AAAD 200: Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies [C4GE]

Section 0001 | Jaimee Swift | TuTh 12:45PM - 2:00PM | In person, Miller Hall 2140

Section 0002 | Rachel Rhoades | TuTh 11:10AM - 12:25PM | In person, Burruss Hall 036

Section 0003 | Delores Phillips | TuTh 2:20PM - 3:35PM | In person, Moody Hall 0109

Section 0004 | Kathryn Hobson | MoWe 1:50PM - 3:05PM | In person, Gabbin Hall 0101

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit.

AAAD 401: Internship in African, African American and Diaspora Studies

Section 0001; 0002; 0003; 7201 | Case Watkins | TBD

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled out in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience.

AAAD 489: African, African American and Diaspora Studies Senior Research Experience

Section 0001 | Rachel Rhoades | TBD

In this research-oriented experience, students design and complete research projects relevant to their interests in African, African American and Diaspora studies, as well as connect their projects to previous course work and experiences within the AAAD studies minor. Prerequisite(s): AAAD 200, senior standing and permission of the instructor.

ARTH 424: Arts of Ancient Egypt 

Section 0001 | Aderonke Adesanya | TuTh 12:45 pm-2 pm | In Person, Duke Hall 1041

 A study of the arts and culture of Ancient Egypt (c. 3000 B.C. to c. 300 B.C.). This course will focus on the art and architecture of the Old and New Kingdoms and also examine the enduring fascination with this unique artistic heritage from the excavations of Napoleon to the present.  

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society 

Section 0001 | Diana Meza | TuTh 11:10AM - 12:25PM | In Person, Memorial Hall 3140

Section 0002 | Diana Meza | MoWe 9:35AM - 10:50AM | In Person, Memorial Hall 3140

Section 0004| Diana Meza | TuTh 12:45PM - 2:00PM | In Person, Memorial Hall 3140 

 This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation. Corequisite(s): MIED 211 and LED 212 for middle students. 
 
ELED 310: Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Elementary Education 

Section 0001 | Kara M. Kavanagh | Mondays 11:30-2:15 | In Person

Section 0002 | Kara M. Kavanagh | Wednesdays 11:30-2:15 | In Person

Section 0003 | Kara M. Kavanagh | Mondays 8:00-10:45 | In Person

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage, language, learning abilities, gender socialization, and sexual orientation. 

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature [C2L] 

Section 0001 | Allison Fagan, Courtney Swartzentruber | MoWeFr 9:10AM - 10:00AM | In Person, Miller Hall 1101 

Survey of literature by African American authors from the 18th century to the present. May be used for general education credit. 

HIST 341: Selected Themes in World History: Africa 

Section 0001 | Ojo Afolabi | TuTh 11:10AM - 12:25PM | In Person, Keezell Hall G001 

Selected themes are studied in depth. Course may be repeated when content changes. Only courses with significant content outside of Europe will count toward the world history requirement. See MyMadison and the history department website for information on current classes. 

HIST 470: Modern Africa 

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MoWe 8:00AM - 9:15AM | In Person, Wilson Hall 4033 

A historical analysis of the major themes in modern African history since the colonial era. 

JUST328: Race, Class and Justice 

Section 0001 | Gianluca De Fazio | TuTh 11:10AM - 12:25PM | In Person 

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class. 

MUS 440: Jazz Improvisation Laboratory II 

Section 0001 | Adam Larrabee | MoWe 11:30AM - 12:20PM | In Person, Music Building 0108 

Section 0002 | Masayoshi Ishikawa | MoWe 11:30AM - 12:20PM | In Person, Music Building 0148 

Section 0003 | Chuck Dotas | TuTh 11:35AM - 12:25PM | In Person, Music Building 0318 

Presents intermediate to advanced improvisation skills in the jazz idiom alone. There is an emphasis on the theoretical analysis of chord progressions as well as on creative musical application. The course concludes by introducing some advanced musical improvisation concepts. May be repeated. Prerequisite(s): MUS 240 or permission of the instructor. 

MUS 446: Jazz Composition 

Section 0001 | David Pope | TuTh 2:20PM - 3:35PM | In Person, Music Building B071 

An introduction to techniques of jazz composition. Students will study classic jazz compositions and create original compositions utilizing various harmonic techniques. Prerequisite(s): MUS 255, MUS 244, MUS 305 

MUS 473: Jazz Ensemble Procedures and Techniques 

Section 0001 | Greg Thomas | TuTh 11:35AM - 12:25PM | In Person, Music Building 0108 

This course addresses all aspects of instrumental jazz instruction (big band and small group). Teaching philosophies, rehearsal techniques and resource materials will be examined; the syllabus includes opportunities to observe and rehearse jazz groups. Enrollment is not limited to traditional jazz instrumentation. Required for the jazz studies concentration and recommended as an elective for music education students. 

POSC 326: Civil Rights 

Section 0001 | Robin Leiter-White | MoWe 9:35AM - 10:50AM | In Person, Miller Hall 2110 

An examination of the judicial interpretation of civil rights in America with emphasis on freedom of speech, due process of law and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

STAD322: Equity, Access and Inclusion in Education and Performance 

Section 0001 | Rachel Rhoades | TTh 11:10AM-12:25PM | In Person, Forbes 2234 

This course examines the role of education and the performing/applied arts in two major tasks: 1) Enhancing access to resources and opportunities for artists from non-dominant identity groups, and 2) Opening space for all peoples to participate in dismantling systems of oppression, specifically through artistic cultural production. 

In this course, you will learn a range of critical theories (e.g. Black Feminism, Critical Disability Theory, Critical Race Theory, Indigenous Theory) and their foundational relevance to school- and community-based critical education, performing arts contexts, and in arts-based, youth-led social movement activism. 

We will examine not only the current issues around equity, access, and inclusion in education and the arts, but also become familiar with and imagine new forms of resistance to those injustices. We will explore case studies such as: anti-colonial, anti-capitalist youth arts “colectivos” in Venezuela; Indigenous climate justice music videos galvanizing policy change across the US; and Chilean college students utilizing “carnival strategies” such as public dance performances to challenge the egregious state of education.  

You will develop academic, professional, and interpersonal skills to prepare you as an advocate, educator, and artist- all of us can use our collective agency in any of these roles to demand justice! In all aspects of my teaching, my goal is to engage in the exchange of knowledge and collective inquiry on urgent issues as a means to unite students and myself as, what critical education pioneer Freire (1973) calls, “co-investigators in dialogue” as we work together towards “critical intervention in reality” through lenses of critique and renewal. 

PHIL 390: Special Topics in Philosophy: Racism and Racial Injustice

Section 0001 | Alberto Urquidez | MoWe 9:35AM - 10:50AM | Online Synchronous 

Topics for this intermediate-level course may be drawn from any area or period of philosophy chosen by the instructor. The course is designed primarily for philosophy majors and minors, but any suitably prepared student may take the course with permission of the instructor. Prerequisite(s): One other PHIL course or permission of the instructor. 

ENGR 498: Design for Sustainable Development: PeaceLab Studio

Section 0001 | Justin Henriques | TuTh 3:55-5:10PM | In Person, ENGEO 1024

This course is not just about learning; it’s about doing. Here, you will not only think but also act. You will collaborate with peers across continents, from the US to Kenya, to conceptualize and create sustainable design solutions that address the pressing needs of our times: climate adaptation and peace in low-resource settings.

You will engage directly with communities, learn to listen, and develop solutions that are not only sustainable but peace-promoting. You will be part of a global classroom without walls, participating in multicultural teams through the Global Virtual Exchange (GVE) / Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) approach, enabling you to work with and learn from international peers.

https://peacelabstudio.org/course/

SCOM 300: Interdisciplinary Special Topics in Communication Studies: Critical Race Theory and Comm 

2103 | Kathryn Hobson | TBA (01/02/2024 - 01/12/2024) | Online

This course is a study of interdisciplinary topics and issues in human communication. Emphasis will be on contemporary theories, research and principles. May be repeated up to six credits. 

MUS 498: Selected Topics in Music: Racism in Popular Music

Section 1201 | Joseph Taylor | MoTuWeThFr 1:00PM - 3:40PM (01/08/2024 - 01/12/2024) | Online

Courses in music or music education which are of a topical nature. This may be repeated. 

Class of interest:  

This course is too low to count toward but should be of interest to AAAD minors.  

PHIL 103: “What is Racism?” 

Section 0001 | Alberto Urquidez | Online Asynchronous 

This will be a one-credit course offered in the first week (Jan 2–6). 

AAAD 200: Introduction to AAAD

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MW 8:00am - 9:15am

Section 0002 | Rachel Rhoades | TR 9:35am - 10:50am

Section 0003 | Leonard Richards, Jr. | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

Section 0004 | Amina Saidou | TR 2:20pm - 3:35pm 

Section 0005 | Kathryn Hobson | MW 1:50pm - 3:05pm 

Section 0006 | Sofia Samatar | MW 1:50pm - 3:05pm

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD Minor.

AAAD 489: African, African American and Diaspora Studies Senior Research Experience

Section 0001 | Kathryn Hobson | Asynchronous Online 

AAAD 489 is a one-credit hour, culminating experience for those in the African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies minor program. AAAD 489 requires a substantive research paper and/or other approved project(s), as well as a public presentation, that demonstrate the student’s ability to synthesize learning gained throughout the minor program. Students work with one or more AAAD faculty members to determine the topic, research methods, and project structure. The public presentation must occur at an approved academic venue. Students may build upon coursework that they have completed at the 300 and 400 level. Note: It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they are registered into the AAAD 489 course. 

AAAD 401: Internship in  AAAD Studies

Section 0001; 0002; 0003 | Case Watkins | TBD

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled out in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience.

ARTH 424: Art of Ancient Egypt

Section 0001 | Adéronké Adésànyà | TR 11:10am- 12:25pm

A study of the arts and culture of Ancient Egypt (c. 3000 B.C. to c. 300 B.C.). This course will focus on the art and architecture of the Old and New Kingdoms and also examine the enduring fascination with this unique artistic heritage from the excavations of Napoleon to the present.

ARTH 426: Advanced Topics in Cross-Cultural Art: New African Diaspora Art 

Section 0001 | Adéronké Adésànyà | TR 2:20pm - 3:35pm

This course will consider the study of two or more artistic traditions that intersect at the advanced level. Topics vary. See MyMadison for current topics.

DANC 146: Jazz Dance

Section 0001 | TBD | TR 12:45pm - 2:00pm

Fundamentals of jazz technique, basic vocabulary and combinations. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): School of Theatre and Dance majors and minors only.

DANC 246: Intermediate Jazz

Section 0001 | Matthew Pardo | TR 12:45pm - 2:00pm

Intermediate skills in jazz dance technique, vocabulary and movement combinations. May be repeated for credit.  Prerequisite(s): DANC 146. Jazz Dance (0, 4)None for School of Theatre and Dance majors and dance minors. Non-majors: DANC 146 or permission of the instructor.

DANC 246: Intermediate Jazz II/Musical Theatre Styles

Section 0001 | Suzanne Miller-Corso | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

 Intermediate Jazz II / Musical Theatre Styles is a continuation of the jazz dance techniques in the dance program at the upper-intermediate level. The primary focus of this class will be on the study and training of historic and contemporary musical theatre jazz movement and its cultural influences. The course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): DANC 246 or permission of the instructor.

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 12:40pm - 1:30pm

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. By way of readings made up entirely of literary works by Black authors, this course also interrogates systems of power, oppression, and discrimination, and introduces foundational theories of Black resistance, resilience, intersectionality, and liberation.  

ENG 408: Advanced Studies in African American Literature: African American Women’s Writing and the Wintergreen Women Writers’ Collective

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | M 4:00pm - 6:45pm

In this course, students will both learn about and work directly with the individual artists of the Wintergreen Women Writers’ Collective, which includes such incredible Black women writers as Nikki Giovanni, Camille Dungy, Sonia Sanchez, Nikky Finney, Toi Derricotte, Joanne Gabbin, and many more. Students will be invited not only to learn about the place of this Black women writers’ collective in African American literary history but to participate in the process of preserving that history by supporting the preservation of Wintergreen Women Writers’ papers and other archival materials. This course will include an exploration of the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s archival collection, held by JMU Special Collections; a field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., which features the work of several Wintergreen Women Writers; and a presentation and class visit from archival curators from Yale University’s Beinecke Library, which houses some of the largest collections of Black literary collectives’ papers in the world. Students will then conduct research on individual writers of the Wintergreen Women Writers’ Collective; write biographical notes of individual writers; and will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with their assigned writer to review, reimagine, and revise their biographical notes. These biographical notes and recorded one-on-one meetings will directly support JMU archivists in assessing the collective’s archival holdings for future preservation and will also themselves be preserved as part of the future collection. 

FR 300: Grammar and Communication

Section 0001 |  Amina Saidou | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

Intensive training in grammatical structures and their application to oral and written communication. Instruction is in French. Fulfills the College of Arts and Letters writing-intensive requirement for the major. Prerequisite(s): FR 212 or FR 232 or placement exam score.  

This course teaches French from an Africana perspective.  

