Undergraduate Program

Framed as a historical introduction to Islamic traditions, this course will explore the political, social, and intellectual histories of Islam as a global tradition from its emergence through the modern period. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the central texts, personalities, events, geographies, institutions, and schools of thought that make up Islamic histories. We will begin by tracing Islam’s political history as it spreads from the Arabian Peninsula and encounters diverse cultures and peoples, before moving on to discuss the development of intellectual sciences and social institutions. In the process of studying Islamic histories, the course will engage several critical issues in the academic study of Islam such as orientalism, authority and writing history, authenticity, and gendered representations of Muslim societies.

Location

Lattimore Room 210 (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

The course will study the Black American Christian musical beginnings and includes forms of worship, early musical practices, the Spiritual, evolution of Gospel. An examination of ante-bellum musical activities follows including secular song types, character of the folk music with respect to poetic and musical form, language and themes. Attention will be given to significant literary and aesthetic developments, especially during the Harlem Renaissance and the poetry of several writers of that era will be surveyed. The course will treat Blues, its origins evolution through the 1940s. Surveys of classical music forms from the 18th to mid-20th century; music of the theater from minstrelsy to Broadway; precursors of jazz, the syncopated dance orchestra and brass bands; early jazz to bebop round out the course offerings.

Location

Lattimore Room 210 (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

After a brief review of the primary features of pre-European African society, we will examine the affect of the 'Middle Passage' -- the transportation of enslaved Africans to the Western Hemisphere. We will then focus on the process of 'Americanization'; as the Africans became African-Americans. The struggle for freedom and citizenship will conclude our survey. The main course readings will be a representative sample of African-American autobiographies, and short selections from a secondary text. Using the autobiographies as historical source material, we will produce a brief history of the values and cultural practices of Africans in America, and the ways in which African-Americans adapted to and shaped American life and society.

Location

Bausch & Lomb Room 270 (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)

In Black Gospel Music, we will examine the historical development of gospel music, beginning with 19th century slave spirituals and ending with an examination of 21st century gospel music practices. Throughout this course, we will attempt to answer the following questions: what is gospel music how are the parameters of the genre defined? How has gospel music participated in constructions of black identity and spiritual formation? How has the sound and presentation of gospel music evolved, i.e. instrumentation, vocal aesthetic, performance persona, and technique?

Lectures and discussions will also highlight some of the perpetually controversial tensions that have come to define gospel music history and culture. Such tensions involve the commercialization of gospel music, the ambiguity of lyrical meaning, gospel music's flirtations with sensuality and sexuality, and debates about what constitutes authentic gospel music.

Location

Dewey Room 2110E (MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM)

The course covers the history and influence of the music called 'the Blues'; the origins of blues in the context of African American culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the blues' rapid rise to becoming the dominant popular music in the African American community, and the discovery of blues by white audiences. Class format combines lecture, listening and discussion.

Location

Rush Rhees Library Room 442 (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

The Eastman Mbira Ensemble provides a hands-on introduction to the ancient and sophisticated musical tradition of the Shona mbira of Zimbabwe. Visiting Zimbabwean guest artists will also offer students the opportunity to delve more deeply into traditional musical practices and their cultural and spiritual context. Songs are taught aurally so no musical experience or training is required. May be repeated for credit.

Location

Eastman Theatre Room B12A (M 6:30PM - 8:00PM)

Led by Master Drummer Fana Bangoura, the West African Drumming Ensemble is dedicated to the dynamic percussive traditions of Guinea. The ensemble combines the iconic djembe hand drum with a trio of drums played with sticks, known as dunun, sangban, and kenkeni. The powerful, multi-part relationships established by this trio of drums provide a rhythmic foundation for the ensemble, enabling djembe players to develop technique in executing both accompaniment and solo parts. Drawing upon his experience as a soloist with the internationally acclaimed groups Les Percussions de Guinée and Les Ballets Africains, Fana engages ensemble players with a wide repertory of music from various regions of Guinea, including the rhythms of the Susu, Malinke, and Baga language groups.

