Center for African American Studies
Director
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Professor
Wallace D. Best, also Religion
Anne A. Cheng, also English
Eddie S. Glaude Jr., also Religion
Tera W. Hunter, also History
Imani Perry
Valerie A. Smith, also English
Cornel R. West
Associate Professor
Daphne A. Brooks, also English
Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell, also Politics
Carolyn M. Rouse, also Anthropology
Stacey Sinclair, also Psychology
Assistant Professor
Wendy L. Belcher, also Comparative Literature
Joshua B. Guild, also History
Angel L. Harris, also Sociology
Chika Okeke-Agulu, also Art and Archaeology
Alexandra T. Vazquez, also English
Lecturer
Noliwe M. Rooks
Associated Faculty
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Philosophy, University Center for Human Values
Eduardo L. Cadava, English
Paul J. DiMaggio, Sociology, Woodrow Wilson School
Mitchell Duneier, Sociology
Simon E. Gikandi, English
William A. Gleason, English
Hendrik A. Hartog, History
Albert J. Raboteau, Religion
Judith L. Weisenfeld, Religion
Founded in 2006, the Center for African American Studies is an expansion of the visions and strengths of the Program in African American Studies, which was created in 1969. The center was founded on the assumption that the study of African American history and culture and of the role that race has played in shaping the life and the institutions of the United States is central to an American liberal education. Given the continuing and evolving centrality of race in American political, economic, social, and cultural life, and indeed, in every region of the world, reflection on race and on the distinctive experiences of black people is indispensable for all Princeton students as global citizens. Drawing on a core of distinguished faculty in areas such as anthropology, art and archaeology, English, history, philosophy, psychology, religion, and sociology, the center promotes teaching and research on race with a focus on the experience of African Americans in the United States. During the next four years, the center faculty will expand through additional appointments and continue to build an innovative curriculum that reflects the complex interplay between the political, economic, and cultural forces that shape our understanding of the historic achievements and struggles of African-descended people around the world.
In addition to offering a certificate program, the Center for African American Studies provides an array of courses, open to all students, that allows them to explore and build upon fundamental facts about race in the country and the world. Through a distinguished visiting professorship and a postdoctoral program, we invite scholars engaged in innovative scholarly work to spend a year at Princeton conducting research and sharing their work with students and faculty. In addition, through lectures, conferences, performances, and symposia, the center provides opportunities for members of the Princeton community to engage issues of race, politics, and culture.
Requirements for Admission
Students may apply for formal admission at any time once they have taken and achieved a satisfactory standing in the core course, AAS 201.
Requirements for a Certificate
In addition to satisfying departmental requirements and passing AAS 201, a student seeking a certificate in African American studies (awarded at graduation) must take and pass three additional courses or seminars either originating in the center or formally cross-listed by the center. Also, students must take two courses drawn from a list of related courses taught in other departments. The list is available on the center’s website at www.princeton.edu/africanamericanstudies and in the center’s office. Lastly, concentrators are expected to treat some aspect of African American studies in their senior thesis.
