African American Studies AFAM

AFAM 40A African American Studies I

Units

4

((III or IV) and VII.)

Discusses main contours of African American experience from the forced importation of Africans into the Americas in the late fifteenth century to the development of social movements in post-emancipation societies of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Offered: Fall 2026 (5 sections)

AFAM 40B African American Studies II

Units

4

((III or IV) and VII.)

Introduction to the history of modern racial thinking in Western society and its relationship to the material contexts of racial oppression, with emphasis on its development in British colonies and in the U.S.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 40C African American Studies III

Units

4

((III or IV) and VII.)

Introduction to theories of racial blackness in the modern world, with emphasis on developments in British colonies and U.S. Traces emergence of blackness as term of collective identity, social organization, and political mobilization.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 50 Introductory Topics in African American Studies

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Introduction to a broad range of topics in African American studies, exploring history, literature, art, culture, politics, and contemporary social issues. Topical organization of courses addresses issues that have been of importance historically and are reshaping the African diaspora today.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 111A Modern African American Art

Units

4

Same as ART HIS 164A

Investigates the history of modern African American art; emphasis on the politics of representation. Examines art in a variety of media from material culture and textiles to painting and photography. Issues of migration, nationalism, gender, sexuality, and hybridity are discussed.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 111B Contemporary African American Art

Units

4

Same as ART HIS 164B

Investigates the history of contemporary African American art; emphasis on the politics of representation. Explores art in a variety of media: painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and new media. Cultural politics, appropriation, identity, gender, sexuality, hybridity and civil rights issues discussed.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 112A Early African American Literature

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines the earliest forms of black literary practices, including the jeremiad, the slave narrative, the pamphlet, poetry, the short story, and how these literary forms are related to the historical experiences of enslavement and emancipation.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 112B African American Literature 1900-Present

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines individual literary forms and/or authors, as well as movements such as the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement. Explores how black literary practices represent the conditions of modern subjectivities and environments.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 113 African American Cinema and Media

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Explores the diversity of Black creative production and the historical, social, and economic forces that shaped their emergence. May include Black film, hip-hop culture, fine art, photography, and others.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 114 International Cultures

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Explores the various cultures of the African diaspora and their impacts on a global scale. Examines a diverse range of media, including music (reggae, hip-hop), literature, film, and others and the links between culture and social movements throughout the diaspora.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 115 Race and Visual Representation

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines film, documentary, fine art, photography, and other visual media to explore the multiple ways in which ideas about race are projected and woven through the visual landscape and the impacts this has on perpetuating social inequalities.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 118 Topics in African American Humanities

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Provides students with an opportunity to pursue advanced work in African American studies from one or more humanities approaches (literature, film and media studies, art history, and others).

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 119 Black Latinidades

Units

4

Same as CHC/LAT 132

(VII)

Questions the parameters of Latinidad by centering the origins and development of African descent communities in the Americas through a multidisciplinary, transnational, and diasporic approach to the study of Afro-Latinidad.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 125 African American Women in Art

Units

4

Same as ART HIS 164D

Examines depictions of and by African American women in art and popular culture through a variety of media including textiles, painting, sculpture, photography, and installation. Focuses on African American women's experiences, perspectives, and strategies for contemporary representation.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 128 Topics in Gender/Sexuality

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Expressions of genders and sexualities across the spectrum of African American experience and creativity.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 134A Caribbean History: Colonization to Emancipation

Units

4

Same as HISTORY 164A

Exploration of the history of the archipelago from pre-Columbian times to the end of slavery; examining the impact of European colonization, decimation of the indigenous populations, African slavery, resistance, and emancipation; the unity and diversity of experience in region.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 134B Caribbean History: Emancipation to Independence

Units

4

Same as HISTORY 164B

Post-emancipation and anti-colonial struggles ending with political independence for most of the region. Examines social, political, economic, cultural dimensions of post-emancipation period, including large-scale migration to Central America, the U.S., and Britain; the region's global cultural and political contribution.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 137 History of the African Diaspora

