African American Studies

Academic Year: 
2019-20
Department for Program: 
African American Studies
Affiliated Departments: 
Anthropology
Art and Archaeology
Comparative Literature
English
History
Religion
Sociology
Address: 
Stanhope Hall
Phone: 
609-258-4270
Website: 
Department of African American Studies
Program offerings: 
Certificate
Director of Graduate Studies
Joshua Guild
Graduate Program Administrator
Dionne Worthy

Academic department detail

Overview

The graduate certificate in African American Studies provides an opportunity for students to complement doctoral studies in their home department with coordinated interdisciplinary training in African American Studies while participating in an intellectually stimulating community. Students entering the program may come from any department in the Humanities and Social Sciences.  Requirements for the certificate include an introductory readings course; two additional courses; participation in the yearlong Faculty-Graduate Seminar; and completion of a dissertation on a topic of significance to the field of African American Studies. Certificate requirements are designed to complement the course of study in students’ home departments. In addition to the certificate, the department’s Graduate Affairs Program sponsors programming and events throughout the academic year for graduate students at all stages with interests in African American Studies.

Students wishing to obtain a graduate certificate in African American Studies are encouraged to consult with the Director of Graduate Affairs, ideally during their first year, to plan their course of study.  Formal admission to the certificate program will take place upon students’ completion of general examinations and admission to candidacy. 

Interested students should contact the Director of Graduate Affairs or support staff within the Department of African American Studies.

Students cannot be admitted to Princeton University through the African American Studies Certificate Program since it is not a degree program.  All graduate admissions decisions will be made through affiliated departments.

Courses

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

AAS 500 African American Intellectual Tradition This interdisciplinary seminar introduces graduate students from many departments to the African-American intellectual tradition. The perspective concentrates on African-America and the African Diaspora, with attention to issues of class and gender as well as race. A broad set of topics, including race, racism, religion, and slavery are discussed. The course presupposes a familiarity with issues in African-American studies.
AAS 510 Race, Religion, and the Harlem Renaissance (also
REL 515
) The Harlem Renaissance (HR) of the 1920s is most often depicted as "the flowering of African American arts and literature." It can also be characterized as a period when diverse forms of African American religious expressions, ideologies, and institutions emerged. This course will explore the literature of the Harlem Renaissance, particularly the writings of Langston Hughes, to understand the pivotal intersection of race and religion during this time of black "cultural production."
AAS 522 Publishing Articles in Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (also
COM 522
/
ENG 504
/
GSS 503
) In this interdisciplinary class, students of race and gender read deeply and broadly in academic journals as a way of learning the debates in their fields and placing their scholarship in relationship to them. Students report each week on the trends in the last five years of any journal of their choice, writing up the articles' arguments and debates, while also revising a paper in relationship to those debates and preparing it for publication. This course enables students to leap forward in their scholarly writing through a better understanding of their fields and the significance of their work to them.
ART 529 Ancient Egyptian Kingship in Image, Architecture & Performance (also
CLA 528
/
AAS 529
) The institution of kingship was central to the ancient Egyptian worldview. Kings and their administrations sought to express the complex nature of a strong leader with access to the gods and secret knowledge, exceptional skill as a warrior and diplomat, and unrivaled power over and sacrifice to his people by using both mystery and overwhelming display. In this seminar we consider the nature of Egyptian kingship and how a vast body of material and visual culture shaped and expressed this essential concept from its origins in the beginning of the 4th millennium to the era of Roman rulers.
ART 560 Art and the British Empire (also
AAS 560
) This seminar proceeds through a series of thematic and case studies ranging from Britain's early colonial expansion to the legacies of empire in contemporary art and museum practice. Topics include science and ethnography; the colonial picturesque; curiosity and collecting; slavery and visual representation; art and nationalism and readings are drawn from a range of disciplines.
ENG 556 African-American Literature (also
AAS 556
) A survey of African-American narrative and critical traditions in the context of social and cultural change. Attention is also given to the changing status of black literature in the curriculum of American colleges and universities.
ENG 573 Problems in Literary Study (also
AAS 573
/
COM 573
) An examination of selected issues or texts that offer radical challenges to the profession of literary study today. Intended for students in all periods of specialization.
HIS 577 Readings in African American History (also
AAS 577
) Course examines significant themes in the evolution of African American life and culture since about 1619 and ending with the signing of the Emanicipation Proclamation. Some attention will be paid to historiographical issues and to pedagogical approaches.
HIS 578 Topics in African Diaspora History (also
AAS 578
) This readings course considers the dispersals, political movements, cultural production, social bonds, and intellectual labors that together have constituted and continually re-configured the modern African diaspora, from the emergence and collapse of the Atlantic slave system through the late twentieth century. The course tracks the evolution of diaspora as an idea and analytical framework, highlighting its intersections with concepts of Pan-Africanism, black nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and citizenship.
POL 543 Interest Groups and Social Movements in American Politics and Policy (also
GSS 543
/
AAS 543
) This course engages theoretical and empirical work about interest groups and social movements in American politics and policy-making. We examine theories of interest group and social movement formation, maintenance and decline; how interest groups and social movements attempt to influence public policy; the impact of interest groups and social movements; lobbying; the relationships between interest groups and the three branches of the federal government; interest groups, elections, campaign finance, PACs, and 527s; and the effectiveness of interest groups and social movements as agents of democratic representation.
SOC 562 Race & Ethnicity (Half-Term) (also
AAS 562
) An overview of important theories and theorists of race and ethnicity, focussing on (a) fundamental concepts of the nature and persistence of race and ethnic identity as meaningful social groupings and (b) how those groupings are related to social stratifications, socio-cultural relations, and the political and economic dynamics in society. Half-term course.