African American Studies

Interdepartmental Program

The following list reflects the 2006/2007 faculty.

Director Ronald K. Richardson

Faculty

Allison Blakely George and Joyce Wein Chair of African American Studies; Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, University of Oregon; MA, PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Mary Anne Boelcskevy Visiting Assistant Professor of African American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, University of Massachusetts, Boston; AM, PhD, Harvard University

Neta Crawford Professor of African American Studies and Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Linda M. Heywood Professor of African American Studies and History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Brooklyn College; MA, PhD, Columbia University

Robert Margo Professor of African American Studies and Economics, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, University of Michigan; AM, PhD, Harvard University

Ronald K. Richardson Associate Professor of African American Studies and History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, MA, PhD, State University of New York, Binghamton

John K. Thornton Professor of African American Studies and History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, University of Michigan; MA, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Associated Faculty

Cynthia Becker Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, University of New Orleans; MA, PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Lawrence A. Breiner Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences. AB, Boston College; MPhil, PhD,  Yale University

Irene Gendzier Professor of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences. (Comparative Politics), AB, Barnard College; MA, PhD, Columbia University

Shahla Haeri Associate Professor of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Boston State College; MA, Northeastern University; PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Patricia Hills Professor of Art History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Stanford University; MA, City College of New York, Hunter College; PhD, New York University

James C. McCann Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Northwestern University; MA, PhD, Michigan State University

Anita Patterson Associate Professor of English, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Harvard College; MA, PhD, Harvard University

James Pritchett Associate Professor of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Ohio State University; AM, PhD, Harvard University

Jeremy Yudkin Associate Professor of Music, College of Fine Arts. BA, MA, University of Cambridge (England); PhD, Stanford University

Emeriti

Adelaide M. Cromwell Professor Emerita of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences. AB, Smith College; AM, University of Pennsylvania; PhD, Harvard University

James E. Teele Professor Emeritus of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences. BA, Virginia Union University; MA, PhD, New York University

TOP OF PAGE

The Graduate Program

The African American Studies Program explores the African American experience in global and comparative perspective. It trains students in the research techniques needed to uncover connections between African descent populations and other ethnic, racial, national, and cultural groups around the world and within the United States. It encourages critical examination of the racial, ethnic, gender, national, and cultural categories in which we have been taught to think. Our aim is to develop appreciation of the African American impact on world history and national development and understanding of global and cross-cultural influences on African Americans. Our ultimate mission is to foster awareness of our common humanity, respect for our differences, and openness to cross-cultural understanding.

For further information contact the program office at 138 Mountfort Street, Brookline, MA 02446; 617-353-2795; afam@bu.edu; www.bu.edu/afam.

MA in African American Studies

The Master of Arts degree program is focused on building the conceptual, theoretical, and research skills that will allow students to become life-long critical investigators of cross-cultural interaction. While our focus is on the African American experience, our program approaches that experience in the context of global processes and in terms of its relationship to other groups such as Latinos, Asians, European Americans, Africans, and Native Americans.

Admissions Tests and Prerequisites Candidates for the Master of Arts in African American Studies must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Because of the broad focus of this program, there are no specific undergraduate concentration requirements except that the student must have completed some study in both the humanities and the social sciences. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Tests are required of all applicants.

Course Requirements The graduate program is centered on the production of two major research papers, one of which must be orally defended during the last semester in residence. Each paper must be completed as part of the coursework for a research colloquium. Both papers should not be undertaken during the same semester. Colloquia are designed to provide the intellectual environment and the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological guidance needed for graduate level research and writing. The course requirements for the Masters Degree in African American Studies consist of GRS AA 871 African American History and CAS AA 580 The History of Racial Thought, plus six additional courses in African American Studies, for a total of eight courses or thirty-two credit hours.

Language Requirement for the MA Each student who has not previously completed at least two years of study in one foreign language at the undergraduate level or the equivalent must make up the deficiency through coursework or examination.

Doctoral Work in African American Studies Although Boston University does not currently offer a PhD major in African American Studies, it is possible to pursue a concentration within a related PhD program, such as History or American and New England Studies.

Courses

CAS AA 502 Topics in African American Literature

Twentieth-century African American novel. Major works from the Harlem Renaissance, Realism, Modernism, the Black Arts Movement, and the contemporary period. Authors include Jean Toomer, Nella Larsen, Wallace Thurman, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, John Wideman, and Toni Morrison. Also offered as CAS EN 380. Boeleskevy. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

CAS AA 504 African American and Asian American Women Writers

Prereq: sophomore standing. Cross-cultural comparison of African American and Asian American women writers. Explores and evaluates the cultural impact of their work, and looks at how these two groups bound together by “otherness” pursue the theme of conflicting cultures. Also offered as CAS EN 371. Boeleskevy. 4 cr, 1st sem.