Units

4

Same as HISTORY 134E

Examines the causes and consequences of the multiple diasporas of African peoples since the sixteenth century in the Atlantic world, especially the Americas and Europe.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 138 Topics in African American History

Units

4

Same as HISTORY 150

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Studies in selected areas of African American history. Topics addressed vary each quarter.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 143 Topics in African American Music

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines African American musical forms and traditions, such as blues, jazz, and reggae, in performance and/or critical and theoretical contexts.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 144 Topics in Expressive Forms

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines various forms of aesthetic expression in the African diaspora, including dance, music, and the plastic arts, as well as artistic visions of black cyberspace, digital activism, film, video, and aesthetic conceptions of the future.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 145 African Americans and Photography

Units

4

Same as ART HIS 164E

Explores depictions of and by African Americans through photography. Examines the history of photography in relationship to African American culture through a variety of media from early daguerreotype processes to digital imagery.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 146 Afro-Latin American Music

Units

4

Same as CHC/LAT 115C

(VIII)

Musical culture of Afro-Latin American peoples, emphasizing Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Topics include background in West Africa, the persistence of traditions in the Caribbean, the commercial music of the 20th century, the connections between musical culture, religion, and the economy.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 151 Comparative Minority Politics

Units

4

Same as ASIANAM 132, CHC/LAT 147

Examines the political experiences of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the United States from roughly 1950 to the present. Focuses on how each group has pursued political empowerment via both conventional political channels and social movements.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 152 African American Politics

Units

4

Same as POL SCI 124E

Examines politics of African Americans in order to gain a broader perspective of the American political process. Major developments in African American politics (including the civil rights movement, Black presidential bids), continuing problem of racism, responsiveness of key governing institutions.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 153 African American Psychology

Units

4

Same as COGS 153

Historical overview of the development of black psychology and the African American frame of reference. Topics include personality development, psychological assessment, issues in education, black mental health, and the role of the African American psychologist in the community.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 154 African American Social Formations

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Topics which promote critical investigation into the historical, political, and social formations associated with the Black Diaspora.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 155 Intercultural Studies

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Studies relationships between various cultural formations within the Black Diaspora and the exchange, amalgamations, and tensions between Black Diasporic formations and non-Black formations. Examines expressions of racialization as representation, adaption, and resistance.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 156 African Societies and Politics

Units

4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times as topics vary

Examines the violent incorporation of Africa within European modernity. Places the discourse of Pan-Africanism, African Nationalisms, Negritude, African Marxism, and/or African Socialism in juxtaposition to the forces of capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism that restructure African history.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 157 Critical Race Theory

Units

4

Same as CRM/LAW C178

Restrictions: African-American Studies majors, Criminology, Law and Society majors, and Social Ecology majors have the first consideration for enrollment

Introduction to Critical Race Theory and key American cases on racial inequality. Using this literature, examines the possibilities and pitfalls of legal claims of race, gender, and sexuality discrimination in the age of colorblindness.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)

AFAM 159 Prisons and Public Education

Units

4

Same as ANTHRO 138

Looks at the connections between schools and prisons in the United States. Students learn about ideas that push beyond common trope of the “school to prison pipeline.”

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 162W The Black Protest Tradition

Units

4

Prerequisite

Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement

(Ib)

History and discourses of the black protest tradition. Traces emergence of black protest against racial slavery and white supremacy from the early colonial period to present and the complex elaboration of identity politics within black communities in the twentieth century.

Not on the Fall 2026 schedule.

AFAM 198 Directed Group Study

Units

1-4

Repeatability: May be taken for credit for 24 units

Special topics through directed reading. Paper required.

Offered: Fall 2026 (4 sections)

AFAM 199 Independent Study

Units

1-4

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times

Investigation of special topics through directed reading. Paper required.

Offered: Fall 2026 (4 sections)

AFAM 399 University Teaching

Units

4

Grading Option: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only

Repeatability: May be taken unlimited times

Limited to teaching assistants.

Offered: Fall 2026 (1 section)