HAFR 101 - Introduction to Africana Studies

Credit Hours: 3

This initial course in the major provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of African American/Africana Studies as the interdisciplinary study of the Black experience in the Diaspora, particularly the U.S. of America. The course begins with an exploration of the drama surrounding the founding of Black Studies from the early 20th century at HBCUs to the Black Power movement of the late 1960s, a history that forced a rethinking of the relationship between the academy and progressive movements for social change. Then, students are introduced to the interdisciplinary nature of Africana Studies and the transdisciplinary research and reading skills required to render meaning from the African Diasporic experience. The course surveys key turning points in precolonial African history, continent-wide transformations leading to the three slave trades-the Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, and Trans-Atlantic Slave Trades. Turning to the Diaspora, the course provides the student with a concise understanding of the social forces that impact African life during and after enslavement. To strengthen this integrative understanding, the course involves a service-learning experience, which provides a direct experience of conditions facing African Americans and immigrant African communities. The course challenges the student to think through multiple intelligences offered by disciplines that constitute the field: history, sociology, psychology, political science, economics, and science and technology.