HIST 339: Topics in American History: Terror and Survival in American Lynching

Section 0001 | Steven Reich | MW 1:50pm - 3:05pm

Selected themes are studied in depth. See MyMadison for current classes. Course may be repeated when content changes.      

HIST 374: The Southern Plantation: Race, Space and Gender in an American Landscape

Section 0001 | Philip Herrington | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

This course explores the plantations of the American South, both physical and imagined spaces. It challenges students to consider the spatial boundaries of the plantation, offering an examination of African trading posts, American slave markets and small courthouse towns along with the dwellings, outbuildings, fields and gardens of antebellum commercial slave agriculture. This broader spatial history framework uses a number of historical subfields, particularly architectural, environmental and public history, exposing students to a variety of scholarly perspectives. The class incorporates a wealth of primary material from diverse authors and points of view, including slave narratives, government records, travel accounts, letters, novels, paintings and architectural drawings, in order to demonstrate that the same physical landscape can be perceived differently depending on the viewer’s perspective and experience. The course also includes on-site visits to two historic plantations.

HON 300/IDLS 385: The Unfinished Journey of People of Color in the United States 

Section 0008 | H. Gelfand | TR 3:55pm - 5:10pm

This course is an in-depth interdisciplinary study of people of color in Contemporary America, centered on the experiences of people who identify as African American, Asian American, Hispanic and Latinx, Native Alaskan, Native American, and Native Hawaiian, as well as the many communities that make up each of these identities and cross the boundaries of these identities.  The course focuses on cultural, economic, political, and social factors, and explores social activism, cultural perseverance, immigration, sexuality, discrimination, historical trends, environmental justice, governmental policies, and structural challenges that have helped to define these communities’ experiences.  Finally, we will work together to contemplate paths forward toward making life in this country more equitable, fair, and accepting in a future in which people of color become the majority of the American population.

MUS 356: History of Jazz in America 

Section 0001 | Andrew Connell | MWF 10:20am - 11:10am

A study of American jazz with particular emphasis on its practices with reference to principal performers and composers of jazz-style periods.

MUS 440: Jazz Improvisation Laboratory II

Section 0001; 0002 | Adam Larrabee; Charles Dotas | MW 11:30am - 12:20pm

Presents intermediate to advanced improvisation skills in the jazz idiom alone. There is an emphasis on the theoretical analysis of chord progressions as well as on creative musical application. The course concludes by introducing some advanced musical improvisation concepts. May be repeated. Prerequisite(s): MUS 240 or permission of the instructor.

MUS 485: Advanced Jazz Topics Seminar

Section 0001 | Charles Dotas | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

An intensive study of a single topic in jazz studies. Topics change each semester, and may include studies of a specific musical issue (performance practice, etc.), a single composer`s or performer`s music (Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, etc.), a single musical genre (the development of big band style, etc), or a sociological study (jazz in Europe, jazz and American culture, etc.). May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): MUS 374 and MUS 356 or permission of the instructor.

POSC 326: Civil Rights

Section 0001 | Jenny Byrne | TR 2:20pm - 3:35pm

An examination of the judicial interpretation of civil rights in America with emphasis on freedom of speech, due process of law and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

POSC 353: African Politics

Section 0001 | Melinda Adams | MWF 12:40pm - 1:30pm

A comparative study of the institutions and social, economic, and global processes that affect contemporary African states. Political developments explored include the construction and transformation of postcolonial states, ethnic conflict, economic crisis and reform, and regime change.

POSC 371: Topics in Comparative Politics (Black Politics)

Section 0001 | Jaimee Swift | MWF 11:30am - 12:20pm

In-depth exploration of specialized topics in the area of comparative politics. The topic for each semester will be announced on MyMadison.

POSC 371: Topics in Comparative Politics (Global Black Feminist Politics)

Section 0001 | Jaimee Swift | MW 1:50pm - 3:05pm

In-depth exploration of specialized topics in the area of comparative politics. The topic for each semester will be announced on MyMadison.

AAAD 200: Introduction to AAAD 

Section 4101 | Amina Saidou | M-F 2:30pm - 4:30pm

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor.

AAAD 401: Internship in AAAD Studies

Section 8201 | Case Watkins | TBD

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled out in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience.

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

Section 4101 (4W1); 4201 (4W2) | Mollie Godfrey | Asynchronous Online 

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. By way of readings made up entirely of literary works by Black authors, this course also interrogates systems of power, oppression, and discrimination, and introduces foundational theories of Black resistance, resilience, intersectionality, and liberation.  

AAAD 200: Introduction to AAAD

Section 0001 | Kathryn Hobson | TR 11:10am - 12:25pm

Section 0002 | Sombo Muzata | MF 9:35am - 10:50am

Section 0003 | Jaimee Swift | TR 12:45pm - 2:00pm

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor.

 ARTH 426: Advanced Topics in Cross-Cultural Studies (New African Diaspora Art) 

Section 0001 | Aderonke Adesanya | TR 11:10AM - 12:25PM

The course focuses on the works and experiences of New African Diaspora artists (NADA) in Africa and in western locations notably, America, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and in Africa. It examines the artists’ condition of being simultaneously local and global, their processes and productions, their critique of and responses to race, politics, identity, migration, decolonization, and other experiences. Other course highlights include the avenues for exhibition and circulation of their works, the ways that the artists straddle traditions and spaces (Africa and Euro-American), navigate and mediate the politics of art making. Their intersections with intermediaries and institutions, the local and global art markets are also considered. 

ARTH 424: Art of Ancient Egypt

Section 0001 | Wren River Stevens | TR 3:55PM - 5:10PM

A study of the arts and culture of Ancient Egypt (c. 3000 B.C. to c. 300 B.C.). This course will focus on the art and architecture of the Old and New Kingdoms and also examine the enduring fascination with this unique artistic heritage from the excavations of Napoleon to the present.

HIST 401:Fueling Growth with the Blood of Africans: Illegal Slave Trading and the Rise of Capitalism 

Section 0002 | William C. Van Norman | TR 9:35AM - 10:50AM

The focus of this class builds on my own research over the last several years and my current book project on this topic. My work traces how two different historical developments were intertwined with the common thread connecting them of the banned trade in enslaved Africans from the African coast. The two different threads are the rise of transnational networks of trade that were empowered by illegal commerce and the transformations this trade wrought to the people caught up in the trade and to the people of the island of Cuba. Cuba was the most important destination for illegal slave trading during the nineteenth century. 

Students will learn about the period (1808-1867) and what marks it as distinct from the previous era of slave trading. They will learn about the plantation boom in Cuba and the transnational connections that emerged and reached in all directions from the Caribbean throughout the Atlantic World. The research focus of the class will then pull them down to the ship level to research a specific ship, its voyage, and all the people it touched in some way from owners, ship-builders and outfitters, officers and sailors, traders on the African coast, enslaved Africans, and the people who acquired and worked the enslaved in Cuba. 

SOCI 336: Race and Ethnicity

Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Asynchronous Online

Course Description per the catalog: SOCI courses are restricted to sociology students during early registration and this course always fills during that time. I will offer five overrides to AAAD students who can register before the class fills. Please contact me at brysonbp@jmu.edu before your registration window. Your messages should say that you are a AAAD minor hoping to enroll in SOCI 336, and it should also include your appointment time. If you are not among the first five students requesting overrides, add yourself to the waiting list for potential access during open enrollment. 

JUST 328: Race, Class and Justice

Section 0001 | Gianluca De Fazio | TR 11:10AM - 12:25PM

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class. The instructor has reserved 5 seats for AAAD minor students; they can contact Prof. De Fazio at defazigx@jmu.edu. 

HIST 470: Modern Africa 

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MW 8:00AM - 9:15AM

A history seminar that focuses on the theories of economic development for emerging nations. We engage in the critical review of how African countries have reacted to these International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) funding-attached recommendations. Thus, what has been the history of African governmental responses to addressing its development challenges since the 1960s?

HIST 322: Jim Crow South

Section 0001 | Steven Reich | MWF 10:20AM - 11:10AM

During the era of Jim Crow—a period that spanned the years from the 1890s to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—state laws, municipal ordinances, and social customs racially segregated public and private life across the American South. Jim Crow, as both legal framework and social practice, shaped the everyday lives of three generations of Southerners, both black and white. It determined where they worked, where they attended school, what they learned, where and what they ate, what they wore, where they shopped, whom they could marry, how they raised their children, how they worshipped God, how and where they relaxed and socialized, and the political allegiances they held. This class examines the complexities of segregation—its legal boundaries, its social and cultural peculiarities, and its violent enforcement. It especially focuses on the political actions that challenged and eventually dismantled it. 

GEOG 339: Geography of the Caribbean

Section 0001 | Mary Kimsey | MWF 12:40PM - 1:30PM

This course is designed to give students a general geographical overview of the islands states and territories surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. Students will study physical landforms, weather and climate, environmental issues, population characteristics, history, local and regional politics, and economic aspects of political units in the region.

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 1:50PM - 2:40PM

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. By way of readings made up entirely of literary works by Black authors, this course also interrogates systems of power, oppression, and discrimination, and introduces foundational theories of Black resistance, resilience, intersectionality, and liberation.  

HIST 472: Human Trafficking in African History 

Section 0001 | Etana H. Dinka | TR 11:10AM - 12:25PM

This seminar examines several key themes in the history of human trafficking in the entire sweep of African history: the trans-Saharan trade, Africa and the Red Sea trades, Africa and the Indian Ocean trade, Africa and the Mediterranean world, the Atlantic world trade, systems of African slavery and slave trade, and religions and slave trade. In exploring these themes, students will recognize that the history of human trafficking as a significant global economic factor defies racial boundaries, connecting water bodies and continents, and develop familiarity with competing historiographical interpretations, debates and theories. Students will have opportunities to appreciate the historical roles of human trafficking in transforming societies, economies, cultures, polities, religions, and people’s perceptions and worldviews. While Africa remains the focus of the course, most of the themes open up discussions about the history of human trafficking from global perspectives. The course will also involve improving essential skills of using sources of African history.     

ENG 362: African American Womyn's Poetry

Section 0001 | L. Renée | TR 2:20PM - 3:35PM

How have African American poets who identify as women described their experiences in the United States? What role has Black feminist and womanist thought played in the crafting of their work? And what themes have been raised, remixed, or renunciated across, at least, the last three centuries when we hold the lines of these poets and writers up closely to the light? In this course, we will learn the basics of poetic craft and use these craft tools in our analysis of both individual poems and poetry/hybrid collections. We will examine Black feminist and womanist thought through prose articles, contextualized with relevant history, and probe how these principles impacted the publishing of African American poets and writers from Phillis Wheatley to Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez to Nikki Giovanni, and Claudia Rankine to Tiana Clark, among others. While this is a literature course, we will use multimodal learning methods. This means, in addition to our readings, we'll be listening to audio recordings, watching short videos, taking trips to the library's special collections to engage with archival material, and chatting with class guests. Be prepared to read closely, to collaborate with care, and lean into creative thinking.

REL 300: Islam in Africa

Section 0001 | Cyril Uy | MW 5:00PM - 6:15PM

This course will explore approaches to Islam in Africa from the medieval period to the present day. Through a critical attention to both primary and secondary sources, we will analyze a rich diversity of African Muslim perspectives while grappling with the thorny theoretical questions these perspectives provoke. Possible themes include: embodied pedagogies, abstract metaphysics, gender and authority, occult science, jihad and colonialism, competing epistemologies, Islam Noir, and Sufi music videos. 

ANTH 395: Women, Culture and Power in Africa 

Section 0001 | Miriam Kilimo | MW 3:25PM - 4:40PM

How did women access political power in precolonial Africa? What role did African women play in liberation struggles? How are African women today agitating for increased political spaces? This course invites students to explore African women's experiences in light of cultural, economic, and political transformations on the continent. Students will engage with African feminist thought and explore African women's writing and histories. We will examine how the experiences of African women were influenced by forces such as colonialism, independence struggles, women’s movements, political activism, human rights discourses, development aid, among others. Throughout the course, we will see how African women have shaped their communities and cultivated spaces for agency, autonomy, and renewal amidst hegemonic cultural and political forces.

AAAD 200: Introduction to AAAD

Section 0001 | Etana Dinka | MW 9:35-10:50am | In-Person

Section 0002 | Kathryn Hobson | TTh 11:10am - 12:25pm | In-Person

Section 0003 | Biruk Haregu | TTh 12:45 - 2pm | Online

Section 0004 | Tatiana Benjamin | MWF 1:50 - 2:40pm | In-Person

Section 0005 | Connie Pruitt | TTh 2:20 - 3:35pm | Hybrid

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor.

AAAD 489: African, African American and Diaspora Studies Senior Research Experience

Section 0001 | Kathryn Hobson | Asynchronous Online

AAAD 489 is a one-credit hour, culminating experience for those in the African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies minor program. AAAD 489 requires a substantive research paper and/or other approved project(s), as well as a public presentation, that demonstrate the student’s ability to synthesize learning gained throughout the minor program. Students work with one or more AAAD faculty members to determine the topic, research methods, and project structure. The public presentation must occur at an approved academic venue. Students may build upon coursework that they have completed at the 300 and 400 level. Note: It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they are registered into the AAAD 489 course.