Courses
AAS 201 Introduction to the Study of African American Cultural Practices Fall SA
An interdisciplinary examination of the complex array of African American cultural practices from slavery to postmodern times. Close readings of classic texts will seek to provide a profound grasp of the dynamics of African American thought and practices. Two lectures, one preceptorial. E. Glaude
AAS 202 Introductory Research Methods in African American Studies (also SOC 202) Not offered this year SA
The purposes of this course are to assist the student in developing the ability to critically evaluate social science research on the black experience and to do research in African studies. To accomplish these goals, the course will acquaint students with the processes of conceptualization and basic research techniques, and some of the unique issues in conducting research on the black experience. A variety of appropriate studies will be utilized. One three-hour seminar. Staff
AAS 211 The American Dance Experience and Africanist Dance Practices (see DAN 211)
AAS 230 African American English and Syntactic Variation (see LIN 270)
AAS 262 Evolution of Jazz Styles (see MUS 262)
AAS 311 An Introduction to Black Women’s Studies (also WOM 313) Not offered this year SA
An interdisciplinary introduction to the study of women of African descent in the United States, 1830 to the present, through sociology, history, law, religion, and film. This course discusses black women’s identity as reflected in community, stereotype, and individuality. One three-hour seminar. N. Rooks
AAS 313 Seminar in Political Theory (see POL 413)
AAS 317 Race and Public Policy (see WWS 317)
AAS 320 African American Religious History (see REL 320)
AAS 325 African American Autobiography (also ENG 325) Not offered this year LA
Highlights the autobiographical tradition of African Americans from the antebellum period to the present as symbolic representations of African American material, social, and intellectual history and as narrative quests of self-development. Students will be introduced to basic methods of literary analysis and criticism, specifically focusing on cultural criticism and psychoanalytic theory on the constructed self. One three-hour seminar. Staff
AAS 329 Chinatown USA (also ENG 415) Fall LA
This course registers the tension between the domestic and the foreign that has long since haunted the ideal of American integration. We will look at the construction of “Chinatown”—as historic reality, geographic formation, cultural fantasy, even architectural innovation—in the making of the American nationalism. We will study novels, plays, films, and photography that focus on or use Chinatown as a central backdrop in ways that highlight the complex relationship between material history and social imagination when it comes to how America incorporates (or fails to digest) its racial or immigrant “other.” Two lectures, one preceptorial. A. Cheng
AAS 332 The Nation of Islam in America (also REL 332) Fall LA
This course will explore the various meanings attributed to Nation of Islam (NOI) cultural and religious practices. Of particular concern will be the ways in which the NOI’s ideological structure has allowed it to function both as a “black nationalist” and religious body. Students will spend time examining the lives of such figures as Wallace D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. Other themes covered include: women and the NOI, the return to Orthodoxy, the NOI and black Christianity, and the NOI and political power. Two lectures, one preceptorial. W. Best
AAS 334 Educating a New Majority (also SOC 334) Not offered this year SA
This course examines minority education in the United States in the context of the sociology of education and intergroup relations from a historical perspective and the most recent conditions facing African Americans and other minorities. It will study the impact of changing demographic characteristics of these groups on the quality of their education, and the consequences of those changes for urban America and educational institutions in the 21st century. One three-hour seminar. R. Hope
AAS 336 Race and American Politics (see POL 336)
AAS 346 The American Jeremiad and Social Criticism in the United States (see REL 367)
AAS 352 Black Protest in 20th-Century America (also HIS 483) Not offered this year HA
Examines the evolution of African American political mobilization in the 20th century. Explores the various ways that African Americans articulated their political demands and affirmed their citizenship, using worker’s rights, the church, feminism, education, war, grassroots organizations, the federal bureaucracy, international allies, and the law as tools for political action. Prerequisite: HIS 387 recommended. One three-hour seminar. Staff
AAS 353 African American Literature: Origins to 1910 (also ENG 353) Fall LA
A survey of literary materials produced within the African American experience, from the 18th century through the contemporary period, with special emphasis on genre, theme, and context. The course will investigate dominant and marginalized literary histories and the importance of gender, region, and sensibility. Two lectures, one preceptorial. D. Brooks
AAS 356 Migration, Urban Space, and African American Culture (also AMS 356) Fall SA
From 1910 until 1940, African Americans migrated from rural to urban areas. This interdisciplinary course will focus on cultural geography, or how the resulting changes and realignments of place and space have shaped and continue to shape American society and affect understandings of African American identity and culture. One three-hour seminar. N. Rooks
AAS 359 African American Literature: Harlem Renaissance to Present (also ENG 209) Spring LA
This introductory course surveys literature from the early 20th century to the present; it covers Harlem Renaissance prose and poetry from writers including Countee Cullen, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nell Larsen, Alain Locke, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer; modernist poetry by Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden; drama by Lorraine Hansberry; novels by Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison; and nonfiction by James Baldwin, Alice Walker, and Richard Wright. The course analyzes aesthetic forms and locates literary texts in social and political contexts. E. Raymundo