Location

Dewey Room B315 (MW 6:30PM - 7:45PM)

Drake, Sexxy Redd, Kodak Black and several other contemporary rap artists operate within long traditions of hip hop that make religious claims.  This course provides an overview of histories and contexts of hip hop genres (trap, conscious, dance/party, mumble, drill…) in correlation with contexts of Black religious groups (Black Israelites, Moorish Science Temple of America, Five Percenters, Christianity, Nation of Islam, Yoruba, Atheism…).  This course will be interactive, consisting of listening parties, (guests) lectures, DJ presentations, discussions, and a field trip to a Black religious and/or hip hop experience. By the end of the class, students will have a playlist that professes a religious claim.

Location

Morey Room 321 (MW 11:50AM - 1:05PM)

An art form of self-defense with aerobic and dance elements that brings together these harmony of forces. Through looking into history, movement and culture, students will gain self-confidence, power, flexibility, and endurance in a positive environment with proper progressions. Open to those of any background and fitness level. Capoeira allows you to balance the body, mind, and soul by enabling one to break through limits and revitalize oneself for everyday life.

Location

Spurrier Gymnasium Room 104 (MW 4:50PM - 6:20PM)

Sansifanyi is an ensemble that provides various performance opportunities both on and off-campus for intermediate and advanced students of African dance & drumming. Instructor Kerfala Bangoura trains ensemble members in a performance style that integrates dance, drumming, vocal song, and narrative elements. Dancers who enroll in Sansifanyi will learn choreographic techniques for West African dance and gain experience dancing as soloists. Dancers will also learn focus on rhythmic timing and on drumming while dancing. Drummers enrolled in Sansifanyi will learn extended percussion arrangements and techniques for accompanying choreography. They will also learn how to play the breaks required of lead drummers. Prerequisites: One of the following: DANC181 & 182, DANC 283, DANC 253, DANC 285. For Drummers one of the following: MUSC 168A, MUSC 168B, MUSC 146 OR to audition, email kerfala.bangoura@gmail.com.

Location

Spurrier Gymnasium Room 104 (TR 6:45PM - 8:15PM)

Rochester sits in one of the world’s most explicitly carceral landscapes, with more than a dozen state prisons within a 90 min drive. This co-taught course is a collaborative ethnographic research project designed to examine how the presence of prisons in towns around Rochester reflects and shapes the political, economic, and cultural lives of those who live in the region. Students will be introduced to methods and practices of ethnography and conduct firsthand research on the cultural politics of prison towns. Through assigned reading, students will learn about the history, sociology, and cultural logics of Rochester and the wider region, and of mass incarceration. What does a prison mean for a person living near one? How does the presence of prisons shape people’s notions of justice, citizenship, and punishment? How do these nearby but largely invisible institutions shape the ways that we live in Rochester? Recommended prior courses: Being Human: Cultural Anthropology or Incarceration Nation

Location

Bausch & Lomb Room 269 (M 2:00PM - 4:40PM)

This course examines contemporary literature and cultural productions (films, art, music) from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. It will explore works that challenge and dismantle the racial and gender/sexual hierarchies rooted in colonialism and coloniality. Topics will include Black resistance, feminist struggles, LGBTQ+ rights, colonial difference, the political economy of knowledge, and the construction of a decolonial otherwise, and the narration of other futures. 

Readings may include works by: Rita Indiana Hernández, Mayra Santos-Febres, Alejo Carpentier, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Lewis Gordon, and Nelson Maldonado-Torres.

Course will be taught in English. Students taking the course for Spanish credit must have taken SP 200 and will do some reading and most of the writing in Spanish. 

Location

Frederick Douglass Room 403 (TR 2:00PM - 3:15PM)

How do cyborgs, superheroes, and ghosts change our understanding of what it means to be human? How do interstellar travel, dystopian climate change, and revisionist ancient histories reframe the way we think of African diasporic histories of trauma, survival, desired freedom, and collective belonging? Studying science fiction, fantasy, and horror from across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America, this course will focus on how 20th and 21st century artists have reimagined black life after slavery and empire. We’ll study a range of artistic forms, including fiction, film, visual art, and music, by artists like Octavia Butler, Wanuri Kahiu, Nalo Hopkinson, Jordan Peele, and Wangechi Mutu. We’ll look at how artists of color contort the world we know, and how they use the speculative mode to pose deeply philosophical and historical questions.

Location

Goergen Hall Room 110 (TR 11:05AM - 12:20PM)

This course explores Hollywood's fascination with race and gender as social issues and as spectacles. In particular, we will focus on the ways that social difference have become the sites of conflicted narrative and visual interactions in our films. To examine competing representations of racial difference and sexual difference in US culture, we analyze popular films from the 1950s to the present.