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society

Section 0001 | Ruthie Bosch | MW 1:50 - 3:05pm & WF 9:35am - 10:50am

Section 0002 | Diana Meza | TTh 11:10 - 12:15pm

Section 0003 | Kristin Wiley | TTH 9:35 - 10:50am

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation.

ELED 310: Diversity in Elementary Education

Section 0001, 0003 | Kara Kavanagh | M 8 - 10:45am; M 11:30 - 2:15pm | In-Person

ELED majors. Enroll in section 0001 of ELED 208 and section 0001 of ELED 272.

ELED 641: Families, Schools, and Communities

Section 0001 | Kara Kavanagh | W 5 - 7pm | Online

Online Course.

ENG 239: Literatures of Global English

Section 0002 | David Babcock | TTh 12:45 - 2pm | In-Person | HBS G010 

This course serves as an introduction to world Anglophone literatures since 1945, with special attention to English as a global language with a colonial history. Our texts are produced in places where, historically, English has been the language of imperialism and colonization, ranging from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Keeping in mind this bloody history, we will consider what it means to think in terms of a “global” English literature today, and identify common literary themes, problems, and strategies that have arisen across different areas of the world. How do postcolonial writers go about using English for their own purposes, occupying a potentially treacherous literary ground?

ENG 260: Survey of African-American Literature

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 1:50 - 2:40pm | In-Person

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. Students can expect to complete in-class reading and comprehension quizzes, group discussion board writing assignments, a midterm and final exam.

HIST 263: Introduction to African History

Section 0001 | David Owusah-Ansah | MWF 8 - 8:50am | In-Person

History 263 introduces students to topics in the African past. The course begins with presentations about the African past as evidenced in paleoanthropological discoveries and continues through the colonial period. Particular attention is given to the development of political structures, religious concepts/institutions, and socio-economic patterns within the continent. Contacts with the outside world—the Arabia world and Europe—examine Africa in global history.

HIST 307: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Section 0001 | William Van Norman | MWF 12:40 - 1:30pm | In-Person

This course explores the origins, processes and outcomes of the infamous trade. By studying participants’ lives in Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America, the course helps students understand people’s inhumanity to each other and the ways in which slavery and the trade in enslaved Africans forever altered the development of the Atlantic world.

HRD 123: Developing Multicultural Competency for Effective Facilitation

Section 0001 | Oris Griffin and Jordan Todd | Th 2:40 - 3:55pm (tentative) | In-Person

Relying on an intersectional approach, Developing Multicultural Competency for Effective Facilitation will provide students with a deeper understanding of various systems of oppressions, social identities, and facilitation skills to develop and implement trainings, programs, and dialogues focusing on areas of diversity, equity, social justice, and inclusion. Though open to all undergraduate students, HRD 123 is a prerequisite for students interested in becoming a DEEP Impact Diversity Educator, a peer-to-peer diversity and social justice education program sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Student Services at James Madison University.

POSC 326: Civil Rights 

Section 0001 | Jennifer Byrne | TTh 2:20 - 3:35pm | In-Person

An examination of the judicial interpretation of civil rights in America with emphasis on freedom of speech, due process of law and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

POSC 353: African Politics

Section 0001 | Melinda Adams | MWF 12:40 - 1:30pm | In-Person

This course seeks to foster an understanding of contemporary politics in Africa. The course is organized thematically and draws on case studies to develop these themes. It provides an overview of the central factors affecting African politics, such as the state, societal groups, ethnic, religious, class, and gender identities, international financial institutions, and other global and domestic forces. Students should emerge from the course with concrete knowledge of African politics in particular countries as well as with a greater understanding of the theories and broader analytical debates that animate research on Africa. Students are expected to integrate a broad array of materials, including lectures, readings, current events, and films, to come to a deeper understanding of contemporary African politics.

SOCI 354: Social Inequality

Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Asynchronous Online 

Course covers the systems of stratification and inequality in the United States including race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. Discussion will center on their role in providing rationales for oppression and discrimination in society and their relationship to the distribution of power and ideological control.

ENG 433: Studies in Arabic Literature

Section 0001 | Sofia Samatar | M 4 - 7pm | In-Person

This course examines the representation of space in North African novels. Our selected texts address human experience in a variety of spaces, from interiors and villages to the open desert. These novels come from a region that is sometimes considered part of Africa, and sometimes part of the Middle East: a cultural crossroads that remains contested, full of diverse and contradictory stories about itself. Reading these novels will allow us to explore a number of rich topics, including the difference between space and place, the role of storytelling in spatial experience, and how a particular type of storytelling—the novel—helps shape our idea of the world.

GEOG 377: Feminist Geography

Section 0001 | Kayla Yurco | TTh 3:55 - 5:15pm | In-Person

This course introduces the field and practice of feminist geography with emphasis on understanding gender and other social categories such as race, class, and sexuality through a geographic perspective. Concepts and topics examined include the relationship of such identities to spatial politics, culture, knowledge, and social justice.

HIST 401: History Research Capstone: The Great Black Migration of the 20th Century

Section 0001 | Steven Reich | TTh 12:45 - 2pm | In-Person

Although African Americans had been leaving the South since the days of slavery, it was not until the twentieth century that they migrated on a massive scale to begin new lives in the urban North. From about 1910 to 1970, millions of African American migrants embarked on millions of individual journeys that resulted in a dramatic redistribution of the African American population. This Great Black Migration, as it came to be called, shifted the center of African American social, economic, political, and cultural life from the rural South to the urban North and West. The course explores the Great Migration and its wide impact on African American life, culture, and politics, through a variety of sources and culminates in a capstone research project.

JUST 225: Justice and American Society

Section 0001 | Tatiana Benjamin | MWF 12:40 - 1:30pm | In-Person

This is a General Education (Cluster IV: The American Experience) course which introduces the student to the concept and reality of justice in America. It does not count for credit in the Justice Studies major. It is a broad-based, interdisciplinary consideration of justice: What it is, what it means, and how it intersects with society and social institutions in America. Philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of the notion of justice will be considered as well as the historical context of justice in American society. Justice will also be considered in how it is conceptualized and practiced both formally and informally in social institutions in America. This includes a consideration of justice in community, family, educational, religious and government contexts. Specific attention will be given to formal justice as practiced in the American criminal justice system. Finally, students will engage in a critical examination of contemporary justice issues (such as poverty, women’s rights, immigration, human rights, etc.) using existing quantitative data and exercises. Students will be expected to engage critically on justice issues in relation to different conceptions and alternatives of justice.

JUST 357: Environmental Justice

Section 0001 | Case Watkins | TTh 2:20 - 3:35 pm | In-Person

This course provides students with an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental justice. Emphasizing how contemporary environmental issues are profoundly rooted in social, political, and economic conditions, students will apply principles and conceptions of justice to ecological challenges and sustainability efforts in local, national, and global contexts. Prerequisites potentially waived for AAAD students with permission of instructor (watki2ac@jmu.edu).

POSC 341: Social Movements in the US & Abroad

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | MW 3:25 - 4:40pm | In-Person

In recent decades, social movements have mobilized people concerned about issues ranging from the rights of ethno-racial minorities, women, sexual minorities, and immigrants to the environment, human rights, and world peace. This course will examine the origins, modes of action, and impact of such movements. We will apply the comparative method to analyze social movements in the United States and abroad, investigating how different socioeconomic and political contexts shape social movements based on common issues. The course will emphasize how social movements emerge and function within and alongside existing structures of formal politics.

POSC 371: Black Politics

Section TBD | Jaimee Swift | MWF 11:30 - 12:20pm 

email kelle2jw@jmu.edu for permission number to enroll.

SOCI 360: Social Movements

Section 0001 | Stephen Poulson | TTh time TBD | In-Person

Introduction to the study and analysis of social movements in the United States as agents of social and ideological change. Emphasis is given to movements which have goals of extending and/or protecting rights of individuals and groups in the face of increasing industrialization, urbanization and centralization of power. Much of the course is focused on the Black Civil Rights movement and more recent Black activism, such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

SOCI 395: Special Topics: Sociology of Higher Education

Section 0001 | Deborwah Faulk | TTh 11:20am - 12:25pm | In-Person

Higher education is at the center of research, policy, and public discourse in the U.S. While the assumption is often that education is a public good and the "great equalizer", some scholars suggest that higher education only exacerbates existing social inequality. In this course, we will engage theoretical and empirical arguments about the relationship between higher education and inequality. Through in-depth interrogation of sociological theories; close reading and analysis of text; and discussion of real-world issues related to Higher Ed, we will explore this relationship. This course approaches higher education through three avenues: 1) pathways to Higher Ed; 2) experiences during college; and 3) social outcomes post-entry. For questions contact Dr. Deborwah Faulk at faulkdx@jmu.edu.

STAD 322: Equity, Access, and Inclusion in Education and Performance

Section 0001 | Rachel Rhoades | TTh 11:10 - 12:25pm | In-Person | Forbes 2234

This course examines the role of education and the performing/applied arts in two major tasks: 1) Enhancing access to resources and opportunities for artists from non-dominant identity groups, and 2) Opening space for all peoples to participate in dismantling systems of oppression, specifically through artistic cultural production.In this course, you will learn a range of critical theories (e.g. Black Feminism, Critical Disability Theory, Critical Race Theory, Indigenous Theory) and their foundational relevance to school- and community-based critical education, performing arts contexts, and in arts-based, youth-led social movement activism. We will examine not only the current issues around equity, access, and inclusion in education and the arts, but also become familiar with and imagine new forms of resistance to those injustices. We will explore case studies such as: anti-colonial, anti-capitalist youth arts “colectivos” in Venezuela; Indigenous climate justice music videos galvanizing policy change across the US; and Chilean college students utilizing “carnival strategies” such as public dance performances to challenge the egregious state of education. You will develop academic, professional, and interpersonal skills to prepare you as an advocate, educator, and artist- all of us can use our collective agency in any of these roles to demand justice! In all aspects of my teaching, my goal is to engage in the exchange of knowledge and collective inquiry on urgent issues as a means to unite students and myself as, what critical education pioneer Freire (1973) calls, “co-investigators in dialogue” as we work together towards “critical intervention in reality” through lenses of critique and renewal.

WGSS 200: Introduction to WGSS

Sections 0001, 0003 | Noelle Chaddock | TTh 5:30 - 6:15pm | Online

Interdisciplinary introduction to theories and scholarship in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Examines the social construction of gender, how gender affects access to opportunity, and the experiences and contributions of women throughout history. Provides a foundation for subsequent work in the women’s, gender, and sexuality studies minor.

AAAD 200: Introduction to AAAD

Section 4101 | Besi Muhonja | Asynchronous Online

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD Minor.

Electives

AAAD 401: Internship in AAAD Studies

Sections 0001, 0002, 0003 | Case Watkins | Hybrid | TBD

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled out in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience.

ENG 260: Survey of African-American Literature

Sections 4101, 4201 | Mollie Godfrey | Asynchronous Online

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. Students can expect to complete in-class reading and comprehension quizzes, group discussion board writing assignments, a midterm and final exam.

JUST 301: Black Feminist Abolitionist Praxis

Section 4201 | Tatiana Benjamin | Asynchronous Online

This course focuses on various social justice issues that impact our everyday lives on both the personal and institutional level. It will explore Black feminist theory in order to introduce topics such as racial justice, immigrant rights, LGBTQ, and disability justice. By applying Black feminist theory students will engage with how intersectionality and womanism provide road maps for abolishing systems of inequality. As the feminist adage states, “the personal is political.” Students will learn how to interrogate and dismantle hegemonic ideologies that do not align with liberation for all people. They will read writings that center the experiences of marginalized communities. Lastly, this course asks students to reimagine how our social, economic, and political systems can be transformed to reflect justice within our society.

JUST 328: Race, Class, and Justice

Section 4201 | Gianluca De Fazio | Asynchronous Online

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research

methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class. To register contact Professor De Fazio at defazigx@jmu.edu.

Course Directives

SCOM 471: Culture and Health Communication

Section 4101 | Mohammad Ala-Uddin | Asynchronous Online

This course explores how we define and study culture in health communication. While the notion of health is broadly conceptualized, our interest and focus lie at the intersection of health, communication, and culture. Students will discover in this course that pervasive health disparities still exist and disenfranchise various cultural groups. The purpose of this course is to examine the influence of culture on communicative aspects of individuals’ health. Specifically, this course compares the culture-centered approach to studying culture and health communication to the cultural sensitivity or culture as a barrier model. In this course, we apply various theoretical lenses to understand diverse health beliefs and engage in dialogue about our own health beliefs.

WGSS 200: Introduction to WGSS

Section 4W1 | Noelle Chaddock | Online | TBD

Interdisciplinary introduction to theories and scholarship in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Examines the social construction of gender, how gender affects access to opportunity, and the experiences and contributions of women throughout history. Provides a foundation for subsequent work in the women’s, gender, and sexuality studies minor.

