Course Subfields

African American Studies undergraduate courses are offered in three subfields: 

African American Culture and Life (AACL) Subfield

Students encounter the intellectual tradition and cultural practices that inform the emergence and development of African American studies as a field of study in the academy. Focusing on aesthetic repertoires and historical dynamics situated primarily in the United States, students learn how to examine the patterns and practices that have defined and transformed Black people’s lives. Courses in the AACL subfield are typically cross-listed with English, History, Religion, American Studies, and the Lewis Center for the Arts.

Race and Public Policy (RPP) Subfield

Students deploy and interrogate social science methodologies to examine the workings of the American state apparatus and other social and political institutions. Fostering critical approaches to empirical research and analysis, students examine the formation and development of racial and ethnic identities in the United States, with a particular focus on different perceptions and measures of inequality. Courses in the RPP subfield are typically cross-listed with the School of Public and International Affairs, Sociology, and Politics.

Global Race and Ethnicity (GRE) Subfield

Students take up comparative methodologies in studying inter- and intraracial group dynamics in a global frame. Comparison yields an understanding of the aesthetic repertoires and historical dynamics of African and African-descended people in the diaspora outside the United States, as well as non-African-descended people of color within the United States. Courses in the GRE subfield are typically cross-listed with Comparative Literature, Art and Archaeology, African Studies, Latino Studies, and Latin American Studies.