AAS 360 Encounters of a Close Kind: Interracial Sex in the Colonial World Fall HA
This seminar will analyze the similarities and differences that characterize histories of interracial sexual relations in different political, social, economic, and legal contexts. It will focus on historical works that deal with interracial sexual relations in areas as diverse as colonial Zimbabwe, Cuba, Indonesia, and the U.S.A. Close attention will be paid to the methodological approaches our authors take and to the theoretical insights we can draw from our diverse case studies to help us better discern the common and singular threads running through this expansive field of inquiry. One three-hour seminar. C. Ray
AAS 366 African American History to 1863 (see HIS 386)
AAS 367 African American History from Reconstruction to the Present (see HIS 387)
AAS 368 Topics in African American Religion (also REL 368, POL 424) Not offered this year EM
Assesses the value of religion and its impartations of the historical, ethical, and political in African American life. Courses will also critique African American religion from a broader contextual basis by establishing commonalities and differences across historical and cultural boundaries. Two lectures, one preceptorial. M. Harris-Lacewell
AAS 370 History of Criticism (see ENG 370)
AAS 372 Postblack (also ART 374, AMS 372) Spring LA
As articulated by Thelma Golden, postblack refers to the work of African American artists who emerged in the 1990s with ambitious, irreverent, and sassy work. Postblack suggests the emergence of a generation of artists removed from the long tradition of black affirmation of the Harlem Renaissance, black empowerment of the Black Arts movement, and identity politics of the 1980s and early ’90s. This seminar involves critical and theoretical readings on multiculturalism, race, identity, and contemporary art, and will provide an opportunity for a deep engagement with the work of African American artists of the past decade. One three-hour seminar. C. Okeke-Agulu
AAS 373 History of African American Art (see ART 373)
AAS 374 Growing Up Global: Novels and Memoirs of Transnational Childhoods (also COM 394) Fall LA
What if the real answer to the question “Where are you from?” or “Where did you grow up?” is so complicated that you tend to give a convenient rather than honest answer? This course will explore narratives of youthful cultural and linguistic adaptation by those who have spent their childhood crossing national boundaries. Among the topics of discussion are how the narrators construct meaningful identities and produce a sense of belonging or alienation through narrative. Two lectures, one preceptorial. W. Belcher
AAS 386, 387 Topics in Black Literature (see ENG 386, 387)
AAS 388 Studies in African American Popular Culture Not offered this year SA
Explores the production, reception, aesthetics, and politics of black popular culture in the United States. Examines current and historical media images and exchanges while interrogating the dynamics, tensions, and personalities shaping the reception and circulation of popular cultural texts. Two lectures, one preceptorial. N. Rooks, M. Petty
AAS 389 Women Writers of the African Diaspora (see ENG 389)
AAS 390 African American Intellectual History (also HIS 481) Not offered this year HA
An examination of the ways in which African American intellectualism is constructed in the history of Africans in the United States; the written and oral works of recognized black intellectuals; and the economic, cultural, historical, social, and political conditions under which such works are created and remembered. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Staff
AAS 391 Race, Class, and Intelligence in America (also SOC 391) Not offered this year EC
The course explores relationships among race, class, and intelligence measurements. The history of the measurement of intelligence is analyzed. Historical and contemporary conceptualizations of race, ethnicity, and social class in America, including gender inequality, are examined. The “nature versus nurture” IQ heritability controversy is given thorough examination, as are analyses of works such as The Bell Curve. Attention is given to the educational system in America, expectancy and labeling effects, stereotype threat, and public policy. One two-hour lecture, one preceptorial. Staff
AAS 392 Topics in African American Literature (also ENG 392) Not offered this year LA
A historical overview of black literary expression from the 19th century to present day. Will emphasize a critical and analytical approach to considering the social, cultural, and political dimensions of African American literature. Two lectures, one preceptorial. D. Brooks
AAS 412 Seminar in Political Theory (see POL 411)
AAS 422 Race and Sport (also HIS 482) Not offered this year HA
Explores the connections between race, class, and gender and organized sports in 20th-century America. Looks at how athletics and team sports mirror broader social and political debates on race in American society. One three-hour seminar. S. Mathieu
AAS 445 The Post-Colonial Subject (also ANT 445) Fall SA
Power is often represented as a “top-down” phenomenon, meaning that those who have the most power and control over what we do, what we know, and even how we feel. That is particularly the case in the study of marginalized people (e.g., African Americans), who are often not seen as creative agents, but as victims of the powerful. Contemporary cultural studies challenge the “top-down” understanding of power, and look instead at the role of the individual in creating, recreating, and resisting power. This course challenges both approaches from the perspectives of race, class, and gender. One three-hour seminar. C. Rouse