AAAD 200: Introduction to Africana Studies

Section 0001 | Besi Muhonja | MW 1:50-3:05pm | Synchronous Online
Section 0002 | Biruk Haregu | TuTh 12:45-2:00pm | Synchronous Online

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor.

AAAD 489: African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Senior Research Experience

Section 0001 | Kathryn Hobson | TBD | In-Person

AAAD 489 is a one-credit hour, culminating experience for those in the African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies minor program. AAAD 489 requires a substantive research paper and/or other approved project(s), as well as a public presentation, that demonstrate the student’s ability to synthesize learning gained throughout the minor program. Students work with one or more AAAD faculty members to determine the topic, research methods, and project structure. The public presentation must occur at an approved academic venue. Students may build upon coursework that they have completed at the 300 and 400 level.

Note: It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they are registered into the AAAD 489 course.

Electives

AAAD 401: Internship in AAAD Studies

Sections 0001; 0002; 0003 | Case Watkins | TBD | In-Person & Online

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled out in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience. Opportunities for Spring 2022 include working with individual professors, the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project, AAAD-CGE Virtual Internships Abroad, and more. To learn more, email the Director of AAAD Internships Dr. Case Watkins at watki2ac@jmu.edu.

ANTH 395: Women, Culture, and Power in Africa

Section 0003 | Miriam Kilimo | MW 3:25-4:40pm | In-Person

How did women access political power in pre-colonial Africa? What role did African women play in liberation struggles? How are African women today agitating for increased political spaces? This course invites students to explore African women's experiences in light of cultural, economic, and political transformations on the continent. Students will engage with African feminist thought and explore African women's writing and histories. We will examine how the experiences of African women were influenced by forces such as colonialism, independence struggles, women's movements, political activism, human rights discourses, development aid, among others. Throughout the course, we will see how African women have shaped their communities and cultivated spaces for agency, autonomy, and renewal amidst hegemonic cultural and political forces.

ARTH 426: Advanced Topics in Cross-Cultural Studies (New African Diaspora Art) 

Section 0001 | Aderonke Adesanya | TuTh 11:10-12:25pm | In-Person

The course focuses on the works and experiences of New African Diaspora artists (NADA) in western locations notably, America, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and in Africa. It examines the artists’ condition of being simultaneously local and global, their processes and productions, their critique of and responses to race, politics, identity, migration, decolonization, and other experiences. Other course highlights include the avenues for exhibition and circulation of their works, the ways that the artists straddle traditions and spaces (Africa and Euro-American), navigate and mediate the politics of art-making. Their intersections with intermediaries and institutions, the local and global art markets are also considered.

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society

Sections 0001; 0002; 0004 | Diana Meza (1-2) & Kristofor Wiley (4) | TuTh 11:10-12:25pm (M) & MW 9:35-10:50am (W) | In-Person

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation.

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

Section 0001 | Allison Fagan | MWF 12:40-1:30pm | In-Person

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. Students can expect to complete in-class reading and comprehension quizzes, group discussion board writing assignments, a midterm and final exam.

ENG 385: Race and Hollywood

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MW 9:35-10:50am | In-Person

Since its inception at the turn of the 20th century, the American film industry has fostered ideals and images of American identity, often via its fortification or interrogation of America’s Black/white color line. Indeed, from the rise of film through the Civil Rights movement, Black Power, and the rise of independent Black cinema, representations of Blackness and whiteness have proven crucial both to the content of American films and also to the perspectives from which they are made and viewed. This course will investigate the conceptualization of race and both the perpetuation of and resistance to racism in popular American culture by examining representations of Black and white Americans in Hollywood films—as well as the public reception of those films—from the birth of film to the present day.

ENG 408: African American Theater & Performance

Section 0001 | Matthew Rebhorn | MW 1:50-3:05pm | In-Person

This course offers a brief literary history of African American theater and performance from the early nineteenth century to today.  Beginning with blackface minstrelsy, “Uncle Tom Mania,” and the first published play by a Black artist, this course will trace out the ways that these initial tropes, characters, and ideas have continued to affect and inflect the genealogy of Black theater history and the trajectory of Black performative practices.  We will trace the way the Black American theater tradition has both embraced and rechanneled the theatrical developments of realism, absurdism, modernism, poststructuralism, and avant-gardism, even as it has responded to the historical lived experience of Black Americans, from chattel slavery to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter.  To do this, we will touch on familiar artists, such as Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Langston Hughes, and Eugene O’Neill, as well as less familiar—but no less radical—artists, such as Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.  We will experience some of these works as recordings, and will most likely attempt to see at least one production in the area.  

Note: This course fulfills the “Identity, Diversity, Power” overlay requirement for the English Major.

HIST 341: Militarism in Africa

Section 0001 | Etana Dinka | TuTh 11:10-12:25pm | In-Person

Selected themes are studied in depth. Course may be repeated when content changes. Only courses with significant content outside of Europe will count toward the world history requirement. See MyMadison and the history department website for information on current classes.

HIST 436: Afro-Latin America: Black Radical Thought in the Caribbean and Latin America

Section 0001 | William Van Norman | TuTh 2:20-3:35pm | In-Person

This course seeks to recover traditions of black radical thought in hispanophone Latin America and the Caribbean in the twentieth century. It will explore the lives of important men and women of African descent in social movements throughout the region. It will also investigate the connections that were forged with francophone and anglophone thinkers and radical actors. The course will show how transnational organizations and alliances made important contributions and helped to forge a durable sense of the African diaspora in the Atlantic world during the twentieth century.

JUST 301: Global Migrations

TBD | Tatiana Benjamin | Tu 3:55-6:25pm | In-Person

This course surveys human migration in relation to questions of justice. Students will analyze interdisciplinary literature on human migration, settlement, and diasporas while studying flows of people across various historical, geographic and political contexts, and from global to local perspectives. The first part of this course explores larger concepts and theories that shape the historical and political dimensions of migration. Part two dives deeper by exploring the process of migration by focusing on the experiences of migrants from different parts of the world. Lastly, part three centers immigration policies, economics, and resistance. Taken together these parts will demonstrate the relationship between human migration with historical and  contemporary conversations on justice. 

We will read and discuss a wide range of academic and popular writings related to migration. In addition to readings, we will scrutinize films, podcasts, and other digital media each week, honing our critical analytical and writing skills. Topics include the peopling of continents, settler colonialism, the African diaspora, immigration to the US, transnational communities and identities, and contemporary migration policies at local, national, and international levels. 

POSC/WGSS 383: Women & Politics in Comparative Perspective

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | TuTh 12:45-2pm | In-Person

A study of the causes and consequences of women’s political marginalization in the United States and abroad. The course takes an intersectional approach to examine socioeconomic and political dimensions of gender inequality, exploring how women have worked through social movements, electoral politics, and public policy initiatives to overcome obstacles to their political empowerment. 

SOCI 354: Social Inequality

Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Asynchronous | Online

Course covers the systems of stratification and inequality in the United States including race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. Discussion will center on their role in providing rationales for oppression and discrimination in society and their relationship to the distribution of power and ideological control.  

STAD 322: Equity, Access, and Inclusion in Education and Performance

Sections 0001 & 0002 | Rachel Rhoades | WF 1:50-3:05pm & TuTh 8-9:15am | In-Person

This course examines the role of education and the performing/applied arts in two major tasks:  

1. Opening space for all peoples to participate in dismantling systems of oppression, specifically through artistic cultural production  

1. Enhancing access to resources and opportunities for artists from non-dominant identity groups  

In this course, you will learn a range of critical theories (e.g. Black Feminism, Critical Disability Theory, Critical Race Theory, Indigenous Theory, Latinx Critical Theory, Marxist Feminism, Queer Theory) and their foundational relevance to school- and community-based critical education, performing arts contexts, and in arts-based, youth-led social movement activism. 

You will examine current issues around equity, access, and inclusion in education and the arts. In addition, you will become familiar with and imagine new forms of arts-based resistance to injustices. We will explore case studies such as: the BIPOC Demands for White American Theatre #WeSeeYou document and the recent 7-month follow-up Accountability Report; anti-colonial, anti-capitalist youth arts “colectivos” in Venezuela; Indigenous climate justice music videos galvanizing policy change across the US; and Chilean college students utilizing “carnival strategies” such as public dance performances to challenge the egregious state of education. 

You will develop academic, professional, and interpersonal skills to prepare you as an advocate, educator, and artist- all of us can use our individual and collective agency in any of these roles to demand justice! In all aspects of my teaching, my goal is to engage in the exchange of knowledge and collective inquiry on urgent issues as a means to unite students and myself as, what critical education pioneer Paulo Freire (1973) calls, “co-investigators in dialogue” as we work together towards “critical intervention in reality” through lenses of critique and renewal. 

Course Directives

ENG 360: Introduction to Ethnic American Literature

Section 0001 | Allison Fagan | MWF 10:20-11:10am | In-Person

Emma Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus,” was published in 1883, but in 2021 we still find it cropping up everywhere: from cable news to cartoons, from protest signs to quotations from public officials, and from newspaper ads to Instagram posts, its words resonate with some of the most pressing questions of the present: how do we decide the price of admission to a nation? This semester, ENG 360 will take up the question of immigration by focusing on narratives of arrivals and departures written by 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century immigrants from around the world. We’ll focus on stories AND silences, tracing the various routes to the United States these writers have carved into history and paying attention to the vision of America these immigrants bring with them. We’ll study short works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry as well as oral histories archived in Special Collections at JMU’s Carrier Library. But we won’t just be studying stories; we’ll also be making them. This class will be dedicated not only to researching existing oral histories of local immigrants, but also to recording new oral histories of immigrants currently living in the Harrisonburg community. We’ll be blending these past and present oral histories into episodes of a class-produced podcast, gaining research, interview, digital production, and narrative editing skills along the way. We will use our understanding of the value of immigrant narrative to help begin to amplify the narratives of the immigrant communities of Harrisonburg. Join us as we produce season three of the Harrisonburg 360 Podcast. 

ELED 310: Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Elementary Education

Section 0001 & 0002 | Kara Kavanagh | W 2:30-5:20pm | In-Person

This course guides students in critically examining their own perspectives regarding diversity in our society. Through this course, students will expand their awareness and understanding of individuals and groups apparently different from themselves. Students will explore pedagogical issues and practices in the classroom that embrace the whole community of learners and their families.  

ELED 310: Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Elementary Education

Section 0005 | Kara Kavanagh | M 11:30-2:15pm | In-Person

This course guides students in critically examining their own perspectives regarding diversity in our society. Through this course, students will expand their awareness and understanding of individuals and groups apparently different from themselves. Students will explore pedagogical issues and practices in the classroom that embrace the whole community of learners and their families.

ENG 405: Advanced Studies in Anglophone Literature. Epidemics in Global Anglophone Fiction

Section 0001 | David Babcock | MW 1:50-3:05pm | In-Person

This course considers the ways that obsessions with disease and contagion get coded within contemporary geo-cultural contexts. Its premise is that mass epidemics can act as historical catalysts that lead communities to envision themselves—both their problems and potentialities—in new ways. Often we hear about how the boundaries of communities are policed by stoking people‘s fears of disease and death, suggesting perhaps that contagion fiction is only capable of producing reactive, xenophobic feelings. In fact, contemporary fiction presents a much more multifaceted picture, one that includes possibilities for both community-building and communal self-critique. Likely authors include John Edgar Wideman, Amitav Ghosh, Mary Karooro Okurut, Jamaica Kincaid, Colson Whitehead, and Kazuo Ishiguro.

HIST 436: Afro-Latin America: Black Radical Thought in the Caribbean and Latin America

Section 0001 | William Van Norman | TuTh 2:20-3:35pm | In-Person

This course seeks to recover traditions of black radical thought in hispanophone Latin America and the Caribbean in the twentieth century. It will explore the lives of important men and women of African descent in social movements throughout the region. It will also investigate the connections that were forged with francophone and anglophone thinkers and radical actors. The course will show how transnational organizations and alliances made important contributions and helped to forge a durable sense of the African diaspora in the Atlantic world during the twentieth century. 

JUST 356: Refugees & Humanitarian Response

Section 0001 | Daniel Beers | W 4:10-6:40pm | In-Person

This course will examine the practical and ethical challenges facing refugees and humanitarian actors in the contemporary world. We will survey the causes of forced migration, explore global trends in displacement and humanitarian aid, and analyze the laws and institutions that facilitate (or inhibit) refugee protection. We will consider the challenges that refugees face throughout their journey, from border crossings, to refugee camps, to resettlement communities, as well as the difficult tradeoffs that humanitarian actors must weigh in providing assistance and protection. 

JUST 376: Global Social Movements

Section 0001 | Gianluca De Fazio | TuTh 9:35-10:50am | In-Person

his course introduces justice studies students to the origins, development, and outcomes of global social movements. It involves an in-depth examination of the main theories explaining the rise of social movements, as well as an empirical focus on global dynamics of popular mobilization. Special attention will be devoted to the examination of the global justice movement and recent transnational anti-racist mobilization. AAAD students have to focus on a AAAD topic for their final research paper. 

