Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

This course explores the diffusion of descendants of African peoples throughout the Atlantic world and ongoing relationships between the American diaspora and Africa. Major course themes include: the slave trade; experiences of enslavement; the struggle for and aftermath of emancipation; the persistence and adaptation of African cultures in New World societies; conceptualizations of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism; struggles for citizenship and decolonization; and efforts to achieve equality and recognition in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Through our readings and discussions, we will compare and connect historical experiences in Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and South America, interrogating the changing meanings of African identities across space and time.

Student Outcomes

Our discussion will return again and again to four themes: 1) movement; 2) circulation; 3) resistance; and 4) identity. The course traces the movement of peoples, forced and voluntary, around the Atlantic Basin. With that movement came the circulation of peoples and cultures. And with that movement and circulation, African and African American identities formed and re-formed. We will strive to make meaningful comparisons across time and region, always with an eye toward accounting for change and continuity. Combining case studies with this overall framework, students will be able to: • Identify how and in what ways Africa-descended people come to define themselves as specifically “African.” • Analyze how events in Africa and Africa-derived culture shaped diasporic identities and, conversely, how diasporic experience influenced people in Africa. • Interpret how African-descended peoples make sense of, resist, and liberate themselves from conditions of slavery, exploitation, and inequality. • Think critically about a variety of texts and how historians construct narratives. • Appreciate varied disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods for acquiring knowledge and demonstrate the ability to synthesize knowledge from multiple disciplines. • Clearly express ideas and the ideas of others to varied audiences, both in writing and orally, with seriousness and respect. • Develop empathy across time, space, and cultures.

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