Location

Morey Room 504 (MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM)

 What is the sound of Black womanhood? How do we hear and listen to Black women? Where do we hear sonic Black womanhood? When, where, and how does sound become (un)gendered and/or queered? Are we really listening? In this course, we will explore the diverse and multivocal sonic cultures of Black women, femmes, and gender-oppressed people. We learn from the vocality of early twentieth century blues women singers, locate the often erased yet long history of Black women in country music, wrestle with the complex politics of Black women’s sexuality in popular music (in genres such as disco, hip hop, and pop), and listen to the screams, the noise, the break, and the grunt as emitted by Black women, femmes, and gender-oppressed voices. We expand the definition of “sound” and contemplate its emergence across critical and cultural texts including albums, films, television, theatre, performance, literature, and more. Working with methods in sound studies, performance studies, and music/musicology, this course will “listen in detail,” as performance scholar Alexandra T. Vasquez offers, to the multiple ways that Black women create sound.

Location

Todd Union Room 202 (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

The explosion of black culture during the early Twentieth Century known as the “Harlem” or (more broadly) “New Negro” Renaissance included the emergence of some of the most important works of the African American literary tradition. This course will provide a survey of the literature and culture that reflect the spirit of that era. In addition, the course will consider recent African-American fiction in order to ascertain what the Harlem Renaissance has meant for subsequent writers and artists. Special attention will be paid to the following topics: migration, jazz, the Blues, literary modernism, theories of black identity, and difference within black America. Readings include works by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, George Schuyler, Toni Morrison, Samuel R. Delany, and more. Requirements include class participation, six 1-page reading responses, and two 6-8-page formal writing assignments.
 
 

Location

Meliora Room 219 (MW 10:25AM - 11:40AM)

This course provides a comprehensive survey of African American theatre history and African American dramatic literature from the 1970s until the contemporary period. In this course, we will explore the historical, political, and aesthetic influences that Black theatre has had on African American history and culture. In doing so, we will witness changing and often challenging perceptions, responses, and critiques to issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. With an emphasis on dramatic literature, the course aims to engage students with the development of Black theatre and performance in America. Thus, this course will ruminate on the following questions: What is a Black play? What is the relationship between Black theatre and the broader American theatre? How has Black theatre and performance been utilized as a site of political resistance? How have Black theatre and performance contributed to Black identity formation?

Location

Frederick Douglass Room 420 (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)

This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the historical and contemporary intersections of race, class, and policing in the United States. By examining the evolution of policing from its earliest forms in slave patrols to modern-day policing practices, students will gain insights into how policing and criminalization have shaped, and continue to shape, society. The course will analyze the roles of policing in various social and historical contexts, such as colonial policing, labor movements, immigration control, Black Freedom Movements, and the War on Drugs. Special emphasis will be placed on understanding the expansion of police resources and power over time and its impact on Black and marginalized communities. Discussions will include the growth of abolitionist movements and community-based safety approaches amid recent activism in response to police violence. 

Location

Lechase Room 148 (TR 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

This class center African American religiosity—examining African religious retentions in America from the 17th century to the present.  We will examine religious traditions of African Americans that include Voodoo, Black Hebrew Israelites, Moorish Movement, Five Percent Nation, Christianity, Rastafarianism and the Nation of Islam.  Themes of liberation, humanity, nationhood, love, language, identity, and culture will be explored throughout the semester.  Students will learn about religious plurality and how cultural experience shapes religious interpretation.

Location

Bausch & Lomb Room 269 (MW 9:00AM - 10:15AM)

In this course we will consider the special contributions of black intellectuals to the culture and controversies of America and the Atlantic world focusing on the twentieth century and the contemporary moment. Analyses and criticisms of racial identity, national belonging, political theory, artistic expression, and gender politics will focus our discussions. Works by W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Francis Harper, Nella Larson, George Schuyler, Frantz Fanon, C. L. R. James, Paul Gilroy, Aimé César, Eduard Glissant, Stuart Hall, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Léopold Senghor, Hortense Spillers, Cedric Robinson, and Claudia Rankine will figure prominently in our discussions, as will the more general question of the political and social role of intellectuals in the modern world, the problem of elitism in democratic societies, and the crucial, leading role black writers and artists have played in defining and shaping our modern era. 

