AFS - African American Studies
AFS 1010 Introduction to African American Studies Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry, Social Inquiry
An interdisciplinary approach to exploring several broad issues, topics, theories, concepts and perspectives which describe and explain the experiences of persons of African descent in America, the Continent, and the diaspora. Offered Every Term.
AFS 2010 African American Culture Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Cultural Inquiry, Civ and Societies (CLAS only), Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Examination of the historical, traditional and aesthetic bases of a variety of cultural forms -- language, literature, music -- of the Black experience. Offered Every Term.
AFS 2210 Black Social and Political Thought Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Civic Literacy, Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry, Social Inquiry, Social Sciences
Survey of the Black intellectual and political tradition from the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. Offered Every Term.
AFS 2245 Blacks and Sport in the United States Cr. 3
The intersection between race and sport in the United States, examined to better understand the role of sports in our socialization and cultural construction. Offered Every Other Year.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
Equivalent: SOC 2245
AFS 2250 AfroLatino/a History and Culture Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Cultural Inquiry
Interdisciplinary introduction to the history and culture of AfroLatinos/as in the U.S. from the perspective of the African Diaspora in the Americas. Offered Winter.
Equivalent: LAS 2250
AFS 2350 Black Detroit Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Explores the historical, cultural and structural aspects of the Black urban experience in Detroit from the late 19th Century to the present, including the role that racism, urbanization and suburbanization have played in shaping racial, spatial and economic inequality in the Detroit Metropolitan area. Utilizes an interdisciplinary approach: to interrogate the social and cultural history of Black Detroit, to examine the various forms of Black social movement activism used by Black Detroiters in the 20th Century, and to analyze ways the shifting economic and political currents shaped, and reshaped racism, class, space, and resistance in the Detroit metropolitan area. Offered Fall, Winter.
AFS 2390 Introduction to African-American Literature: Writing about Texts Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry, Intermediate Comp Pre-2018, Intermediate Comp Post-2018
Introduction to major themes and some major writers of African-American literature, emphasizing modern works. Reading and writing about representative poetry, fiction, essays, and plays. Offered Every Term.
Prerequisites: ENG 1020 with a minimum grade of C, ENG 1020 with a minimum grade of P, ENG 1050 with a minimum grade of C, College Level Exam Program with a test score minimum of BC-BD, (AA) Exempt from Gen Ed MACRAO with a test score minimum of 100, Michigan Transfer Agreement with a test score minimum of 100, or (BA) Competencies Waiver with a test score minimum of 100
Equivalent: ENG 2390
AFS 2600 Race and Racism in America Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Examination of the nature and practice of racism in American society from its historical foundations to its contemporary institutional forms. Offered Every Other Year.
Equivalent: SOC 2600
AFS 3140 African American History I: 1400-1865 Cr. 3-4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
African origins of African Americans; transition from freedom to slavery; status of African Americans under slavery. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: HIS 3140
AFS 3150 African American History II: 1865-1968 Cr. 3-4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
African American history from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: HIS 3150
AFS 3155 African American History III: 1968 - Present Cr. 3-4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
History of African Americans' struggle against persistent and stubborn racism, efforts to achieve full citizenship, and legal and economic justice after 1968. Offered Intermittently.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
Equivalent: HIS 3155
AFS 3160 Black Urban History Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Historical experience of African Americans in urban areas; impact of their communities on urban development from 1860 to contemporary times. Offered Fall, Winter.
Equivalent: HIS 3160
AFS 3170 Ethnicity and Race in American Life Cr. 3-4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Exploration of complicated relationship between ethnic and racial diversity and the making of America. Using historical, literary, and cultural readings and sources to examine key themes: Who was the ""Other""? What is an ""American""? Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: HIS 3170
AFS 3180 Black Social Movements Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Survey of mass or popular Black movements with emphasis on their political and cultural impact, historical continuity and organization. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: HIS 3180
AFS 3190 Race, Policing, and Warfare Cr. 3
On May 30, 2020, as cities around the U.S. faced major upheaval following George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers, the Minneapolis Department of Public Safety tweeted that law enforcement and National Guard troops were mobilizing against the protesters in order to “address a sophisticated network of urban warfare.” While the protests were largely peaceful, the vocabulary of urban warfare signified a relationship between police and war. The deaths of George Floyd and countless other African Americans, the emergent Movement for Black Lives, and the “urban” in urban warfare indicates how race animates militarized policing. This class explores the racial history of policing through the lens of war. Offered Yearly.
