3090 African-American Studies

Programs Offered:

• Bachelor of Arts in African-American Studies
  • Concentration in Arts and Aesthetics
  • Concentration in Health and Human Development
  • Concentration in Social Justice and Community Empowerment
    
  • Concentration in Pre-Education
• Minor in African American Studies

Department of African-American Studies
962 One Park Place South
404-413-5135
aas.gsu.edu

Akinyele Umoja, Chair
Makungu Akinyela, Undergraduate Director

African-American Studies offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of African people nationally and globally. The field recognizes that the lived experience of African and African descendant peoples worldwide are impacted by a myriad of factors including cultural diversity, emerging technologies, and political economy.  As an interdisciplinary field of concentration, it offers, enhances, and critiques knowledge presented in the traditional disciplines and professions, scholarly and artistic accounts of the realities of the lives of African-Americans, and perspectives on social change. The Department of African-American Studies provides students with the intellectual origins, concepts, research, and models of the discipline; the knowledge and skills necessary for the study of group cultures; and a curriculum that contributes to the goals of African-American Studies and a culturally diverse education. Civic engagement, service learning, and a social justice orientation are fundamental aspects to the African-American Studies curriculum. Faculty and courses are drawn from the department itself and from other departments/schools/institutes in the university.

Academic Advisement for Undergraduate Students

Academic advisement for undergraduate students is provided through the University Advisement Center (freshman through junior status/fewer than 90 hours) and the college’s Office of Academic Assistance (senior status/90 or more hours). See section 3040 for additional information.

Program Degree Requirements

Alternatives are available to some core and major requirements. Please see a degree program adviser for specific guidelines.

In addition to the Program Degree Requirements, students must fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences Degree Requirements (see section 3030) and the University Degree Requirements (see section 1400).

B.A. in African-American Studies

Area F: Courses Appropriate to the Major Field (18)

1. Required Courses (6)
   • AAS 1140 Introduction to African and African-American History and Culture (3)
   • AAS 2010 Introduction to African-American Studies (3)
2. World language at the 1002 level or higher (3)
3. Select additional elective courses from the following to complete 18 hours in Area F:
   • ANTH 2020, AH 1850,  ECON 2105, ECON 2106, GEOG 1101, HIST 1111, HIST 1112, PHIL 2010, POLS 2401, PSYC 1101, PSYC 2040, PSYC 2103, SOCI 1101, SOCI 1160, WGSS 2010

Area G: Major Courses (33)

A grade of C or higher is required in all major courses.

1. Required course to fulfill CTW requirement (3):
   • AAS 3980 Research Methods in African-American Studies-CTW (3)
2. Major Requirements (12)
   • Select the following global competency course:
     • AAS 3120 African Diaspora (3)
   • Select one intellectual foundations course from the following:
     • AAS 3975 Concepts and Theories in African-American Studies (3)
     • AAS 4120 African American Political Thought (3)
   • Select one gender and sexuality course from the following:
     • AAS 4125 Black Feminist Thought (3)
     • AAS 3010 Narratives of Race, Gender, and Sexuality (3)
   • Select one AAS literature course from the following:
     • AAS 3880 African-American Literature (3)
     • AAS 3960 African-American Literature by Women (3)
     • AAS 4890 Caribbean Literature (3)
3. A minimum of 15 hours must be taken from African-American Studies courses at 3000-4000 level which must include: three courses from one of the three areas (1) Health and Human Development, (2) Social Justice and Community Empowerment, and (3) Arts and Aesthetics of concentration and two courses from the other two concentrations.

Arts and Aesthetics (15):

1. Students in this concentration are required to take three courses, and must engage at least two of the three areas of the arts. For example, a student may take one course in each area of the arts, or two courses in one area and one course in another.
   • Performance Arts
     • AAS 4360 Studies in Black Dance (3)
     • AAS 4650 African American Theater (3)
   • Visual and Popular Arts
     • AAS 4625 Black Mecca and Black Popular Culture (3)
     • AAS 4900 African Americans in Film (3)
     • AAS 4350 Black Visual Representation: Iconography of the African Diaspora (3)
     • AAS 4950 African American Popular Culture (3)
   • Musical Arts
     • AAS 3500 Jazz History (3)
     • AAS 3810 History of African American Music (3)
     • MUA 3970 Rhythm and Blues (3)
2. Select from the following options (6):
   • Course(s) from Health and Human Development concentration (0-6)
   • Course(s) from Social Justice and Community Empowerment (0-6)
   • AAS 4980 Seminar and Practicum in African-American Studies for students wishing to do internship or independent research (3)

Health and Human Development Concentration (15):

