Courses
For a full course listing, please click here visit the academic catalog.
African Studies courses offered in Spring 2026
AFST 110 A: Introduction to Africana Studies (M5) (Ethical Deliberation)
LaRue; Online Asynchronous
AFST 222 A: Africana Art (M5)
Cutler-Bittner; Online Asynchronous
AFST 362 A: Narrative and Film
LaRue; Online Asynchronous
100-Level Course
AFST 110 A: Introduction to Africana Studies
This course explores the significance of Africa and its global descendants through an interdisciplinary approach. The critical methodologies of the humanities and social sciences will be used to consider some of the questions provoked by African and African diasporan experiences. For example, is an African diaspora an objective reality or has it existed solely in response to American and European notions of racial difference? What have been the characteristics encompassed by that reality or those notions of race? Course materials will allow students to survey the lasting contributions of Africans and their descendants to the development of various world civilizations. (M5) (Ethical Deliberation)
200-Level Course
AFST 222 A: African Art
Students will develop an aesthetic and cultural overview of African art, from prehistory to the present day. Sculpture is the primary medium studied in the course, but textiles, painting, artisanal works and architecture are also included. Students will consider how religion and cultural influences affect the development of regional and national styles. The influence of the African diaspora on art in Europe, Latin America, and the United States will be considered. Students will acquire the critical vocabulary required to analyze and interpret African art, and apply it in both discussion and writing. (M5)
300-Level Course
AFST 362 A: Narrative and Film
Through close analyses of contemporary imaginative films, this course examines the relationship between narrative and cinema. Addressing the medium's relationship with more traditional narrative forms (e.g., novels, short stories, etc.) and these forms' contributions to the constructions of categories of race, gender, sexuality, class, and (inter)nationality, we will explore the questions, "How do fims narrate?" and "What do they narrate?" By the end of this course, we should have a more complex understanding of how narratives are constructed, how the medium of film challenges us to reimagine the shape and limits of what a text might be, and what the narratives offered tell us about the state of our societies and/or cultures. Prereq: None.