This course is cross-listed when the subject matter is related to African, African American, or other African Diaspora issues. Courses recently offered are, "Political Culture and American Cities, Social Movements and Social Change, Critical Race Theory. See the Africana Studies Department's website at https://africana.sas.upenn.edu for a description of the current offerings.


This course brings together the vantage points of urban political economy, history and urban anthropology. Readings and discussions will cross those literatures, folding in considerations of race, ethnicity and gender in the American city life, with a focus on the relation between culture and political economy. We will reconstruct the history of the the different tracks of urban studies in the U.S., beginning with its roots in sociology and anthropology in the Chicago School and in political science in reform-oriented studies of public administration. We will revisit the community power debate of the 1950s-1970s, which shook out significantly along disciplinary lines, and will examine the development of the urban political economy perspective in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as developments within U.S. urban anthropology since the 1960s. We will employ local case study materials, and at every point we will try to understand the intellectual trajectories of the urbanist discoursesin relation to dynamics contemporaneously shaping urban politics and policy.Course requirements are seminar preparation which includes each student's leading discussion around specified reading assignments-- and a research paper, the topic of which must be approved by week 5.

FALL 2015: This course examines the lived and shared experiences and representations of Caribbean and Latin American women. We will discuss the relationship between gender, labor, sexuality, religion, and race in the Caribbean and the ways these concepts intersect with women's individual subjectivity and national identity. By examining primary sources-such as speeches and letters-alongside historical scholarship, literature, and popular media, we will study the impact of slave society and colonial pasts on representations of women and construction of womanhood in the modern Caribbean and Latin America and their diasporas through the 20th century. Beginning with late-18th century and ending with contemporary migration narratives of each country, we will study the local and regional political conditions that informed gender norms, social movements, and characterizations of Caribbean sexuality globally. In our historical examination, we will question some of the iconic representations of Caribbean and Latin American women-the racially mixed temptress, the pious matriarch, and the poor uneducated laborer-to understand the meaning, purpose and usages Caribbean women's bodies as objects of praise, possession, obsession and/or ridicule by communities, governments and religions within and outside of the Caribbean.


In our interrogation of gender meanings, we will consider the ways Caribbean women and men define themselves and each other, while considering the intersections of color, class, religion and culture on the political and social realities of the Caribbean and the region. The geographic scope of the course will extend to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. The following interrelated questions will anchor our exploration of each text: How have representations of Caribbean and Latin American women informed historical constructions and rhetoric of the region and national identity? What political and social strategies have Caribbean women and men used to define themselves in their countries and throughout the region? How do the history and contemporary conditions of a post-colonial nation impact the gender construction of Caribbean identities? What is the relationship between modern Caribbean gender identities and the regional racial and economic politics?

Who is going to own what we all have a part of creating? The history of the Americas, and of all peoples everywhere, is an evolving answer to the question of ownership. Ownership is about: the ties that bind and those that separate; the creation of community and the imposition of hierarchies; the dream of home ownership and ecological despoliation; dependency and the slave yearning to breathe free. Of all the issues relevant to democracy, oppression, and economic injustice, ownership is arguably the most important and least understood. Utilizing a variety of disciplinary perspectives, and by focusing on particular global sites, students will assess and refine their views regarding ownership in light of their own social, political, religious, and/or ethical commitments.

The course examines the reforms catalyzed by the federal "Race to the Top" competitive grant program and by waivers from No Child Left Behind issued by the federal Department of Education; and explores how these reforms resemble and differ from those mandated by NCLB. Charters, vouchers and competition are discussed along with school governance and funding. Micro as well as macro policy perspectives are provided through the instructor's ongoing work helping Houston's Aldine Independent School District (the 2009 Broad Prize winner with 64,000 low-income and minority students) design and pilot a new teacher evaluation system, a new compensation system, a "peer assistance and and review" process for professional development, remediation and dismissal along with related reforms.

Social movements and political protest have become some of the most effective tools for citizens and non-citizens to influence the political system. This course is designed to introduce students to the theoretical and methodological approaches taken in understanding these behaviors. Analyzing social movements that range from civil discontent to contentious political protest, the course will address a variety of questions: What is the origin of movement behavior and why do individuals turn to these actions in lieu of simply engaging in institutional modes of political action such as voting? What were the strategies of these movements? What are the political conditions that allow social movements to resonate with the American public? In addition to addressing these topics, this course surveys the policy successes of major social and political movements. From the Civil Rights and Women's Right Movement to the recent 2010 Tea Party movement, this course explores the various public policies that have resulted from citizens' protest actions. While state-level and local-level government responsiveness will be addressed, special attention will be given to how political protest influences public policy in all three branches of the federal government.

This course will deal with Law and Society in Africa. After surveying the various legal systems in Africa, the focus will be on how and to what extent the countries of Africa re-Africanized their legal systems by reconciling their legal systems that are used as instruments of social change and development. Toward this end, the experiences of various African countries covering the various legal traditions will be included. Specific focus will be on laws covering both economic and social relations. This emphasis includes laws of marriage, divorce and inheritance, laws of contracts and civil wrongs and African's law of investments and International Relations, among other laws. Throughout this course a comparative analysis with non-African countries will be stressed. Readings include research papers, reports, statutes, treaties, and cases.

This course is an examination and analysis of the changing images and achievements of African Americans in motion pictures and television. The first half of the course focuses on African-American film images from the early years of D.W. Griffith's "renegade bucks" in The Birth of a Nation (1915); to the comic servants played by Steppin Fetchit, Hattie McDaniel, and others during the Depression era; to the post-World War II New Negro heroes and heroines of Pinky (1949) and The Defiant Ones (1958); to the rise of the new movement of African American directors such as Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing), Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), Charles Burnett, (To Sleep With Anger) and John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood). The second half explores television images from the early sitcoms "Amos 'n Andy" and "Beulah" to the "Cosby Show," "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," and "Martin." Foremost this course will examine Black stereotypes in American films and television--and the manner in which those stereotypes have reflected national attitudes and outlooks during various historical periods. The in-class screenings and discussions will include such films as Show Boat (1936), the independently produced "race movies" of the 1930s and 1940s, Cabin in the Sky (1943), The Defiant Ones (1958), Imitation of Life (the 1959 remake) & Super Fly (1972).

This course explores an aspect of 19th-Century American literature intensively; specific course topics will vary from year to year.