Credit: 0.5-4
The course is designed specifically with first-year students in mind. The seminar is taught by an interdisciplinary group of Kenyon faculty members who have interests in teaching, researching and engaging with others in the discussion of issues and concerns pertaining to African and African diaspora studies. The specific topic to be addressed each year is developed by the crossroads faculty at the end of the preceding spring semester. The seminar typically will be taught as a colloquium where several crossroads faculty offer a set of lectures serving as discrete modules. Within this format, students will explore the cultures of the African diaspora and their influences on the global culture. Students will also focus on analytical writing and public vocal expression. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. No prerequisite. Generally offered every other year.
Credit: 0.5-4
This discussion-based course introduces students to several of the most important approaches to the study of African diaspora experiences. Students taking this course will find themselves engaged with a variety of disciplines (e.g., anthropology, history, literary study, psychology, sociology and visual and performing arts). Though some of the texts may change extensively from year to year, the focus of this course will be to undertake a preliminary investigation into the connections and the relationship between Africa and several other parts of the world. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. No prerequisite. Generally offered every spring.
Credit: 0.5-4
The objective of this interdisciplinary seminar is to offer a clear understanding of what womanist and feminist theory are, as well as how the two often overlap in history, social commentary and methodology. As such, the materials used in the course make explicit reference to the many academic and social contexts that have given rise to both feminist theory and womanist theory. During the course of the semester, we will trace several elements of the African American experience, predominantly pertaining to women, in order to understand how disparate voices have been informed by each theoretical paradigm. Fictional and academic texts, films, audio-clips, and several other examples of womanist and feminist discourses will be used to cement the understanding of these theoretical paradigms. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Prerequisite: A mid-level course that may be counted toward the AFDS concentration.
Credit: 0.5
The Individual Study course (IS) option within the African Diaspora Studies Program is a flexible concept to be negotiated between student, faculty member and the current program director. IS courses will typically be prompted by student initiative combined with faculty interest and availability. IS courses can sometimes be offered when students need to take a particular course within one of our faculty member's expertise in order to fulfill the requirements of the concentration. Even in this circumstance, however, the option for an IS depends upon faculty availability. While it is expected that students will broach the possibility of doing individual study, faculty will have the ultimate authority in determining how any individual study course is to be conducted during the course of the semester. This is viewed as an exceptional opportunity that we provide our students and, as such, we emphasize that this option is never to be expected as an ordinary course of events. As a matter of expedience and given the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of the AFDS Program from one year to the next, the program director reserves the right to decline requests for individual study. Individual study courses in the AFDS Program will typically be one semester in duration. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the deadline. An IS counts toward credit for the AFDS concentration but no student may take more than two IS courses toward satisfaction of the curriculum requirements for the concentration. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement.
AMST 221: Soul Culture
AMST 302D: The History of Jazz
AMST 321: Race, Education, and Student Rebellion
ANTH 113: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 300: Archaeology of the African Diaspora
ARHS 116: Introduction to African Art
ARHS 247: African Art in Motion
DRAM 258: South African Theater
ENGL 288: African American Literature
ENGL 366: African Fiction
ENGL 386: Toni Morrison
ENGL 390: Black Women Writers
ENGL 421: Black Shakespeares
ENGL 487: The Mulatto in American Fiction
FILM 256: African American Film
HIST 102D: United States History, 1865– Present
HIST 145: Early Africa
HIST 146: Modern Africa
HIST 175: Early Black History
HIST 176: Contemporary Black History
HIST 242: Americans in Africa
HIST 246: Urban Africa
HIST 307: Great African American Migration: 1900–1970
HIST 310: The Civil War
HIST 312: Blacks in the Age of Jim Crow
HIST 341: African Women in Film and Fiction
HIST 349: Contemporary West African History through Fiction and Film
HIST 350: Race, Resistance and Revolution in South Africa
HIST 374: The Atlantic World
HIST 380: Black History through Fiction and Film
HIST 411: The Civil Rights Era
HIST 412: Race, Politics and Public Policy
HIST 413: Race, Crime and Criminal Justice
HIST 444: Faith and Power in Africa
MUSC 207: Music and the African American Experience
MUSC 302D: History of Jazz
RLST 135: African Spirituality in the Americas
RLST 242: Caribbean Religions
RLST 252: Rastafari: Movement of the Jah People
RLST 280: Religion and Popular Music in the African Diaspora
SOCY 232: Sexual Harassment: Normative Expectations and Legal Questions
SOCY 244: Race, Ethnicity and American Law
SOCY 250: Systems of Stratification
SOCY 385: Du Boisian Sociology
SOCY 421: Gender Stratification
SOCY 422: Topics in Social Stratification
SOCY 463: Intersectional Theory