POSC/WGSS 383: Women & Politics in Comparative Perspective

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | TuTh 12:45-2pm | In-Person

A study of the causes and consequences of women’s political marginalization in the United States and abroad. The course takes an intersectional approach to examine socioeconomic and political dimensions of gender inequality, exploring how women have worked through social movements, electoral politics, and public policy initiatives to overcome obstacles to their political empowerment. 

SOCI 395: The Black Family

Section 0001 | Deborwah Faulk | TuTh 9:35-10:50am | TBD

This course approaches the study of the Black family through the context of neighborhoods, schools, work, and other social spaces. Students will discuss how racial status intersects with class, gender, and place and how these forces manifest in the lives and stories of Black families. Students will also design, write, and present a research project which addresses a question pertaining to the Black family. 

SOCI 395: Sociology of Higher Education

Section 0002 | Deborwah Faulk | TuTh 2-3:15pm | TBD

 Higher education is at the center of research, policy, and public discourse in the U.S. While the assumption is often that education is a public good and the "great equalizer", some scholars suggest that higher education only exacerbates existing social inequality. In this course, we will engage theoretical and empirical arguments about the relationship between higher education and inequality. Through in-depth interrogation of sociological theories; close reading and analysis of text; and discussion of real-world issues related to Higher Ed, we will explore this relationship. This course approaches higher education through three avenues: 1) pathways to Higher Ed; 2) experiences during college; and 3) social outcomes post-entry.

SOCI 480: Visual Sociology

Section 0001 | Stephen Poulson | TuTh 9:30-10:50am | In-Person

This is a special topics course that explores methods of visual sociology. This field often uses visual artifacts such as pictures, films, paintings and drawings in order to understand past historical periods. It also includes using visual methods, such as photography, to explore the social world. During the semester, as students explore different strategies used in visual research and collect (or create) visual data for individual projects that will be presented at a research symposium. One of the primary texts for this course is: W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America. This is a writing intensive course required for graduation from the sociology program, but can be taken by advanced undergraduates with an interest in the topic. 

AAAD 200: Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies 

Section 0001 | Etana Dinka | TuTh 11:20AM-12:35PM | In-Person 

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor. 

AAAD 400: The Antiracist Gen Ed Project (A JMU X-Labs Class) 

Section 0002 | Tolu Odumosu (co-taught by Amy Lewis, Allison Fagan, and Carah Whaley) | TuTh 9:40-10:55AM | In-Person 

Join students from across campus to redefine and reimagine “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” in the General Education curriculum. What broad skills does a college graduate in 2026 need to have? Whose knowledge should count as important enough to teach to the leaders of tomorrow? Whose stories should we tell? Are you interested in joining a diverse team of multidisciplinary faculty from across campus to critique the syllabi of yesterday and shape the courses of tomorrow? Are interested in rethinking the Gen Ed experience from an anti-racist perspective? If so, join the conversation and sign up for this class. Admission is by instructor permission only. Apply here by Wednesday, April 14: http://bit.ly/GenEdXLabs 

Course Cross-Listed with LAXC 495, POSC 351, MUS 490, ISAT 480, HON 300, UNST 300E, ENG 302 

AAAD 401: Internship in African, African American and Diaspora Studies 

Sections 0001 (one credit hour), 0002 (two credit hours), 0003 (three credit hours) | Case Watkins | TBD | Multiple 

This internship course provides the student with the opportunity to apply knowledge learned in the classroom in a practical/real-world setting(s). It prepares students for working independently in the field. Any internship experience must be approved by the internship coordinator in advance, and details of supervision and evaluation should be spelled in advance by the supervising faculty member. If the internship is through an academic unit, it must be approved for credit by the African, African American and Diaspora Studies internship coordinator in advance of the experience. Students should seek out their own internship opportunities, respond to opportunities posted by the Director of AAAD Internships, and/or work with AAAD faculty and partners to develop internship opportunities.Questions? Contact Director of AAAD Internships, Dr. Case Watkins, at watki2ac@jmu.edu. 

AMST 200: Introduction to American Studies 

Section 0002 / 0003 | H. Gelfand | MW 3:55-5:10PM / MW 5:35-6:50PM | In Person/Hybrid 

This course examines representations of the United States in literature, history, philosophy, religion, popular culture, music, and art through the concepts of Identity, Place, and Activism with a strong emphasis on People of Color and people of all abilities, economic backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and sexualities. 

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society 

Section 0001 / 0003 | Diana Meza (0001) or Ruthie Bosch (0003) | MW 9:40-10:55AM (0001) / TuTh 9:40-10:55AM (0003) | In-Person 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation 

ELED 310: Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Elementary Education 

Section 0003 / 0004 / 0005 | Kara Kavanagh | M 11:45AM-2:30PM / M 8:00-10:45AM / W 8:00-10:45AM | In-Person 

This course guides students in critically examining their own perspectives regarding diversity in our society. Through this course, students will expand their awareness and understanding of individuals and groups apparently different from themselves. Students will explore pedagogical issues and practices in the classroom that embrace the whole community of learners and their families. 

ENG 239: Studies in World Literature: Literatures of Global English 

Section 0002 | David Babcock | TuTh 9:40-10:55AM | In-Person/Hybrid 

This course serves as an introduction to world anglophone literatures since 1945, with special attention to English as a global language with a colonial history. Our texts are produced in places where, historically, English has been the language of imperialism and colonization, ranging from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Keeping in mind this bloody history, we will consider what it means to think in terms of a "global" English literature today, and identify common literary themes, problems, and strategies that have arisen across different areas of the world. How do postcolonial writers go about using English for their own purposes, occupying a potentially treacherous literary ground? 

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature 

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 1:00-1:50PM | In-Person/Hybrid 

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. Students can expect to complete in-class reading and comprehension quizzes, group discussion board writing assignments, a midterm and final exam. 

ENG 335: African American Children's Literature 

Section 0001 | Danielle Price | TuTh 2:40-3:55PM | In-Person 

This course studies the conventions and history of African American children’s literature. We begin with the overarching question of what exactly is African American children’s literature and then consider its history and expression in various genres including the picture book, poetry, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and the graphic novel. We will also discuss the position of African American literature within the wider world of children’s books, book publishing, and popular culture. 

ENG 496: Advanced Creative Writing: Life Writing 

Section 0004 | Joanne Gabbin | TuTh 9:40-10:55AM | In-Person 

Creative life writing class organized around readings in memoirs and autobiographies written by Black American authors, including Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Barack Obama, James McBride, Jesmyn Ward, and Edwidge Danticat. 

HIST 263: Introduction to African History 

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MWF 8:00-8:50AM | In Person 

History 263 introduces students to topics in the African past. The course begins with presentations about the African past as evidenced in paleanthropological discoveries and continues through the colonial period. articular attention is given to the development of political structures, religious concepts/institutions, and socio-economic patterns within the continent. Contacts with the outside world—the Arabia world and Europe—examine Africa in global history. 

HIST 341: A History of Modern Africa 

Section 0001 | Etana Dinka | TuTh 4:20-5:35PM | In-Person 

This course examines selected key themes in the history of modern Africa. It 
explores historical transitions and challenges in society, economy and politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. The major themes of the course include the 19th-century transformations in the west and southern Africa, East Africa and the Indian ocean, Islam in Africa, conquest and colonialism, Africa and the two world wars, the process of decolonization and the eventual departure of European colonial rule in parts of tropical Africa, and independent Africa's politics and economies. The course is organized chronologically and thematically, providing students with a broad knowledge of modern Africa that will prepare them for further in-depth learning of the continent's contemporary history. Lectures, class discussions, films, and historical significance issues in selected African countries from different geographical zones will be employed to illustrate the key themes of discussions in the course. 

HIST 355: African American History to 1865 

Section 0001 | Andrew Witmer | TuTh 11:20AM-12:35PM | In-Person 

A survey of the experience and changing status of African Americans in the United States from 1619 through the Civil War, with attention to the West African background, cultural developments, social and political movements, slavery and the slave trade, dual-consciousness, and emancipation. 

IDLS 395/ENVT 300: Environmental Thought and Activism 

Section 0003 | H. Gelfand | Th 4:20-6:50PM | In-Person/Hybrid 

This course examines the development of environmental thought in the United states, including environmental protection, environmental activism, environmental justice, urban adaptations to environmental degradation and poverty, land use, ecopoverty, and the impacts of resource extraction and refining, with a particular emphasis on People of Color and economically challenged populations. 

JUST 355: Solutions to Global Poverty 

Section 0001 | Daniel Beers | W 6:30-9:00PM | In-Person 

This course will analyze the root causes of global poverty and critically examine a range of approaches designed to improve conditions for the world’s poor. Topics include nutrition and agriculture, healthcare, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, environmental management, and microfinance. Throughout the course, we will read policy documents, work with poverty-related data, and analyze a variety of real-world case studies to 
illustrate key ideas. Prerequisites: JUST 200 and one other 200-level JUST course, not including JUST 225. (Limited availability; pre-reqs waived for AAAD students). 

JUST 357: Environmental Justice 

Section 0001 | Case Watkins | TuTh 2:00-3:15PM | In-Person 

This course provides students with an interdisciplinary introduction to 
environmental justice. Emphasizing how contemporary environmental issues are profoundly rooted in social, political, and economic conditions, students will apply principles and conceptions of justice to ecological challenges and sustainability efforts in local, national, and global contexts. Class Notes: Students are divided into subgroups and attend alternating face-to-face and remote classes on a schedule set by their instructor. Prerequisites: JUST 200 and one other 200-level JUST course, not including JUST 225. (Limited 
availability; pre-reqs waived for AAAD students). 

POSC 340: Politics of Development 

Section 0001 | Melinda Adams | TuTh 11:20AM-12:35PM | In-Person 

What is development and what strategies successfully promote it? This course examines questions related to development--what it is, what factors promote or obstruct it, and the ways that academic and practitioner-based approaches to it have changed over time. Throughout the semester, we will pay significant attention to issues of governance, institutions, strategies of development and poverty alleviation, and foreign aid and conflict. 

POSC 341: Social Movements in the US & Abroad 

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | MW 2:15-3:30PM | In-Person 

In recent decades, social movements have mobilized people concerned about issues ranging from the rights of ethno-racial minorities, women, sexual minorities, and immigrants to the environment, human rights, and world peace. This course will examine the origins, modes of action, and impact of such movements. We will apply the comparative method to analyze social 
movements in the United States and abroad, investigating how different socioeconomic and political contexts shape social movements based on common issues. The course will emphasize how social movements emerge and function within and alongside existing structures of formal politics. 

PSYC 402: Independent Readings in Black in America 

Section 0001 | Pam Gibson | M 11:00AM-12:15PM | Synchronous Online 

This course reads and discusses 7 books and 2 reports by Black authors that deal with being Black in the United States. Some emphasis is put on identity and students will write a paper on their racial identity. Students will also explore their own implicit biases with an exercise designed by the instructor. Books will include: When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Kahn-Cullors (co-founder of Black Lives Matter); The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, "Overpoliced, and Underprotected" by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw with Priscilla Ocen and Jyoti Nanda (African American Policy forum www.aapf.org and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. www.intersectionality-center.org); "Say Her Name Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women." African American Policy forum. On Canvas and at www.aapf.org; Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum; Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele; White Rage by Carol Anderson; and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This course is handled via override. Please email instructor at gibsonpr@jmu.edu. 

REL 300: Race and Religion 

Section 0001 | Emily Gravett | MW 9:40-10:55AM | In-Person 

Both race and religion are interwoven into who we are and how we inhabit our various worlds, even if we don’t think of these as important or relevant parts of our lives. This class will explore the complicated and long-standing intersection of these two concepts, wondering: What do they each mean? How have these terms functioned, throughout history? How do race and religion interact? How has one informed or shaped our understanding of the other? When differing racial and religious identities converge for individuals and communities, what happens? With the foundation provided by the course and our time together, you will also have the opportunity to explore your own various identities as well as case study of your choosing that involves an intersection of race and religion. 

SCOM 248: Intercultural Communication 

Section 0001 / 0002 | Kathryn Hobson | TuTh 11:20-12:35PM / 1:00-2:15PM | In-Person 

The study of human communication in a variety of cultural settings and contexts. Emphasis on developing understanding and analytical skills regarding communication between people from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds in both domestic and international settings. Consideration of relevance and application to social, business, and political environments 

WGSS 200: Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 

Section 0002 | Besi Muhonja | MW 9:40-10:55AM | In-Person 

This course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies from a critical, transnational, intersectional and cross-cultural perspective. Participants will interrogate intersections of gender, nationality, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, and other identities through the lenses of production and reproduction, public and private 
concepts/spheres, margins and centers, privilege and subordination, cultural realities, resistance, colonialisms, decolonial knowledges, globalization and neo-colonialisms. 

AAAD 200: Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies

Section 0001 | Besi Muhonja | TuTh 2:15-3:30pm | Synchronous Online

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit (Cluster 4). Required for AAAD minor.

