African American Studies, BA

Department Chair:

Joan Bryant

Associate Professor and Department Chair

Email: jobryant@syr.edu

Phone: 315.443.4399

Faculty

Joan Bryant, Horace Campbell, Linda Carty, Kishi Animashaun Ducre, Casarae Gibson, Janis A. Mayes, Herbert Ruffin II, S.N. Sangmpam, James G. Williams

This interdisciplinary department offers the opportunity for study, research, and community involvement in African American Studies and enables students to explore cultural, literary, historical, political, socioeconomic and other issues affecting African Americans, as well as links with continental Africa and the Caribbean. The department offers a minor and a major, leading to a B.A. degree, and enables students to explore the field through courses in the social sciences and the humanities. Students seeking a B.A. degree in African American Studies must successfully complete AAS 112 /ANT 112 before formal admission to the major.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Explain major cultural figures, texts, expression, and movements in Black Studies

2. Explain knowledge of major social and political issues in Black Studies

3. Develop knowledge of major social, cultural, & political factors that have defined the Black experience across time and/or space (Diasporic orientation)

4. Learn how race, class, gender, and/or sexualities functions within the contours of the Black experience (intersectionality)

5. Develop critical thinking skills applicable to issues in Black Studies

6. Develop ability to conceive & execute independent inquiries in Black Studies

7. Develop effective written and oral communications

Prerequisite

Students must complete the prerequisite before admission to the major (3 credits)

AAS 112 - Introduction to African American Studies

Core Credits (15 Credits)

ONE course is required from each GROUP

GROUP A: LITERATURE (Choose One)
AAS 231 - African American Literature to 1900: An Introduction
AAS 232 - African American Literature: Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

GROUP B: ART, MUSIC, RELIGION (Choose One)

AAS 206 - Introduction to African American Music
AAS 345 - African American Religious History
AAS 361 - Art of the Black World

GROUP C: HISTORY (Choose One)
AAS 332 - African American History: Through the 19th Century
AAS 333 - African American History: After the 19th Century

GROUP D: POLITICAL SCIENCE & SOCIOLOGY (Choose One)
AAS 306 - African American Politics
AAS 309 - Race, Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora
AAS 341 - Politics of Africa
AAS 353 - Sociology of the African American Experience

GROUP E: MAJOR CAPSTONE (Choose One)
AAS 470 - Experience Credit
AAS 401 - Research in African American Studies

Electives (12 Credits)

Students must complete twelve elective credits of AAS courses for the major. Students who take two 200-level courses in the AAS Core may not count more than one 200-level elective course toward the AAS major.