Subject: AFST

Term: Spring 2024

AFST 202: Race and Ethnic Minorities in The United States (100/6789)

MWF 02:15-03:05 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Hutcherson, D

This course explores interactions between racial and ethnic majority and minority groups in the United States. We examine the historical origins and formation of racial/ethnic hierarchies, the institutional and normative processes for reproducing these hierarchies, and the social and economic significance of stratified racial and ethnic group identities. The course is taught from a macro perspective that examines larger structural forces (e.g., colonization, slavery, and immigration) to explain inter-group relations, and a constructionist perspective to understand the way that power fashions the social meaning of identities (e.g., symbolic violence and hegemonic discourse), social categories (e.g., panethnic Asian and Hispanic groups), and everyday interactions (e.g., stereotypes and white racial frame). Specific topics include the formation and significance of white and black identities, reactive ethnicity, the racial privilege of whiteness, the politics of immigration, and the intersectionality of class, race and gender. Offered as AFST 202 and SOCI 202.

AFST 212: History of Rock and Roll (101/6863)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Mitchell, K

This course surveys the musical practices of the rock and roll era, broadly defined to include much popular music since the 1950s. Music majors are to enroll in MUHI 312. Offered as AFST 212 and MUGN 212.

AFST 216: Hip Hop History, Culture, Music (100/10972)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Illyas-Watson, R

This course surveys the history of hip hop. The relationship of hip hop to important currents in American life and culture will be examined, with a particular focus on how race, class, and gender shaped the evolution of the form. The origins of various styles of hip hop in the cultures of different ethnic and national groups will be discussed, along with the subsequent diffusion and transformation of such music through mass mediation. The characteristics and meanings of music, lyrics and images will be discussed, with the aid of sound recordings, music videos and films. Offered as AFST 216 and MUGN 216.

AFST 233: The Life and Science of Ernest Everett Just (100/11237)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Jan 16-Apr 29

Haynesworth, S

Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941) was one of the most important developmental biologists of the first half of the twentieth century. He made important observations, discoveries, and contributions to the scientific debate regarding the mechanisms of fertilization and early embryonic development. E.E. Just authored over 70 scientific papers and two books during his relatively short life; he died at age 57. E. E. Just was also a Black man who was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina during the post-reconstruction white redemption; a period characterized by restrictive Jim Crow laws and Klu Klux Klan violence against Black people in the South. This course will explore the life of E. E. Just in the context of his contributions to science, his life as a Black man growing up in the Jim Crow South, and as a Black scientist during a period in American history when racially discriminatory laws and customs at multiple levels prohibited or severely limited the ability of Blacks to participate in the field of scientific research. In so doing, this interdisciplinary course will connect scientific and humanistic disciplines by bringing together students interested in biology, American history, African American history, and the history of science to explore and critically analyze aspects of Just's life and science from these various perspectives. Offered as AFST 233 and BIOL 233 and HSTY 233.

AFST 315: History of Jazz and American Popular Music (100/10872)

TR 11:30-12:45 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Dawes, L

Musical styles and structures of jazz and American popular music; emphasis on music since 1900. Recommended preparation: MUTH 202 or MUHI 302. Offered as AFST 315 and MUHI 315.

AFST 328: Capitalism, Cities, and Inequality (100/10493)

TR 04:00-05:15 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Black, T

This course focuses on social inequality, but through an examination of cities in the U.S. and abroad. In many ways, cities provide a window onto the organization of the larger social world, including regional, state, national and global areas. As such, understanding cities goes far beyond their geographical boundaries. The purpose of this course then is to learn the central role that cities play within a larger capitalist economy, how public policies shape life in cities, how cities organize and reproduce social inequality, and how community groups and organizations challenge and negotiate the organization of power and inequality. The course will examine topics such as the formal and informal labor force, immigration, the growth of global cities and slums, urban poverty, racial segregation, housing and homelessness, crime, gentrification, policing, community organization and political resistance. Offered as AFST 328, SOCI 328 and SOCI 428.

AFST 366: Racial Inequality and Mass Imprisonment in the US (100/10494)

TR 01:00-02:15 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Black, T

This course examines the relationship between racial inequality and mass imprisonment in the U.S. It begins by exploring the role of prisons in the Jim Crow south, with a particular focus on convict-leasing practices, and then turns to the north to examine the social forces that created the black urban ghetto and concentrated black urban poverty. The course also examines the impact that these same social forces have had on Puerto Ricans. We will then explore a series of topics including urban poverty and crime, the war on drugs, the politics of mass incarceration, the prospects that mass incarceration has become the new Jim Crow, and the effects that mass incarceration has had on voting rights, urban communities, families and children. We will conclude with a discussion of varying decarceration arguments, strategies, movements, and achievements. Offered as AFST 366 and SOCI 366.

AFST 389: Race, Immigration and American Political Developme (100/6979)

MW 12:45-02:00 PM Jan 16-Apr 29

Parris, G

Specific topic will vary but will consist of an in-depth investigation of a particular policy area or political phenomenon. Topics will involve policy controversies of some current interest. Offered as AFST 389, POSC 389, and POSC 489.