ARTH 424: Arts of Ancient Egypt

Section 0001 | Aderonke Adesanya | TuTh 2:40-3:55pm | Synchronous Online

The course covers ancient the Egyptian civilization from the Old to New Egyptian Kingdoms. It explores the foundations of the arts and architecture, the relationship between religion and artistic tradition, ideas about hierarchies, leadership, and gender, and illustrates these with the arts of the era of some Egyptian pharaohs. The course takes students through the philosophy and belief systems governing artistic production in the ancient Egyptian world. Mythological ideas about the culture, ideologies and ideosyncrasies of Egyptian kings, queens and nobles, as well Egypt under the Nubian, Greek and Roman eras come into sharp relief in thematic studies throughout the semester. Egyptian sculpture, painting, architecture, jewelry, textiles and ceramic, the techniques of production, iconography, and other elements in the various works of art and architecture as well as terminologies applied to them are examined.

ARTH 428: Advanced Topics in Modern and Contemporary African Art (New African Diaspora Art)

Section 0001 | Aderonke Adesanya | TuTh 11:20AM-12:35PM | Synchronous Online

An examination of the works and experiences of New African Diaspora artists (NADA) in western locations notably, America, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France, and Germany. It brings into focus the artists’ processes and productions, their critique of and responses to race, politics, identity, migration, decolonization, and other experiences. It also highlights the avenues for exhibition and circulation of their works, and how they navigate and mediate the politics of art making, dealing with intermediaries and institutions, and belonging to the local and global art market. Students are required to find case studies for their research.

ELED 310: Diversity, Equity, and Justice in Elementary Education

Section 0004, 0005, or 0006 | Kara Kavanagh | M 8:00AM-10:45AM, W 11:45AM-2:30PM, W 8:00AM-10:45AM | In Person

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage, language, learning abilities, gender socialization, and sexual orientation.

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society

Section 0001, 0002, 0003, or 0004 | Meza or Schick | TuTh 9:40-10:55AM, TuTh 2:40-3:55PM, MW 2:15-3:30PM, or MW 9:30-10:55AM | TBA

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | Asynchronous | Asynchronous Online

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods.

ENG 221H: Literature/Culture/Ideas: Latinx Storytelling

Section 0001 | Allison Fagan | MWF 9:15-10:05AM | Synchronous and Asynchrounous Online

A comparative introductory survey of the stories of contemporary U.S. Latinx writers who trace their heritage to Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Central and South America. In addition to considering how race, nation, and ethnicity shape understandings of Latina/o/x identity, the course will explore the influencing forces of gender, sexuality, class, and language on Latinx writers. A student final project must focus on a topic related to AfroLatinidad for AAAD credit. May also be used for General Education credit.

ENG 335: African American Children's Literature

Section 0001 | Danielle Price | TuTh 9:40-10:55AM | Synchronous Online

This course studies the conventions and history of African American children’s literature. We begin with the overarching question of what exactly is African American children’s literature: is it defined by its readership? by the race of its authors and illustrators? by its depictions and themes? We will consider the history of this literature and its expression in various genres including the picture book, poetry, historical fiction, realistic fiction, fantasy fiction, and the graphic novel. We will also discuss the position of African-American literature within the wider world of children’s books, book publishing, and popular culture.

ENG 405: Epidemics in Contemporary Anglophone Literature

Sections 0001 | David Babcock | M 3:55-6:25PM | Synchronous Online

This course considers the ways that obsessions with disease and contagion get coded within contemporary geo-cultural contexts. Its premise is that mass epidemics can act as historical catalysts that lead communities to envision themselves—both their problems and potentialities—in new ways. Often we hear about how the boundaries of communities are policed by stoking people‘s fears of disease and death, suggesting perhaps that contagion fiction is only capable of producing reactive, xenophobic feelings. In fact, contemporary fiction presents a much more multifaceted picture, one that includes possibilities for both community-building and communal self-critique.

ENG 408: Advanced Studies in African American Literature

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | M 3:55-6:25PM | Synchronous Online

This course on the Pasts, Presents, and Futures of Contemporary African American Literature offers an advanced study of key theories and genres of contemporary African American literature, including neo-slave narratives, post-soul satires, and Afrofuturism. Authors include Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everett, Mat Johnson, Octavia Butler, and Nnedi Okorafor.

ENG 433: Advanced Studies in Arabic Literature

Section 0001 | Sofia Samatar | Tu 6:00-8:30PM | Synchronous Online

A study of the novel in North Africa, taught in English (no knowledge of Arabic is necessary). This course fulfills requirements for: Advanced Studies for English Majors; Identity, Diversity, Power; AAAD Minor; MECM Minor.

ENG 496: Trauma, Healing, and Resiliance: A Multi-Genre Workshop

Section 0002 | Erica Cavanagh | MW 2:15-3:30PM | TBA

In this creative writing workshop we will read nonfiction, poetry, and a hybrid of these two genres called the lyric essay on the themes of trauma, healing, and resilience. Of books, our readings will include Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Jeannette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?, Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, and Danez Smith’s Don’t Call Us Dead. We will also read shorter works on subjects that are at center stage in our times, namely the effects of race-based discrimination and also the effects of quarantine amid COVID-19. Excerpts from books and podcasts on the brain science of trauma, race- and gender-based trauma, and also tools for healing and resilience will supplement the literary works we read and offer us a language for talking about the effects of difficult experiences and how we might address them. Over the course of the semester, you will have three writing assignments for which you may choose to write in the genre of nonfiction, poetry, or the lyric essay. For these writing assignments, you will not be required to write about trauma per se, but given the themes of the course, we will all likely write about challenging, alienating, or otherwise disorienting experiences and how we have tried, so far, to understand and address those experiences in our lives.

HIST 322: The New South

Section 0001 | Steven Reich | TuTh 1:00-2:15PM | In Person

During the era of Jim Crow—a period that spanned the years from the 1890s to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—a welter of state laws, municipal ordinances, and social customs racially segregated public and private life across the American South. Jim Crow, as both legal framework and social practice, shaped the everyday lives of three generations of Southerners, both black and white. It determined where they worked, where they attended school, what they learned, where and what they ate, what they wore, where they shopped, whom they could marry, how they raised their children, how they worshipped God, how and where they relaxed and socialized, and the political allegiances they held. This class examines the complexities of segregation—its legal boundaries, its social and cultural peculiarities, and its violent enforcement. It especially focuses on the political actions that challenged and eventually dismantled it. The course satisfies requirements for the minor in African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) and Tracks 1, 2, 3, and 7 of the Humanities and Social Sciences Concentration of the IDLS major.

HIST 489: Pandemics in African History

Section 0001 | Etana H. Dinka | TuTh 9:30-10:45am | Synchronous Online

This course explores the histories of pandemics in the entire sweep of African history. By using a continent-wide perspective to examine these histories, from the Athenian Plague—the earliest recorded pestilence—to the rise and expansion of successive Ebola epidemics, the course offers students the opportunity to understand pandemics historically and examine its role in shaping African economies, societies, cultures, and politics. Not only have pandemics shaped theoretical approaches to these contexts, but they have also become deeply rooted aspects of theories and methods. An understanding of the way histories of pandemics unfolded in Africa, mostly linked to human penetration into the natural environment—one of the major themes in African history—helps to set the discussions in the longer context of African history and opens up to analysis a potentially under-examined history of linkages between pandemics, economy, society, culture, politics. The history of pandemics, and more generally of diseases, characteristically falls under environmental history. Since pandemics are natural forces occurring beyond human control over the environment, a course emphasizing histories of pandemics will help students to think beyond such established ideas as humans control nature and to be able to generate fresh perspectives. The course begins by asking the critical question useful to frame the discussions that help to understand histories of pandemics in the longue durée of African history—what is African history? The key themes will include the role of pandemics in the shaping of human history, and the histories of major pandemics that prevailed across the continent, including the Athenian Plague, the Black Death, Cholera, Malaria, Sleeping Sickness, Tuberculosis, Influenza, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola. Although the course focuses on pandemics that had occurred in the history of Africa, occasionally students will venture into other continents tracing global trajectories of pandemics. Students registered for this course will have required and recommended readings. Class discussions are based on the required readings. A thorough reading of required materials before every class is vital. It is a requirement for every student to attend classes and engage actively in class discussions. Active class participation makes a vital part of the course.

HON 300: 20th and 21st Century Leadership in Black, Afro-Latinx and Latinx Popular Culture

Section TBA | Fawn-Amber Montoya | Tu 5:30-8:00PM | Hybrid

Course will analyze the historical context of 20th and 21st popular culture from the perspective of race, class, gender, and sexual identity. Students will think critically about how Black, Latinx, and Afro-Latinx female musicians, actors, and artists have portrayed the female body. The course will consider the following: How do history and current events impact popular culture? How do personal and political lines blur within the context of popular culture? What qualifies as leadership?

IDLS 395: The Unfinished Journey of People of Color in the U.S.

Section 0004 | H. Gelfand | TuTh 4:20-5:35PM | In Person/Synchronous Online

An in-depth study of People of Color in Contemporary America, with a focus on the antecedents and factors that have led to our current circumstances, and contemplations of making the country more equitable and accepting.

JUST 328: Race, Class and Justice

Section 0001 | Gianluca De Fazio | Asynchronous | Asynchronous Online

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class. Special emphasis will be devoted to explore the collective memory of racial violence.

JUST 301: Policing of Protest

Section 0002 | Gianluca De Fazio | Asynchronous | Asynchronous Online

This course investigates the contentious interactions between protesters and political authorities, in particular the policing of protest in democratic societies. The course is divided into three sections: in the first one, general issues of dissent and repression in democratic societies are investigated; in the second section we concentrate on the reality of protest policing in the United States. In the third and final section of the course, we compare transnational patterns and trends in protest policing.

POSC/WGSS 383: Women & Politics in Comparative Perspective

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | TuTh 2:40-3:55PM | Synchronous Online

A study of the causes and consequences of women's political marginalization in the United States and abroad. The course takes an intersectional approach to examine socioeconomic and political dimensions of gender inequality, exploring how women have worked through social movements, electoral politics, and public policy initiatives to overcome obstacles to their political empowerment.

SCOM 313: Intergroup Dialogue on Race

Section 0001 | Jennifer PeeksMease and Art Dean | Tu 2:40-5:10PM | Hybrid

This is a dialogue-driven class that focuses on our experiences of race, and how they are shaped by historical and contemporary contexts. Major assignments include two critically informed reflection papers, weekly participation in discussion boards, weekly readings to prepare for dialogues, and a semester-long group project that addresses race here at JMU. **Class is by permission, and requires that you complete this application to be considered.*** Priority is given to SCOM students, but all interested students are encouraged to apply.

SOCI 354: Social Inequality

Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Asynchronous | Asynchronous Online

Course covers the systems of stratification and inequality in the United States including race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. Discussion will center on their role in providing rationales for oppression and discrimination in society and their relationship to the distribution of power and ideological control. Technology Note: This is a low-bandwidth interactive class. All content will be available on the first day of class, with firm deadlines for class participation and other assignments. A dependable internet connection and Respondus Lockdown Browser are required for three exams.

THEA 324: Theatre for Young Audiences

Section 0001 | Joshua Rashon Streeter | TuTh 1:00-2:15PM | Hybrid (mostly synchronous online)

Description: This course provides an exploration of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) and Theatre for the Very Young (TVY) through the lens of culturally responsive practice and pedagogy. This course looks at work aimed at youth (birth through high school). We will examine the historical contexts of TYA, read plays in the TYA canon and plays working to expand or disrupt the cultural understanding of what TYA is in the United States, investigate current theatre companies focused on work for youth, and explore educational applications. Our discussions will be framed by scene work, the viewing TYA/TVY, scholarly writing on the topics being discussed, dialogue with leaders in the field, and professional partnerships.

AAAD 200: Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies

May 4-Week Session 1 | Besi Brillian Muhonja | Online

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit.

ENG 239: Studies in World Literature: African Oral Literature

May 4-Week Session 1 | Besi Brillian Muhonja | Online

This course offers an overview of African oral literatures, exploring form and style, relevance and function in specific genres including folktales, witticisms, praise poetry, children’s games, and songs. Through an exploration of spiritual, social, and political themes and content of oral literature, this introductory course contextualizes orature as part of the world sense and day-today structures and operations of African communities. May be used for general education credit.

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature

May 4-Week Session 1 | Mollie Godfrey | Online

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. May be used for general education credit.

HIST 391: Special Topics in African History: Ghana, A Case Study

6-Week Session 1 | David Owusu-Ansah | Online

Ghana, the first African country South of Sahara, is often described as symbolizing the history and conditions of the African continent. Its location just above the Equator and through which Longitude zero degrees or the Greenwich Meridian passes, Ghanaians see themselves as occupying the center of the globe, and its post-independent leaders feel obliged to model their political and economic developments for the rest of the continent. This Ghana Special Topics course is designed as an online engagement that will cover issues from slavery to emphasizing local responses to colonialism, and in discussing topics in post -independence politics, cultural and economic developments.

JUST 328: Race, Class and Justice

4-Week Session 2 | Gianluca De Fazio | Online

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and crossnational comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class.

SOCI 336: Race and Ethnicity

May 4-Week Session 1 | Bethany Bryson | Online

This course examines the social construction of race and ethnicity around the world and how they influence social processes, institutions, change and ideology. The course will include discussions concerning the intersection of race and ethnicity with other aspects of social inequality such as class, gender, sexuality and nationality in contemporary society.