AFS 3200 The African-American Film Experience Cr. 4
Historical and contemporary portrayals of African American people in narrative and documentary film. Emphasis on filmic approaches to race relations, cinematic elaboration of racial stereotypes, and legitimation functions of film. Offered Yearly.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
Equivalent: COM 3230
AFS 3250 Politics and Culture in Anglophone Caribbean Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Civic Literacy, Foreign Culture, Global Learning Inquiry
Survey of political, economic and cultural life of the Caribbean. Relationship of the Caribbean to U.S. and world political and cultural developments. Interdisciplinary approach: historical, comparative, thematic issues. Offered Yearly.
AFS 3300 Black Women Writers Cr. 3
Students will explore the writings of Black women across a broad range of genres, which may include poetry, short stories, drama, essays, and novels. Offered Intermittently.
Equivalent: GSW 3300
AFS 3360 Black Workers in American History Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Social Inquiry
Survey course. Slave and free workers during antebellum period; skill trades, sharecropping, menial labor, and coal mining during Reconstruction; labor struggles and job discrimination in the twentieth century. Offered Fall, Winter.
Equivalent: HIS 3360
AFS 3420 Pan Africanism: Politics of the Black Diaspora Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Global Learning Inquiry
Interplay of Pan Africanism as a cultural and socio-political movement in world politics from its origins as a concept to organizing practice worldwide. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: PS 3820
AFS 3430 Race, Revolution, and Counterrevolution Cr. 3
This course will examine theories of revolutionary struggle and attempts at counterrevolution with an emphasis on the race question. In doing so, we will endeavor to understand why revolutions transpire when they do, along with exploring the strategies that different movements historically used to achieve revolution. Our class will highlight Black, Indigenous, and Third World liberation struggles and perspectives on revolution. We will begin the term by addressing theories of race, empire, and revolution. This theoretical foundation will allow students to contemplate how racial oppression might factor into the emergence of nationalist resistance. Our class will also explore how states and empires aim to subvert revolutions. By semester’s end, students should be able to identify both the theoretical principals that generally apply to revolutionary struggles and the contextual particularities which animated various historical revolutions. Offered Yearly.
AFS 3500 Special Topics: Literacy, Race, and Urban Society Cr. 3
Specialized and topical studies in historical events, personalities and themes. Topics to be announced in the schedule of classes. Offered Intermittently.
Repeatable for 9 Credits
AFS 3610 Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Foreign Culture: The Africans Cr. 4
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Foreign Culture, Global Learning Inquiry
Humanistic aspects, history, socio-cultural institutions of African cultures; theory and methods, comparativist perspectives. Offered Yearly.
AFS 3750 African American Art Cr. 3
Historical inquiry of African American art from the eighteenth century to today. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: AH 3750
AFS 3800 Hip-Hop History and Culture Cr. 3
We will also consider how hip-hop culture arose out of Black and Latinx responses to economic crisis, urban decline, and political repression before the music industry eventually turned artists into laborers and the music into a commodity. We will also consider the intersections between hip hop, local and regional cultures, other genres of music and cultural production, technology, politics, and business. Lastly, and most importantly, this class delves into the internal politics of those who participated in culture, especially regarding issues of gender and sexism, homo- and trans-phobia, and violence. Offered Yearly.
AFS 4100 Research Methods in African American Studies Cr. 4
An introduction to interdisciplinary research methods as they are applied to the study of black communities which examines theoretical and conceptual issues; techniques for identifying existing research; and sources and methods of social research and data collection. Offered Yearly.
