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Morris Campus

African and Black American Studies Minor

M Acad Dean's Admin
Academic Affairs
  • Program Type: Undergraduate free-standing minor
  • Requirements for this program are current for Spring 2018
  • Required credits in this minor: 20
The African and black American studies minor allows students to explore the art, cultures, histories, and literatures of people of African descent here in the United States, where African American experiences and cultures are central to America's self-definition, and also in Africa and in other places of African diaspora. This minor will allow students of all racial and ethnic identities to concentrate on issues pertinent to Africa and the African diaspora, particularly those of black America, and to integrate their understanding of those issues into the broader context of American and world histories and cultures. The minor offers an interdisciplinary and interdivisional curriculum that enables students to explore a variety of intellectual approaches and to make methodological and thematic connections and comparisons among those several approaches. Student Program Learning Outcomes: • Familiarize students with the variety, depth, and significance of African and Black Americans' contributions to world and American culture; • Enable students to see and appreciate the many African and Black American points of view of history, society, politics, literature, art, and music; • Help students connect the African and Black American experiences to the broader context of the African diaspora; • Develop students' understanding of the nature of race and the dynamics of race and racism in the United States and in the world; and • Give students a grasp of some of the methodological and intellectual approaches to a broad and multifaceted area of study.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Minor Requirements
Courses for the minor may not be taken S-N unless offered S-N only. No grades below C- are allowed. A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required in the minor to graduate. The GPA includes all, and only, University of Minnesota coursework. Grades of "F" are included in GPA calculation until they are replaced.
Minor Requirements
Students must take a minimum of 20 credits in at least two different disciplines. At least 12 of the 20 credits must be devoted to primarily African and/or black American content.
Courses with PRIMARILY African and/or Black American content
Take 12 or more credit(s) from the following:
· ARTH 3241 {Inactive} [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 2041 - Introduction to African American Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3331 - African American Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3332 - African American Women Writers [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3522 - Harlem Renaissance [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· FREN 1311 - Sub-Saharan Francophone Cinema [IP] (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3603 - Francophone Studies: Witches, Wilderness, and Words in African Folktales (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3605 - Francophone Studies: Maghrebian Cinema (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3606 - Francophone Studies: Sub-Saharan Francophone Cinema (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1113 - Introduction to African History since 1880 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2312 - History of South Africa to 1976 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2313 - History of South Africa since 1910 [IP] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3356 - Civil Rights Era, 1954-1974 [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
· MUS 1043 - American Jazz Styles [FA] (4.0 cr)
· POL 3514 {Inactive} [IP] (4.0 cr)
· SOC 3251 {Inactive} [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· SPAN 3685 - Seminar: Slavery and Abolition in Cuban Literature and Culture [IP] (4.0 cr)
· SPAN 3687 - Seminar: Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
Courses with PARTIAL African and/or Black American content
Take at most 8 credit(s) from the following:
· ED 2221 {Inactive} [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 3301 - U.S. Multicultural Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· ENGL 4017 - Research Seminar: Tricksters-Conjurers in American Indian and African American Literature [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3505 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1301 - Introduction to U.S. History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2352 - The U.S. 1960s [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2608 - History of Cuba: From Colony to Revolutionary State [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3304 - Race, Class, and Gender in American History [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3355 - United States in Transition, 1877-1920 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3358 - Civil War and Reconstruction [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· MUS 1049 - Introduction to American Popular Music [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· POL 2234 - Race, Class and Power: Social Movements in U.S. Politics [HDIV] (2.0 cr)
· POL 2235 - Race, Class and Power: Interest Groups in U.S. Politics [HDIV] (2.0 cr)
· PSY 3542 - Multicultural Psychology [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· SOC 2101 {Inactive} [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· SOC 3121 - Sociology of Gender and Sexuality [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· SOC 3124 {Inactive} (4.0 cr)
· SOC 3141 - Sociology of Deviance [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
 
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View future requirement(s):
· Fall 2023
· Fall 2021
· Spring 2020
· Fall 2019

