Students wishing to earn a certificate in African American Studies can do so by taking at least the 2000 level introductory course, one upper-class seminar at the 4000 level or higher, and six other courses as a coherent package of study. Besides the two courses of 6 hours required in the Institute core, the certificate directs a student to focus for a total of 12 hours in either:

1. History and Culture (Folklore, Religion, African American Civilization, and Diaspora Studies, including the Caribbean, South America, and sub-Saharan Africa);
2. Behavioral and Social Inquiry (Psychology, Sociology, Speech, and Political Science), or
3. Literature, Language, and the Arts (Drama, Cinema, Comparative Literature, Linguistics, Music, Swahili, Romance Languages, and English).

At least two courses of three semester hours each (divisional total of six hours) must be selected from two of the three divisions in African American Studies. The requirement makes for a grand total of at least twelve divisional hours outside of a student's selected division of specialty in African American Studies.

The following list contains all courses currently available through the Institute for African American Studies.

See this page for the requirements for a major in African American Studies.

See sample courses of study on this page.

HIST 2052. Multiculturalism in Modern America. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: MULTICULTUR MOD AM.
United States history since 1865 from a multicultural and multiethnic perspective. The course will emphasize social, cultural, and political dimensions of the American experience, paying particular attention to issues of race and ethnicity. Highlights the contributions of the many different peoples who make up America.
Offered every year.

HIST 2111. American History to 1865. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AM HISTORY TO 1865.
American society, politics, thought, institutions, and economic life from the first settlements to the end of the Civil War.
Non-traditional format: This course is also offered through University System of Georgia Independent Study (USGIS).
Offered fall and spring semesters every year.

HIST 2501. Introduction of African History to Sixteenth Century. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICA TO 16TH CENT.
Cultural history of Africa to sixteenth century. Origins of agriculture, rise and growth of complex societies and states, spread and importance of Islam, slavery and diaspora issues.
Offered every year.

HIST 3060. Colonial and Revolutionary America. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: COLONIAL REV AMER.
Native American, African, and European interactions; warfare, labor systems, cultures, and societies; empire building and colonial political structures; the American Revolution and the formation of the United States.
Offered every year.

HIST 3101. The Early African American Experience. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: EARLY AFR AME EXPER.
The African background of African Americans, the institution of slavery, the development of the African American community institutions, and African American participation in and impact on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Offered every year.

HIST 3102. Modern African American Experience. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: MOD AFR AMER EXPER.
The twentieth-century struggle for civil rights, black identity, and self-determination. The response to industrialism and urbanization. The role of black institutions and political organizations. The philosophy and tactics of accommodation, integration, and separatism.
Offered every even-numbered year.

HIST 3240. The Caribbean Area. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: THE CARIBBEAN AREA.
The islands and Caribbean periphery from pre-Columbian times to the present. European intrusion and settlement, plantation societies and economies, slavery and slave rebellion, nineteenth- and twentieth-century political and economic developments, and United States policy. Approximately one-third of the course will focus on the period after World War II.
Offered every year.

HIST 3500. Seventeenth Through Nineteenth-Century Southern Africa. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: SO AFRICA 1600-1902.
Social, political, and economic changes in southern African societies (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique) as they assimilated non-African peoples, their ideas, and material culture. Independent, viable and adaptable, Africans engaged Portuguese, British, Boers, and Germans as they competed for land, cattle, and trade.
Offered every year.

HIST 3511. East Africa to the Nineteenth Century. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: EAST AFR TO 19TH.
Economic, political, and cultural history of East Africa to the nineteenth century. Growth of agricultural systems, forms and functions of states and kingdoms, the world of the Indian Ocean, slavery and rebellion.
Offered every year.

HIST 4200/6200. Studies in Latin American History. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 9 hours credit.

