
This is a survey course which covers the origins of humanity in east Africa and the civilizations in various regions of Africa before slavery and colonialism. It examines ideas on the evolution of humanity among the Mbuti, Batwa, and San people, as well as the origins of the advanced Nile Valley civilizations of Kush (Ethiopia), Nubia, and Egypt. It also covers the civilization of Great Zimbabwe, and the influential Mali empire with its seafaring tradition and Timbuktu university system, and its influence in southern Europe.
AFRAM-225 Dynamics of African American Politics in
America
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, LR, DG, CSU
This course describes and analyzes political problems and trends affecting the African American in America by studying the Constitution of the United States and the rights, participation and obligations of African American citizens. Significant events in history will be examined and discussed.
AFRAM-226 Black Male and Female Relationships
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, SC, DG, CSU
This course is an interdisciplinary analysis of African American male and female relationships. Students will increase their understanding of social and psychological factors to be considered in the development of African American people living in a white-oriented society. This class will provide a historical update of the dismantling of the American extended family support system and its negative impact on our modern day love relationships. Students will be involved in a comparative study that critiques Asian American, European American, Hispanic American, and African American love relationships.
AFRAM-228 Sociology of African Americans
3 Units: 54 hours of lecture, per term, LR, DG, CSU
This course presents a sociological analysis of African American societies in the United States. Topics include political, economic, religious, judicial, and familial organizations of African American communities, the effects of the dominant society on these institutions and recent African American socio-political movements
AFRAM-298 Independent Study
.2-4 Units: 3.6-72 hours of independent study, per term, SC, DG
Prerequisite: Educational contract of study signed by an instructor, department chair and vice president. Topics must extend beyond regular course offerings.
This course is designed for selected students to pursue independent study in African American studies under the direction of an instructor.
AFRAM-300 Field Studies
.1-4 Units: 1.8-72 hours of lecture and/or 5.4-216 hours of laboratory, per term, SC, DG
This course provides the opportunity for students to participate in field experience in various disciplines. In all cases, field classes will be oriented toward direct involvement by the student in some outside activity which should supplement the classroom experience. Petition to repeat for maximum units.
Additional courses offered in African American Studies
(Refer to corresponding department in catalog for complete course
description.)
- DRAMA-110 African American Theatre
- HIST-110 History of African Civilization
- HIST-122 History of African Americans in the
- United States (Pre-Colonial to 1865)
- HIST-123 History of African Americans in the
- United States (1865 to the Present)
- HUMAN-113 African American Humanities
- POLSC-225 Dynamics of African American Politics in America
- PSYCH-140 Psychology of African Americans
- SOCIO-225 Sociology of African Americans