SOCI 354: Social Inequality

May 4-Week Session 2 | Bethany Bryson | Online

This course covers the systems of stratification and inequality in the United States including race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, ethnicity, and nationality. Discussion will center on their role in providing rationales for oppression and discrimination in society and their relationship to the distribution of power and ideological control.

AAAD 200: Introduction to African, African American, and Diaspora Studies 

Section 0001 | Benita Dix | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course is an introduction to the broad and interdisciplinary field of Africana Studies. In this course, we will examine and discuss some of Africana Studies’ major contributing disciplines, theories, concepts, methods, and topics, including the history of the field; culture; social and economic organization; migration; gender; kinship, race, and ethnicity; colonialism; development; globalization; and popular culture. 

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society 

Sections 0001, 0002, or 0003 | Bosch, Meza, or Schick | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm, W 12:20-3:10pm, or TuTh 3:30-4:45pm 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning.  The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation 

ENG 239: Studies in World Literature: Literatures of Global English 

Section 0001 | David Babcock | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This course serves as an introduction to world anglophone literatures since 1945, with special attention to English as a global language with a colonial history. Our texts are produced in places where, historically, English has been the language of imperialism and colonization, ranging from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Keeping in mind this bloody history, we will consider what it means to think in terms of a “global” English literature today, and identify common literary themes, problems, and strategies that have arisen across different areas of the world. How do postcolonial writers go about using English for their own purposes, occupying a potentially treacherous literary ground? 

ENG 239: Studies in World Literature: African Oral Literature 

Section 0003 | Besi Brillian Muhonja | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course offers an overview of African oral literatures, exploring form and style, relevance and function in specific genres including folktales, witticisms, praise poetry, children’s games, and songs. Through an exploration of spiritual, social, and political themes and content of oral literature, this introductory course contextualizes orature as part of the world sense and day-today structures and operations of African communities. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature 

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 12:20pm-1:10pm 

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature.  We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 332/WGSS 300: African American Women in/and the Media 

Section 0001 |  Besi Brillian Muhonja | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

The course will examine the positioning and representation of Black women in the media in the USA. The course will critically engage forces that have contributed to identified representations and the transitioning narrative of the African American. Exploring media literacy, students will take on the roles of media producers, consumers and critics as we navigate the worlds of movies, TV, magazine and other forms of advertising, electronic, digital, print and new media. 

ENG 335: African-American Children’s Literature 

Section 0001 | Danielle Price | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

How do we define African-American children’s literature: by its readership? by the race of its authors and illustrators? by its depictions and themes? We will consider the history of this literature and its expression in such genres as the picture book, realistic and fantasy fiction, and the graphic novel. We will also discuss the position of African-American children’s works within the wider world of children’s books, book publishing, and popular culture. 

ENG 423: Advanced Studies in Gender and Sexuality: Gender, Sexuality and Ubuntu in African Literature 

Section 0001 | Besi Brillian Muhonja | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

Outlining the major developments in African literary studies, this course challenges students to engage critical thinking perspectives beyond normative western and Eurocentric paradigms. Through an exploration of theoretical works and novels by African and Africanist writers, the course will introduce students to African-centered perspectives and philosophies including critical African queer theories, critical African feminisms, Ubuntu, decolonial thought, Afrofuturism, and Afropolitanism. Journeying through different geographical, historical and cultural contexts, we will explore composite themes that intersect with and impact identities and performances of gender and sexuality: the colonial encounter, decolonization, cultural nationalism, modernity, cultural imperialism, and African cultural traditions, to mention a few. 

ENG 433: Studies in Arabic Literature: Space and Place: North African Novels 

Section 0001 | Sofia Samatar | M 4:00-7:00pm 

This course examines the representation of space in North African novels. Our selected texts address human experience in a variety of spaces, from interiors and villages to the open desert. Reading these novels in comparison with others from outside the region will allow us to explore a number of rich topics, including the difference between space and place, the role of storytelling in spatial experience, and how a particular type of storytelling—the novel—helps shape our idea of the world. The course is taught in English; no knowledge of Arabic is necessary.  

ENG 374: Contemporary Global Anglophone Literature: Alternative Modernities 

Section 0001 | David Babcock | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

Since the era of decolonization, many newly independent nations in Africa, South Asia, and the 

Caribbean have been faced with the question of what "modernity" means to them going forward. Does it mean embracing technologies, economic structures, and cultural norms based in the global North? Or would this merely amount to a new form of colonial exploitation? How do communities formulate their own versions of "modernity," ones which would best serve their own interests and flourishing? These questions have preoccupied postcolonial novelists for decades, and this course will explore the literary strategies they have used to forge a range of new perspectives on this vexed issue. 

HIST 263: Introduction to African History 

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MWF 8:00-9:00am 

Course introduces students to the history of the African past--from evidence of discoveries and analysis of paleoanthropological finds through the colonial period. Particular attention is paid to the development of political structures, religious institutions, and socioeconomic patterns that are the foundation of African civilization in the global context. 

HIST 307: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade 

Section 0001 | William Van Norman | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course explores the origins, processes and outcomes of the infamous trade. By studying participants’ lives in Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, the course helps students understand people’s inhumanity to each other and the ways in which slavery and the trade in slaves forever altered the development of the Atlantic world. 

HIST 489: Pandemics in African History 

Section 0001 | Etana Dinka  | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This course explores histories of pandemics in the entire sweep of African history. By examining histories of pandemics on the continent, beginning with the earliest recorded pestilence, the Athenian Plague, to the recent Ebola epidemic, the course offers students the opportunity to understand diseases historically and examine how pandemics shaped economies, societies, cultures and politics. The understanding of the way histories of pandemics unfolded in Africa, mostly linked to human penetration into the natural environment—one of the major themes in African history—helps to set the discussion in the longer context of African history. The history of pandemics, and more generally of diseases, falls under environmental history. Since pandemics are natural forces occurring beyond human control, a course emphasizing histories of pandemics will help students to think beyond such established ideas as humans control nature, and to be able to generate fresh perspectives. The course begins by asking the critical question useful to frame and helps understand histories of pandemics in the longue durée of African history—what is African history? The key themes will include the role of pandemics in the shaping of human history, and the histories major pandemics that had prevailed on the continent, including the Athenian Plague, the Black Death, Cholera, Sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, influenza, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola. Although the course focuses on pandemics that had occurred in the history of Africa, occasionally students will venture into other continents tracing global trajectories of pandemics. 

HRD 123: Developing Multicultural Competency for Effective Facilitation 

Section 0001 | TBA | TBA 

This course will provide students with a deeper understanding of social identities, and they will gain the necessary skills to facilitate training, programs and dialogues focusing on areas of diversity, multiculturalism, inclusion and access. Students enrolled in this course will be prepared to become a diversity educator in the Diversity Education Empowerment Program sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Student Services at James Madison University. 

JUST 301: Refugees and Humanitarian Response 

Section 0004 | Daniel Beers | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course will examine the political, ethical and practical challenges facing refugees and humanitarian actors assisting them. We will explore patterns in global refugee flows and the causes behind them, the policies and institutions that facilitate or inhibit refugee movement, and the challenges that refugees face throughout their journey, from border crossings, to refugee camps, to resettlement communities. 

JUST 301: Special Topics Course on 'Policing of Protest'   

Section 0007 | Gianluca De Fazio |  

This course investigates the contentious interactions between protesters and political authorities, in particular the policing of protest in democratic societies. The course is divided into three sections: in the first one, general issues of dissent and repression in democratic societies are investigated; in the second section we concentrate on the reality of protest policing in the United States. In the third and final section of the course, we compare transnational patterns and trends in protest policing. 

POSC 353: African Politics 

Section 0001 | Melinda Adams | MWF 9:05-9:55am 

A comparative study of the institutions and social, economic, and global processes that affect contemporary African states. Political developments explored include the construction and transformation of postcolonial states, ethnic conflict, economic crisis and reform, and regime change. 

SOCI 336: Race and Ethnicity 

Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Online 

This course examines the social construction of race and ethnicity around the world and how they influence social processes, institutions, change and ideology. The course will include discussions concerning the intersection of race and ethnicity with other aspects of social inequality such as class, gender, sexuality and nationality in contemporary society. 

THEA 322/DANC 322: Equity, Access, and Inclusion in Theatre and Dance Education & Performance   

Section 0001 | Joshua Streeter|  

An exploration of practices in theatre and dance education and performance that support equity, inclusion, and access. This course looks at the intersections of arts education, art-making and performance, applied theatre, and community engaged practice. Through critical pedagogies, we explore individual biases, attitudes, values, and experiences that shape identity, language, actions, and ideas. Together, we learn tools to advocate and dialogue, explore theatre and dance companies who work to provide equity and access, and identify inclusionary practices in education and performance. 

AAAD 200: Introduction to Africana Studies 

Section 0001 | Besi Muhonja | MW 2:30-3:45pm 

Section 0002 | Lamont King | TuTh 8:00-9:15am 

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit. 

ARTH: 488 African American Art 

Section 0001 | John Ott | TuTh 12:30-1:45pm 

This course selectively surveys visual arts (including painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, material culture, performance, and video) produced by people of African descent in the United States from the colonial period until the present. In this seminar we will scrutinize and discuss a broad spectrum of artworks in relation to their larger historical, cultural, institutional, political, economic, and religious contexts. Course themes include debates about the connections between racial identity and artistic production; the complex relationships between African-American art and the visual and cultural traditions of Africa and Europe; black artists’ engagement with the history of popular representations of African-Americans; the influence of art education, patronage, markets, museums, and criticism; and the inter 

Sections of race with class, gender, and sexuality. 

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society 

Section 0001 | Lisa Schick |TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. Students will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation. This course encourages student reflection on their own development, perspective, and experiences in relation to themselves and the school environment. 

ELED 310: Diversity in Elementary Education 

Section 0001 | Kara Kavanagh |M 12:20-2:50pm 

Section 0002 | Kara Kavanagh |Th 2:00-4:30pm 

Section 0003 | Shin Kang |Tu 2:00-4:30pm 

This course guides students in critically examining their own perspectives regarding diversity in our society. Through this course, students will expand their awareness and understanding of individuals and groups apparently different from themselves. Students will explore pedagogical issues and practices in the classroom that embrace the whole community of learners and their families. Prerequisite: Admission to teacher education. Corequisites: ECED 372, ELED 308, ELED 311 and READ 366. 

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature 

Sec 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | MWF 12:20-1:20pm 

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature. We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. Students can expect to complete in-class reading quizzes and group work, as well as three short essays and three exams. 

ENG 332: Africana Women in the Media 

Section 0001 | Besi Muhonja |MW: 5:00-6:15pm 

The course will examine the positioning and representation of Africana women, narratives and politics in the U.S. media. 

ENG 405: Epidemics in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 

Section 0001 | David Babcock | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

This course considers the ways that obsessions with disease and contagion get coded within contemporary geo-cultural contexts. Its premise is that mass epidemics can act as historical catalysts that lead communities to envision themselves—both their problems and potentialities—in new ways. Often we hear about how the boundaries of communities are policed by stoking people‘s fears of disease and death, suggesting perhaps that contagion fiction is only capable of producing reactive, xenophobic feelings. In fact, contemporary fiction presents a much more multifaceted picture, one that includes possibilities for both community-building and communal self-critique. 

GEOG 335: Geography of Africa 

Section 0001 | Wayne Teel | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

The course covers the physical geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (land, climate, hydrology, vegetation, ecology) a brief historical geography that connects then to political geography, with lots of reference to the colonial era, false borders, independence and finally economic colonialism. The second part of the course looks a sub-regions focusing on economic geography and cultural geography within the political dynamic. There is a strong emphasis on agriculture and natural resources throughout the class since this is one of the professors strengths. 

HIST 263: Africa Sec 0001 | Lamont King | TuTh 12:30-1:45pm 

History 263 examines the development of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century. It discusses major societal transformations, including: the spread of languages, agricultural techniques, and metallurgy; the political and economic organization of societies; indigenous religious practices and their inter 

Section with Islam and Christianity; the transatlantic slave trade; and the colonization of the continent. 

HIST 356: African American History since 1865 

Section 0001 | Steve Reich | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

A survey of the experience and changing status of African-Americans in the United States from Reconstruction to the present, emphasizing the strengthening of social and cultural institutions; Afro-American leadership; the impact of segregation; the Great Migration; labor, protest and cultural movements; pan-Africanism; the Civil Rights Movement; and contemporary issues. 

HIST 470: Modern Africa Sec 7101 | D. Owusu-Ansah | MWF 8:00-9:55am 

History 470 will examine the major political and economic developments in Africa in the twentieth century and evaluates how they continue to impact current developments. The approach will be both chronological and thematic. Topics to be considered include: The Partition of Africa: Collaboration and Resistance; Colonial Rule: Economics, Education, and Nationalism; Decolonization and Neocolonialism; The Independent African State System; Contemporary Crisis: Health Care, Democracy, and the African Environment. 

