Related courses are courses offered by disciplinary departments that count toward the AFST major/minor. Pertinent courses are potentially relevant to the major/minor but do not have enough AFST content to count toward requirements without a special petition. Due to changing course offerings, this is only a partial list. Any questions about whether or how a course counts toward the major/minor should be directed to the Program Director.
- 2024–2025 Courses:
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Fall 2024
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AFST 100: Sports, the Black Experience, and the American Dream
With an emphasis on critical reading and writing in an academic context, this course will examine the role of sports in American politics and social organizations. The course pays attention to the African American experience, noting especially the confluence of race and sports. What can sports tell us about freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness? How has the Black community contributed to our appreciation of these American virtues? We will read short texts and biographies, and we will watch movies such as King Richard and The Blind Side. Students will produce short writing exercises aimed at developing their critical thinking and clear writing.
Prerequisites:Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
6 credits; AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1; offered Fall 2024 · Chielo Eze -
AFST 101: Ecology and Anthropology Tanzania Program: Elementary Swahili
Elementary Swahili introduces students to the communicative use of Swahili, emphasizing communicative competence in real contexts. Ninety percent of instruction is conducted in the target language. Vocabulary and grammar are taught in context. Instruction pays attention to the cultural information in relevant contexts of communication. The main learning/teaching styles used include role plays, prepared presentations, interactive lectures, classroom conversations, and dramatization. In addition to the class textbook, authentic source materials are used, such as pictures, songs, short stories, poems and essays. Student assessment is continuous, and includes classroom participation, homework, written exams and oral exams. Prerequisites:Acceptance in the Carleton OCS Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania program.
No Exploration; offered Fall 2024 · Anna Estes -
AFST 120: Blackness and Whiteness Outside the United States
This course examines blackness and whiteness as constructs outside the U.S. Racial categories and their meanings will be considered through a range of topics: skin color stratification, nationalism, migration and citizenship, education, popular culture and media, spatial segregation and others. Central to the course will be considering how racism and anti-blackness vary across societies, as well as the transnational and global flows of racial ideas and categories. Examples will be drawn from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
6 credits; IS, International Studies, SI, Social Inquiry, WR2 Writing Requirement 2, No Exploration; offered Fall 2024 · Daniel Williams -
AFST 225: Black Music, Resistance, and Liberation
For every defining moment in black history, there is a song. Every genre of black music makes a statement not only about the specific historical epoch it was created but also about the people’s dreams. For black people, songs are a means of resistance to oppression and an expression of the will to live. Through the analysis of black music, this course will expose students to black people’s struggles, hopes, and aspirations, and also American history, race relations, and much more. The class will read insightful texts, listen to songs, watch films, and engage in animated discussions.
Prerequisites:Student has completed any of the following course(s): One course that applies toward the Humanistic Inquiry requirement with a grade of C- or better.
6 credits; HI, Humanistic Inquiry, IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Fall 2024 · Chielo Eze -
AFST 400: Integrative Exercise
The comprehensive exercise is a substantial (approximately 34-40 page) research paper on a topic within African, African American, and/or African Diaspora studies. The student should have completed a 300-level AFST course, or a 300-level course that counts toward the AFST major. The comps process begins with a Comps Topic Development Worksheet during spring term of the junior year, a comps topic intention form followed by a proposal in fall term of the senior year, and ends with a final written thesis and oral presentation early in spring term. Prerequisites:Student is in the AFST Program of Study and has Senior Priority.
S/NC; offered Fall 2024, Winter 2025 · Chielo Eze
Winter 2025
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AFST 220: Color, Class, and Status in Black America
As a racial category and identity, “Black” is often treated in a homogenous, monolithic way, obscuring the internal diversity and inequality within the black population in the U.S. In this course, we consider the inequalities within black communities and the black population living in the U.S., historically and through to the present. “Colorism,” or skin tone stratification, represents one status linked to class and ranking in society; but does colorism matter more than other statuses to class? Class differences are in fact profound within black communities, and they are correlated to multiple social statuses–skin tone, immigrant status, national origin, and even political orientation. We will examine how these status, color, and class interact, and how they shape class relations and tensions, lived experience, and notions of authenticity (“blackness”) in everday life and popular culture. Course topics include the Black middle class; education; neighborhood segregation; gender and sexuality; and media representations and popular culture. 6 credits; IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, SI, Social Inquiry, No Exploration, QRE, Quantitative Reasoning, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Winter 2025 · Daniel Williams -
AFST 398: Africana Studies Capstone
This three-credit course gives Africana Studies majors and minors the opportunity to reflect on their learning in Africana Studies and to prepare to apply this knowledge to future endeavors. In this capstone course, the student creates a portfolio of their work in Africana Studies and writes a five-ten page reflective essay tying these papers together. This course gives students an opportunity to seriously reflect about the courses they have taken and the work they have produced within and related to their AFST major/minor, and to draw connections among them. Prerequisites:Open to students who have declared either Africana Studies Major or Africana Studies Minor.
3 credits; No Exploration; offered Winter 2025 · Chielo Eze -
AFST 400: Integrative Exercise
The comprehensive exercise is a substantial (approximately 34-40 page) research paper on a topic within African, African American, and/or African Diaspora studies. The student should have completed a 300-level AFST course, or a 300-level course that counts toward the AFST major. The comps process begins with a Comps Topic Development Worksheet during spring term of the junior year, a comps topic intention form followed by a proposal in fall term of the senior year, and ends with a final written thesis and oral presentation early in spring term. Prerequisites:Student is in the AFST Program of Study and has Senior Priority.
S/NC; offered Fall 2024, Winter 2025 · Chielo Eze
Spring 2025
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AFST 213: Race, Racism, and the Beloved Community in the US
Race and racism played a significant role in the construction of the United States of America. But so did the quest for a more perfect union and the beloved community. This course introduces students to the complexity of racial ideology and the ways it privileges one group of people while placing others at a disadvantage. We shall examine the experiences of all racialized groups (Blacks, Asians, American Indians, Latinos) and how they resisted the injustice against them. Most importantly, we shall analyze how their quest for liberation brought America closer to its foundational ideal that all humans are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any AFST course should register for AFST 300; students who have not should register for AFST 213.
6 credits; HI, Humanistic Inquiry, IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Spring 2025 · Chielo Eze -
AFST 289: Global Blackness and Social Movements
This course considers Black social movements from around the globe, with an emphasis on non-U.S. contexts. Examining multiple movements both past and present, it takes a comparative approach to understanding the unique and variable ways that Black communities have articulated the Black condition, and mobilized and resisted oppression. Central to the course is the question of Blackness as a global and transnational identity; as well as the extent to which movements themselves form ties and mutually inform each other across national boundaries.
6 credits; IS, International Studies, SI, Social Inquiry, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Spring 2025 · Daniel Williams -
AFST 300: Race, Racism, and the Beloved Community in the US
Race and racism played a significant role in the construction of the United States of America. But so did the quest for a more perfect union and the beloved community. This course introduces students to the complexity of racial ideology and the ways it privileges one group of people while placing others at a disadvantage. We shall examine the experiences of all racialized groups (Blacks, Asians, American Indians, Latinos) and how they resisted the injustice against them. Most importantly, we shall analyze how their quest for liberation brought America closer to its foundational ideal that all humans are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any AFST course should register for AFST 300; students who have not should register for AFST 213.
Prerequisites:Student has completed any of the following course(s): One course that applies toward the Humanistic Inquiry requirement with a grade of C- or better.
6 credits; HI, Humanistic Inquiry, IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies, WR2 Writing Requirement 2; offered Spring 2025 · Chielo Eze