Oasis Title: STUDIES LAT AMER.
Special issues or topics in Latin American history not covered in a regular history course. Topics, methodology, and instructor vary from semester to semester. Representative topics include the Latin American revolutionary tradition, the wars of independence in the Americas, and Latin American wars.
Offered every year.

HIST 4500/6500. Studies in African or Middle Eastern History. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFR OR MIDDLE EAST.
Topics in modern and ancient Middle Eastern or African history. Non-traditional methodologies and sources are combined to introduce students to emerging issues in African or Middle Eastern history.
Offered every year.

HIST 4550/6550. Christianity and Colonialism in Africa. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: CHRISTIA/COL IN AFR.
Christianity was both ally and adversary to colonialism, threatening African "tradition" and aiding a vocal westernized elite which shaped independent African nations. African initiatives in Christian conversion, colonial Christianity, Africans in mission communities, mission education and westernized elites, independent African religious movements, and Christianity and African nationalism.
Offered every year.

POLS 4050. African American Political Thought. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRI AMER POL THGHT.
Prerequisite: POLS 1101-1101D.
African American political thought since the nineteenth century, ranging from early emigrationist sentiments to the nationalist exhortations of contemporary African American youth culture, including African American feminist and socialist thought.
Not offered on a regular basis.

POLS 4660. Southern Politics. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: SOUTHERN POLITICS.
Not open to students with credit in POLS 4190.
Prerequisite: POLS 1101-1101D.
Politics of individual states, emergence of the Republican party, political mobilization, consequences of reapportionment, and selected civil rights topics.
Not offered on a regular basis.

*RELI (AFAM) 2005. African American Religions: An Introduction. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: INTRO AFRCN AM REL.
Major and selected contemporary religious groups and movements among African Americans.
Offered every year.

*RELI (AFAM) 3000. The Bible in the Third World. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: BIBLE THIRD WORLD.
Prerequisite: RELI 1001 or RELI 1002 or permission of department. Interpretations of the Bible in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the influence upon minority communities in the United States.
Offered every even-numbered year.

*RELI (AFAM) 4201/6201. African American Religious History. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRCN AM REL HIST.
Undergraduate prerequisite: Junior or senior standing or permission of department.
The religious traditions of African Americans from Colonial times to the present; major religious movements, personalities, and ideas and their relationship to various aspects of American culture.
Offered every odd-numbered year.

*RELI (AFAM) 4202/6202. Southern Religious History. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: SOUTHERN REL HIST.
Undergraduate prerequisite: Junior or senior standing or permission of department.
The origins, growth, and current practices of religion in the American South. The interaction between religion and other aspects of Southern culture, such as racial and gender concerns, education, Darwinian science, temperance, and politics.
Offered every even-numbered year.

*AFAM (PSYC) 3150. Introduction to Black Psychology. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: INTRO BLACK PSYCH.
Prerequisite: Permission of department.
Deconstruction of traditional thought, behavior, and development as well as reconstruction of the same on contemporary terms; testing of nuances and varieties of multicultural and indigenous models. The designs and projected future of the Black Psychology Movement.
Not offered on a regular basis.

*AFAM 4250. African American Seminar. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 15 hours credit.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AM SEMINAR.
Prerequisite: (AFAM 2000 and AFAM 3880) or AFAM(POLS) 4200.
Recurring topics and themes in African American life from the perspective of the behavioral sciences and humanities.
Not offered on a regular basis.

ANTH 3100. Peoples of the World. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: PEOPLES OF WORLD.
Prerequisite: ANTH 1102 or permission of department.
The way of life of a number of societies from around the world, including hunting and gathering bands, farming and herding tribes and chiefdoms, and pre-industrial states and peasantry.
Not offered on a regular basis.

ANTH 3270. New World Archaeology. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: NEW WORLD ARCH.
Prerequisite: ANTH 1102 or permission of department.
Cultural variation in the Americas from the end of the Pleistocene to the time of intensive European contact, with emphasis on human/environmental interactions.
Not offered on a regular basis.

