Africana Studies (2022 - 2024)
Introductory Core
Social and Cultural Analysis 101
SCA-UA 101 Offered every year. 4 points.
Introduces theories, methods, and political trajectories central to the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis (SCA). SCA addresses how individuals and populations structure their worlds and navigate the resulting social, cultural, and political terrain. It privileges scholarly work with an intersectional approach, drawing on theoretical insights from such fields as social geography, feminism and queer studies, ethnic studies, urban and metropolitan studies, critical race theory, labor studies, and cultural studies.
Please note that the following CORE-UA course counts as introductory only when offered by SCA faculty:
Cultures and Contexts: The Black Atlantic
CORE-UA 534 Offered every fall. 4 points.
See description under College Core Curriculum in this Bulletin.
Research Core
Advanced Research Seminar
SCA-UA 90 Prerequisite: Social and Cultural Analysis 101 (SCA-UA 101) or Cultures and Contexts: The Black Atlantic (CORE-UA 534). Offered every semester. 4 points.
Students write a 20-25 page research paper with a focus on a specific research method. Topics vary by semester; see Albert for details.
Honors Program
Senior Honors Seminar
SCA-UA 92 Prerequisites: 3.65 GPA or higher (both overall and in the major), Social and Cultural Analysis 101 (SCA-UA 101), The Black Atlantic (CORE-UA 534), and permission of the department. Offered every fall. 4 points.
Senior Honors Thesis
SCA-UA 93 Prerequisites: Senior Honors Seminar (SCA-UA 92), 3.65 GPA or higher (both overall and in the major), and permission of the department. Offered every spring. 4 points.
SCA Theory and Practice: The Internship Program
The 4-point internship program complements and enhances the formal course work of the Africana studies major. Students intern at agencies dealing with a range of issues pertaining to Africana studies and take a corequisite seminar that enables them to focus the work experience in meaningful academic terms. The goals of the internship are threefold: (1) to allow students to apply the theory they have gained through course work, (2) to provide students with analytical tools, and (3) to assist students in exploring professional career paths. The internship is open to juniors and seniors and requires an interview and permission of the department.
SCA Theory and Practice: The Internship Program
SCA-UA 42 Requires ten hours a week of fieldwork. 4 points.
Elective Courses
Race, Football, and American Culture
SCA-UA 153 4 points.
The evolution of American football into a mirror of black life and politics and a reflection of race relations in American culture. Student writing and research explores the growth of football as a vehicle and model for black protest and support for movements such as Black Lives Matter. Attendance at two football games is required.
The Black Body and the Lens
SCA-UA 155 4 points.
Explores the range of ideas and methods used by critical thinkers in addressing the body in photography, video, music, and film. Considers the construction of beauty, gendered images, race, and hip-hop culture. The historical gaze and the interplay between the historical and the contemporary, between self-presentation and imposed representation, are fundamental to our discussions. Final projects include an imaging project and/or a written essay.
Hip Hop and Politics
SCA-UA 157 4 points.
Besides realizing the worst fears of a previous generation who placed its hopes in the aspirations of 60s-era social movements, this new generation's fashion sensibilities, technological savvy, and strategies for commodifying blackness suggest a demographic now more concerned with the economics of globalization than the political economy of race. We interrogate the specific generational tensions that structure popular and intellectual discourses concerning the "hip-hop generation" and the perceived demise of contemporary black politics.
Race and Reproduction
SCA-UA 158 4 points.
Examines the connections between gender, racial ideology, and history of medicine to consider the range of ways that reproduction—medically, culturally, and experientially—produces and troubles racial ideology. Cross-cultural breadth will help us to consider the relationship between biological experiences (which are often portrayed as universal) and socio-cultural context. We locate biology within a wider set of issues around social reproduction and the practices of motherhood, and both illuminate and problematize the connections between technologies and politics of biology and difference.
Topics in Africana Studies
SCA-UA 180 4 points.
Explores specific issues dealing with the black urban experience, focusing on social and cultural institutions. Possible themes, which vary from semester to semester, include class and poverty, the police, urban development, education, sports, music, and art.
Independent Study
SCA-UA 197, 198 Prerequisite: permission of the program director. Offered every semester. 1 to 4 points per term.
Language Courses
Elementary Swahili I, II
SCA-UA 121, 122 4 points per term.
A Bantu language with a rich oral and written tradition that is spoken by about 100 million people from Somalia to Mozambique and Zanzibar. Students are drilled in phonetics and grammar and introduced to poems, songs, and oral narratives. Elementary II furthers students’ conversational ability and understanding of grammatical concepts.
