Satisfies the Cultural Requirements

Themes that will be explored: cultural contact, African heritage, slavery, inequality, resistance, religion, and migration. Although North America will be our geographical focus, we will also briefly explore people of African descent in other parts of the Americas, Europe, and Asia. We will compare and contrast anthropology with alternative approaches such as Black studies, Afrocentricity, nationalism, and African Diaspora. A number of fundamental questions will be answered by the end of the semester. Who is African American? What socioeconomic factors have had the greatest impact on different populations and their cultural beliefs? Where does race(ism) fit into our understanding of people of African descent? When and why did people become African American? How have African Americans been represented by members of academia, the media, and local communities?