African American Studies

AFAM 30 is an Ethnic Studies course that focuses on W. E. B. Dubois' term "The Souls of Black Folk." Using frameworks of race and ethnicity, students will gain a critical understanding of the complex expressions of what African American people think, feel, and imagine in their conscious existence, historically and geographically.

Review and comparative analysis of African heritage people and African Americans in California. The emphasis is on the African/African American heritage in the establishment, development, and evolution of California from the 1500s through the Gold Rush Era to the present, using Ethnic Studies methodologies.

Utilizes ethnic studies methodologies and critical race theory to explore the history of race theory and racism in the United States from early antecedents in antiquity through the emergence of modern race theory and racism in the 18th and 19th centuries to the present. Also includes the ways that race theory has shaped intellectual discourse and popular consciousness.

Explores African American culture as reflected through theories of race and ethnicity and the aesthetics and politics of Black popular music from the Black Awakening of the 1960s to Hip-hop. Provides an understanding of how Black music forms have impacted and represented African American social consciousness, struggles, resistance, and racial justice.

Examines and analyzes African American women in the U.S. with particular emphasis on the struggle for rights as people of African descent. Frameworks of race and ethnicity are used to gain a critical understanding of the contributions, strategies for success, and political activism of African American women from 1619 to the present.