Restoring women to African history is a worthy goal, but easier said than done.The course examines scholarship over the past forty years that brings to light previously overlooked contributions African women have made to political struggle, religious change, culture preservation, and economic development from pre-colonial times to present. The course addresses basic questions about changing women's roles and human rights controversies associated with African women within the wider cultural and historical contexts in which their lives are lived. It also raises fundamental questions about sources, methodology, and representation, including the value of African women's oral and written narrative and cinema production as avenues to insider perspectives on African women's lives.

The goal of this course is to study the role the law has played, and continues to play, in addressing the problems of racial discrimination in the United States. Contemporary issues such as racial profiling, affirmative action, and diversity will all be covered in their social and legal context. The basis for discussion will be assigned texts, articles, editorials and cases. In addition, interactive videos will also be used to aid class discussion. Course requirements will include a term paper and class presentations.

Topics Vary. See the Africana Studies Program's website at www.sas.upenn.edu/africana for a description of the current offerings.


SPRING 2017: The history of the women and men of African Descent who have studied, taught, researched, and worked at the University of Pennsylvania provides a powerful window into the complex history of Blacks not only in America but throughout the Diaspora. This class will unpack, uncover, and present this history through close studies of texts and archived records on and at the university, as well as through first hand accounts by alumni and past and present faculty and staff members. These stories of the trials and triumphs of individuals on and around this campus demonstrate the amazing and absurd experience that Blacks have endured both at Penn and globally. Emphasis will be placed on the research process with the intent of creating a democratic classroom where all are students and all are instructors. Students will become familiar with archival historical research (and historical criticism) as well as with ethnographic research. Far more than just a survey of historical moments on campus and in the community, students will meet face to face with those who have lived and are presently living history and they will be faced with the challenge of discerning the most effective ways of documenting, protecting, and representing that history for future generations of Penn students.

This course continues to introduce basic grammar, vocabulary, and the reading and writing of Swahili to new speakers. During this term, folktales, other texts, and film selections are used to help introduce important aspects of Swahili culture and the use of the language in wide areas of Africa.

A study of the major events, issues, and personalities in Afro-American history from Reconstruction to the present. The course will also examine the different slave experiences and the methods of black resistance and rebellion in the various slave systems.

The main objective of this course is to further sharpen the Yoruba linguistic knowledge that the student acquired in level I. By the end of the course, the student should be able to (1) read, write, and understand simple to moderately complex sentences in Yoruba; and, (2) advance in the knowledge of the Yoruba culure.

This course covers the development of legal rules and principles concerning individual and group conduct in the United States since 1877. Such subjects as regulation and deregulation, legal education and the legal profession, and the legal status of women and minorities will be discussed.

Continuation of AFST 160.

The Elementary Zulu II course can be taken to fulfill a language requirement, or for linguistic preparation to do research on South Africa, Southern Africa/Africa-related topics. The course emphasizes communicative competence to enable the students to acquire linguistic and extra-linguistic skills in Zulu. The content of the course is selected from various everyday life situations to enable the students to communicate in predictable common daily settings. Culture, as it relates to language use, is also part of the course content.


Students will acquire the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills at the ceiling of low intermediate level and floor of high novice level, based on the ACTFL scale. The low intermediate level proficiency skills that the students will acquire constitute threshold capabilities of the third semester range of proficiency to prepare students for Intermediate Zulu I course materials.

The Accelerated Elementary Zulu course is intensive, and can be taken to fulfill a language requirement, or for linguistic preparation to do research on South Africa, Southern Africa/Africa-related topics. The course emphasizes communicaive competence to enable the students to acquire linguistic and extra-linguistic skills in Zulu. The content of the course is selected from various everydaylife situations to enable he students to communicae in predictable commom daily settings. Culture, as it relates to language use, is also part of the course content.


Students will acquire the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills at the ceiling of low intermediate level and floor of high novice level, based on the ACTFL scale. The low intermediate level proficiency skills that the students will acquire constitute threshold capabilities of the third semester range of proficiency to prepare students for Intermediate Zulu I course materials.