View sample plan(s):
· African American Studies Minor sample plan

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· African and Black American Studies Minor
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ENGL 2041 - Introduction to African American Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Introduction to issues and themes in African American literature and culture, with emphasis on historical and cultural context. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or declared English major
ENGL 3331 - African American Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of African American literature. Particular attention given to issues of gender, class, power, "passing," and the racialized body. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
ENGL 3332 - African American Women Writers (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
If African Americans struggled to achieve equality and recognition in the racist United States, the situation was even more difficult for African American women, who had to contend with the sexism in both the white and black communities. This course examines the writings of prominent African American women. prereq: 1601 or 2109 or equiv or instr consent
ENGL 3522 - Harlem Renaissance (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
During the 1920s, there was a major aesthetic outpouring in the African American community. Listen to jazz, examine African American artwork, and read poetry, short stories, novels and essays from Harlem Renaissance writers. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212
FREN 1311 - Sub-Saharan Francophone Cinema (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to the history of cinema in French-speaking West Africa. Students learn to read African films, to recognize and analyze political themes in the films, and to become sensitive to issues facing many African nations in the postcolonial world. All films have English subtitles. Taught in English. Meets Francophone Studies (FRS) requirement for the French major. [Note: does not count toward the Fren minor]
FREN 3603 - Francophone Studies: Witches, Wilderness, and Words in African Folktales
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of the oral tale in African cultures and how these texts encapsulate cultural knowledge of identity, community, and spirituality. Examination of the supernatural and ancestral spiritual worlds, with a special emphasis on the magical power of words and their ability to create, transform, and destroy. Meets Francophone Studies (FRS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011 or instr consent
FREN 3605 - Francophone Studies: Maghrebian Cinema
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
A study of Algerian, Tunisian, and Moroccan history and culture as presented through the art of cinema. Examination of films produced in the francophone Maghreb thematically, focusing on topics such as colonialism, gender, Islam, childhood, and immigration. An important goal is to learn to analyze and discuss film academically. Meets Francophone Studies (FRS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011 or instr consent
FREN 3606 - Francophone Studies: Sub-Saharan Francophone Cinema
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to the history of cinema in French-speaking West Africa. Students learn to read African films, to recognize and analyze political themes in the films, and to become sensitive to issues facing many African nations in the postcolonial world. Meets Francophone Studies (FRS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011 or instr consent
HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Exploration of Africa's incredible human and environmental diversity from the earliest times to European contact. Special attention to how historians of Africa interpret non-written sources to understand the past.
HIST 1113 - Introduction to African History since 1880 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Consideration of Africa's past from the colonial era to the present. Special attention to the challenges Africans faced living under Europe's grip as well as their courage to build independent African nations.
HIST 2312 - History of South Africa to 1976 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Exploration of South Africa's settler colonial history from European contact to youth resistance against white supremacy. Special attention to examining the history of structural racism in a global perspective.
HIST 2313 - History of South Africa since 1910 (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Consideration of apartheid South Africa's roots and the multiracial country's struggle to reconcile its colonial past. Special attention to 20th-century black and non-racial political thought from a global perspective.
HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination and discussion of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial African history through the debates and trends in and between Western feminism, U.S. women of color feminism, Third World feminism, LGBT studies, queer theory, and the emerging interdisciplinary field of African queer studies. Also suitable for students interested in understanding past and present issues of gender and sexuality in Africa through the theories and conditions that animate black queer studies and the black queer diaspora. prereq: 1111 or 1112 or 1113 or Anth 1111 or GWSS 1101 or instr consent
HIST 3356 - Civil Rights Era, 1954-1974 (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Background of the Civil Rights movement, emergence of the theory and practice of nonviolence, various Civil Rights groups, role of women, legislative and other accomplishments of the movement, its aftermath and influence.
MUS 1043 - American Jazz Styles (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Development and analysis of the New Orleans dixieland, ragtime, stride, boogie-woogie, Chicago dixieland, swing, bop, cool, funky, progressive, third-stream, free form, and fusion jazz styles. Introductory course to help non-music majors become familiar with and appreciate this art form.
SPAN 3685 - Seminar: Slavery and Abolition in Cuban Literature and Culture (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
A study of the major texts surrounding Cuban slavery from the 1812 Aponte slave rebellion to independence from Spain in 1898. How did 19th-century writers depict Cuban slave society? What was the relationship between literature, abolition, and independence? prereq: 3012, 3112, or instr consent