CAS AA 505 Black Community and Social Change

Not offered 2007/2008

CAS AA 507 Literature of the Harlem Renaissance

A study of the major writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Explores how their work proclaimed a renewed sense of cultural pride and how they contributed to the destruction of racial and cultural barriers in American society. Also offered as CAS EN 377. Boeleskevy. 4 cr, 1st sem.

CAS AA 514 Comparative Slavery

Prereq: junior standing. The institution of slavery in history with a special focus on slavery and the slave trade in Africa and the Americas in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Attention to cultural and political issues as well as economic and social aspects of slavery. Also offered as CAS HI 584. Thornton. 4 cr, 1st sem.

Not offered 2007/2008

Not offered 2007/2008

CAS AA 559 Reckoning with the Past: Reparations and Justice in Comparative Perspective

Prereq: consent of the instructor. The debate about reparations for slavery and Jim Crow segregation in the United States examined critically as part of a global conversation about, and movement for, retrospective justice. Includes discussion of war crimes tribunals and truth commissions. Also offered as CAS PO 559. Crawford. 4 cr, 1st sem.

Prereq: CAS EC 101 or consent of instructor. Surveys the economic history of African Americans within the context of the development of the American and global economies. Topics include the economics of slavery; race and industrialization; the Great Migration; anti-discrimination legislation; and the historical origins of contemporary racial inequalities. Also offered as CAS EC 563. Margo. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

CAS AA 564 From Slavery to Freedom: Abolition in Comparative Perspective

Legalized slavery was a natural and normal world-wide practice for thousands of years. This course examines the process of abolition in the Americas, Africa, and elsewhere. It compares abolition to the later regulation of forced labor and to contemporary slavery. Also offered as CAS PO 564. Crawford. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

CAS AA 569 African American Economic History

Prereq: junior standing and CAS EC 101 or EC 111, or consent of instructor. Introduction to current research in African American economic history. Topics include slavery and its aftermath, the long-term evolution of racial economic differences, segregation, voting rights, and anti-discrimination legislation. Also offered as CAS EC 569. Margo. 4 cr, 1st sem.

TOP OF PAGE

CAS AA 571 African American Art

Not offered 2007/2008

CAS AA 580 The History of Racial Thought

Study of racial thinking and feeling in Europe and the United States since the fifteenth century. Racial thinking in the context of Western encounters with non-European people and Jews; its relation to social, economic, cultural, and political trends. Also offered as CAS HI 580. Richardson. 4 cr, 1st sem.

CAS AA 583 Black Radical Thought

Not offered 2007/2008

CAS AA 586 African Americans Abroad

Not offered 2007/2008

CAS AA 588 Women, Power, and Culture in Africa

Prereq: consent of instructor. Understanding the role of women in African history. Topics include the Atlantic slave trade, power, religion, the economy, resistance movements, health, the state, and kinship. Emphasis on the period before independence. Also offered as CAS HI 588. Heywood. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

CAS AA 590 The World and the West

Prereq: consent of instructor. Explores relations between the West and the Third World from 1850, focusing on national and cultural movements in the Third World, and places the African American struggle for freedom in the United States in global and comparative perspective. Also offered as CAS HI 590. Richardson. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

GRS AA 716 African Diaspora Arts in the Americas

Not offered 2007/2008

GRS AA 871 African American History

The history of African Americans from African origins to present time; consideration of slavery, reconstruction, and ethnic relations from the colonial era to our own time. Also offered as GRS HI 871. Heywood. 4 cr, 1st sem.

GRS AA 885 Atlantic History

Examines the various interactions that shaped the Atlantic World, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas between 1400 and 1800. Begins by defining the political interaction, then emphasizes cultural exchange, religious conversion, and the revolutionary era. Also offered as GRS HI 885. Thornton. 4 cr, 2nd sem.

Directed Study

GRS AA 901, 902 Directed Study in African American Studies

Prereq: consent of instructor. 4 cr.

Related Courses

In addition, unlisted professional courses may be selected for graduate credit as part of the African American Studies Program in consultation with the director.

TOP OF PAGE

Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Sherborn Street
Boston, MA 02215

31 October 2007
Boston University
Questions
Credits