Intermediate Swahili I, II
SCA-UA 123, 124 4 points per term.
Builds on the basic knowledge of pronunciation, vocabulary, useful expressions, and fundamental grammatical features attained at the introductory level. Aims to strengthen reading, writing, and conversation skills by accessing a wide range of grammatical and literary knowledge of the language, its cultural context, and literary genres. Intermediate II enables students to communicate entirely in Kiswahili and read it fluently.
Elementary Yoruba I, II
SCA-UA 182, 183 4 points per term.
Yoruba is a language spoken in West Africa by approximately 20 million people. An intensive introduction focusing on the fundamentals of language and including the people and their cultural practices. Intended for students without prior knowledge, emphasizing spoken and written Yoruba as used in present-day West Africa in various cultural contexts.
Related Courses
The following courses count as faculty electives for the Africana studies major and minor. See the departmental or program sections in this Bulletin for course descriptions and prerequisites.
AMERICAN STUDIES
Justice Lab
SCA-UA 19 2 points.
Work, Labor, and Power
SCA-UA 221 4 points.
Comparative Ethnic Studies
SCA-UA 224 4 points.
Intersections: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in U.S. History
SCA-UA 230 4 points.
Ethnicity and the Media
SCA-UA 232 Identical to ANTH-UA 232. 4 points.
The Criminal Justice State
SCA-UA 235 4 points.
Race and the American Right
SCA-UA 236 4 points.
Social Movements and Alternative Futures
SCA-UA 237 4 points.
Disability and Sexuality in American Culture
SCA-UA 238 4 points.
ASIAN/PACIFIC/AMERICAN STUDIES
The Constitution and People of Color
SCA-UA 366 4 points.
Reading Race and Representation
SCA-UA 368 4 points.
LATINO STUDIES
Afro-Latino Culture and History
SCA-UA 565 4 points.
Caribbean Women Writers
SCA-UA 570 4 points.
METROPOLITAN STUDIES
Race and the Neoliberal Metropolis
SCA-UA 614 4 points.
Governing New York City
SCA-UA 636 4 points.
Cross-Listed Electives
Majors and minors may take no more than two courses from this category. See the departmental or program sections in this Bulletin for course descriptions and prerequisites.
ART HISTORY
Arts of Africa
SCA-UA 787 Identical to ARTH-UA 560. 4 points.
ENGLISH
18th- and 19th-Century African American Literature
SCA-UA 783 Identical to ENGL-UA 250. 4 points.
20th-Century African American Literature
SCA-UA 784 Identical to ENGL-UA 251. 4 points.
Contemporary African American Fiction
SCA-UA 786 Identical to ENGL-UA 254. 4 points.
Introduction to African Literature
SCA-UA 839 Identical to ENGL-UA 175. 4 points.
HISTORY
Women and Slavery in the Americas
SCA-UA 730 Identical to HIST-UA 660. 4 points.
History of Contemporary Africa
SCA-UA 791 Identical to HIST-UA 567. 4 points.
African American History to 1865
SCA-UA 795 Identical to HIST-UA 647. 4 points.
African American History Since 1865
SCA-UA 796 Identical to HIST-UA 648. 4 points.
Modern African History
SCA-UA 808 Identical to HIST-UA 56. 4 points.
Africa Before Colonialism
SCA-UA 809 Identical to HIST-UA 55. 4 points.
African Ways of Knowing
SCA-UA 845 Identical to HIST-UA 572. 4 points.
Black Women in America
SCA-UA 861 Identical to HIST-UA 661. 4 points.
JOURNALISM
Journalism and Society: Minorities and the Media
SCA-UA 702 Identical to JOUR-UA 503. 4 points.
LINGUISTICS
African American Vernacular English
SCA-UA 799 Identical to LING-UA 23. 4 points.
Language of American Ethnic Minorities
SCA-UA 847 Identical to LING-UA 47. 4 points.
SOCIOLOGY
Race and Ethnicity
SCA-UA 803 Identical to SOC-UA 135. 4 points.
STEINHARDT SCHOOL OF CULTURE, EDUCATION, AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
American Dilemmas: Race, Inequality, and the Unfulfilled Promise of Education
SCA-UA 755 Identical to TCHL-UE 41. 4 points.
TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
Theatre of the Black Atlantic
SCA-UA 835 Identical to THEA-UT 741. 4 points.