Location

Hylan Building Room 202 (MW 2:00PM - 3:15PM)

Dynamic dance traditions of Guinea, West Africa. Accompanied by live music, students learn footwork and movements for several rhythms and acquire familiarity with the physical stance common to many styles of West African dance. Learn to execute movements together with the rhythmic foundation provided by our drummers and become familiar with the origins and cultural significance of each dance, and the songs that accompany them.

Location

Spurrier Gymnasium Room 104 (MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM)

In this class we will ask what U. S. literature and art of the first half of the nineteenth century has to say to readers today.  This period has often been described as the first moment of greatness in American culture.  Like today, it was a period of great political strife.  In the nineteenth century that strife culminated in a catastrophic Civil War.  Like today, the nation was riven by deep regional and ideological divisions and struggling to reconcile its many contradictions.  Dedicated to principles of liberty but dependent on enslaved labor, celebrating equality but denying women’s rights and holding black Americans in bondage, championing justice for all but expropriating Native lands, promising a more perfect union but increasingly pulling apart along sectional and class lines, pursuing happiness but increasingly in doubt about how one should live.  In the midst of these controversies and tensions, writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, Herman Melville, Harriet Jacobs, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Edgar Allan Poe and Lydia Maria Child and Abraham Lincoln as well as a generation of American painters created fiction and poetry, essays and speeches and paintings of great power and inventiveness that also wrestled with the political and ethical crises of its day. The hopes that these artists invested in art’s power to inspire and guide national and reform personal redemption is one way they remain relevant today.

Location

Hylan Building Room 305 (MW 12:30PM - 1:45PM)

This course will examine the varieties of thought about, and practice of, civil disobedience within social movements, with an emphasis on contemporary activism. When, why, and how do communities choose to push back against structures of violence and injustice? Throughout the semester, we will study canonical “texts” of modern resistance history – speeches, writing, direct action protests, art – and will consider the role of this form of counter-conduct within larger campaign strategies to build power from below and get free.

Location

Meliora Room 224 (T 2:00PM - 4:40PM)

Sansifanyi offers experienced dancers the opportunity to study West African dance forms as well as studying cultural history and context from which and in which they are performed at a professional level. This course requires a high degree of student commitment. Dancers who enroll in Sansifanyi will learn choreographic techniques for West African dance and gain experience dancing as soloists. They will also focus on rhythmic timing, and on advanced skills such as how to combine movement with drumming. In addition to the time students spend in class, dancers in the ensemble are expected to spend several hours per week researching, reading, writing, viewing videos, text and article analysis, practicing, and choreographing various rhythms, songs, movements, and sequences. Dancers must also be available for performances both on and off campus throughout the semester.   Clusters: Improvisation and the Creative Process, Movement and Culture, Dance and Performance. Prerequisite: Audition on first day of class or for dancers, one of the following: DANC 181/182, DANC 283, DANC 253, DANC 285: For drummers one of the following: MUSC 168A, MUSC 168B, MUSC 146

Location

Spurrier Gymnasium Room 104 (TR 6:45PM - 8:15PM)

What did it mean to free yourself from enslavement in different parts of the Americas?

What constitutes success? How does agency, resistance, and complicity emerge in the

transition from unfreedom to freedom? What are the legacies of such actions in the

contemporary moment? By focusing on flight from enslavement, we will trace the contours

of colonization in the Americas, how maroons challenged the naturalness of the colonial

order and shaped larger geopolitical relations among colonial powers. First, we will take a

nuanced approach to broad themes such as freedom, independence, and resistance as we

examine case studies from Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. We will then

explore how these narratives of freedom and resistance have been used in the present day

for a variety of purposes from commemoration to tourism to activism. By following the

lives and afterlives of maroons in the Americas, this course asks us to critically engage with

the often ignored co-authors of the hemisphere’s past, present, and future.

Location

Meliora Room 209 (TR 9:40AM - 10:55AM)

Independent study project on a topic(s) not covered by the existing curriculum. Proposal for an independent study is developed and agreed upon between the student and a member of the University faculty. 

Location

( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)

Experience in an applied setting, supervised on site. Internships are approved, sponsored, and graded by a member of the University faculty based on mutually agreed upon requirements.

Location

( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)

Independent research courses provide students an opportunity to conduct original research that makes an intellectual or creative contribution to their discipline or assist with faculty-led research.
 

Location

( 7:00PM - 7:00PM)