HUMN 201: Intro to Humanitarian Affairs Sec 0001 | D. Beers | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course is designed to offer a balanced, historically grounded, and theoretically informed overview of the contemporary humanitarian system. Drawing on academic analyses, insights from practitioners, and a host of historical and contemporary case studies, the course highlights both the promise of humanitarian action, as well as the many practical and ethical challenges confronting humanitarian actors in the world today, including within humanitarian emergencies in Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda and South Sudan. 

JUST 301: Solutions to Global Poverty 

Section 0002 | Daniel Beers | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

Extreme poverty is arguably one of the greatest challenges facing the global community. This course will critically examine a range of approaches to addressing global poverty, from international trade and aid, to microfinance and mobile banking, to grassroots anti-poverty innovations, with a focus on case studies from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. 

JUST 328: Race, Class and Justice 

Section 0001 | G. De Fazio | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class. 

POSC/WGSS 383: Women & Politics in Comparative Perspective 

Section 0001 | Kristin Wylie | MW 2:30-3:45pm 

Women constitute the majority of electorates and social movement activists in countries throughout the world, yet are just over 10 and 20 percent of the world’s elected chief executives and legislators. This course is designed to explain the causes and consequences of women’s political marginalization and explore the possibilities for remedying gender inequities in the formal political sphere. By introducing gender and its intersections with race and sexuality into our analyses of domestic and international politics in the US and abroad, we will enhance our understanding of how power has been stratified along such dimensions and the consequences for representation and governance. We will apply an inter 

Sectional feminist lens to explore political dimensions of gender inequality, questioning universal ideals of power, citizenship, and representation. We will examine how women have worked outside and within the state to confront obstacles to their political empowerment, and the implications thereof for both the quality of politics and the lives of women. 

POSC 391: Politics and Policy of Motherhood 

Section 0001 | Jatia Wrighten | TuTh 3:30-4:45pm 

What does it mean to be a mother? What does being a mother look like across different cultures? Race, gender, age, and other characteristics create a person’s identity. A person’s identity influences the way in which they behave politically, socially, and economically. This course will explore what it means to be a mother across different cultures and how this identity of motherhood influences a woman’s political, social, and econom-ic behavior. We will do this by examining policies pertaining to women’s reproductive rights, which include work policies and healthcare policies. For example, FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) and the higher costs associated with regular medical care for women. Also, we will take a look at landmark court cases that have influenced the way in which women’s bodies are viewed in society and the effect that this has on women, specifically, mothers. Finally, this course will look at how race and culture shape society’s ideals of motherhood. 

AAAD 200: Introduction to Africana Studies 

Section 0001 | Beth Hinderliter | TuTh, 2:00-3:15pm 

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 239: Studies in World Literature—African Oral Literatures 

Section 0002 | Besi Muhonja | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course offers an overview of African oral literatures, exploring form and style, relevance and function in specific genres including folktales, witticisms, praise poetry, children’s games, and songs. Through an exploration of spiritual, social, and political themes and content of oral literature, this introductory course contextualizes orature as part of the world sense and day-to-day structures and operations of African communities. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 260: Survey of African American Literature 

Section 0001 | Allison Fagan | MWF 9:05-9:55am 

This course introduces students to major authors, literary forms, and movements in African American literature.  We study the emergence and flourishing of African American literature over the past two centuries, noting common as well as diverging themes, techniques, and arguments over the coherence of African American literature as a genre. Throughout the semester we will explore antebellum, Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, Black Arts, and contemporary writers in their historical contexts as well as make connections between texts across historical periods. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 362: Anthologizing African American Poetry 

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm 

This course examines a broad range of African American poetry from the 18th century to the present day by looking at the way African American Poetry has been defined and selected for publication in major anthologies at key moments in history. Students will also consider the longer publication histories of certain poems to see what light these different contexts shed on the poems, and vice versa. 

ENG 408: Advanced Studies in African American Literature 

Topic: Harlem Renaissance 

Section 0001 | Brooks Hefner | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

2019 marks a hundred years since the Harlem Hellfighters returned from World War I and marched in a victory parade in the now famous African American neighborhood, a moment many scholars characterize as the beginning of the Harlem (or New Negro) Renaissance. This course will take an in-depth, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon, which extended far beyond Harlem itself and reshaped the history of American and African American culture. Our investigations into this subject will include considerations of visual artists like Aaron Douglas, the rise of jazz and the Harlem club scene that fostered it, the sensation of the popular black musical Shuffle Along, the rich print culture of Harlem and beyond, and a host of literary texts that represent the debates around black aesthetics, the thorny issues of class and representation, the pervasive dangers of racial violence, and the centrality of women and queer writers within the movement, among many other vibrant topics. Writers we may consider include Countee Cullen, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jessie Fauset, Rudoph Fisher, Angelina Weld Grimké, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Nella Larsen, Alain Locke, Claude McKay, Richard Bruce Nugent, George S. Schuyler, Wallace Thurman, Jean Toomer, Dorothy West, and Edward Christopher Williams. 

ENG 420/AAAD 400: Black Studies and Black Spaces: Black Critical Frameworks and Communities at JMU and Beyond, 1968-Present 

Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey & Besi Muhonja | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

Now celebrating fifty years of Black Studies, this course purposes to locate JMU within this national history, while creating an archive for JMU’s special collections. This course marshals students to conduct interviews with community members, faculty, former faculty, students, administrators, staff, and alums, and to gather archival material in order to tell the larger story of the creation of Black Studies and black spaces at JMU, to place this story within a larger national narrative, to open up new spaces for further faculty and student research, and teaching, and to look forward to the next fifty years. 

HIST 263: Intro to African History 

Section 0001 | David Owusu-Ansah | MWF 8:00-8:50am 

History 263 examines the development of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century. It discusses major societal transformations: the spread of languages, agricultural techniques, and metallurgy; the political and economic organization of societies; indigenous religious practices and their intersection with Islam and Christianity; the transatlantic slave trade; and the colonization of the continent. In so doing, the course familiarizes students with the major events, as well as the significant issues and debates in African history. 

HIST 355: African-American History to 1865 

Section 0001 | Andrew Witmer | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

A survey of the experience and changing status of African-Americans in the United States from 1619 through the Civil War, with attention to the West African background, cultural developments, social and political movements, slavery and the slave trade, dual-consciousness, and emancipation. 

HIST 436: Black Radical Traditions in the Caribbean and Latin America 

Section 0001 | Bill Van Norman | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This course seeks to recover traditions of black radical thought in hispanophone Latin America and the Caribbean in the twentieth century. It will explore the lives of important men and women of African decent in social movements throughout the region. It will also investigate the connections that were forged with francophone and anglophone thinkers and radical actors. The course will show how transnational organizations and alliances made important contributions and helped to forge a durable sense of the African diaspora in the Atlantic world during the twentieth century.  

JUST 301: Global Migration 

Section 0002 | Case Watkins | M 2:30-5:00pm 

This course surveys global migration flows over time and space. Students will analyze interdisciplinary academic literature and popular media on migration and diasporas while studying flows of people across various historical and geographical contexts, from prehistoric to contemporary and from global to local. Students taking the course for AAAD credit must complete a research project relevant to the field. 

JUST 328: Race, Class and Justice 

Section 001 | Gianluca de Fazio | TuTh 12:30-1:45pm 

This course provides students with an overview of justice issues relating to class and race in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of racial and class injustice. This course is divided into four sections: the first one introduces students to comparative thinking and the social construction of difference and inequality. The second and third section address the issue of race and justice in the United States and globally. The fourth and last section deals with class inequality both in the United States and abroad. 

Courses in the AAAD Minor Curriculum by Course Directive: 

To count these courses toward the AAAD Minor, please make an appointment with Dr. Mollie Godfrey (godfrema@jmu.edu) or Dr. Besi Muhonja (muhonjbx@jmu.edu) to complete and submit a course directive form. 

EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society 

Section 0001 | TBA | TBA 

Section 0002 | TBA | TBA 

Section 0003 | TBA | TBA 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning.  The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation. 

ELED 310: Diversity in Elementary Education with Service Learning 

Section 0001 | Kara Kavanagh | M 12:20-2:50pm 

Section 0003 | Kara Kavanagh | Tu 2:00-4:30pm 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning.  The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation. 

HRD 201: Leadership Styles Theory and Application 

Section 0001 | Oris Griffin| TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 

Explores the dimensions of creative and innovative leadership strategies and styles by examining team dynamics and two historical leadership theories that form the basis of the leadership framework (train and behavior theories). Students practice aspects of personal motivation and team building in the context of planning, executing and assessing team exercises and participating in leadership skills labs. Focus is on continued development of the knowledge of leadership values and attributes through an understanding of institutional structures, duties and responsibilities of organizational/institutional leaders, and leadership in small organizations. Case studies provide tangible context for learning leadership skills, values, actions and attributes as they apply to a contemporary setting. Prerequisite: HRD 100, HRD 101. Corequisite HRD 202. 

WGSS 200: Introduction to Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies 

Section 0003 | Besi Muhonja | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This section offers an introduction to theories and scholarship in the interdisciplinary field of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies from a critical, transnational, intersectional and cross-cultural perspective. May be used for general education credit. 

AFST 200, Introduction to Africana Studies 
Section 0001 | Besi Muhonja | MW 2:30-3:45pm 
Section 0002 | Beth Hinderliter | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 
Section 0003 | Beth Hinderliter | TuTh 3:30-4:45pm 

An introductory survey of basic theoretical concepts to analyze the Black experience, with special focus on the general historical process common to Africa and the African Diaspora. May be used for general education credit. 

ENG 408, Advanced Studies in African-Americaan Literature 
Section 0001 | Mollie Godfrey | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This course on the Pasts, Presents, and Futures of Contemporary African American Literature offers an advanced study of key theories and genres of contemporary African American literature, including neo-slave narratives, post-soul satires, and Afrofuturism. Authors include Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everett, Mat Johnson, Octavia Butler, and Nnedi Okorafor. 

HIST 263: Africa 
Section 0001 | Lamont King| TuTh 12:30-1:45pm 

History 263 examines the development of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the end of the nineteenth century. It discusses major societal transformations: thespread of languages, agricultural techniques, and metallurgy; the political and economicorganization of societies; indigenous religious practices and theirintersection with Islam and Christianity; the transatlantic slave trade; and the colonization ofthe continent. In so doing, the course familiarizes students with the major events, aswell as the significant issues and debates in African history. 

SOCI 336, Race and Ethnicity 
Section 0001 | Bethany Bryson | Online 

This course examines the social construction of race and ethnicity around the world and how they influence social processes, institutions, change and ideology. The course will include discussions concerning the intersection of race and ethnicity with other aspects of social inequality such as class, gender, sexuality and nationality in contemporary society. 

Courses in the AAAD Minor Curriculum by Course Directive:  

To count these courses toward the AAAD Minor, please make an appointment with Dr. Mollie Godfrey (godfrema@jmu.edu) or Dr. Besi Muhonja (muhonjbx@jmu.edu) to complete and submit a course directive form. 

EDUC 310, Teaching in a Diverse Society* 
Section 0001 | Ruthie Bosch | TuTh 2:00-3:15pm 
Section 0002 | Diana Meza | M 9:05-11:50am 

This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors affect teaching and learning. Students will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation. This course encourages student reflection on their own development, perspective, and experiences in relation to themselves and the school environment. 

ENG 302, Special Topics in Literature and Language* 
Section 0003 | Mollie Godfrey | M 5:00-7:30pm 

In this JMU X-Labs course, Innovating the Archives: 25 years of Furious Flower, you will build a digital archive for the Furious Flower Poetry Center alongside students majoring in graphic design, education, and literary studies. Throughout, you will develop your design, research, collaboration, and project management skills, as well as your understanding and appreciation of African American history and art. The course includes a field trip to the National Museum of African American of History and Culture. Team-taught course with Mary Beth Cancienne, Joanne Gabbin, David Hardy, and Sean McCarthy. Meets with WRTC 328, GRAPH 392, HON 300 (also eligible for AAAD credit by course directive). 

ENG 433, Studies in Arabic Literature* 
Section 0001 | Sofia Samatar | MW 8:40-9:55am 

This course examines the representation of space in North African novels. Our selected texts address human experience in a variety of spaces, from the desert to the city to the sea. They are of particular interest because they come from a region that is sometimes considered part of Africa, and sometimes part of the Middle East: a cultural crossroads that remains contested, full of diverse and contradictory stories about itself. Reading these novels will allow us to explore a number of rich topics, including the difference between spaceand place, the role of storytelling in spatial experience, and how a particular type of storytelling—the novel—helps shape our idea of the world. 

JUST 328, Race, Class, and Justice* 
Section 0001 | Gianluca De Fazio | TuTh 9:30-10:45am 

This course provides students with an overview of justice issues relating to class and race in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of racial and class injustice. This course is divided into four sections: the first one introduces students to comparative thinking and the social construction of difference and inequality. The second and third section address the issue of race and justice in the United States and globally. The fourth and last section deals with class inequality both in the United States and abroad. 

*Course requires a substitution form to be filled out by the minor coordinator to count towards the minor.