INTRODUCTION TO AFRICANA STUDIES Africana Studies 101 (CRN: 48413) Morehouse College Spring 2021 Professor: Samuel T. Livingston, PhD Meeting Time: T & Th, 1:00 – 2:15 pm Meeting Place: Blackboard Learn & Collaborate Telephone: 470.639.0601 Office: BraWley Hall, room 202Q e-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: T, W, R, 11:15 – 1:15 PM Twitter: @SamoryBa Website: www.profsamoryba.wordpress.com Course Description The course, Introduction to Africana Studies (HAFR 101), initiates students into the interdisciplinary study of the African experience on the continent, in its Diaspora and especially in the United States of America. The course involves a service-learning experience designed to, in a Freirean sense, integrate you the student with your environment by providing a direct experience of conditions that African Americans and immigrant African communities face. It is an introductory course, and as such, provides the student with a concise, but substantive, intellectual foundation for critical thinking and understanding of Africana Studies (AS) and the various forces that impact Black life. In the course's Congo Curriculum, we adopt a Service-Learning pedagogy to enhance the course by giving you an opportunity to think critically about the world outside of the classroom and to make more relevant the texts assigned in the transdisciplinary field of Africana Studies and its sub- disciplines including history, psychology, sociology, and political science. Although a survey approach is employed, emphasis is placed on inquiry, discovery, analysis and synthesis as keys to building your intellectual capacity and scholarly grounding in the discipline and toward thoroughly understanding the Black experience. Goal, Aims and Objectives The aim of this course is to offer a comprehensive introduction to the discipline of Africana Studies and the interdisciplinary study of the Black experience. Toward achieving this goal, students will meet several objectives: A. Prepare for Student Success by developing the following: critical reading skills, writing skills, notetaking, carrying out library and archival research; B. Analyze your own personal narrative and identity relative to intersectional themes of culture, race, class, gender and sexuality through self-reflection and an autobiographical research project. C. Engage in critical thinking about Africana histories with particular focus on the precolonial past and processes and experiences common in African enslavement; D. Analyze the interdisciplinary value of four disciplines examined in this course; E. Categorize peer-reviewed research on the complex interplay of social forces impacting Black life-chances; F. Synthesize research on the complex interplay of social forces impacting Black life-chances through an integrative service-learning activity involving two African diasporic communities. Learning Outcomes/Performance Objectives Along with quizzes, tests and exams, students will be assessed in the following activities: AFR101A: Utilizing Thinkwell Metacognition (TMC), SQ3R and SEE-I models, write two paragraphs 1) outlining the stages leading to the establishment and formal organization of African American Studies and 2) defining Africana Studies as a discipline. (Discussion Board & Quest 1) AFR101B: After reading historic examples of autobiographical essays and engaging in self-reflections, write your own 750 to 1000-word cultural autobiography that 1) examines themes of values, intersectional identity and social forces (race, class, and gender) that relate to your own personal narrative within the larger African American experience. (Essay) AFR101C: 1) Make a presentation defending a position on a salient question in the study of the African precolonial past; 2) After reading relevant works, write a 500-word paper describing the six-staged journey of an enslaved African person from their home on the continent to an American plantation. (Maafa) AFR101D: Defend a position on three central questions pertaining to each sub-discipline that the course examines (History, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science): 1) How does this discipline examine the agency of people of African descent? How are African/Black subjects treated in the history of this discipline? 2) How does each discipline attend to questions of evidence and research methodology in the (re)presentation of voices, positions, opinions, perspectives and priorities of African and African-descended people? 3) Who are the thought leaders within each discipline relevant to the study of Black people? How do they model integrative critical thinking by applying information and disciplinary models directly relevant to African-American lives? AFR101E: In a 500 to 750-word literature review, analyze the impact of each sub-discipline on the African American experience in a short essay addressing three critical questions: Black agency, Research framework and Thought Leaders. AFR101F: Congo Curriculum Service-Learning Project. Each student will complete a Service-Learning Project. Service learning is defined as the practice of applying a critical integrative framework to issues challenging African peoples’ life-chances with the goal of sharing these insights and constructively engaging impacted communities. The course service-learning experience is called the #CongoCurriculum and calls on students to think critically and act on issues that challenge the empowerment of Congolese people and themselves personally. The #CongoCurriculum assignment involves engaged learning about challenges facing the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Each student in the class must write four one to two-page response papers to the Four-Part Assignment. (See the Assignment details on BlackBoard) AFR101G: Why it Matters. Students will rewrite their Cultural Autobiography in light of knowledge claims from the Congo Curriculum Service Learning assignment by narrating how the Service Learning Assignment impacts their own lives in as many ways as possible. Post-COVID-19 Class Policies Students will access Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to attend the remaining 12 class sessions online and punctually, unless otherwise directed or excused. Students missing more than three unexcused absences will at the minimum, receive a devalued grade of 10 points (one letter grade for the course). Tuesdays will be dedicated to lecture and discussion of the subject (see the syllabus below). Thursdays will be dedicated to student presentations (either an assignment or discussion questions). The professor will take roll during each of the remaining six Tuesday online class sessions. On Thursdays, attendance will be recorded by either your discussion board posts or on the day of class. Any missed class notes, during absences, should be obtained from Blackboard or a classmate. The professor will not provide class notes for any absences. In Addition, the folloWing policies will be enforced: • Students are responsible for successfully using Blackboard Learn and Collaborate (use your tutorials: • Cell phones are to be turned off; leaving class to take a call will be counted as an absence/tardy. • Academic dishonesty in the form of plagiarism/cheating is subject to failure of the COURSE, an “Academic Misconduct” notation on student’s record, referral for a college retention hearing. • Late assignments will not be given full value. • Students must keep a copy of each assignment (digital); please use Box cloud storage (on MyPortal) • Make-up exams/assignments will only be offered for excused absences, only tWice per semester (once before the midterm and once after), and with a 10-point reduction for unexcused absences; • Respect yourself, the professor, and your classmates. MOREHOUSE COLLEGE STUDENT LIFE POLICIES Morehouse College Sexual Misconduct Policy: Morehouse College is committed to maintaining a work and academic environment that is free from sexual and gender-based harassment and misconduct, including, but not limited to: Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Non-consensual Sexual Contact, Non-consensual Sexual Intercourse, Rape, Sexual Exploitation, Stalking and Retaliation. The Morehouse College Sexual Misconduct Policy outlines the policies governing alleged sexual misconduct involving students. If you are the victim of Sexual Assault or have witnessed such an act, please report here: https://morehousecollege.formstack.com/forms/sexual_misconduct_complaint_form. For other resources on Sexual Misconduct click here: https://platform.everfi.net/curriculum/show?enrollment_id=20660874#introduction/introduction-activity/page-7 EEO & Disability Statement Morehouse College is an equal opportunity employer and educational institution. Students with disabilities or those who suspect they have a disability must register with the Office of Disability Services (“ODS”) in order to receive accommodations. Students currently registered with the ODS are required to present their Disability Services Accommodation Letter to faculty immediately upon receiving the accommodation. If you have any questions, contact the Office of Disability Services, 100 Sale Hall Annex, Morehouse College, 830 Westview Dr. S.W., Atlanta, GA 30314, (404) 215-2636. MOREHOUSE COLLEGE POLICIES Attendance Expectations and Policy Students are expected to attend each class meeting. Students with more than 3 unexcused absences will be referred to the Office of Student Success and may be administratively withdrawn from the course. Failure to meet minimum attendance