The African American Studies Department offers six online course this summer, with several of then filling Ohio University general education requirements.
AAS 1060 Introduction to African American Studies ONLINE
Class #5805 | Full Summer Session
Description: Unlike most established disciplines, there is a lack of consensus among Africana studies scholars as to what exactly is African American/Afro-American/Africana/Pan African/Black Studies, and/or what constitutes the nature and scope of the discipline. The National Council for Black Studies, the leading organization of Black Studies professionals in the world, defines it as a discipline that investigates African peoples’ experiences from the perspective of their interests, aspirations, possibilities, and envisioned destinies. This course examines experiences that range from the earliest human civilizations to the tragic era of enslavement, colonization, forced migration, displacement and the reconstruction of African peoples humanity and life ways. This introductory course investigates the foundation, nature, scope, and structure of African American/Africana Studies in American universities. The course explores various descriptions, definitions, and meanings of the discipline/field, as well as approaches to understanding its interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary nature; survey major disciplinary literature written about it, and the perspectives advanced by scholars. The course also critiques and systematically outlines essential components of and/or arguments advanced about, for, or against the discipline. Finally, a comparative exploration of the interrelationship between African American/Africana studies, area studies, and ethnic studies, as well as some emerging intellectual developments in Africana studies research, teaching, and service activities will help guide us later into the semester as we engage in our focused discussions and discoveries of a satisfactory definition of the discipline, and an operational description of its basics and essentials.
AAS 1100 Introduction to African American Literature ONLINE
Tier II Humanities & Literature (2HL)
Class #5518 | First Summer Session
Description: This course focuses broadly on African American literature from work of the 18th century to contemporary writings with the intention of providing the student with an introduction to the topic. With readings in poetry, short fiction, the novel, and other forms of writing, the course explores such questions as how black writers address African American literary inheritance and production. A final paper affords the student the occasion of applying a critical approach to literary texts. Topics may include slave and freeman and free woman narratives, the Harlem Renaissance, and the postmodern black novel. The aim of the course is to equip the student with a strong academic knowledge of African American literature in its cultural and historical contexts.
AAS 2100 Slave Narrative and Freeman/Freewomen Fiction of the 18th and 19th Centuries ONLINE
Tier II Humanities & Literature (2HL)
Class #5519 | Second Summer Session
Description: This course covers the African American slave narrative, from the 18th to the 19th centuries, along with free-woman and free-man writings of the later 19th century and possibly the early 20th century. Readings typically include works by such authors as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup. The course considers contemporary debates surrounding the question of authenticity as well as current views of how slave narratives merit aesthetically. The course also interrogates questions pertaining to how the slave narrative challenges conventional notions of autobiography and how the early black novel confronts received and developing notions of the U.S. novel.
AAS 2900 The Long Civil Rights & Black Power Movements ONLINE
Class #5477 | Second Summer Session
Description: This course explores major African American leaders, events, organizations and strategies i.e. non-violent direct action and armed self-defense during the Civil Rights-Black Power Era from 1950 to the late 1970s. Questions that will be explored include: When and why did the movements start? When did the movements end? What exactly was the struggle for black equality in the United States? What were the differences between the Civil Rights and Black Power struggles? What impact did World War II have on these movements? What were the goals of the movements? What did civil rights in the South look like compared to the North? What organizations and leaders had the best solution for the American Race problem—Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, the Black Panther Party, Cultural Nationalist such as the U.S. Organization etc.? How might the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements help explain current disillusionment around racial issues? These questions and more will be explored by students interested in closely examining this important period in American history and its impact on our society today, particularly as it concerns race relations. Watch a video about this course.
AAS 3450 The Black Woman ONLINE
Class #1165 | First Summer Session
Description: Through the powerful voices of women like Ida B. Wells, Madam CJ Walker, Madam St. Clair, Maya Angelou, Assata Shakur, Angela Davis, bell hooks and more this course investigates the experiences and representations of black women from the American Slave period to today specifically exploring the ways in which black womanhood has been shaped and imagined in American minds through the standards of race, gender, and social class. Through in-depth discussion students will become familiar with key women in the African American experience, and theories such as Black Feminism, Womanism and Africana Womanism and analyze other aspects of black women in America. Watch a video about this course.
AAS 4900 Black Women’s Leadership in the Civil Rights/Black Power Movements and Beyond ONLINE
Class #5478 | Second Summer Session
Description: While there has been much attention given to leaders like Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr. Roy Wilkins, Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin and other black men during and after what historians have called the long Civil Rights movement, little has been explored concerning the contributions of women. This course explores the role of black women in the Civil Rights-Black Power movement in the broader context of 20thand 21st century activism and social movements. Students explore the ebbs and flow of the movement and its leaders. Special attention is given to women in the movements and the contributions they made to these efforts as well as the challenges they faced and continue to address. Watch a video about this course.
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