Africana Studies Courses | 2026-2027 Graduate Catalog | SIU

(Same as HIST 502) This course examines the origins and development of the Atlantic basin as an intercommunication zone for African, European and American societies from the mid-15th century through the early-19th century. Themes include transformation of environments, forced and voluntary migrations, emergence of distinct Atlantic culture communities, development of Atlantic economics and formulation and implementation of Atlantic revolutionary ideologies. Students who have taken AFR 401, HIST 401, or HIST 502 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

In the seminar, a deep appreciation of the various texts that are the testimonies of the enslaved Africans in the United States help shape the research strategies of students who wish to do focused studies of African American and American culture, by discovering the themes of resistance, persistence and transcendence as these themes were articulated and employed by generations of enslaved Africans in what is now the United States. Students engage in close critical and cultural readings of slave narratives; folklore texts; musical testimonies (folk songs and Spirituals), petitions and other records.

Credit Hours: 3

The course deals with issues of human diversity broadly defined to include race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and ability. It explores the contours of difference and the dynamics of diversity, privilege, and oppression in domestic and global contexts. It also examines authentic cultural voices, understanding these voices, how to interact with them and be able to find individual and group cultural voices in a diverse society and how to apply the knowledge in a larger global sphere.

Credit Hours: 3

Same as AFR 403, ANTH 403, & ANTH 503) This course provides students with an anthropological perspective on the foodways of the Black Atlantic. The class will be divided into three sections. The first looks at the history of West African cuisine. The second focuses on how both African culinary practices and structural racism shaped Black foodways in the United States. The third addresses how Black chefs have contributed to national cuisines in the Caribbean and Latin America. Credit hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

The Spirituals course is designed to provide a background and framework for developing a way of reading African American culture from an aesthetic foundation based on African and African American spirituality. Students will be shown how the artistic and cultural processes at work in this music are the same principles of construction and composition as found in other artistic endeavors of Africana culture, such as poetry and fiction; drama; dance; film. 3 credit hours.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as CMST 516, WGSS 516) Explore the roots, contemporary manifestations, and current embodiments of Black feminist thought. Explore the works of Black women to engage in critical thinking and thoughtful dialogue that positions the valuable knowledge, experiences and perspectives of women of color at the center of inquiry while simultaneously discovering spaces for multicultural alliances. Credit Hours: 3.

Credit Hours: 3

Special topics, focused on research needs of students who are regularly enrolled graduate students doing research in Africana related topics in other departments and programs. Tutorial work with an assigned member of the Africana Studies faculty. May be repeated for up to six credit hours. Special approval needed from the director of the AFR program.

Credit Hours: 3

(Same as CMST 525) Via intercultural theories and methods, this course explores histories, relationships, interactions and recent events by positioning racial and ethnic perspectives at the center of inquiry. The course critically examines the complexities of race, racism and ethnicity by focusing on how people communicate across racial and ethnic differences in different contexts. Students who have completed AFR 447 or CMST 425 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

A seminar on varying topics, themes, and figures in African, African American, and/or Caribbean Philosophy, e.g., "W.E.B. Du Bois and His Contemporaries," "Pan-Africanism," "Philosophies of Liberation," "Black Feminism," "Contemporary African Philosophy," "Philosophies of the Caribbean.

Credit Hours: 3

A comparative study of slavery from antiquity to its abolition in the 19th century with the differing socio-cultural, political and economic contexts; organized chronologically, regionally and thematically. Students who have completed AFR 473 or HIST 473 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

An examination of South African history from 1652 to 1994. Topics to be covered include conflicts and wars, migrations and state formations, the economics of minerals, industrialization, and the Anglo-Boer War, intertwined histories of race relations, the politics of exclusion and apartheid, dissolution of apartheid, and the making of modern South Africa. Students who have completed AFR 478 or HIST 478 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3

This course provides an overview of the history of the Civil Rights Movement while engaging major debates in the field of Black Freedom Studies. Central themes will include the impact of the Cold War, the roles of women, and the relationship of civil rights to black power. We will also discuss the difference between popular memory and historical scholarship as well as the meaning of such discussions for contemporary issues of racial and economic justice. Students who have completed AFR 487 or HIST 487 are ineligible to enroll.

Credit Hours: 3