SPAN 3687 - Seminar: Afro-Hispanic Literature and Culture (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
An overview of the literature and culture of peoples of African descent in Spanish America from the colonial period to present day. How have Afro-Hispanics been marginalized from national projects in Spanish America? To what extent and under what circumstances has the group been included? How have Afro-Hispanic writers responded to larger culture? prereq: 3011, 3012, or instr consent
ENGL 3301 - U.S. Multicultural Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination of literatures by African American, American Indian, Asian American, Chicana/o, U.S. Latino/a, and other under-represented peoples. prereq: 1509, two from 1205, 1206, 1211, 1212 or instr consent
ENGL 4017 - Research Seminar: Tricksters-Conjurers in American Indian and African American Literature (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study of tricksters and conjurers in American Indian and African American literature, in particular their ability to maintain traditional practices and subvert the dominant culture and imposed cultural norms. Special attention given to cultural and historical contexts and questions of power, identity, cultural difference, and assimilation. prereq: two from 31xx-35xx, instr consent
HIST 1301 - Introduction to U.S. History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Methods, themes, and problems in the study of the history of the United States.
HIST 2352 - The U.S. 1960s (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
History of the United States in the 1960s. Backgrounds to the 1960s; political and cultural issues of the decade; the Kennedy promise, civil rights and other movements, Vietnam war, counterculture, conservative backlash, and legacy.
HIST 2608 - History of Cuba: From Colony to Revolutionary State (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A survey of the history of Cuba from Spanish colonization to the present, with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include colonization, slavery, imperialism, nationalism, and the Cuban Revolution.
HIST 3304 - Race, Class, and Gender in American History (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The themes of race, class, and gender are explored in-depth throughout the semester. Students gain a new awareness about historiography and theories that highlight this growing subfield of American history. Prominent topics covered in lecture and readings include colonization, slavery, suffrage, immigration, sovereignty, labor, ghettoization, art, literature, culture, and the rise of self-determination. Study the intersection of race, class, and gender relations through multiple perspectives of region, ideology, political-economy, and religion.
HIST 3355 - United States in Transition, 1877-1920 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Topics, themes, and problems in U.S. history, 1877 to 1920.
HIST 3358 - Civil War and Reconstruction (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Origin, context, and significance of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Explore issues of race and ethnicity in Latin America from a historical perspective. Covering the colonial and national periods, examine how ideas of race and ethnicity have intersected with political, economic, and socio-cultural developments in the region. Consider the ways in which race, class, and gender have intersected in Latin America.
MUS 1049 - Introduction to American Popular Music (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Mus 1049/Mus 1801
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Survey of popular musical styles in America from the early 20th century to today.
POL 2234 - Race, Class and Power: Social Movements in U.S. Politics (HDIV)
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Course Equivalencies: Pol 2234/Pol 3234
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Using a case study approach, this half-semester course examines a variety of social movements from across U.S. history. Addresses questions such as why social movements arise, how they succeed or fail, and how the American political system adapts to their influence.
POL 2235 - Race, Class and Power: Interest Groups in U.S. Politics (HDIV)
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Course Equivalencies: Pol 2235/Pol 3234
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
A half-semester course focusing on the growth and importance of interest groups in U.S. politics by looking at different types of interest groups, the tactics they use to try to influence the political system, how successful they are at doing so, and whether this system works for the public good.
PSY 3542 - Multicultural Psychology (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Psy 3541/Psy 3542
Typically offered: Every Spring
Theoretical and methodological approaches to multicultural psychology. Multicultural psychology is the systematic study of behavior, cognition, and affect settings where people of different backgrounds interact. Exploration of these interactions both within and outside of the United States. Topics may include worldviews, communication styles, acculturation, prejudice, white privilege, identity development, physical and mental health, and multicultural competencies. prereq: 1051
SOC 3121 - Sociology of Gender and Sexuality (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduces students to the sociological study of gender and sexuality. Focuses on gender difference and gender inequality. Analyzes the changing roles, opportunities, and expectations of women and men as their societies (and subsequently, gender relations and power) undergo change in today's world. Following a theoretical overview, examines how gender and sexuality affect everyday experiences. prereq: 1101 or Anth 1111 or instr consent
SOC 3141 - Sociology of Deviance (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Introduces students to the sociological study of deviance. Explores the social reality of deviance within contemporary society and examines the social construction of deviant categories. Focuses on images of deviance as social constructs, rather than as intrinsic elements of human behavior. Investigates the complex relationships between individual behavior and social structure, with a focus on power, inequality, and oppression. Also, examines the socio-cultural definitions of morality and behavior. prereq: 1101 or instr consent