Prerequisite: AFS 1010 with a minimum grade of D-
AFS 4240 African Americans in Television Cr. 4
Historical overview of African Americans in radio and television with emphasis on three areas of study: news and documentary; entertainment and advertising; and ownership, employment and access. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: COM 4240
AFS 5030 African American Politics Cr. 4
Nature and texture of black politics; various perspectives on politics by blacks; the impact of blacks on American politics. Offered Every Other Year.
Equivalent: PS 5030
AFS 5050 Topics in African American Cinema Cr. 4
Analysis of a specific film genre, a director, an actor, or other historical aspect of African American films. Offered Yearly.
Prerequisite: AFS 3200 with a minimum grade of C- or COM 3230 with a minimum grade of C-
Repeatable for 8 Credits
AFS 5110 Black Women in America Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Writing Intensive Competency
Social, cultural, artistic and economic development of Black women in America; topics include: racism, sexism, marriage, motherhood, feminism, and the welfare system. Offered Yearly.
Equivalent: GSW 5110
AFS 5220 Black Dramatic Literature and Performance Cr. 3
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Diversity Equity Incl Inquiry
Critical study of significant Black dramatists of the American stage: Willis Richardson, Marita Bonner, Randolph Edmonds, Langston Hughes, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, and August Wilson. Offered Yearly.
Fees: $10
Equivalent: THR 5821
AFS 5261 African Americans, History and Memory Cr. 3
An examination of the ways different groups and institutions remember and forget African American history. Each term the course will have a specific focus that will be advertised in advance. Offered Fall.
Equivalent: HIS 5261
Repeatable for 6 Credits
AFS 5310 Special Topics in African American Studies Cr. 3-4
Topics to be announced in Schedule of Classes; topics may include: Caribbean politics, African development, male-female relationships, Negritude. Offered Every Term.
Repeatable for 12 Credits
AFS 5570 Race Relations in Urban Society Cr. 3
Theoretical orientations applied analytically to enhance an understanding of the patterned structures of privilege in society which are based on race. Inequality, segregation-desegregation, pluralism; social structural frameworks; some attention to social-psychological aspects of topics such as prejudice and racism. Offered Intermittently.
Equivalent: SOC 5570
AFS 5580 Law and the African American Experience Cr. 4
In-depth examination of the African American experience with law in the U.S.; historical development of the U.S. Constitution; legal barriers to equality and the influence of race on the law; use of law as a political instrument; participation of Blacks in the legal process; comparisons with other countries. Offered Every Other Year.
Equivalent: SOC 5580
AFS 5700 The Psychology of African Americans Cr. 4
Methodological approaches to and theories of Black behavior and personality development. Topics include: race and pathology, life-span and psycho-sexual development, personality formation, social and environmental stress and adaptation. Offered Every Term.
Equivalent: PSY 5700
AFS 5991 Field Work in the Black Community Cr. 3-8
Field placement in community-based, human services, and civic organizations and governmental agencies. Offered for undergraduate credit only. Offered Yearly.
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Africana Studies; enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students; enrollment limited to students in a Bachelor of Arts degree.
AFS 5993 Writing Intensive Course in African American Studies Cr. 0
Satisfies General Education Requirement: Writing Intensive Competency
Disciplined writing assignments under the direction of a faculty member. Must be selected in conjunction with a designated corequisite; see section listing in Schedule of Classes for corequisites available each term. Satisfies the University General Education Writing Intensive Course in the Major requirement. Required for African American Studies majors. Offered Every Term.
Prerequisite: AFS 3160 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 3180 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 3200 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 3250 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 3420 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 3610 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C- or AFS 5110 (may be taken concurrently) with a minimum grade of C-
Restriction(s): Enrollment is limited to students with a major in African American Studies; enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
AFS 6990 Directed Study Cr. 3-8
Reading and research projects. Offered Yearly.