Office: Washington Square Hall 216
Telephone: 408-924-5871
Email: afam-studies@sjsu.edu
Website: www.sjsu.edu/afam

Associate Professors
Travis D. Boyce, Chair

Assistant Professors
Rana B. McReynolds
Wendy M. Thompson

Overview

An indispensable part of the mission of a metropolitan university, the Department of African American Studies provides a comprehensive liberal arts education by training our students to appreciate diversity and multicultural American society. Our unique interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on the areas of: race & technology, interracial intimacies and mixed race identity in the U.S., politics, urbanization, religion, U.S. history, sociology, psychology, African history/politics, gender, the civil rights movement, and general education courses. Our faculty contributes to scholarship in the field, and we are intellectually and professionally linked to local and national African American communities through our membership and support of professional associations such as the National Council for  Black Studies, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, (ASALH), the Association for Ethnic Studies, among others.

Programs

• African American Studies, BA

• African American Studies Minor
• African Studies Minor
• Black Women’s Studies Minor
• Comparative U.S. Race and Ethnic Relations Minor

Spartan Accelerated Graduate Education (SAGE) Programs  programs are combined bachelor’s and master’s programs at SJSU (per University Policy F19-1). Sometimes they may also satisfy the requirements for a credential. Students in these programs pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree simultaneously. These program allow students to earn graduate credit while in their junior and/or senior year, reducing the number of semesters required for completion of a master’s degree.

• African American Studies, BA + Single Subject Credential in Social Science + Teaching, MAT

Courses

• AFAM 2A - African Americans and the Development of America’s History and Government
• AFAM 2B - African Americans and the Development of America’s History and Government
• AFAM 22 - The Humanities in African American Culture
• AFAM 25 - The Changing Majority: Power and Ethnicity in America
• AFAM 40 - African Origins
• AFAM 100W - Writing Workshop
• AFAM 102 - Black Music
• AFAM 105 - Race and Health Inequities in the US
• AFAM 106 - Black Diasporas
• AFAM 110 - Race and Education in the US
• AFAM 111 - African Nations: History, Politics, and Culture
• AFAM 112 - Black Immigrant Communities
• AFAM 115 - The Great Migration and Black Communities
• AFAM 119 - Africana Philosophy and Culture
• AFAM 120 - Sociology of Black Communities
• AFAM 125 - Black Kinship in the US - Black Families Past and Present
• AFAM 130 - Black Perspectives in Psychology - Black Psychology
• AFAM 133 - Introduction to Social Issues in Planning
• AFAM 134 - The Black Civil Rights Movements
• AFAM 137 - Introduction to Black Religion
• AFAM 142 - Race, Justice, and the Legal System
• AFAM 145 - Race, Policy, and Urban Cities
• AFAM 151 - Race, Class and the Environment
• AFAM 152 - Black Feminisms
• AFAM 155A - Triumphs and Trials of the Black Athlete in the U.S., 1850-1999
• AFAM 155B - Triumphs and Trials of the Black Athlete in the U.S., 2000-Present
• AFAM 156 - Black Women’s Writing
• AFAM 157 - Race, Tech, and Global Futures
• AFAM 158 - Race, Sport, Activism & Social Movements
• AFAM 159 - The Racial Wealth Gap in America
• AFAM 160 - Black Political Power in the US
• AFAM 161 - Black Representations in Media and New Technology
• AFAM 162 - The Aesthetics of Hip-Hop
• AFAM 164 - Black Entrepreneurship
• AFAM 165 - Topics in Ethnic American Literature
• AFAM 166 - Black Women’s Histories
• AFAM 170 - Interracial Intimacies and Mixed Race Identity in the U.S.
• AFAM 180 - Individual Studies
• AFAM 184 - Directed Reading
• AFAM 185 - Special Topics in African American Studies
• AFAM 190 - Internship in Community Development
• AFAM 192 - International Program Studies
• AFAM 198 - Senior Seminar in African American Studies
• AFAM 298 - Special Studies
• AFRS 142 - African Politics
• AFRS 192 - International Program Studies