1.  Core Required Classes: (6)
   • AAS 4105 Race and Health (3)
   • AAS 4000 Issues in the African American Community (3)
2. Students must choose one course from these:
   • AAS 4030 African American Male/Female Relationships (3)
   • AAS 4110 Black Women and Health (3)
   • AAS 4280 African American Anthropology (3)
   • AAS 3050 African American Psychology (3)
3. Select from the following options (6):
   • Course(s) from Social Justice and Community Empowerment concentration (0-6)
   • Course(s) from Arts and Aesthetics concentration (0-6)
   • AAS 4980 Seminar and Practicum in African-American Studies for students wishing to do internship or independent research (3)

Social Justice and Community Empowerment (15)

1. Take one course from each of the following three categories (9):
   • Social and Community Organization:
     • AAS 3000 African-American Family (3)
     • AAS 4000 Issues in the African-American Community (3)
   • Politics and Activism:
     • AAS 4160 African-American Politics (3)
     • AAS 4180 Politics of the Civil Rights Movement (3)
     • AAS 4550 Activism and Black Freedom Movements (3)
   • Gender and Sexuality in Social Change:
     • AAS 3960 African-American Literature by Women (3)
     • AAS 4080 African-American Female Activism (3)
     • AAS 4100 African-American Women in the United States (3)
     • AAS 4530 Voices of African-American Feminists (3)
     • AAS 4780 African-American Lesbian and Gay Activism (3)
2. Select from the following options (6):
   • Course(s) from Health and Human Development concentration (0-6)
   • Course(s) from Arts and Aesthetics concentration (0-6)
   • AAS 4980 Seminar and Practicum in African-American Studies for students wishing to do internship or independent research (3)

Pre-Education Concentration

The Department of African-American Studies offers a pre-education track with a concentration in history for students who wish to become public school teachers and to be certified to teach by completing the initial teacher preparation for the M.A.T. Program in Social Studies Education in the College of Education and Human Development (or a similar master’s level initial preparation program at another university). The pre-education track in African-American studies develops teachers to work effectively in multi-cultural classrooms. The pre-education track in African-American Studies prepares teachers to teach students from diverse ethnic, gender, cultural, and social class groups by offering curricula that examine the histories and experiences of people of African descent and aspects of cultural identity formation in the U.S., Africa, and the Caribbean. This track also prepares educators to develop their students to be citizens of a global community. Students who wish to pursue the pre-education track in African-American Studies must take ten designated upper-division major courses (33 credit hours), take three education courses (9), and complete the coursework in one or more of the following allied fields: political science (9), geography (9), or economics (9).

1. Required Courses to fulfill CTW requirement (6)
   • AAS 3980 Research Methods in African-American Studies-CTW (3)
   • AAS 4980 Seminar and Practicum in African-American Studies-CTW (3)
2. Additional Courses (27):
   • AAS 3975 Concepts and Theories in African-American Studies (3)
   • AAS 3450 History of African Americans in Georgia (3)
   • AAS 4010 Service Learning in the African American Community (3)
   • AAS 4640/HIST 4270 African-American People (4)
   • AAS 4600/HIST 4280 Enslavement and Resistance in North America (3)
   • AAS 4620/HIST 4290 Enslavement in the Americas (3)
   • AAS 4772/HIST 4772/WGSS 4772 Women in Africa (3)
   • AAS 4774/HIST 4774 African Rebellions (3)
   • HIST 3000 Introduction to Historical Studies-CTW (4)
   • HIST 3220 United States in the Twentieth Century (4)

Total Number of Hours: 33

Allied Fields (18)

Select two or more out of the following fields:

• Political Science (9) (3000-4000 level courses)
• Geography (9) (3000-4000 level courses)
• Economics (9) (3000-4000 level courses)
• Education (Required: EXC 4020; along with two of the following: LT 3210, EDCI 3200, EDUC 3010, EDUC 4982, EDSS 3400, and EDLA 3200) (9)
• One Behavioral Sciences field: Anthropology, Sociology, or Psychology (9) (3000-4000 level courses)

Area H: Minor and Additional Courses

Students majoring in African-American Studies:

1. Are not required to take a minor.
2. Must take additional courses as electives to complete a minimum of 120 hours, exclusive of KH 1010.

Minor in African-American Studies

Students who wish to minor in African-American Studies should complete the following requirements (15). A grade of C or higher is required in all minor courses.

1. Complete the following three courses (9)
   • AAS 2010 Introduction to African-American Studies (3)
   • AAS 3120 African Diaspora (3)
   • AAS 4120 African-American Political Thought (3)
2. Select two African-American Studies courses at the 3000 level or above (6).

Graduation with Distinction in the Major

This department offers undergraduate students with the opportunity to earn the designation of graduation with distinction in the major. In order to achieve distinction in the major, students must earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher within the AAS major and an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher.