INTRODUCTORY TOPICS IN AFRICAN CULTURAL STUDIES

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: None Course Designation: Core GenEd - Communication & Literacy Comm QR - Communication B Breadth - Humanities Level - Elementary L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: Yes, unlimited number of completions Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Recognize canonical authors and texts, historical forms, genres, and structures, and recognize aesthetic and cultural concerns in Africa and its diasporas. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Understand their own learning processes and possess the capacity to intentionally seek, evaluate, and learn from information, and recognize and reduce bias in their thinking. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Communicate effectively through essays, oral presentations, and discussion, so they may share their knowledge, wisdom, and values with others across social and professional settings. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Discuss cultural texts from various theoretical and critical perspectives, formulate ideas and make connections between literary/cultural concepts and themes. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Develop a level of proficiency in the different “ways of knowing” Africa and the diaspora through language, literatures, and cultures. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Effectively retrieve and comprehend primary sources in English and African languages, and secondary sources from a range of disciplines. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Show knowledge of conventional rhetorical strategies, and integrate research by other authors while distinguishing between their own ideas and those of others. Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Recognize canonical authors and texts, historical forms, genres, and structures, and recognize aesthetic and cultural concerns in Africa and its diasporas. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Understand their own learning processes and possess the capacity to intentionally seek, evaluate, and learn from information, and recognize and reduce bias in their thinking. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Communicate effectively through essays, oral presentations, and discussion, so they may share their knowledge, wisdom, and values with others across social and professional settings. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Discuss cultural texts from various theoretical and critical perspectives, formulate ideas and make connections between literary/cultural concepts and themes. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Develop a level of proficiency in the different “ways of knowing” Africa and the diaspora through language, literatures, and cultures. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Effectively retrieve and comprehend primary sources in English and African languages, and secondary sources from a range of disciplines. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Show knowledge of conventional rhetorical strategies, and integrate research by other authors while distinguishing between their own ideas and those of others. Audience: Undergraduate