ANTH 4710/6710-4710L/6710. Human Origins. 3 hours. 2 hours lecture and 2 hours lab per week.

Oasis Title: HUMAN ORIGINS.
Undergraduate prerequisite: ANTH 1102 and permission of major.
The evolutionary history of the human species through examination of the fossil record. The fossil record is introduced using precision casts of fossil specimens. Scientific methods are developed by rediscovering major findings. The influence of changing interpretations on the culture of science is demonstrated.
Not offered on a regular basis.

*POLS 4560. African American Politics. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AMER POL.
Prerequisite: POLS 1101-1101D.
African American political behavior, including the theoretical underpinnings of political action, the electoral preferences of African Americans, and the role of African Americans in United States political institutions.
Not offered on a regular basis.

POLS 4570. African American Social Change. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICA AMER SOC CHG.
Prerequisite: POLS 1101-1101D or AFAM 2000.
African American social movements, principally those in the United States, such as the convention and colonizing movements of the nineteenth century and the civil rights and black power movements of the twentieth century.
Not offered on a regular basis.

PSYC (AFAM) 2150. Understanding Cultural Diversity. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: CULTURAL DIVERSITY.
Cross-cultural psychology, including an examination of issues such as conformity, leadership, and attributional style as they vary across different cultures, with consideration of their implications for the emerging world.
Not offered on a regular basis.

SOCI (AFAM) 2020. African American Society. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AM SOCIETY.
The class, status, and power relations of African Americans as part of both the United States social structure and the African diaspora.
Offered every year.

*SOCI (AFAM) 3300. Global Perspectives on Racism and Sexism. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: GLOBL RACISM/SEXISM.
Prerequisite: SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1600 or permission of department.
Race and gender relations and discrimination around the globe; the origins and practice of race and gender domination and empowerment in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim.
Offered every even-numbered year.

SOCI (AFAM) 3310. Race and Culture. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: RACE AND CULTURE.
Prerequisite: SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1600 or permission of department.
Evolution of cultures among racial groups as part of, and in contrast to, Western civilization. Particular attention is given to the ways race and culture intersect to provide styles, practices, and patterns of living for individuals in contemporary society.
Not offered on a regular basis.

SOCI (AFAM) 4370. Seminar in Race and Ethnicity. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: SEM RACE/ETHNICITY.
Prerequisite: SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1600 or permission of department.
Special topics in race and ethnicity for advanced undergraduates.
Not offered on a regular basis.

*SPCM (AFAM) 2810. Communication in African American Communities. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AM COMMUN.
Rhetorical strategies and patterns of orality in African American communication, communication styles in conflict, and skill development for cultural interaction.
Offered spring semester every year.

WMST 3110. Gender, Race, and Class. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: GENDER RACE CLASS.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of department.
Issues of gender, race, and class intersecting in the lives of women in the United States. Historical and social construction of gender, race, and class which have shaped the productive, political, and cultural experiences of women of diverse backgrounds will be examined.
Offered every year.

*AFAM 3880. African American Folklore. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AM FOLKLORE.
Prerequisite: ENGL 3010 or permission of department.
African American folk expressions: their functions and their relationships with folk expressions of other peoples. Folk speech (proverbs, riddles, signifying, playing the dozens), folk narrative (animal tales, slave stories, modern legends, jokes, toasts, rap songs), folk songs (African songs, gospel songs, work songs, ballads, blues songs).
Not offered on a regular basis.

*AFAM (DRAM) 4490/6490. African American Women in Cinema: Image and Aesthetics. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: WOMEN CINEMA COLOR.
Undergraduate prerequisite: Permission of department.
Selected films by and about African and African American women. A historical/critical overview of the presentation of these women in cinema with emphasis on contemporary African and African American women film makers.
Not offered on a regular basis.

CMLT 3150. Introduction to Modern African Literature. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: INTRO MOD AFR LIT.
Prerequisite: ENGL 1102.
The literature of twentieth-century Africa in translation with emphasis on the African novel.
Offered every year.

DRAM 4480/6480. History of African American Drama and Theatre. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: HIST OF AF AM DRAMA.
The emergence of a distinct and conscious African American theatre in the United States.
Offered spring semester every even-numbered year.

*ENGL (AFAM) 3230. Development of African American Literature. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AMER LIT.
Prerequisite: CMLT 2111 or CMLT 2210 or CMLT 2212 or CMLT 2220 or CMLT 2400 or ENGL 2310 or ENGL 2320 or ENGL 2330 or ENGL 2340 or ENGL 2400.
African American literature since 1773, particularly 1830 to the present: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Dorothy West, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Alice Childress, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and August Wilson, including diverse voices rooted in the folk origins for literary forms.
Offered every year.

*ENGL (AFAM) 4620. African American Poetry. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AMER POETRY.
Prerequisite: Two of the following: CMLT 2111 or CMLT 2210 or CMLT 2212 or CMLT 2220 or CMLT 2400 or ENGL 2310 or ENGL 2320 or ENGL 2330 or ENGL 2340 or ENGL 2400.
African American poetry from the colonial period to the present, including slave and folk songs of the mid-nineteenth century, the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's, and contemporary poetry. Emphasis on such figures as Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, and others.
Offered every year.

*ENGL (AFAM) 4630. African American Fiction. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRI AMER FICTION.
Prerequisite: Two of the following: CMLT 2111 or CMLT 2210 or CMLT 2212 or CMLT 2220 or CMLT 2400 or ENGL 2310 or ENGL 2320 or ENGL 2330 or ENGL 2340 or ENGL 2400.
Important African American stories and novels from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including works by such authors as Frances Harper, Jean Toomer, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.
Offered every year.

*ENGL (AFAM) 4880. Topics in African American Literature. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 6 hours credit.

Oasis Title: TOPICS AFR AMER LIT.
Prerequisite: Two of the following: CMLT 2111 or CMLT 2210 or CMLT 2212 or CMLT 2220 or CMLT 2400 or ENGL 2310 or ENGL 2320 or ENGL 2330 or ENGL 2340 or ENGL 2400.
Selected topics in African American literature such as African American autobiography, Harlem Renaissance, Gwendolyn Brooks and Richard Wright, and Black American literature and aesthetics.
Offered every year.

MUSI 2780. Jazz Bands. 1 hour. Repeatable for maximum 4 hours credit.

Oasis Title: JAZZ BANDS.
Prerequisite: Permission of department.
Jazz ensemble with improvisation laboratory. Audition is required.
Offered fall and spring semesters every year.

*MUSI (AFAM) 2960. African American Percussive Music: From Africa to the Americas. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 6 hours credit.

Oasis Title: AFR AM PERC MUS.
Traditional and contemporary African American percussion music beginning with its African heritage and tracking its development throughout the Americas, with particular emphasis on the United States. Teaching/learning strategies include in-class performance, demonstrations, audiovisuals, and lectures. No previous music performance background is required.
Offered fall and spring semesters every year.

MUSI 4780/6780. Jazz Bands. 1 hour. Repeatable for maximum 8 hours credit.

Oasis Title: JAZZ BANDS.
Performance of works in a variety of jazz idioms and styles with emphasis on big band jazz.
Offered fall and spring semesters every year.

*SPCM (AFAM) 4810. African American Rhetoric and Communication. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: AFRICAN AM RHET COM.
The history and criticism of the communication of African American speakers, with emphasis upon oral rhetoric relating to social-political development since 1860.
Offered fall semester every odd-numbered year.

SWAH 2010. Intermediate Swahili I. 3 hours.

Oasis Title: INTERMED SWAHILI I.
Prerequisite: SWAH 1020 or permission of department. Introduction to complex linguistic and cultural structures, role of culture in language learning, reading and writing of literary texts, social history of the language.
Offered fall semester every year.